"...The General Administration Department (GAD) of the Ministry of Home Affairs is critically important to subnational governance in Myanmar. The GAD acts as the civil service for the new state and region governments and provides the administration for the country?s districts and townships. Given its pervasive importance as the bureaucratic backbone of the country and its impact on the lives of citizens, it is also surprising that there is little information on how the GAD is organized, its roles and functions, and how it has evolved over time. A more systematic understanding of the GAD by all stakeholders in government and civil society as well as development partners is essential to effectively advance reforms, particularly as they relate to administrative decentralization, local governance, social service provision, but also the relationship between the state and citizens. To address this significant information gap, this research report provides an extensive overview to the GAD based on literature review and a series of in-depth interviews. The report first outlines the historic evolution of ?general administration” in Myanmar, followed by a detailed mapping of the roles, structures and functions of the GAD at the Union level. The paper then methodically defines the roles, structures and functions of the GAD at the state and region, district, township and ward and village tract levels of government, and the extent to which they have been redefined in recent years as the country embarked on political and administrative reforms..."