Case study—Myanmar

Social accountability training in Kayin State

Kayin Sate is a conflict zone among Myanmar military and Karen National Union (KNU), one of the most powerful ethnic armed groups in Myanmar. This presents  many issues for marginalised communities n the area.

To support these groups, ECID partner Local Recourse Centre (LRC) has been training community volunteers and civil society organisations on social accountability. This covers government accountability, civic accountability and the use of citizen score cards to monitor and assess the quality of services.

Group work discussion about seasonal calendar under the village book exercise – in the village of Naung La village in Kyar Inn Seik Gyi Township, Kayin States.

This training provides skills for participants to (a) strengthen citizen involvement in the oversight of government, and (b) improve accountability and practice at the local, regional and national levels. With this knowledge, the local community are able to build evidence-based data for advocacy.

The issues and needs of the most vulnerable groups identified through the exercises are used to create advocacy and action plans, which are used alongside the evidence-based data to advocate with service providers and other INGOs.

 “The training is very helpful for us to do village resource mapping, access to public services by the most vulnerable groups and identify the issues that the community face”.

Village Community Facilitator