Mingalarbar!
Welcome to the June 2019 Edition of the GEN Monthly Newsletter! Lots of activities are done in June and it was such a productive month as usual.
We always request a GEN member, friend or staff to provide some insight into their participation with GEN. This month, we request NGO/CSO member DAWN, who is also an active member, to share her feelings and experience with GEN.
Mingalarbar!
I’m delighted and honoured to write a greeting letter for GEN members. My name is Lu Lu San and I’m the director of DAWN Women Organization. With the aim of “From domestic peace to world peace”, we work on the belief that world peace which is highly anticipated would be attained only when an individual is peaceful with himself or herself. For that, I’m working with people who share the same belief, not as an individual organization. Moreover, we are actively working on the promotion of gender equality and capacity building of women in different sectors and women’s participation in the decision making and peace process.
Currently, DAWN is conducting training on gender equality and peace in Chin State and Sagaing Division, Kalay Myo. As a member of GEN, we are collaborating and participating in the violence against women 16 Days of Activism, the implementation of PoVAW law and peace-related process. It is our pleasure to collaborate and network with the respective organisations from different fields. We also wish to accelerate this collaboration and work for gender equality, women and peace process.
GEN’s Highlights
Training Coordinator and Research Manager of GEN-CU facilitated training on gender and research to Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development's (MIID)Partners Organizations from 25th to 27th May 2019 in Nyaung Shwe, Southern Shan State. Topics ranging from gender equality and development to gender mainstreaming in the research were discussed and there were 9 participants (4 M, 5 F).
Gender Equality Network met with the Minister of Social Affairs of Kachin State Government on 29th May 2019 at their office in Myit Kyi Nar and presented the work GEN is undertaking and the project activities in field areas. It was such a cordial meeting and the GEN team received guidance from the minister.
LIFT Forum 2019 was held from 11th to 13th June at Kempinski hotel in Nay Pyi Taw. This forum marked the fund’s tenth anniversary working for poverty reduction and improved livelihood in Myanmar. GEN, one of LIFT’s partner organizations, opened a market place at the forum and distributed the IEC materials published by GEN. Director of GEN-CU, Daw May Sabe Phyu, presented and discussed the women empowerment in Myanmar and experience, challenges and future activities of Gender Equality Network.
Two-day Policy Dialogue Workshops were held in Mandalay, Taunggyi, Myitkyinar and Hpa An where the field offices of Gender Equality Network are located. These workshops were conducted during May and June. 139 participants from 61 civil society organisations (Male 57, Female 79, Others 3) attended these workshops organised during May and June.
Meetings and Workshops Attended by GEN’s Representatives
27th May – 5th June 2019 - Myanmar Constitution Academy in Myanmar, organised by IDEA in Pyin Oo Lwin, was participated by about 30 representatives from CSOs, Government, lawyers, etc. The academy enabled the participants to understand the components of constitution development and comparisons of various types of constitutions. Advisor presented on “Gender Gaps in Legal Provision in Myanmar” highlighting the need to consider the importance of analyzing the Constitution using the "Constitution Assessment on Women Empowerment (CAWE)”.
2nd– 4th June 2019 – GEN’s Director attended the Women Deliver 2019 Conference which took place on 3-6 June 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. It was the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women in the 21st century. It will serve as a catalyst for advocates working to achieve a more gender equal world. At the conference, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau delivered the opening speech and there were 8,000 at tendees including world leaders, influencers, advocates, academics, activists, and journalists. She joined as a penalist in a Pop talk at IDRC booth during Women Deliver conference 2019. She shared how civil society in Myanmar promotes gender equality and discussed the opportunities and challenges for women's political participation in Myanmar.
3rd June 2019 – GEN’s Co-chair, Steering Committee, CU staff and members attended the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) meeting organised by the Myanmar National Committee of Women in Nay Pyi Taw.
5th June 2019 - GEN's Project Manager and Research Manager participated in the Round-table discussion for Women in political leadership organised by Oxfam. The discussion focused on understanding the work to increase women’s political representation, the gaps we have and how we can support each other and work collaboratively. The group also did a power analysis with the power analysis tools and also strategized how we can influence to those who are vital in the process of increasing women’s participation in the upcoming election as well as women to be voted. Participants were a total of 16 people from different organizations.
5th June 2019 - GEN’s Head of Policy Advocacy and Steering Committee member Daw Kyawt Kyawt Khaing attended a workshop on UNSCR 1325 and localization strategies of Women, Peace and Development Action Plans. The workshop was jointly organized by the Department of Social Welfare, UN Women.
5th June 2019 – GEN’s Adviser participated in the panel discussion with the Parliamentarians to discuss gender budgeting at the Advance Budget Transparency Forum, held in Yangon.
6th June 2019 – GEN’s Director had a meeting with Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa.
6th Junee 2019 - GEN's Adviser Participated in the “Final Consultation Workshop on National Indicator Framework (NIF) for Monitoring and Evaluation towards Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan” organized by the Ministry of Planning and Finance in Naypyitaw to finalize the indicators, including gender-related indicators in the NIF.
7th June 2019 – GEN’s Director engaged as a speaker in a Webinar named "Pathways to Gender Equality in Myanmar" hosted by the Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar. In the Webinar, she shared the recent trends in women' political participation in Myanmar, outlined how IDRC-supported projects aim to promote women leadership, and contributed her reflection on the challenges of promoting gender equality in Myanmar. She also had a video interview for McGill University Website on 7th June 2019.
7th and 8th June 2019 – GEN’s Head of Policy Advocacy Unit participated in the PoVAW bill TOT for Deaf Community Leaders and explained about the PoVAW process.
8th June 2019 – GEN’s Adviser participated in the “Workshop on Civil Society Space and Financial Action Task Force (FATF)” organized by Pyi Gyi Khin and ICNL, on June 8, 2019, at Sedona Hotel, Yangon. The workshop focused on discussing the impact of the FATF, as part of the counter-terrorism architecture, could affect the civic space in terms of access to international donor funding and how the Myanmar Association Registration Law could be affected by FATF initiatives.
9th June 2019 – GEN’s Director gave a talk on human rights and internally displaced persons at Burma Ethnic Nationalities Conference which was attended by about 27 people (9 F, 18 M).
11th June 2019 – GEN’s Director attended Post End SGBV Oslo conference Meeting at Norway Ambassador's Residence.
12th June 2019 - GEN's Adviser and Project Manager represented at the meeting of the “EU-Myanmar Civil Society Forum on Human Rights” to discuss human rights-related issues with H.E. Eamon Gilmore, EU Special Representative for Human Rights at Inya Lake Hotel. Among many important issues discussed women’s rights issues were included highlighting the NSPAW and PoVAW law.
13th June 2019 – GEN’s Director presented about women empowerment in Myanmar and experience, challenges and future activities of Gender Equality Network at the LIFT Learning Forum. She also participated in a penal session namely Championing equality: Women's empowerment in Myanmar. LIFT Forum 2019 was held from 11th to 13th June at Kempinski hotel in Nay Pyi Taw.
14th June 2019 – GEN’s Director delivered a presentation on the current situation about gender equality in Myanmar at the Swiss Cooperation Office, Embassy of Switzerland. A total of 24 participants (20 F, 4 M) were present at the presentation.
17th June 2019 – GEN’s Adviser met with a team of consultants from UNCDF (UN Capital Development Fund) which is designing a program for Myanmar to target the vulnerable women to have access to financial opportunities. Gender equality and women empowerment situation in Myanmar was shared for the team to understand the Myanmar context in designing the program to benefit women.
17th June 2019 – GEN’s Director participated as a discussant in a talk show for Myanmar Women Day with six women members from the Myanmar National Committee on Women. The talk show was moderated by Director General, Dr. Daw San San Aye from Department of Social Welfare and filmed at Myanmar Radio and Television, Tat Kon.
18th June 2019 – GEN’s Head of Policy Advocacy United participated as a panellist in the workshop named “Discussing migration and development in Myanmar” organised by IOM and the CHIME consortium. The ‘Capitalising Human Mobility for Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development in Myanmar’ or ‘CHIME’ report details the findings of a unique, mixed-method research project exploring the impact of migration on rural livelihoods in Myanmar. The multi-year research project was implemented by a consortium of partners including the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population (MOLIP), the University of Sussex, Metta Development Foundation and IOM. Financial support was provided by the Livelihoods and Food Security Fund (LIFT).
19th June 2019 – GEN’s Director joined in a meeting with EU delegations at GEN Myitkyina office in the morning of 19th June 2019. During the meeting, GEN shared the achievements, challenges and lesson learnt. In the evening of that day, there was a meeting with CSO/CBO representatives at Madria Hotel. These representatives are from the project site area who has been received OD, Training, and Workshop related to promoting gender equality implementing activities.
20th June 2019 – GEN’s Director joined a dinner meeting, invited by the EU Ambassador at Summer House Restaurant, Myitkyina, with Implementing Partners of EU working in Kachin State.
20th– 21st June 2019 – GEN’s Director delivered an opening speech at Policy Dialogue workshop held at Hotel Madria, Myitkyina. The first day of the workshop was conducted successfully with CSOs only. On the second day, EU Ambassador, H.E Kristian Schmidt and Deputy Speaker of Kachin State Hluttaw, U Dain Khan Hpong @ U Khan Lin, gave the opening remarks respectively and the workshop was attended by local authorities on that day.
24th June 2019 – GEN’s Director addressed an opening remark at GBV Service Providers Guidelines Training which was held from 24th to 26th June 2019 at Sule Shangri-La, Yangon. The training was attended by 60 participants (45 F and 15 M). GEN hosted the GBV Service Providers Guidelines Training in collaboration with Ministry of Health and Sport, Department of Public Health, Maternal and Reproductive Health Unit.
25th June 2019 – GEN’s representatives had a meeting with the Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Dr Win Myat Aye on 25th June in Nay Pyi Taw. GEN presented and discussed the work plan of GEN and collaboration plan with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) of MSWRR will be carried out in the future. The Minister gave positive feedback and encouragement on the work plan and gave advice respectively.
