Further developments of Alliance engagement in Myanmar

Written by Hans Guttman Wednesday, 07 September 2011 11:47

On August 18, Hans Guttman, Coordinator of Wetlands Alliance, met with Dr Ohnmar Khaing, Coordinator of the Food Security Working Group in Yangon, Myanmar, to discuss how the Alliance can link up with its network. On the same day he was briefed on the Thadar Consortium, which consists of 5 NGOs working with the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), and explored opportunities for cooperation. This was followed by a visit to Myanmar NGO Network (MNN) and discussed with its Director, Ms Kyi Kyi Hlaing, the opportunities to link with MNN's livelihood working group for future work in Myanmar. He also had the opportunity to meet with Ms Karin Eberhardt who has extensive experience in Myanmar to learn more about the opportunities and constraints in the work in Myanmar.

The following day Hans met with Ms Thida Chaw Hlaing of FAO in Myanmar to gain insight in to how to use FAO's links, contacts and initiatives to support the Alliance work in Myanmar (the Alliance receives funding from FAO's Bay of Bengal LME programme to support Thai-Myanmar cooperation). This was followed by a meeting with Mr Bengt Ekman, councilor for Maynmar for Sweden. After providing an update on the Alliance work in Myanmar the discussions progressed in holding a follow up coordination meeting to the one organised by the Alliance in June 2011 and agreement to meet on the 2 September 2011 in Bangkok together with Norway to discuss cooperation. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Bobby, CEO of Network Activities Group (NAG) in planning for the rest of the year.

The engagement by the Alliance in Myanmar is now ready to move into the next stage where some partners will visit a number of field sites in the so called Dry Zone in central Myanmar and the delta area south of Yangon, the two areas target for start up activities. More on this issue will be provided in the coming months.