Librarian's Choice

အဓိကအကြောင်းအရာ

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Title: Travelling back home
Description/subject: "Busarin Lertchavalitsakul charts Shan migrants? experiences of ID card procurement and their mixed fortunes travelling between Thailand and Burma." ...Substantial article; contains information about the process of obtaining Burmese identity documents.
Busarin Lertchavalitsaku
Source/publisher: "Asia Times Online"
Date of publication: 2014-08-21
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-22
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: A Book for Midwives
Description/subject: "...Midwives need accurate information to help them protect the health and well-being of women, babies, and families. They need strategies to fight poverty and the unequal treatment of women, and for working together and with other health workers towards health for all. We revised A Book for Midwives with these needs in mind. In this edition of A Book for Midwives, you will find: * information needed to care for women and their babies during pregnancy, labor, birth, and in the weeks following birth, because this is the primary work of most midwives. * skills for protecting a woman?s reproductive health throughout her life, because a woman?s health needs are important whether or not she is having a baby, and because a woman?s health when she is not pregnant affects how healthy and safe her pregnancies and births will be. * safe, effective methods from both traditional midwifery and modern, Western-based medicine, because good health care in labor and birth uses the best from both Western medicine and the traditions of midwifery. discussion of the ways that poverty and the denial of women?s needs affect women?s health, and how midwives can work to improve these conditions, because changing these conditions can make a lasting improvement in health. * suggestions for how midwives can and must work with each other, with other health workers, and with the larger community, because working together strengthens everyone?s knowledge and makes action to improve women?s health more effective..."
Source/publisher: Hesperian Health Guides
Date of publication: 2013-11-30
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-20
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Where there is no Doctor - part 2 (Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Description/subject: "This handbook has been written primarily for those who live far from medical centers, in places where there is no doctor. But even where there are doctors, people can and should take the lead in their own health care. So this book is for everyone who cares. It has been written in the belief that: 1. Health care is not only everyone?s right, but everyone?s responsibility... 2. Informed self-care should be the main goal of any health program or activity... 3. Ordinary people provided with clear, simple information can prevent and treat most common health problems in their own homes—earlier, cheaper, and often better than can doctors... 4. Medical knowledge should not be the guarded secret of a select few, but should be freely shared by everyone... 5. People with little formal education can be trusted as much as those with a lot. And they are just as smart... 6. Basic health care should not be delivered, but encouraged..... Clearly, a part of informed self-care is knowing one?s own limits. Therefore guidelines are included not only for what to do, but for when to seek help. The book points out those cases when it is important to see or get advice from a health worker or doctor. But because doctors or health workers are not always nearby, the book also suggests what to do in the meantime—even for very serious problems..."....N.B. the date of 23 July 2014 is presumably the date of the translation. The date of the original English was, I believe, 2011 - OBL Librarian.
David Werner; with Carol Thuman, Jane Maxwell
Source/publisher: Hesperian Health Guides via UNICEF
Date of publication: 2014-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-20
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 3.89 MB
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Title: Where there is no Doctor - part 1 (Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Description/subject: "This handbook has been written primarily for those who live far from medical centers, in places where there is no doctor. But even where there are doctors, people can and should take the lead in their own health care. So this book is for everyone who cares. It has been written in the belief that: 1. Health care is not only everyone?s right, but everyone?s responsibility... 2. Informed self-care should be the main goal of any health program or activity... 3. Ordinary people provided with clear, simple information can prevent and treat most common health problems in their own homes—earlier, cheaper, and often better than can doctors... 4. Medical knowledge should not be the guarded secret of a select few, but should be freely shared by everyone... 5. People with little formal education can be trusted as much as those with a lot. And they are just as smart... 6. Basic health care should not be delivered, but encouraged..... Clearly, a part of informed self-care is knowing one?s own limits. Therefore guidelines are included not only for what to do, but for when to seek help. The book points out those cases when it is important to see or get advice from a health worker or doctor. But because doctors or health workers are not always nearby, the book also suggests what to do in the meantime—even for very serious problems..."....N.B. the date of 23 July 2014 is presumably the date of the translation. The date of the original English was, I believe, 2011 - OBL Librarian
David Werner; with Carol Thuman, Jane Maxwell
Source/publisher: Hesperian Health Guides via UNICEF
Date of publication: 2014-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-20
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 4.81 MB
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Title: Contact Lists of Humanitarian Partners in MYANMAR (and other Myanmar lists)
Description/subject: Excel file listing individual offices of organisations involved in humanitarian work in Burma/Myanmar. Some organisations have several offices (total 733). The organizations are categorised as: national NGOs (about 180), international NGOs/CBOs (88), embassies (15), international organisations, (2 - World Bank and IOM), UN (21), donors (12), Red Cross/Red Crescent (1), [research] institutions (1), companies (1), local companbies (2) and faith-based organisations (1)...The list has the Organization Name, Acronym, Organization Type, Sector Head/Field office, State/Region "Location (Town / Village) in which office is located", Address, Telephone, Fax, email, website...Myanmar Government departments are not listed here...The referring page lists office locations by State, Region & Township and UN offices on a map.
Source/publisher: Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU)
Date of publication: 2014-07-25
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-19
Type: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
Format : xls
Size: 1.16 MB
Local URL:
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Title: Audio-Visual Library of International Law
Description/subject: "...A virtual training and research centre in international law... THE HISTORIC ARCHIVES provides a unique resource for the teaching, studying and researching significant legal instrument on international law. Each entry is devoted to a particular instrument and contains an introduction to the instrument prepared by an eminent international law scholar or practitioner with special expertise on the subject, information on its procedural history and related documents, as well as the text and status of the instrument. It is accompanied by audiovisual materials, as available, relating to the negotiation and adoption of the instrument at meetings or diplomatic conferences.... THE LECTURE SERIES contains a permanent collection of lectures of enduring value on virtually every subject of international law given by leading international law scholars and practitioners from different regions, legal systems, cultures and sectors of the legal profession... THE RESEARCH LIBRARY provides an extensive online library of international law materials, including treaties, jurisprudence, documents, legal publications, research guides and selected scholarly writings, as well as international law training materials...."
Source/publisher: United Nations
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-18
Type: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English (also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish)
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Title: United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
Description/subject: "The United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law is a free online international law research and training tool. It was created and is maintained by the Codification Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs as a part of its mandate under the United Nations Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law..."
Source/publisher: Wikipedia
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-17
Type: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English (other languages available)
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Title: NOT JUST DEFENDING; ADVOCATING FOR LAW IN MYANMAR
Description/subject: "...Through research on Myanmar, we argue that in authoritarian settings where legality has drastically declined, the starting point for cause lawyering lies in advocacy for law itself, in advocating for the regular application of law?s rules. Because this characterization is liable to be misunderstood as formalistic, particularly by persons familiar with less authoritarian, more legally coherent settings than the one with which we are here concerned, it deserves some brief comments before we continue...By insisting upon legal formality as a condition of transformative justice, cause lawyers in Myanmar advocate for the inherent value of rules in the courtroom, but also incrementally build a constituency in the wider society. In advocating for faithful application of declared rules, in insisting on formal legality in the public domain, lawyers encourage people to mobilize around law as an idea, essential for making law meaningful in practice. They promote a notion of the legal system as once more an arena in which citizens can set up interests that are not congruent with those of the state; an arena in which cause lawyering is made viable and in which the cause lawyer has a distinctive role to play..." Includes description and discussion of the Kanma land-grab case.....The digitised version may contain errors so the original is included an an Alternate URL.
Nick Cheesman, Kyaw Min San
Source/publisher: Wisconsin International Law Journal
Date of publication: 2014-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-17
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 226.32 KB 1.57 MB
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Title: REDISCOVERING ?LAW? IN MYANMAR: A REVIEW OF SCHOLARSHIP ON THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF MYANMAR
Description/subject: Abstract: "Myanmar?s legal system is an understudied area in the academic field of Asian Legal Studies. This article aims to provide a map of legal scholarship in Myanmar that can be built on in the future. It identifies the key issues and arguments that have driven research on law in Myanmar, and the central academics whose oeuvre of publications have sustained the field. It is organized around four broad themes: custom, religion, and the law; public law and governance; corporate law; and the politics of law. It suggests that in order to build the next generation of legal scholarship, future research on Myanmar law must be grounded in its social, political, and historical context. This type of research requires the rediscovery of ?law? in Myanmar by engaging with the existing body of social science literature on Burma Studies more generally."
Melissa Crouch
Source/publisher: Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, Vol. 23, No. 3
Date of publication: 2014-05-27
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-16
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 401.09 KB
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Title: Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Yangon International Airport, Myanmar, 26 July 2014
Description/subject: "...Preliminary observations: Myanmar is undergoing an important transition and the sweeping and far-reaching reforms that we have seen in recent years have dramatically transformed the political, economic, social and human rights landscape. This was affirmed in my meetings with various Government officials in Nay Pyi Taw. In three years, Myanmar has come a long way since the establishment of the new Government. This must be recognized and applauded. Yet, there are worrying signs of possible backtracking which if unchecked could undermine Myanmar?s efforts to become a responsible member of the international community that respects and protects human rights. As many have said, Myanmar therefore needs further encouragement and understanding in order to address these challenges and to continue on the path of reform. And I hope that my observations and recommendations will be taken in this light..... Shrinking of democratic space...Prisoners of conscience...Development and economic, social and cultural rights......Legislative reform and the rule of law...Women?s rights and gender equality...Rakhine State...Kachin State...Mandalay...Conclusion
Yanghee Lee
Source/publisher: UN Information Center, Yangon
Date of publication: 2014-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-27
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Beginners? guide to content restriction အကြောင်းအရာကန့်သတ်ချက်ဆိုင်ရာ ယေဘုယျစည်းမျဉ်းများ
Description/subject: ARTICLE 19 launched this beginners? guide as part of our work on reform in Myanmar. It is part of a series of such guides which are available at www.article19.org လွတ်လပ်စွာထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်နှင့်ပတ်သတ်သော နိုင်ငံတကာစံနှုန်းများ 5 International standards on the right to free expression အကြောင်းအရာကန့်သတ်ချက်ဆိုင်ရာယေဘုယျစည်းမျဉ်းများ 13 General rules on content restrictions အကြောင်းအရာကန့်သတ်ထိန်းချုပ်မှု၏ သီးခြားအမှုများ 18 Specific cases of content restriction အသရေဖျက်ခြင်း 19 Defamation အမျိုးသားလုံခြုံရေးကာကွယ်ရေး၊လူထုငြိမ်ဝပ်ပိပြားရေးနှင့်လူထုလုံခြုံ စိတ်ချရေး 33 Protection of national security, public order, public safety အမုန်းတရားဖြစ်ရန်လှုံ့ဆော်ခြင်း 40 Incitement to hatred ဘာသာရေးကိုစော်ကားသော(ဘုရားသခင်ကိုဆဲဆိုသောစကား)ကိုထိန်းချုုပ်သည့်ဥပဒေ 53 Blasphemy laws သတင်းမှား 58 False news ပြည်သူ့နီတိ 62 Public morals ကိုယ်ပိုင်လွတ်လပ်ခွင့် 67 Privacy
Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of publication: 2014-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-25
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 327.33 KB
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Title: Beginners? guide to freedom of expression laws - အခြေခံအဆင့် နိုင်ငံတကာလူ့အခွင့်အရေးဥပဒေလမ်းညွှန်
Description/subject: မြန်မာပြည် ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲရေးဆိုင်ရာ လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်အဖြစ် ၂၀၁၂ တွင် အခြေခံအဆင့် နိုင်ငံတကာ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ဥပဒေ လမ်းညွှန်စာအုပ်ကို ထုတ်ဝေခဲ့သည်။ ဤလမ်းညွှန် စာအုပ်တွင် လွတ်လ ပ်စွာထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုင်ခွင့်ကို လေးစားရန်၊ ကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်ရန်နှင့် မြင့်တင်ရန် အစိုးရ များ လုပ်ဆောင်ရမည့်အရာ၊ မလုပ်ဆောင်သင့်သည့်အရာများ ကို ရှင်းပြထားသည်။ ARTICLE 19 launched this beginners? guide as part of our work on reform in Myanmar. It is part of a series of such guides which are available at www.article19.org Regulating print media 3 ပုံနှိပ်မီဒီယာကို စည်းမျဉ်းဖြင့် ထိန်းချုပ်ခြင်း Regulating journalists 13 သတင်းထောက်များကို စည်းမျဉ်းဖြင့် ထိန်းချုပ်ခြင်း Regulating the internet 27 အင်တာနက်ကို စည်းမျဉ်းဖြင့် ထိန်းချုပ်ခြင်း Regulating broadcast media 37 ရုပ်သံလွင့်မီဒီယာကို စီးမျဉ်းဖြင့်ထိန်းချုပ်ခြင်း Regulating film 49 ရုပ်ရှင်ကိုထိန်းချုပ်ခြင်း Regulating freedom of assembly 53 ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာစုဝေခြင်း Regulating assess to public information 61 အများပြည်သူဆိုင်ရာသတင်းအချက်အလက်များ ရယူခြင်း
Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of publication: 2014-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-25
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 258.56 KB
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Title: Guide to advocacy on freedom of expression in Myanmar - မြန်မာပြည်အတွက် လွတ်လပ်စွာထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့် ဆော်သြလှုံ့ဆော်မှုလုပ်??
Description/subject: အာတီကယ် ၁၉ အဖွဲ့နှင့် လွတ်လပ်စွာထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်အတွက် မြန်မာပြည်သူ့ညွှန့်ပေါင်းအဖွဲ့ မြန်မာပြည်အတွက် လွတ်လပ်စွာထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့် ဆော်သြလှုံ့ဆော်မှုလုပ်ငန်း လမ်းညွှန် ARTICLE 19 and the Myanma People?s Coalition for Free Expression present The guide to advocacy on freedom of expression in Myanmar. This beginners? guide was developed by ARTICLE 19 and the Myanma People?s Coalition for Free Expression for training civil society on how to campaign for freedom of expression. It is part of a series of Myanma language guides which are available at www.article19.org နိဒါန်း 2 Introduction ဆော်သြလှုံ့ဆော်မှုဆိုတာဘာလဲ။ ဘာအတွက် စည်းရုံးလှုပ်ရှားကြမှာလဲ။ 4 Advocacy and campaigning ဆော်သြလှုံ့ဆော်မှု လုပ်ငန်းစဉ် စက်ဝန်း 7 The advocacy cycle ၁။ လုပ်ဆောင်မည့်အရေးကိစ္စ ထုတ်ဖော်သတ်မှတ်ပါ 10 Identifying the issues ၂။ စိတ်ဖျာသုံးသပ်ခြင်း 11 Analysis ၃။ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်လုပ်ငန်းစဉ် ချမှတ်ခြင်း 16 Setting objectives ၄။ ဦးတည်ချက်ပစ်မှတ်နှင့် မဟာမိတ်များကို သတ်မှတ်ခြင်း 19 Identifying the targets and your allies ၅။ အသုံးပြုမည့်နည်းလမ်း ရွေးချယ်ပြီး သတင်းစကားများဖန်တီးပါ 26 Selecting the tools and developing the messages ၆။ လှုပ်ရှားမှုအစီအစဉ်ချမှတ်ခြင်း 29 Establish a plan of action ၇။ စောင့်ကြည့်ခြင်းနှင့် အကဲဖြတ်ခြင်း 31 Monitoring and evaluation
Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of publication: 2013-12-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-25
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 262.65 KB
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Title: Myanmar: News Media Law - legal analysis - မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသတင်းမီဒီယာဥပဒေ
Description/subject: ယခုသုံးသပ်မှုသည် ၂၀၁၄ ခုနှစ်တွင်ပြဌာန်းခဲ့သည့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏သတင်းမီဒီယာဥပဒေသည် နိုင်ငံတကာလွတ်လပ်စွာ ဖော်ပြပြောဆိုခွင့်၊ သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ဆိုင်ရာစံနှုန်းများနှင့် ကိုက်ညီမှုရှိ-မရှိကို စိစစ်သုံးသပ်ထားခြင်းဖြစ်ပါသည်။ သတင်းမီဒီယာဥပဒေအနေဖြင့် သတင်းမီဒီယာလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို တစ်စုံတစ်ရာ အစပျိုးခွင့်ပြုထားပါသည်။ ဥပမာအားဖြင့် - ဆင်ဆာစိစစ်တည်းဖြတ်မှုကို တားမြစ်ထားခြင်း၊ "သတင်းမီဒီယာသမားများ" ၏ တိကျသော အခွင့်အရေးများကို အသိအမှတ်ပြုထားခြင်းတို့ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ဤသည်မှာ အပြုသဘောလုပ်ဆောင်မှုအဖြစ် ရှုမြင်နိုင်ပြီး၊ နိုင်ငံအတွင်း အကျယ်အပြန့် ကျင့်သုံးနေသည် ဆင်ဆာစိစစ်တည်းဖြတ်မှု ယန္တယားများကို စတင်ဖြိုဖျက်ချလိုက်ခြင်းပင် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ သို့ဖြစ်ရာ မြန်မာအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် ယခုဥပဒေ၏ အပြုသဘောဆောင်သော ပြဌာန်းချက်များမှနေ၍ ဆက်၍တည်ဆောက်သွားပါရန်လည်း တိုက်တွန်းလိုပါသည်။ သို့သော်လည်း၊ ပုဒ်မ (၁၉) ARTICLE 19 အဖွဲ့အနေဖြင့် ဥပဒေ၏လိုအပ်ချက်များအပေါ် ကြီးလေးစွာစိုးရိမ်ပူပန်မှုများရှိနေပါသည်။ သတင်းမီဒီယာလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်အပေါ် ကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်မှုပေးခြင်းမှာ အရည်အသွေးများစွာမြင့်တက်လာသော်လည်း၊ နိုင်ငံတကာစံနှုန်းများကို ပြည့်မီခြင်းမရှိသေးပါ။ ပုံနှိပ်၊ ထုတ်လွှင့်နှင့် အင်တာနက်အခြေခံ မီဒီယာများ အပါအဝင် မီဒီယာအမျိုးအမည်အားလုံးတို့သည် သတင်းမီဒီယာကောင်စီ၏ တင်းကျပ်စွာချုပ်ချယ်မှုမဟုတ်သော ထိန်းချုပ်မှုတစ်စုံတစ်ရာအောက်၌ ရှိနေကြဆဲဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ယင်းသတင်းမီဒီယာကောင်စီ၏သည် အစိုးရနှင့် သီးခြားလွတ်လပ်နေခြင်းမရှိပါ။ သို့အတွက်ကြောင့် အကြောင်းအရာအပေါ် အခြေခံ၍ ရာဇဝတ်မှုဥပဒေများဖြင့် အသုံးချ အရေးယူနိုင်သည့်အတွက်၊ သတင်းမီဒီယာများကို လုံလောက်စွာ ကာကွယ်မှု ပေးနိုင်ခြင်းမရှိပါ။ ယင်းကောင်စီက ဆုံးဖြတ်၍ အပြစ်ပေး အရေးယူမှုများပြုနိုင်ခြင်းမရှိသော်လည်း၊ ကျိုးကြောင်းခိုင်လုံမှုမရှိဘဲ လွတ်လပ်စွာဖော်ပြပြောဆိုခွင့်ကို ကန့်သတ်ခြင်းများရှိနေဆဲ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ပုဒ်မ (၁၉) ARTICLE 19 အဖွဲ့က မြန်မာအာဏာပိုင်များအနေဖြင့် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ နိုင်ငံသားအခွင့်အရေးနှင့် နိုင်ငံရေးအခွင့်အရေးများဆိုင်ရာ သဘောတူညီချက် ("ICCPR") ကို အသိအမှတ်ပြုပါရန်နှင့် သတင်းမီဒီယာဥပဒေကို ဖက်စုံပြည့်စုံစွာ ပြင်ဆင်ရေးဆွဲပါရန် တောင်းဆိုလိုပါသည်။ သို့မှသာ လွတ်လပ်စွာ ဖော်ပြပြောဆိုခွင့် နိုင်ငံတကာစံချိန်စံနှုန်းများနှင့် ကိုက်ညီလိမ့်မည်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။
Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of publication: 2014-07-18
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-25
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 161.17 KB
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Title: Background paper on freedom of expression in Myanmar - လွတ်လပ်စွာထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်အခြေအနေပြောင်းလဲမှုဖော်ဆောင်ခြင်း
Description/subject: "...The paper briefly looks at the key laws in Myanmar that affect people?s freedom to seek and share information and ideas ? whether that is through the media, in everyday conversations, on the Internet, or in demonstrations in the street. For each law, ARTICLE 19 briefly points out where the main obstacles are to protecting and promoting the right to freedom of expression. It explains what international human rights law requires the government to do ? or not do ? in a certain area, in order to respect, protect and fulfil the right to freedom of expression..."
Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of publication: 2014-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-24
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 252.58 KB
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Title: Human Rights Council -- 25th Session: Oral statement by the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Description/subject: This is the text the Special Rapporteur read from at the beginning of his Interactive Dialogue of 17 March. See the Alternate URL for the video.
Source/publisher: United Nations Human Rights Council (25th Session)
Date of publication: 2014-03-17
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-24
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 87.95 KB
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Title: Myanmar Library Survey - Executive Summary (Burmese မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Description/subject: "The Myanmar Library Survey is the first in- depth nationwide study of the country?s public libraries. Commissioned by The Asia Foundation in partnership with the Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation (MBAPF), the survey aimed to establish a comprehensive, current picture of the Myanmar public library system to help inform the development of Myanmar?s information architecture and community initiatives. While much can be done to improve infrastructure and better support their role as information hubs, the survey reveals that citizens perceive libraries as having a significant and positive impact on community life. The survey findings will be circulated amongst key stakeholders, including governmental officials, policy makers, local and international non-governmental organizations, civil society, and local communities. A country coming out of decades of isolation, Myanmar is now rapidly building the information infrastructure needed for its citizens to participate in the reform process and compete in the global marketplace. Myanmar?s reverence toward libraries and its vast library network has the potential to aid this process. This study focuses on public libraries ? defined in Myanmar as libraries registered with the government ? because of their accessibility to a wider number of people and potential for scalability. In addition to public libraries, Myanmar has university, monastic, private, and specialized libraries, few of which register as public libraries. There are 55,755 registered public libr aries in the country, but only 4,868 are considered active. Prior to this study, very little was known about them. The objectives of the project were to sample active public libraries in order to: ..."
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation, Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation
Date of publication: 2013-12-31
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-22
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 2.16 MB
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Title: Myanmar Library Survey - a comprehensive study of the country?s public libraries and information needs
Description/subject: Executive Summary: The Myanmar Library Survey is the first in- depth nationwide study of the country?s public libraries. Commissioned by The Asia Foundation in partnership with the Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation (MBAPF), the survey aimed to establish a comprehensive, current picture of the Myanmar public library system to help inform the development of Myanmar?s information architecture and community initiatives. While much can be done to improve infrastructure and better support their role as information hubs, the survey reveals that citizens perceive libraries as having a significant and positive impact on community life. The survey findings will be circulated amongst key stakeholders, including governmental officials, policy makers, local and international non-governmental organizations, civil society, and local communities. A country coming out of decades of isolation, Myanmar is now rapidly building the information infrastructure needed for its citizens to participate in the reform process and compete in the global marketplace. Myanmar?s reverence toward libraries and its vast library network has the potential to aid this process. This study focuses on public libraries ? defined in Myanmar as libraries registered with the government ? because of their accessibility to a wider number of people and potential for scalability. In addition to public libraries, Myanmar has university, monastic, private, and specialized libraries, few of which register as public libraries. There are 55,755 registered public libr aries in the country, but only 4,868 are considered active. Prior to this study, very little was known about them. The objectives of the project were to sample active public libraries in order to: ..."
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation, Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation
Date of publication: 2013-12-31
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-21
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Myanmar: News Media Law - legal analysis (English)
Description/subject: Executive summary: "This analysis examines the compliance of the 2014 News Media Law of Myanmar with international standards on freedom of expression and media freedom. The News Media Law introduces some guarantees for media freedom, such as the prohibition of censorship and the recognition of specific rights of media workers. This may be seen as a positive attempt to begin dismantling the extensive apparatus of censorship in the country, and the government should be encouraged to build upon the positive elements of the Law. However, ARTICLE 19 remains seriously concerned with shortcomings in the law. The safeguards for media freedom are heavily qualified and insufficient to meet international standards. All types of media, including print, broadcast and Internet- based media, remain under the unrestricted control of the government through the Media Council. The Media Council is not independent from government, and therefore fails to sufficiently safeguard the media from the application of content-based criminal laws that, while not imposing custodial sentences, still unjustifiably limit freedom of expression. ARTICLE 19 calls on the Myanmar authorities to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and comprehensively reform the News Media Law in order to ensure its compliance with international st andards on freedom of expression."
Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of publication: 2014-07-18
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-21
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 154.42 KB
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Title: International Meeting of Experts on further study of the concept of the rights of peoples
Description/subject: FINAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS... Annex I - List of Participants; Annex II - Agenda..."...5. The right of peoples to self-determination is now well established by international law in the case of colonial peoples, peoples in dependent territories and peoples living under racist regimes. The right of peoples to self-determination in other States may sometimes come into conflict with the principle of State sovereignty which is an important element in the international legal order for safeguarding the right to peace. There is an understandable fear that, understood in one way, the peoples? right to self-determination might lead to the fragmentation of States, the disruption of settled international boundaries, the breakdown of governmental authority and even manipulation of peoples for the purpose of disrupting the internal affairs of States. It is this concern which makes the further study of the rights of peoples both legitimate and important. Especially important is a further attempt to describe the features of a ‘people? to whom, by international law, rights such as to existence as a people and to self-determination attach. This subject was the topic of much discussion during the meeting. History teaches that where a State does not have the appropriate legitimacy to represent a people or peoples living within its borders, the right of such peoples to self-determination may assert itself in popular unrest, revolution, or even war..."
Source/publisher: UNESCO
Date of publication: 1989-11-30
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-19
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 831 KB
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Title: Widespread condemnation of 10-year jail sentences handed down to Burmese journalists
Description/subject: "Journalists and media and human rights organisations in Myanmar and abroad have reacted with shock and dismay to the 10 years? jail with hard labour sentences handed down in the Unity journal case. A court in Magway Region imposed the sentence on the weekly publication?s chief executive officer and four reporters on July 10, 2014 over a report the journal carried in January that a military-run factory was producing chemical weapons, a claim denied by the government..."
Source/publisher: Mizzima News, Freedom House, WAN-IFRA, Southeast Asian Press Alliance‎, Aung San Suu Kyi, Amnesty International via IFEX
Date of publication: 2014-07-11
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-17
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Local URL:
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Title: State of the Tropics report (2014)
Description/subject: The State of the Tropics report will consider the question: Is life in the tropics getting better? The report will analyse a range of environmental, social and economic indicators to answer this question. The analysis will shine a bright light on a variety of key issues and provide a foundation for policy makers, geopolitical analysts and other stakeholders to examine in greater detail the tropics and the major issues affecting it. Given these multiple dimensions, answers to the fundamental question are likely to be positive for some aspects and negative for others. Furthermore, people hold different values and what is viewed as progress by some will be seen as regress by others. That is, the concept of progress is influenced by an individual?s perspective. The Report will also identify major challenges for the Zone, recognising that it is important the focus is not too negative, and includes a discussion of opportunities. State of the Tropics will be a dispassionate, statistical analysis of a range of statistical indicators that will reveal trends and areas where progress is being made or lost. Data will be gathered from existing collections from authoritative sources and there will be no new data collection. An indicators data base will be developed and made available publicly, with annual data updates. For completeness, the Report will examine issues that bind the different parts of the Zone together. Geography is clearly one element in common, and another is climate. Consequently, climate and climate change and its economic, social and environmental impacts will be examined. A five yearly State of the Tropics report will be published, and will be supplemented by an annual State of the Tropics paper focusing on a key issue in the tropical world. For universities and research institutions focused on the tropics, this is our place, and we share a responsibility to work with and for the people of the tropics, to bring to bear the power of our understanding, science and innovation on the issues of the tropics to create a brighter future for the tropics and its peoples. This is the main rationale for producing the State of the Tropics Report......Section 1 – Foreword, Executive Summary and Introduction (4.1mb)... Section 2 – The Ecosystem (8.8mb)... Section 3 – The Human System (15.6mb)... Download the report with single page views (easier to print): Section 1 – Foreword, Executive Summary and Introduction (5.2mb)... Section 2 – The Ecosystem (12.5mb)... Section 3 – The Human System (Health, Education and Work) (11mb)... Section 3 – The Human System (Economy and Governance) (11mb).
Source/publisher: James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
Date of publication: 2014-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-16
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Local URL:
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Title: BURMA/MYANMAR: Journalists get ten years jail for writing on army
Description/subject: "The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that four journalists who wrote an investigative article about an army facility in Burma have been sentenced to ten years in jail, along with their editor. The conviction is clearly intended to intimidate the print media in Burma, or Myanmar, at a time that the country is supposedly democratizing..."
Source/publisher: Asian Human Rights Commission (Urgent Appeals Programme)
Date of publication: 2014-07-14
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-15
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Local URL:
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Title: In Pursuit of Justice: Reflections on the past and hopes for the future of Burma
Description/subject: INTRODUCTION: "Since 2011, Burma has begun to emerge from 50 dark years of dictatorship. Now, under President Thein Sein?s nominally civilian government the possibility has arisen for Burma to begin rebuilding and reconciling divided segments of the nation, and to provide justice to victims for decades of human rights abuses. Burma?s minority ethnic communities have experienced grave human rights abuse at the hands of the SPDC regime and its strong arm of the Burmese military, or Tatmadaw. In order to transition successfully towards true democracy and national reconciliation, the Burmese government must address, and act upon, the specific needs expressed by victims of past abuse, documented and expounded herein, in order to move away from the abusive culture of the past towards a united future. Within this report you will find a detailed history of Burma? ethnic conflict, how that conflict has been sewn into the very fabric of the SPDC regime?s ideology and governing strategy, and ways in which the Tatmadaw has implemented the regime?s strategy by crippling livelihoods, physically and mentally abusing, and destroying the security of Burma?s minority ethnic communities. The purpose of this report is to guide the Burmese government in the implementation of mechanisms of transitional justice in Burma. To achieve this goal, this report looks at Burma?s history of human rights violations and analyzes how to repair the relationship between the government and the citizens. The government has committed, and continues to commit, vast numbers of human rights abuses against its minority ethnic communities, violations including land confiscation; forced labor and forced portering; physical abuse, torture, and murder; and rape and sexual abuse. In order for the Burmese government to employ appropriate mechanisms of justice, this report identifies the effects such violations have had on the victims, and what the victims require from the government to provide adequate justice and reparations for such violations. Through this report, HURFOM hopes to hold a megaphone to the voices of Burma?s ethnic people regarding past human rights abuses. This report addresses victims? expectations of the government for a future democratic Burma. Of utmost importance to building peace in Burma are three key elements of trust-building, national reconciliation, and transitional justice. The government must implement appropriate mechanisms to fulfill these three objectives in order to create sustainable peace throughout the country. Central to achieving these goals is the de-structuring of the SPDC?s pervasive culture of impunity surrounding human rights violations against its citizens. While impunity, unaccountability, extortion, and corruption continue to exist, there can be no repair of trust or unity within the society. Without eliminating all impunity, there will be no reconciliation in Burma. Minority ethnic communities in Burma have been traumatized by decades of abuse and exploitation. It is HURFOM?s hope that this report will push the government to provide healing to the victims from such trauma with realistic solutions and reparations. HURFOM also hopes to attract the world?s attention and urge international agencies and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to support reparations in Burma."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM)
Date of publication: 2014-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-15
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.52 MB
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Title: Economics of Peace and Conflict
Description/subject: Executive summary: "The attention on business concessions and economic development in peace negotiations is a highly controversial issue that many believe compromises the core question of political and national identity issues. However it is important to recognise that major grievances that fuel conflict are related to economics, namely negative impacts of development projects on local communities and competition over control of economic resources between local ethnic groups and the central government. Moreover, Non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs) themselves realise that fighting for the rights of their people cannot avoid the question of economics as money and power are inextricably linked. This report explores the economic roots of conflict in an attempt to identify peaceful solutions. It observes six main economic grievances that drive conflict in Myanmar, and tries to analyse the different measures being taken to address each of them. These grievances include increased militarisation of economic projects, lack of ownership and management power over natural resources, land confiscation, environmental and social impact of economic projects, poverty and underdevelopment in ethnic nationality areas. The reformist government has tried to respond to each of these grievances by initiating a multitude of bills, policies, development plans, commissions and committees under the existing constitution. NSAGs have tried to address these issues, sometimes independently, but more often through demands in peace negotiations with the government. Civil society groups also play an active role in voicing local needs and grievances that are important in informing sound decision making for policy solutions. International aid supports these different actors and reforms through financial and technical assistance. Analysing the wide-ranging attempts to address economic grievances reveals an important discovery that the key hindrance to ongoing reforms and implementation of peace agreements is the continued power of the military over the economy and government administrative structure. Its own economic interests and ideologies in dealing with NSAGs inevitably put them in opposition to the government?s plans to change existing power structures. The centralisation of key ownership and management power over natural resources stipulated in the 2008 Constitution also mean that the government?s enthusiasm for decentralisation reforms will not solve the ethnic struggle. The military?s legacy may explain why - despite the many attempted solutions - conflict has not abated and locals have yet to witness major improvements in their lives. Ensuring that these solutions can succeed in achieving real change and sustainable peace will not only rely on great skill but reforming the old powers of the military and transforming it into a professional defence army. Understanding the underlying economic interests of competing groups in Myanmar is therefore critical in achieving the much desired peace and stability."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Peace Monitor, Burma News International
Date of publication: 2013-08-31
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-12
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.55 MB
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Title: Burma: The art of transition (text and video)
Description/subject: "The Art of Transition Symposium took place in Yangon on March 30th – 31st 2013. It was the first public discussion of artist freedom of expression in Burma, looking in particular at the impact of the wave of political reforms, which started at the end of 2011, on artistic freedom of expression. Here is a short film directed by artist Htein Lin, who also was artistic advisor to the symposium with comedian and director Zarganar. The film reports briefly on the Symposium, and gives a snapshot of some of the performances and exhibitions that have taken place in Yangon during the year since the symposium. The Symposium was co-produced by HOME – Zarganar?s new company HOME (which stands for House of Media and Entertainment) and Index on Censorship. The Burmese team was led by journalist and former political prisoner Zaw Thet Htwe..."
Source/publisher: Index on Censorship, Zargana, Htein Lin et al.
Date of publication: 2013-03-30
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-11
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Local URL:
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Title: Article 19 - Burma/Myanmar page
Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-11
Type: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Local URL:
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Title: Extract on Myanmar from: "Children and armed conflict - Report of the Secretary-General", 15 May 2014.
Description/subject: Extract on Myanmar from: Children and armed conflict - Report of the Secretary-General , 15 May 2014. General Assembly document (A/68/878), Security Council document (S/2014/339)
Source/publisher: United Nations
Date of publication: 2014-05-15
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-08
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 75.25 KB
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Title: Armed Groups and Political Legitimacy (Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Description/subject: "The peace process in Myanmar remains the best opportunity in many decades to address the political, social and economic issues that have long driven armed conflict. Although negotiations between the government and ethnic armed groups have struggled to reach agreement on a number of key issues, there is still the prospect of negotiating a nationwide ceasefire accord in the next few months. Already, significant progress has been made both on the substance of negotiations and in bringing key actors to the table. However, continued military clashes in northern Myanmar have damaged confidence in the peace process, while progress in the talks has been slow due to different conceptions regarding the structure and legitimacy of the state, and of its challengers..."
Ashley South
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" 23 June 2014
Date of publication: 2014-06-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-06
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 78.63 KB
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Title: Armed Groups and Political Legitimacy (English)
Description/subject: "THE peace process in Myanmar remains the best opportunity in many decades to address the political, social and economic issues that have long driven armed conflict. Although negotiations between the government and ethnic armed groups have struggled to reach agreement on a number of key issues, there is still the prospect of negotiating a nationwide ceasefire accord in the next few months. Already, significant progress has been made both on the substance of negotiations and in bringing key actors to the table. However, continued military clashes in northern Myanmar have damaged confidence in the peace process, while progress in the talks has been slow due to different conceptions regarding the structure and legitimacy of the state, and of its challengers..."
Ashley South
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" 23 June 2014
Date of publication: 2014-06-23
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-06
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 58.77 KB
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Title: Subnational Governments and Business in Myanmar (English)
Description/subject: "...Economic growth inMyanmar has been strong over the past few years, with the International Monetary Fund predicting a 7.5% growth rate for 2014. Creating a conducive business environment for increased foreign direct investment as well as a vibrant domestic private sector is a key element in generating strong and sustainable economic growth. At the local level, the important role of small- and medium-sized businesses, which constitute the vast majority of businesses in the country, to provide employment and services to communities, to generate much needed revenues for local governments to finance social services and development initiatives, and to participate effectively in the emerging production chains as part of Myanmar?s regional and global integration must be highlighted. Encouraging these local agents of growth is dependent on both furthering national reforms but also on strengthening the support of local governments at the state and region levels and below. The research presented in this discussion paper by Jared Bissinger and Linn Maung Maung analyzes the role that local government institutions play in economic governance and how this affects small- and medium-sized businesses. Intended to reach a general readership, the paper provides the relevant history, policy structures and overarching reform context. Moreover, using data collected through field work carried out in Mon State and Sagaing Region, the authors illustrate and analyze local economic governance trends and the subsequent business environment for small- and medium-sized businesses. The paper concludes with key policy considerations by the authors..."
Jared Bissinger, Linn Maung Maung
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation, MDRI-CESD
Date of publication: 2014-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-05
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 601.95 KB
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Title: A Preliminary Assessment of Decentralization in Education: Experiences in Mon State and Yangon Region (English)
Description/subject: "This discussion paper examines decentralization within the formal education system in Myanmar in Yangon Region and Mon State. The aspects of decentralization considered include arrangements between the central government and the states for the management of education, including budgets, human resources, curriculum, policy frameworks, and overall decision-making authority..."
Brooke Zobrist, Patrick McCormick
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation, MDRI-CESD ( No. 1)Discussion Papaer
Date of publication: 2013-11-30
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-04
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 619.39 KB
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Title: Women?s Participation in the Subnational Governance of Myanmar (Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Description/subject: "...Women?s participation in the political life of Myanmar is gaining attention from policy makers and researchers but systematic data remains lacking. Analytical work done in other parts the world has shown that increased women?s participation in political, social and economic life of a country can lead to significant improvements in equity and effectiveness of policies to the benefits of all stakeholders. As greater authority is being transferred to subnational governments in Myanmar leading to an expansion of roles of local authorities and decisionmaking, understanding the nature of women?s participation in subnational governance institutions and processes is essential. This paper outlines women?s participation in the various forms of subnational governance in Myanmar, discuss why women?s participation matters, and identifies the barriers and enabling factors to their participation. The findings are intended to inform discussion on this issue among the government, civil society, political parties, and development partners. The paper also highlights avenues for future research..."
Paul Minoletti
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation, MDRI-CESD
Date of publication: 2014-06-16
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-04
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 1.07 MB
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Title: Fiscal Decentralization in Myanmar: Towards a Roadmap for Reform (English)
Description/subject: "...Fiscal decentralization forms the backbone of Myanmar?s efforts to strengthen public services, encourage development across the country, and secure peace and stability. The country has made important first steps in the decentralization process, but as yet these do not form a consistent framework for distributing budgetary resources. This discussion paper by Hamish Nixon and Cindy Joelene intends to inform the wider discussion about how best to proceed with fiscal decentralization in Myanmar. Its goal is to inform policy makers, civil society, political parties, and international development partners of principles and processes to guide fiscal decentralization policy. The paper presents ideas for a fiscal decentralization roadmap that are grounded in the country?s context, and that build on existing structures and reforms while leaving space for the longer‐term evolution of the decentralization process..."
Hamish Nixon, Cindy Joelene
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation, MDRI-CESD
Date of publication: 2014-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-04
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.06 MB
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Title: Natural Resources and Subnational Governments in Myanmar: Key considerations for wealth sharing မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏သဘာဝသယံဇာတအရင်းအမြစ်များနှင့် ဒေသဆိုင်ရ??
Description/subject: "The Myanmar Development Resource Institute?s Centre for Economic and Social Development (MDRI-CESD) and The Asia Foundation are pleased to present this fourth volume in the Subnational Governance in Myanmar Discussion Paper Series. Myanmar?s government has announced a commitment to both greater transparency in natural resource sectors and to further fiscal decentralization. There has also been increasing discussion of sharing natural resource revenues in the contexts of economic restructuring, constitutional reform, and the peace process. However, there is not yet consensus on what is to be shared, between which entities, how, or why. This discussion paper is intended to provide an overview of the current unknown and known elements of the resource governance system in Myanmar in order to inform future analysis of the potential risks and benefits of changes to the role of subnational governments."
Thet Aung Lynn, Mari Oye
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation, MDRI-CESD
Date of publication: 2014-06-16
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-04
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 1.42 MB
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Title: Natural Resources and Subnational Governments in Myanmar: Key considerations for wealth sharing (English)
Description/subject: "...The research presented in this discussion paper by Thet Aung Lynn and Mari Oye provides an overview of the current role of subnational government in natural resource management and revenue collection in Myanmar. Natural resources provide a large share of government revenue, and there is potential for growth in these sectors in coming years. The government under President Thein Sein has made reform of the natural resource management system a priority, and the topic remains the subject of great interest among the wider public and civil society. In addition, natural resource management and revenue collection has long been a contentious issue in the country?s numerous ethnic conflicts and will need to be fully considered in the political dialogue. As discussion of potential future reforms takes place, an overview of the current laws, systems, and practices surrounding these areas is intended to lay the groundwork for future research and inform policy debate..."
Thet Aung Lynn, Mari Oye
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation
Date of publication: 2014-06-16
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-03
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.22 MB
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Title: Myanmar laws which should be removed, revised, rewritten or replaced
Description/subject: Lists Burma/Myanmar laws, and recommends which should be removed, revised, rewritten or replaced
Source/publisher: Cooperative [Joint?] Committee on Drafts via "Myanmar Alin" 3-4 June, 2014
Date of publication: 2014-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-03
Type: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese မြန်မာဘာသာ, some English
Format : pdf
Size: 270.07 KB
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Title: Microfinance for Poverty Alleviation in Myanmar
Description/subject: Abstract: "Microfinance has become a significant global phenomenon, as an effective means of providing financial services to poor and low-income people who don?t generally have access to these services from formal financial institutions_ In recent years the concept of Financial Inlclusion has become increasingly widespread in the realization that the underserved population requires a broad range of such services, not merely savings and credit, to enable them to conduct their financial lives more efficiently. Microfinance assists poor people in gaining access to usefully large sums of money which they require for different purposes. It does so by means of innovations in loan contracts, which allow microfinance institutions (MFIs) to limit losses despite lacking good information on borrowers, and without requiring collateral as security. The main innovation is the "group lending" mechanism, to apply social pressure for contract enforcement. Another vital factor that strongly influences repayment is the promise of access to future loans and services. The two key principles that the industry generally focuses on are outreach (the scale of activity in terms of numbers of clients) and sustainability (the degree to which the MFI covers its costs). To become sustainable, MFIs charge rates higher than those of formal sector institutions (as their costs are also relatively higher), but well below those informal moneylenders, the main alternative source of credit for poor households. While empirical evidence has not been able to illustrate a significant impact on poverty alleviation, it does show that access to the right financial services helps poor people to build more secure lives by allowing them to more regularly spend resources to cover basic needs and protect themselves from risks. Microfinance has also had an effect on women?s empowerment in terms of increased ownership of assets and an enhancement of their status in the household and at the community level, although this has been partially offset by the new set of challenges women face by bearing the responsibility repaying loans they have taken. In Myanmar the microfinance sector has developed rapidly since the government enacted a Microfinance Law in November 2011, but MFIs still play a very minor role in the provision of financial services in the country. The overall level of financial inclusion remains very low, with only 30% of adults using regulated financial services. The rural usage of financial services (53%) exceeds the urban usage (45%), which is a reversal of the normal global pattern. The reason for this is that development assistance to the micro-finance sector was focused on rural areas. The Microfinance Law has provided an enabling framework for the sector, but certain areas of the regulation may inhibit expansion of credit to priority areas, such as rural and agricultural (interest rate caps, loan size caps and access to capital). In order to strengthen the sector, it is recommended focus on the areas of policy, capacity development, capital incentives and research and data, with some suggested actions within each of these. Together with some complementary measures in other sectors, the promotion of a higher level of financial inclusion can offer the chance for poverty alleviation on a large scale in Myanmar."
Heinz Willems, Paul Luchtenburg
Source/publisher: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Date of publication: 2014-04-30
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-03
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.44 MB
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Title: "Health Messenger" Issue 14 -- Special Issue on Dengue
Description/subject: GENERAL HEALTH: Dengue in The South East Asia Region : Focus on Thailand and Myanmar (With contribution by Elisabeth Emerson, WHO); Overview of Dengue Fever (Health Messenger); Aedes: the vector of Dengue (Health Messenger)...PREVENTION: Prevention of Dengue Fever (Nipaporn Intong, ARC and Christine Harmston, BRC)...FROM THE FIELD: First International Conference on Dengue and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF), Chiang Mai, Thailand (With contribution by Elisabeth Emerson, WHO); DHF Epidemic in Tham Hin Camp (Dr. Danielle Stewart, MSF)...SANITATION: Anti-Vectorial Response in Case of Dengue Fever Outbreak (Ren? Collard, MSF)... INTERVIEW: Interviews at Tham Hin Camp (Health Messenger)... CASE STUDY: The case of Maung Maung Soe (Dr. Danielle Stewart, MSF)... HEALTH EDUCATION: The Wise Rabbit (Health Messenger).
Source/publisher: Aide Medicale Internationale (AMI)
Date of publication: 2001-11-30
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-02
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese
Format : pdf
Size: 1.45 MB
Local URL: PDF icon HM14-Dengue.pdf
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Title: MYANMAR: CAPITALIZING ON RICE EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES
Description/subject: Conclusions: "Myanmar has new global and regional rice market opportunities. Should they be captured, higher rice exports could eventually stimulate agricultural growth, which in turn could reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity. Better export opportunities and more stable prices, to which a more efficient export system could contribute, would trigger an increase of rice sector productivity and eventually overall agricultural productivity, given the large share of rice in Myanmar?s planted area, production, trade, and consumption. Higher agricultural productivity would also help the landless, who often work as seasonal farm workers. With more and better quality paddy, the milling industry would accelerate its modernization, creating non-farm jobs and stimulating economic growth. Net buyers of rice in rural and urban areas would benefit from a larger variety and improved quality of rice, potentially at lower prices. 109. Yet several big challenges lie ahead. Strong competition from other exporters and constantly rising demands for the safety and quality of rice on world markets puts pressure on Myanmar?s rice sector. While field yields are only half of those realized by other exporters, significantly expanding the current exportable surplus will take time and can only be realized if rice farming profitability is considerably increased. With reduced carryover stocks, rice exports in 2013/14 are currently trailing the same period in 2012/13, illustrating the importance of addressing structural weaknesses along the value chain if Myanmar is to become a reliable rice exporter. A significant increase in exports also necessitates that Myanmar diversify both its overseas markets and the quality of its rice exports. 110. Taken as a whole, the policy recommendations will go a long way towards improving the prospects for more profitable rice farming. Policymakers need to understand that the rice milling sector and exporters also need a conducive policy environment without an anti-export bias to ensure that their performance is upgraded to become internationally competitive. While public spending programs take time to materialize, policies can have an immediate effect. A small change of policy or even its clear communication and implementation can have a lasting positive impact without any cost to stretched national or local budgets. With this in mind, policies should be considered the most effective vehicle for attracting private investment in the rice value chain in the short run and should be utilized strategically. 111. With more consistent enabling economic policies, alignment of public investment with the strategic objective of export promotion is the key to the long-term prospects for rice exports. The focus should change from producing and selling more low-quality rice to producing and selling increased quantities of different qualities of rice and doing so more efficiently. This strategy would allow Myanmar?s rice value chain participants to earn higher incomes, capture the growing market of higher value rice, and diversify risks in different markets..."
Source/publisher: World Bank
Date of publication: 2014-02-28
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-02
Type: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 904.39 KB 1.6 MB
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