It seems aeons ago that the Nobel prize winning political activist Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were swept to power in Myanmar’s national elections in 2015. The surprise win was supposed to mark the beginning of a new, democratic dawn for a country with long military history. The path it has taken since has not been as straightforward, or as positive as people had hoped.
The development community has not been slow to assist the country’s journey to democracy. In 2018, CommsConsult was selected by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to be communication partners on its flagship Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar (K4DM) programme.
The programme supports democratic transition through policy research. Specifically, by strengthening local research and analytical capacity within universities, think tanks, government and civil society to enhance their capacity to produce policy-relevant evidence.
The aim of the five-year programme is to nurture a new generation of professionals who will engage in open public debate, generate sound research to support evidence-based decision-making and encourage the voices of women and other vulnerable groups in government. A key focus of K4DM is on active engagement and collaboration, an element identified as lacking in a highly fragmented Myanmar society.
CommsConsult is working with IDRC’s partners in-country to:
- Establish robust policy engagement and communications working practices in their organisations.
- Strengthen the capacity of early-career researchers and communication staff to be effective evidence advocates through mentoring and training.
- Produce a quarterly ‘Knowledge for Development Myanmar’ newsletter, that is distributed to others working towards a shared goal in the country.
More than 100 individuals from 30 institutions are attending the Knowledge Forum in Yangon, Myanmar, from July 4-12, 2019. CommsConsult are running a comms training workshop as part of the Knowledge Forum, and hosting a ‘Marketplace’ event on Wednesday 10th July with over 100 delegates. Read more about the Knowledge Forum here.
If you would like to find out more about what we do, and how we can help you, contact us by emailing info@commsconsult.org or by completing our contact form and one of the team will get in touch with you.
For latest information, check out our newsetter on an ‘Inclusive Myanmar’.
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