Zwekabin Myay is a non-profit organisation based in Hpa-an, Kayin State, Myanmar. The organisation was found in late 2012, and our inaugural programme kicked-off the following April. As you may well know, in Myanmar government spending on education is amongst the lowest in the world. Reliable statistics of any kind are difficult to come by in Myanmar however, a visit to any village school or a glance at the resources in a university makes it easy to believe the CIA World Factbook’s ranking of 172nd in the world on education spending. In this environment, literacy rates have admirably remained relatively high (89.9%) while unfortunately higher education has suffered greatly. Change is undoubtedly beginning to make its mark on Myanmar. In the past year or so numerous international NGOs have opened offices in Kayin State. Work on a number of large scale commercial developments has also gotten under-way. The long-term impact and influence of these changes remains unclear. Due to weak networks between the new NGOs and local people, and a perceived lack of suitably-qualified local candidates, some NGOs have been bringing “local staff” from Yangon and elsewhere. This significantly restricts the effectiveness of their work in a state with complex ethnic and linguistic distinctions. The essential starting point to meaningful positive progress and development is to have strong, qualified, able local people leading the way. It is in this space, this gap in the higher education sector, that Zwekabin Myay sees its role. We aim to empower participants by giving them some of the skills they need to maximise their potential. In short, the objective of our project is to provide students with applicable skills that will let them contribute positively and meaningfully to the development of Myanmar. We run an intensive residential education and training programme targeted at school leavers and university graduates from across the state. The programme, taught through English, encompass a diverse curriculum – you can find out more about the programme in the general information section. Following the 8-month residential portion, participants will go on to complete a one-year intern-ship. The school is staffed by 2 permanent teachers along with 2 of last year’s class completing their intern-ships as co-ordinators of the programme. Training sessions from outside trainers to date have included Malaria Contol and Prevention Presentation delivered by Save the Children, Migration and Human Trafficking delivered by World Visions and CPR training delivered by Dr. Myat Kaung. We hope to be visited by a range of volunteer teachers through the programme- if you are interested in coming out, have a look at our WorkAway page- http://www.workaway.info/462739452288-en.html
