International Development Aid to Burma/Myanmar

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Description: "...This paper gives an overview of politics and development in Myanmar. It places recent political changes in their historical context, focusing in particular on minority conflicts as well as the national context. The role that international aid agencies can play is explored, offering recommendations for policy and practice. There is a risk that pressure to build good relations with the government and to spend pledged funds will lead donors to overlook significant ongoing problems in conflict-affected border areas and elsewhere in Myanmar. Yet the right kind of foreign aid, implemented in the right way, can play a potentially useful role in supporting peace, justice and development. Donors need to learn from experience elsewhere, recognising that many challenges will arise over the coming years despite recent reforms. By building a careful understanding of Myanmar's political economy at the local and national levels, and incrementally establishing programmes, they will be able to build domestic capacity in support of sustainable peace and poverty reduction. Continued engagement can generate opportunities for astutely promoting international standards including human rights..."
2013-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : PDF
Size: 398.68 KB
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Description: "The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Myanmar has come up with a strategy to create a national database of private citizen information by making biometric data collection mandatory when purchasing mobile phone services, The Myanmar Times reports. Residents already have to show and register an identity document when purchasing SIM cards. According to a tender document the publication claims to have reviewed last month, the government is accepting proposal submissions for a “national database to store and manage biometric mobile subscriber registration information from all mobile network operators in Myanmar.” It further “intends to build a national database capturing biometric subscriber registration information of every mobile network user” to “ensure proper and secure registration of mobile network users and to prevent any malicious use of mobile networks.”..."
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Source/publisher: "Biometric Update"
2019-12-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The fear that haunts Ko Than Htoo, who is the main breadwinner for his five-member family, is that Inle Lake will one day dry up. He has been a boatman for over 25 years. Only two years ago he had to leave nearby Pekon Lake after the water level went down to the point of his boat running aground. Enlisted as a Ramsar site and a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve, Inle Lake is the second largest in Myanmar. It has long hosted a rich diversity of bird and fish species. However that is under threat by deforestation, pollution, unsustainable agriculture and tourism. “My livelihood is attached to this lake. I am concerned about its future because I have witnessed the impact of decreased water level in the other lake. The people never stopped cutting down trees up in the hills and every time there was rain, all the mud and silt from upstream would flow down to the lake,” says Ko Than Htoo. “We should do something to keep this lake alive so that it keeps us alive.”..."
Source/publisher: UN Development Programme (UNDP) (New York)
2019-11-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Europe is in talks with Myanmar to increase seafood imports. It cannot ignore the widespread slavery within the industry
Description: "While forced labour and slavery in the fishing industry in Thailand and other parts of the world have been brought to light in recent years, the fishing industry in Myanmar has received less attention. This is because fish caught there is mostly sold to local markets, but this may be about to change. Myanmar’s seafood businesses are increasingly seeking export markets, including the EU. And unless the EU responds to the clear evidence of widespread slavery and brutal conditions in Myanmar’s fishing industry, Europe could face another slavery scandal. Fishing in Myanmar’s Gulf of Mottama is dangerous business. Hours are long and conditions are harsh. Thousands of people died during Cyclone Nargis in 2008. But even outside such catastrophic events deaths are not uncommon. One fisherman we spoke to told us he has seen two colleagues decapitated with nets during his working life. But it’s a lucrative business too. Between September and May up to 50,000 men work to catch around 10,000 tonnes of fish, mostly shrimp. The owners are believed to yield a healthy profit – especially when the raft is crewed using slave labour. We spoke with raft workers in five communities in the Irrawaddy Delta as they waited ashore for the weather to calm. They told us about physical confinement on the rafts for months at a time and excessive working hours, with fishermen working 16 hours, every day, for nine months. We heard about routine use of violence, including rumours of murder of fishermen by supervisors. The employment conditions of all of the raft fishers that we spoke to fitted the international definition of slavery..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2019-11-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Since 2007, IOM’s work on Emergency, Post Crisis and Preparedness are in the areas of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM). DRR and disaster management is aimed at reducing risk, while improving preparedness in disaster management and resilience associated with natural disasters. Supporting the department of Relief and Resettlement and the General Administration Department, IOM helps to develop township level multi hazard risk maps and disaster management plans. Those maps and plans help decision-makers to plan development and infrastructure initiatives. Building on this, IOM improves end to end early warning systems, coastal protection and community resilience. IOM supports union, national, state and township governments, by increasing their capacity and readiness to manage disasters and reduce the impact of disasters on communities. IOM has been working towards elevating the CCCM capacity available in Myanmar since 2015 through various capacity building initiatives including training and coaching CCCM practitioners, service providers and government officials using CCCM Global Cluster materials in collaboration with the CCCM National Cluster. IOM’s CCCM support ceased in 2017, however 45 globally certified CCCM trainers remain in the field with an adapted national CCCM curriculum being integrated into the Government of Myanmar’s Disaster Management Training Centre’s core courses on preparedness. IOM’s community stabilisation activities aim to promote resilient community development and agricultural and livelihoods development for food security in Rakhine State. These activities aim to improve the readiness of the government, increase the resilience of communities, prevent potential migration outflows from disaster affected areas, and to promote safe and orderly migration to safe relocation areas..."
Source/publisher: IOM Myanmar
2018-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 534.08 KB
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Description: "Yangon is a city rich with history—a former capital, a center of commerce, and today, a city bristling with construction cranes, clogged with vehicles, and throbbing with the aspirations of its swelling population. Demographic changes, economic growth, and Myanmar’s new international openness have left the Yangon City Development Committee, the city’s municipal government, scrambling to deliver public services and provide effective governance for a population of almost six million. After decades of international isolation and government secrecy that left a lasting deficit in public trust and participation, the governments of Myanmar’s major cities have begun to recognize that effective governance is built on communication between a city’s leaders and its citizens. Quite simply, governments cannot serve the governed if they don’t know what’s going on. Elected officials, who must provide effective public services with limited resources, are awakening to the information value of public participation. The Development Affairs Organization of Taunggyi, a city in Southern Shan State, and the mayor of Mandalay City, for example, have been actively corresponding with city residents on Facebook. In Yangon’s recent election debates, one candidate proclaimed that citizens would be able to call him personally to register complaints. As a citizen of Yangon City, I understand the importance of this public dialogue. Government decisions on routine matters such as public transit, waste collection, deteriorating air quality, the proliferation of concrete high-rises, or the growing intensity of traffic jams affect the well-being of every resident of this city every day. But while openness to public opinion is an important step for an emerging democracy, anecdotal information from Facebook posts and phone calls from dissatisfied citizens can be treacherously unreliable, amplifying the voices of a motivated, but not necessarily representative, few. Clearly, the first step in responsive, democratic policymaking—understanding the will of the people—is a tall one. This is why my team at The Asia Foundation, Myanmar, has developed the City Life Survey (CLS), a modern data tool for democratic policymaking by urban decision-makers..."
Creator/author: Hillary Yu Zin Htoon
Source/publisher: The Asia Foundation
2019-04-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "TheJapan Internati onal Cooperati on Agency (JICA) has recently issued a blueprint that proposes industrial development in Southeast Burma/ Myanmar, purportedly to aid in the return and sett lement of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Karen and Mon States. However, the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN), a network of nearly 30 ethnic Karen organizati ons, cauti ons JICA that its blueprint for infrastructure development such as roads and industrial estates in the war-torn southeast is premature and fl awed, potenti ally exacerbati ng confl ict in the region. The KPSN (formerly KCBPSN) is the largest network of Karen civil society organizati ons in Burma/Myanmar.1 These organizati ons have been providing support for vulnerable people in this confl ict-torn region for decades, striving to empower local communiti es, build transparent and accountable insti tuti ons, and help create a sustainable peace in Burma/Myanmar. KPSN and its member organizati ons are important stakeholders which must be included in any development planning process in the Karen areas of the southeast...."
Source/publisher: Kesan via "Burma Partnership"
2016-12-01
Date of entry/update: 2018-10-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 723.38 KB
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Description: "Myanmar today is one of the world?s largest recipients of international development assistance, often referred to simply as ?aid.” A history of underinvestment has left the country with the highest poverty rate in the region and critical deficits in infrastructure and social services, making it a priority for many development agencies. Myanmar was the seventh-largest recipient of international aid in 2015, and it is now the third-largest recipient per capita in the region—behind only Cambodia and Laos, which have far smaller populations. Expectations are for sustained, high engagement with the international community..."
Source/publisher: The Asia Foundation
2018-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2018-04-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 1.36 MB 5.32 MB
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Description: "... Union Budget policies have undergone fundamental shifts since 2011 to accelerate delivery of essential public services. This first ever Public Expenditure Review (PER) for Myanmar tries to better understand these shifts and recommend ways to further align budget policies to development priorities. Decades of government underspending on the back of a very low revenue base with no tax culture have contributed to poor economic and social outcomes. A new government in 2010 sought to redress this by implementing reforms towards a service oriented approach. The PER is a first step in deepening policy dialogue on Union Budget issues. It focuses on general government, and touches on State Economic Enterprises (SEEs) to the extent that they impact general government finances and fiscal policy. The Myanmar PER 2015 is divided into five parts: (i) sustainability of aggregate fiscal policy; (ii) rebalancing the composition of the Union Budget; (iii) improving coverage, quality and equity of education services; (iv) going from more to better government spending on health; and (v) a sound fiscal framework for sub-national service delivery. Findings and recommendations from each part will be discussed in greater detail with government counterparts to help develop a concrete plan of action. The PER is expected to be the start of future systematic analysis of Union Budget policies..."
Source/publisher: The World Bank
2015-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-05-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 4.21 MB
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Description: "In 2011, following decades of isolation, Myanmar embarked on an unprecedented reform process, raising hopes for a new democracy. These reforms have been welcomed by the international community with rising levels of aid. If properly handled and spent, aid offers an opportunity to ha rness Myanmar?s economic potential and make it work for poor people – reducing inequality, providing essential services, building resilience, and promoting sustainable investment. This paper explores what good - quality aid should look like for Myanmar, what it could deliver for those living in poverty, and what decision makers can learn from other countries, to ensure that aid is a catalyst for democratic reform, equitable growth, and peace..."
Creator/author: Jasmine Burnley, Javier Pereira
Source/publisher: OXFAM
2014-01-21
Date of entry/update: 2014-06-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 752 KB
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