Gender and development-focused fellowships and training for Myanmar scholars and activists

 

From 2010 to 2021, Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in Asia, made significant strides in openness compared to its early days of isolation. In 2015, a newly elected government came to office, pledging reforms intended to benefit the country’s 53 million people, representing more than 100 ethnic groups. In 2017, to sustain emerging democratization, IDRC and Global Affairs Canada launched the “Knowledge for Democracy – Myanmar” (K4DM) Initiative to nurture capacity for meaningful engagement and promote better governance, working with scholars, policy actors and activists.

On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military brought this democratic episode to a sudden halt. Civilian protests have intensified against the coup, and the situation has continued to escalate into violent conflict. The second phase of the K4DM Initiative (K4DM2) aims to develop a strong and well-informed civil society — mostly outside Myanmar — to contribute to an inclusive, gender-sensitive vision that embodies democratic gains achieved prior to the military coup. K4DM2 will achieve this through online training, a wide range of fellowships and research focused on digital rights.

This project aims to build a gender-sensitive community of individual scholars and activists in think tanks and academia to support Myanmar’s civil society for democratic development through fellowships and training. Overall, the project will build knowledge, analysis and research capacity on gender and democratic justice among a dozen Myanmar scholars and activists through short-term and long-term (graduate-level) training. The project will also develop a network of concerned gender and democratic justice scholars, researchers and activists both within and outside Myanmar by establishing communication platforms and networking opportunities. In particular, online mentoring on organizational capacity development for local think tank researchers and leaders will be provided.