Quarterly Progress Report No. 8: Civil Society and Media Project in Burma

The project's overall goal is to achieve improved public oversight of, and engagement with, the Government of Burma as a means of sustaining democratic reforms and bridging the country's center-periphery divide. The project aims to accomplish three objectives: improved civil society capacity for engagement in democratic processes and policy dialogue, increased availability of and access to information on democratic governance and reform issues, and expanded inclusive public dialogue and political space. To achieve these objectives, the project has been implementing various activities during the first quarter of Year 3. Key activities during the quarter included the addition of critical staff to the project team. VSO added an Organizational Development Advisor, Melani Oliver, who specializes in executive coaching and will oversee the 'Today's Leaders' activity. PILPG Assistant Counsel Erin Bloom was deployed as a Short-Term Technical Advisor (STTA) to facilitate sustained consultations with civil society partners and provide technical assistance to Green Peasant Institute to design and develop their workshop on legislative processes. The project also completed its second Political Economy Analysis (PEA) during the quarter. A presentation was made to USAID of preliminary PEA findings on 3 October, and a first draft of the PEA was submitted to USAID on 8 December. The project worked extensively with the PEA author on translating PEA research findings into a report with useful outputs and recommendations for programming. In addition, the project gave support to the Myanmar Youth Forum (MYF) through the Emerging Opportunities Fund (EOF) to carry out a two-day consultation with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) as a key step toward the drafting of a National Youth Policy. The event had 147 participants and brought elected youth representatives from across the country into dialogue with DSW. The project also signed a grant with Local Resource Centre (LRC), the fourth organization to join the team of Intermediary Support Organizations (ISOs) that support Advocacy and Public Dialogue (APD) partners with capacity building. LRC will provide a series of training and capacity-building activities to APD grantees based on the IIPs developed by other ISO partners. The project has been coordinating with USAID through monthly meetings between the Project Chief of Party and the USAID Agreement Officer's Representative (AOR), with others joining the meetings as appropriate. Day-to-day consultations with USAID staff also took place on specific Project matters. The project's progress towards its objectives has been significant, with the completion of the second PEA and the support provided to the Myanmar Youth Forum through the Emerging Opportunities Fund. The project's efforts to build the capacity of civil society organizations and increase access to information on democratic governance and reform issues have also been notable. The project's challenges during the quarter included the resignation of the Chief of Party, who left the project on 1 December to pursue a new opportunity. Recruitment for her replacement is ongoing. Despite this challenge, the project has continued to make progress towards its objectives and has demonstrated its commitment to achieving improved public oversight of, and engagement with, the Government of Burma. The project's priorities for the next quarter include the completion of the PEA report, the continuation of capacity-building activities for APD partners, and the support of the Myanmar Youth Forum in drafting a National Youth Policy. The project will also continue to coordinate with USAID and work closely with its partners to achieve its objectives.