Equipping vulnerable communities with trusted information about health services and their rights to make informed decisions is a key aspect of our project in Myanmar. With this in mind, the work of our community taskforces is vital in spreading trusted and accurate health information and information on other important services.

Our Myanmar ITL Project Manager, Thida, recently spoke to some of the community taskforce members who represent vulnerable and hard to reach groups including women, people with disabilities and internally displaced people.

Daw Roi Ja

Daw Roi Ja lost her husband many years ago and lives with her two grown up children in Gaw Nan Village, Myikyina District, Kachin State.

As  her church, Daw Roi Ja has been supporting people in her village during covid and any time there is need. She was put forward to be on the taskforce by her pastor.

I am so grateful that I am assigned to be one of village taskforce committee members by our Pastor. As a single mum with two adult children, I spend most of my time serving people. I have helped the villagers while they suffer through covid too.

- Daw Roi Ja..

She reflected how grateful she is working for vulnerable communities, saying it is her passion and blessing of God.

Daw Roi Ja expressed her appreciation for the taskforces in her community.

Having the taskforce committee is good and we can help our communities through collective efforts. While the country is facing a lot of challenges and healthcare system does not function well, the support of committee means a lot.

- Daw Roi Ja.

Daw Roi Ja has been involved in workshops about covid awareness. She will play a vital role in getting information about health services to people in her community and building their trust in these services.

Nang Mya Moon

Nang Mya Moon of Nar Pha Village, Lashio Township, Northern Shan State, lost her vision when she was shot by armed groups while traveling. She feels proud to be a taskforce committee member as it gives her something useful to be part of again after the trauma of losing her sight. Nang Mya Moon has enormous knowledge that she can provide as she used to work with the Red Cross and other volunteering groups.

Her knowledge on healthcare, gender based violence and livelihoods, especially for women including pregnant women, will be hugely valuable as part of the community taskforce.

She explained that the deteriorating situation in Myanmar means people are not getting proper healthcare assistance and she believes that the ITL project will help to fill the gap.

She is pleased that she can raise more awareness on healthcare and other issues for her community through the taskforce.

Introducing our new Myanmar Project Manager

Khin Thida Soe, known as Thida, is the new  ITL Project Manager in Myanmar, based in Yangon, and has worked for Christian Aid as a programme manager for four years.

Thida’s experience at Christian Aid has been in working on our ‘From Violence to Peace’ work, which includes strengthening conflict sensitive practice across all projects working in conflict areas.

Here she shares some insights into her role as ITL project manager.

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Khin Thida Soe Credit: Christian Aid
Khin Thida Soe

What does your role involve?

My role includes leading coordination and collaboration between partners to deliver impactful results and providing technical assistance to partners on areas such as conflict sensitivity, social cohesion and using participatory approaches in our programmes.

What is different about working on an ITL project than other projects?

The ITL project is unique with its integrated approach.  The project’s key strength is working through taskforce committees who are the front-line responders of communities in all emergency situations. Partners appreciate the participatory, vulnerability and capacity assessments (PVCA), which ensure needs are identified by the communities themselves.  This makes people feel more empowered and confident to carry out the community development initiatives in their respective areas.

What are the main challenges working on the ITL project?

The key challenges of ITL project are security and operational issues due to banking restrictions and frequently active clashes in regions. The Christian Aid Myanmar team is finding all possible solutions to ensure partners are supported adequately and are using remote monitoring to hear reflections and feedback of partners and beneficiaries on project. This helps me understand the context and challenges on ground.

I feel so proud of being the ITL project manager and am happy and confident to steer this project with support of all colleagues.