LESSON
Lesson Learned: Deepening Democratization Processes Through Youth Leadership in Myanmar
The grantee continued to use the fellowship model in other countries, and a global youth forum hub has been relocated from Nepal to Myanmar. Within this project, community groups were also brought together at state level with a view to initiating a state-level process that would endure beyond the end of project activity and involve both local development practitioners and government functionaries.
Project Partner
ActionAid International in Myanmar
Project Description
The project aimed to identify new youth fellows, train them in leadership and concepts of democracy and governance, and prepare them to lead development projects in their communities. The strategy to do this was through "placements" with local grassroots organizations. The 130 trained youth fellows were supported through the fellowship network, including meetings at local and state levels and by identifying 400 youth volunteers through community "reflect circles" that the fellows facilitated. Together, the fellows and volunteers led and established a large number of development projects within the communities, ranging from pig rearing to the building of early education centres.
The model is ideally suited to both produce the expected outcomes and also lay the groundwork for potential future representation at national level. The project far exceeded its own expectations, reaching more than 100,000 people through project activities. However, planned training of journalists and the development of a website proved not to be possible in the political climate in Myanmar and were replaced by the production of a series of newsletters for the fellows and for broader dissemination.
Report
Evaluation Date
September 2010
Theme
Country