Expanding the virtual civic space: fellowships and training for dissemination and distance learning in social and governance issues for Myanmar

 

From 2010 to 2021, the Union of the Republic of Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in Asia, made significant strides in openness compared to its early days of isolation. 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.

In February 2021, the Myanmar military brought this democratic episode to a sudden halt. Civilian protests 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 of Myanmar, to contribute to an inclusive, gender-sensitive vision that embodies democratic gains achieved prior to the military coup. K4DM2 will do this through online training, a wide range of fellowships and research focused on digital rights.

This project supports training and fellowships to strengthen voices for Myanmar democratic champions while expanding their opportunities for high-quality online training in social and governance issues. It will expand a Myanmar-oriented blog space for news media and academic journals on Myanmar for dual-language publication and translation in English and Burmese. It will also expand partnerships and outreach by organizing special online events and mentoring activities and it will bring more Myanmar perspectives to policymakers outside of the country. In addition, it will support a network of young scholars to generate new curricular materials for teaching at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels and expand existing online course offerings and training to scholars from Myanmar.