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Challenge from the Perspective of the Mindanaoans

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Challenge from the Perspective of the Mindanaoans

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The conflict is due to the historical injustices suffered by the minorities… Our vision is people working together and helping each other to build a prosperous Mindanao for everyone.  — Gauamel M. Alim, Kadtuntaya Foundation

We were afraid when many soldiers came to our village. They hurt a lot of people. — Farida Simpal, Internal Refugee

We did not know where to go so we ended up in the evacuation center. Now we have no source of livelihood. — Badria Abas, Internal Refugee

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The Struggle for Peace and Development in Mindanao

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The Struggle for Peace and Development in Mindanao

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We see the problem in Mindanao as a complex system of challenges that is rooted on the historical injustice done against the people of Mindanao. This has caused conflicts between social stakeholders including the national government, local communities, enterprises, and religious groups. These conflicts paired with other challenges for the past few decades led to depressed growth and development in the region pushing the people into a poverty trap.

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The Case of Colombian Women Victims of the Armed Conflict

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The Case of Colombian Women Victims of the Armed Conflict

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The Colombian armed conflict is the oldest internal confrontation in the entire American
continent and has placed Colombia as one of the countries in the world with the highest volume of
internally displaced persons.

... women who have suffered violence as a consequence of the war in Colombia find in social entrepreneurship the tool to empower themselves, building an economic and social development of their territory that acts as an integrating agent of society and contributing to the construction of peace in their territories.

Social entrepreneurship could be an alternative to promote the inclusive development of the country, solving various social problems and giving the population an opportunity for improvement, but support and coordination between the Government and citizen initiatives would be necessary.

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It is the role of the government to uphold the welfare of its citizens, most especially the minorities and the ones who are deprived from opportunities. Policies must be enacted to ensure that people from Mindanao have, not only the right access to employment opportunities, but also the right to safety. Overall, the state must be at the forefront in promoting inclusivity and equality through long-term policies that takes into account the well-being of the citizens.

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Programme for Local Economic Development through Enhanced Governance and Grassroots Empowerment (PLEDGE)

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Programme for Local Economic Development through Enhanced Governance and Grassroots Empowerment (PLEDGE)

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The International Labor Organization has partnered with the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) to create PLEDGE. This equipped the locals of Mindanao, who are usually the victims of war and conflict in order for them to sustain their livelihoods. This also allowed them to form greater bond as a community.

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Building peace, empowering communities through livelihoods in Mindanao, Philippines

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Women's Economic Empowerment in Leadership and Development in the Bangsamoro Area (WELD Peace) program is  a program situated in Maguindanao, known for its rampant civil wars and conflicts, in order to help women, usually minorities, to participate in governing their community. We think this is an important project because women are usually shun out of the patriarchal system which leads to lack of equality policies and prolonging of the wars.

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The Reason Behind the Conflict in Mindanao

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The Reason Behind the Conflict in Mindanao

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"The way for peace is to address the social injustice on the ground."  - Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez

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The reason behind the conflict in Mindanao

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Johaira Wahab-Manantan, who participated in the Philippine peace process, provides a brief history of the Moro conflict in the Philippines.

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Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace & Security

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History of the Moro Conflict and Philippine Peace Negotiations

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... converted Filipinos fought alongside the Spaniards, thus aiding the formation of the distinct division
between the Christianized Filipino and Muslim Filipino that exists to this day.

Source: Hernandez (2017)

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The Challenge in the Present and in the Future

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The Challenge in the Present and in the Future

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The passage of Bangsamoro Organic Law serves as a huge success in recognizing the identity, history and autonomy of the people in Muslim Mindanao. This can serve as a gateway for economic stability and growth in the region.

Expectations, however, need to be tempered. Failing hard on the promises could only exacerbate prevailing discontents on poverty, poor governance, and fragile local security. -  Deinla (2019)

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Based on the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (2022), the poverty incidence among population in Mindanao is 33.9% which is higher than the national average of 23.7%, Luzon's 17.2%, and Visayas' 30.8%.

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

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Who Stands to Benefit as the Challenge Persists?

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Who Stands to Benefit as the Challenge Persists?

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The Lumads live in mineral rich areas coveted by foreign mining companies. There is massive militarisation in these areas to protect foreign mining interests.

Campaigners say the extended militarization of Mindanao is intended to force indigenous people off their land, so they can be handed over to mining, energy and logging companies.

Source: Hofman (2016) and Chandran (2018)

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Socio-Economic Indicators for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao

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Socio-Economic Indicators for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao

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The figure shows some of the socio-economic indicators for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao as compared to the national average.

Source: Cook (2018)

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In Mindanao, as in most displacement situations, the majority of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are women and children.

Long-standing conflict related limitations on men’s mobility have led in some places to a clear gap between the educational attainment of women and men. In the long-term, this leaves men qualified only for
low-skilled manual labor jobs, and places a greater income generation burden on women.

In many areas, girls are less likely to participate in
schooling compared to boys.

Source: The Asia Foundation (2011)

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The Paquibato district of Davao City in the Philippines
has suffered from the decades-old violence caused by
the communist rebel groups seeking to overthrow the
government.

The committee launched an emergency response to
address these immediate issues, and subsequently labelled the programme Peace 911.

The project arranged training in container gardening for
women in the community, which enabled them to grow
organic vegetables for their families and provided a small income through the sale of vegetables to neighbours. This element of the programme applies the High Levels of Human Capital and Sound Business Environment Pillars of Positive Peace by supporting economic development and advancing the human capital base by teaching new skills.

Within nine months of the Peace 911 project, the military
declared Paquibato clear of the communist insurgency, an extraordinary outcome.

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Estimates from the latest report by the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (2022) show that a total of 21,673 families or 106,496 individuals are currently displaced in Mindanao due to natural disaster, armed conflicts, clan feud, and crime & violence.

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2022)

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Nespresso partnered with an NGO to revive the coffee industry of Sudan by training locals and providing them the necessary resources to extract and process coffee.

What we can learn here is that social enterprise can only be successful if the people we are helping also own the enterprise and earn alongside us. This is important because we are doing the business for them not for profit so we must always employ them. Moreover, it is also important that we endow resources and training so that they can learn to do it alone and they can replicate it themselves without the need of our help.

Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/4-companies-helping-rebuild-conflict-ridden-countries/

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When you hear of “doing business” in war zones, you might think of unscrupulous companies out to take advantage of other people’s misery. While that dark side undoubtedly does exist, the business world has also shown it can make a positive difference in some of the most challenging situations.

“Numerous companies are implementing strategies for positive impact into their core operations, taking their involvement beyond traditional CSR or philanthropy,” writes ICRC President Peter Maurer in a new report from the Global Agenda Council on Fragility, Violence & Conflict. And much can be learned from their pioneering approaches.

Connecting Afghanistan

Many parts of Afghanistan have never had much in the way of modern infrastructure, but years of conflict have devastated what little there was. “Decades of war, a harsh climate and neglect left much of what had been built in rubble,” USAID notes.

It was against this backdrop that the Afghan company Roshan set out to build a telecommunications network from scratch. While some were being criticized for bringing in foreign contractors to help rebuild the war-torn country, Roshan instead turned to the local population, investing on average $2,000 per employee in training and mentorship.

Today, Roshan is Afghanistan’s largest private investor and taxpayer, having contributed around $500 million in taxes to the Afghan government since 2003. Almost all – 97% of its staff – are Afghans, and 20% of them are women. For a country with one of the world’s lowest rates of female workforce participation, that’s revolutionary.

Cutting off funding to armed groups

The Democratic Republic of Congo might be a country rich in natural resources, but violence and endemic corruption have prevented it from reaching its potential. Its ongoing conflict – which some experts refer to as “Africa’s world war” – has left millions dead and almost 3 million people have been internally displaced.

These same natural resources that offer the country hope for a brighter future have been, in a cruel twist of fate, partly to blame for the instability. In 2013, the BBC described the country as “cursed by its natural wealth”, as the profits from the sale of minerals and metals were often providing funding to the dozens of armed groups that operated there.

Image: BBC

In response, many companies stopped sourcing from the area, worried that they would be seen as contributing to the problem. Others took a different approach. In partnership with the Government of the Netherlands, several multinational companies, including Royal Philips, helped establish the Conflict Free Tin Initiative. The project – which has been described as groundbreaking – used a “bagging and tagging” system that allowed the minerals to be tracked at every step.

The initiative, which concluded in 2014, helped revitalize mining villages that had been left devastated by the flight of international businesses, and provided a model on which to base other conflict-free sourcing programmes.

MasterCard in Nigeria

If you live in the developed world, there are certain things you take for granted – like being able to open a bank account. But in much of the developing world, that’s not a given. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, only 24% of adults have an account at a formal banking institution, compared to 89% of people in high-income countries

Percentage of adults with an account at a formal financial institution

Image: Initiative for Global Development

In Nigeria, access rates are slightly higher than the regional average, but still far from where they should be: 70% of adults do not have a formal bank account.

That’s largely down to the fact many people have nothing in the way of formal identification. Of 2,000 girls profiled by Mercy Corps, a humanitarian aid agency, in Northern Nigeria half didn’t have a birth certificate and 30% had no formal ID. It was these young women that MasterCard wanted to reach with their initiative.

Partnering up with Mercy Corps, who had experience working with the target population, the MasterCard programme aimed to provide a biometric-based ID card which doubled up as a method of payment. It would be the first step for the recipients in gaining access to loans, setting up businesses – or all the other things that require access to financial services.

The two partners have described the task as “monumental” and so far they haven’t reached as many people as initially planned, but their efforts continue.

Nespresso in South Sudan

When South Sudan gained independence in 2011, after 50 years of civil war, it had little in the way of infrastructure or institutions. While 95% of its population depended on agriculture for their food and income needs, the sector was largely undeveloped.

It was in this context that Nespresso partnered with TechnoServe, an NGO, to revive the country’s coffee industry by providing training and resources to South Sudanese farmers. “Coffee production can lift the family, lift the nation, and can bring good things to us,” one farmer explained at the time.

Four years later and with 700 farmers trained, the first coffee produced in South Sudan hit the shelves in France. Now the plan is to scale up the programme, with the help of a $3.18 million investment from USAID. The goal? By 2019, to have tripled coffee incomes for local farmers, train 1,500 South Sudanese – 25% of whom will be women – and set up nine cooperative-owned coffee mills in the region.

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4 companies helping rebuild conflict-ridden countries

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Using innovative business models, companies are helping war-torn and fragile communities recover.

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While the existing social enterprises do create jobs for the members of the community, there is an evident lack of directly helping the minorities in the region. These minorities refer to the natives, women, and children.

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While Metro Manila and other cities in Luzon and Visayas remain highly urbanized, there needs to be an action taken to ensure that Mindanao does not lag behind from these areas.

An opportunity that Mindanao can benefit from is outsourcing from other parts of the country. By partnering with NGOs and companies, and capitalizing on the skills of the people from Mindanao and their culture, the region can slowly regain their livelihood and rise above the poverty gap.

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As Mindanao continues to be separated from the rest of the country in terms of culture and development, Luzon and Visayas must have a role in solving the problems in Mindanao. Being the more advanced regions that they are, the country must be united in serving the best interests of those in the marginalized sectors especially in Mindanao.

While creating social enterprises can address the developmental issue of Mindanao, a more grassroots approach is needed to likewise solve the issue of the region when it comes to peace and injustices.

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In order to ensure that the community is fully equipped with everything they need to sustain their livelihood, partnering with NGOs and companies would be a great avenue to increase their resources wherein additional funding may be acquired. Through proper funding, it would help sustain the livelihood of the people in the community as resources become more accessible.

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Mindanao’s peace and normalization process has been disrupted during the COVID-19 crisis. Implementation of its programs, peace-building activities, and legislation were put on hold as attention was refocused on addressing pandemic-related concerns. This resulted in the reallocation of budgets for peace initiatives to COVID-19 response. Although there was relative peace and security within the communities, delays in implementing various peace programs negatively affected the progress in securing peace in the regions.

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1. The immediate receipt of the additional and/or alternative source of income motivates the community members to remain part of the SE activities and encourages other people in the community to take part in the SE projects.

2. To ensure community ownership, inputs from the members of the community are actively solicited through consultations, dialogues, surveys, and the like, following the
participatory approach in designing development interventions.

3. Social enterprises may benefit from strengthened informal or formal coalitions of similar missions. This will not only strengthen capacities, promote the pooling of resources, and integrate approaches, but also help target/identify problems more specifically and improve project implementation.

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Lack of funding support: Most of business capital are financed by financial institutions and banks. However, they only give out loans when businsess are deemed profitable. this is a problem because the point of social enterprises are not to earn profit but help out people; thus, it makes it harder for them to access capital.

Ability to scale up: Given that we have talked about that social enterprises can't acquire much funding, then it's hard to scale up their businesses. Moreover, only few profits are reinvested to the business given its nature. In short, resources are constraint.

Duality of mission: Some social enterprises naturally earn profit from what they are doing. However, this goes against the model of social enterprises where we must not earn profit. So sometimes profit becomes a problem in terms of moral and operational matters.

Lack of proper business strategy:
It's hard to form business strategies when your goal is not to earn profit because all of the existing literatures or traditional models aim to present profit as the most important goal. Therefore, this requires new and innovative approach which can be hard.

Source: https://hotcubator.com.au/social-entrepreneurship/what-are-the-challenges-faced-by-social-enterprises/

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Social enterprises are fast emerging as an entity of the alternative economy. When the traditional economic systems of a country or market-based solutions fall short to ensure well-being in the society, social enterprises can spearhead disrupting models to solve burgeoning social problems. But the social enterprises face a myriad of challenges and adversities. Some of these challenges are more contextual and some are generic in nature. Among the many challenges the following four appears to be more obvious and general regardless of the context and other influencing factors -
Lack of funding support
Funding is by far the biggest challenge for the social enterprises. Literature identified that most social enterprises failed to secure start-up capital. Given that most of the social entrepreneurs are individual entities, it is therefore difficult to accumulate enough funds at the beginning. Over time some ventures flourish but a vast majority of the ventures struggle to maintain its existence and sustainability due to capital or ongoing sources of income. The traditional support mechanisms, such as - bank or financial institutions that foster the development of social enterprises is quite scarce as compared to commercial enterprises. This is quite evident in most of the countries as the extant literature suggests and apparent from the discussion with the participants. This is to a lot extent due to the fundamental misconception that socially driven organisations are not profitable and there is risk involved whether to money being lend will be given back or not. Therefore, social entrepreneurs struggle to accumulate the required capital and mostly invest their own savings to tackle social problems.
Ability to scale-up
Social enterprises primarily spring up from the social inequity or the market failure when the traditional systems are not enough to meet the needs. The primary problem-involving majority of the social enterprises is that, it lacks the ability to scale-up the enterprise to the next level. Most of the time it starts with immense enthusiasm or a social outlook to address any specific problem. However, the lack of support and structured polices affect the social enterprise to scale it up to the next level. Partly due to the discontent across the societies and the scepticism towards socially driven actions which is mostly neglected. This also affects the sustainability of the social enterprises. Given that most begin with addressing social problems where the government support is scarce, the expansion opportunities become limited overtime due to resource constraints.

Duality of mission
Social entrepreneurs aspire to create social value by addressing various social problems existing in the societies. This aspiration, however, is not deviant from economic objective as it can also aim to earn profit through the innovative business model. The traditional conceptualisation however, associates the social enterprises largely with the notion of philanthropy or non-profit venture. The duality of this identity has remained a big problem for social enterprises. Some social entrepreneurs earn money through their ventures considering this as a more ethical way to do business, some do this with the mission to create a social impact and some try to create social value and develop a sustainable business model. Thus, it is apparent that the identity of social enterprises has become more ambiguous due to the diverse identity.
Lack of proper business strategy
Another major challenge that most social enterprises face is the lack of proper business strategy leading to non-competitive products. Given the focus largely remains on social needs that to some extent impedes the development of the actual product or service offered by the social enterprise. This also hinders the development of a proper business strategy to compete in the market as many of the social enterprises compete with commercial enterprises. In addition, another fact is that the social entrepreneurs often embark on the journey without having any prior business background which is entirely out of goodwill. Due to this most of them would not have the required managerial skill allowing them to plan, undertake strategic planning, financial forecasting etc. Therefore, the poor strategy argument can be a precipitant to the challenge of fund raising, hinting on that the organisations that are documented by literature as facing financial challenges might actually be facing a strategy deficiency and not a financial deficiency.

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What are the challenges faced by Social Enterprises

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Social enterprises are fast emerging as an entity of the alternative economy. When the traditional economic systems of a country or market-based solutions fall short to ensure well-being in the society, social enterprises can spearhead disrupting models to solve burgeoning social problems. But the social enterprises face a myriad of challenges and adversities.

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What Are Focused On and What Are Ignored?

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What Are Focused On and What Are Ignored?

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Focused:
There is considerable focus on a general solution that addresses poverty and recovery in areas that are war-torn and conflict-heavy.

Ignored:
However, there is a lack of helping minorities (local and natives) and diversifying demographics (gender).

Source: https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/more-inclusive-peace-process-through-amplifying-minority-voices

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Myanmar

Format

News and Press Release

Source

Posted

7 Sep 2018

Originally published

5 Sep 2018

Origin

View original

Supporting increased participation and inclusivity in Myanmar’s peace process is one of the Joint Peace Fund’s core values. International best practice shows that a successful peace process requires the support of the entire population, not only those whose lives are directly affected by the conflict. In line with that principle, the JPF has been supporting the Kadu Youth Development Association (KYDA) to include those whose voices, as minority groups, are often lost, so as to enhance participation and inclusion. Through this project, KYDA is also working to broaden the network of people who support the peace process become a success by working in areas untouched by conflict where many believe the peace process is not their concern.

The project includes providing peace education training to young people in Sagaing Region, and Kachin and Shan States, focusing on both capturing minority voices and building community peace awareness. U Than Zaw, the director of KYDA said: “Our training on the peace process brings the attention of the participants to the issues they tend to ignore. Peace is not only related with war itself but also conflicts around our environment. People don’t normally notice them and enjoy their lives normally despite the conflicts going on around them.”

Amplifying minority voices and integrating them in the peace process is an aspiration embedded the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement through its support for inclusivity. U Than Zaw Oo said the project is mainly targeted at Kadu, Kanan and Shanni people as they are marginalized groups and their voices are not effectively being heard in the peace process. “The total population of the Kadu people is over 100,000, however, it has been inaccurately registered in many of our national registration cards. Officially our population totals 30,000 in the official list of the Immigration Department. We don’t have an Ethnic Affairs Minister to represent us and our attempt to correct our ethnicity in the registration process hasn’t been successful yet.” This has had a direct impact on these people being able to participate in the peace process: “As a result, we weren’t invited to the third UPC,” he said.

U Than Zaw Oo says that educating people about the importance of peace is not always easy, especially where the harsh impact of armed conflict is not directly felt by them. He said: “One of the challenges in conducting peace training is the limited awareness of the local people, who assume peace is the business of only the Government, EAOs and parties to the conflict. He explained in places that have not experienced conflict there is little understanding of the profound uncertainties and challenges of life in areas of the country where it continues. “They say this area is already stable and there is no conflict so we don’t need such training. It took a long time for us to convince them to participate in the training. Some of our participants have no idea at all about peace and federalism. I even came across a participant who thinks women have nothing to do with peace process.”

The project started in April 2018 and the first batch of 25 trainees, 40% of whom were women. They completed the twelve-day training on peace education in Indaw Township, Sagaing Region. The second batch of training for 27 participants finished in the middle of August 2018 in Homalin Township, Sagain Region.

The KYDA is also conducting a peace survey, the results of which, along with the feedback from the trainings, will be reviewed during a regional forum which is scheduled for April 2019. Approximately 200 people will come to Monywa to take part.

U Than Zaw explained: “In the forum, we will invite training alumnees, representatives of ethnic groups, members of parliament and Ethnic Affairs Department. We will present how much we have worked for the peace process and to what extent we have succeeded, based on all the data and feedback throughout the peace education and awareness activities, in addition to the initial survey results. Our main intention is to submit the agreed points and statements to the State Counselor’s Office and NRPC. We’ll share them with the government departments as well. Later, we will monitor how our feedback is received and these voices incorporated into the policies.”

Related Content

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A more inclusive peace process through amplifying minority voices - Myanmar

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English News and Press Release on Myanmar about Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding; published on 5 Sep 2018 by JPF

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- Legislation: It is important that policies are directed specifically toward the minorities so that we can have systematic and long-term solutions. The state must also be at the center of helping such people because usually the states are the main oppressor and instigators of wars and genocide. (E.g. situation in Myanmar)

Source: https://www.rescue.org/article/crisis-myanmar-violent-deadlock-leaves-millions-need#:~:text=Myanmar%20crisis%20facts,severity%20of%20aid%20access%20constraints

- Programs: It is important to just not give a general solution about uplifting poverty but we must also make the solutions specific for the poorest of the poor and those most affected. For example, helping the minorities could help them be integrated into society. Meanwhile, helping women within war-torn areas could not only provide a sustainable livelihood for the area but also promote gender equality.

Source: https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/empowering-women-toward-peace-and-stability

- Technology: We should use existing technology and train the minorities and recipients of our solution so that it lessens their physical labor and it makes it sustainable for them to use and become a business in the future. Another reason why this is important is that technology also tackles other problem such as using technology to build green solutions while promoting peace.

Source: https://www.csis.org/analysis/going-green-while-building-peace-technology-climate-and-peacebuilding

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Population: 54.8 million

14.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid

60% loss in value of Kyat currency since September 2021

8,000 arrested, 1,100 killed in crackdown

5/5 score for severity of aid access constraints

Myanmar returns to the IRC's Watchlist after the military seized power in February 2021, leading to unrest and conflict throughout the country. Here's what you need to know about the growing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

Escalating conflict in Myanmar since the military seized power has resulted in a violent deadlock between the military government and multiple opposition forces. While the military leadership continues to use violent tactics to quell protests, opposition groups have engaged in both peaceful protests and a campaign of assassinations and bombings. In parallel, armed conflict has re-emerged in areas that were previously relatively stable. This vicious cycle of repression and armed resistance is driving up needs, constraining humanitarian access and contributing to both the collapse of basic services and an economic crisis. Meanwhile, humanitarian actors face limited access and funding from international donors. Against this backdrop, climate-induced volatility puts Myanmar, which relies heavily on agriculture, at risk of economic hardship and food insecurity.

The economic impacts of the military taking power and COVID-19 have been enormous...

"The economic impacts of the military taking power and COVID-19 have been enormous; public services are failing, and more than 14 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2022," says IRC country director for Myanmar Alan Moseley. "Many people continue to face severe constraints in accessing services and support."

Humanitarian risks in 2022

Political tensions will drive continued conflict, increasing needs.

Conflict and civil unrest have spread throughout the country since the military seized power, displacing nearly 285,000 people. Street protests and civil disobedience have disrupted major cities, leading to increased crackdowns by the government-over 8,000 people have been arrested and 1,100 killed according to the United Nations. As the military's rule continues to be strongly contested, the cycle of unrest and violence will persist, displacing additional people and exacerbating humanitarian needs. An estimated 14.4 million people-up from about 1 million prior to February 2021-need humanitarian assistance, and this number will rise if instability persists.

The collapse of basic services like health care will compound risks for millions.

Following the military's seizure of power, thousands of health care workers walked out in protest as part of a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Physicians for Human Rights reported almost 300 attacks and threats against health workers and facilities between February and October 2021, most carried out by the military. These developments have led to a near-complete collapse of the health sector, including disruptions to medical supply lines. Meanwhile, Myanmar has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in Southeast Asia-currently 21% are fully vaccinated-leaving people (particularly those without access to health care, for example in conflict-affected areas) vulnerable to outbreaks.

A free-falling economy plunges people further into poverty, exacerbating food insecurity for millions.

Myanmar is also experiencing a socioeconomic crisis worsened by COVID-19. The Kyat has lost more than 60% of its value since September 2021, driving up the cost of food, fuel and other essential goods. While the Central Bank has made progress in addressing the crisis, a significant reversal is unlikely, increasing the likelihood of high unemployment and spikes in poverty, particularly in agricultural areas and among garment factory workers in informal urban settlements. Agriculture contributes 38% of Myanmar's GDP, meaning any disruptions to food production and availability will increase the needs of the millions already facing food insecurity and poverty.

The international backlash to the military taking power is deepening the economic crisis, as Myanmar finds itself increasingly isolated. Myanmar's military leader was blocked from attending an October 2021 ASEAN summit over his failure to bring an end to conflict. The United States responded to the removal of the previous government by announcing new sanctions, while many foreign companies have said they will pull out of the country-moves that will further compound the economic crisis.

Restrictions on humanitarian actors could leave tens of thousands of those in need without access to lifesaving aid.

The humanitarian community is responding to the multidimensional crisis in Myanmar, but restrictions on both aid workers and people in need are impeding access. ACAPS describes Myanmar as having extreme constraints on humanitarian access, reflecting the limitations on humanitarian responders' ability to travel to those most in need, as well as the collapse of public-service provision in areas affected by conflict.

Read more about the top 10 crises the world can't ignore in 2022, learn how the IRC selected these countries, and download the full 2022 Emergency Watchlist report for data citations and profiles of all 20 crisis countries on the IRC's list.

How the IRC helps in Myanmar

The IRC began work in Myanmar in 2008, providing humanitarian relief in response to Cyclone Nargis. Since then, we have expanded our work to support communities affected by conflict and disaster and provide services directly and in partnership with local organizations and service providers.

The IRC currently works in six states across the country to provide health care, protection, women's protection and empowerment, and water and sanitation, as well as shelter materials and other emergency relief to newly displaced populations. Learn more about the IRC's Myanmar response.

The IRC also assists refugees from Myanmar who have sought safety in countries including Bangladesh and Thailand.

How can I help in Myanmar?

Donate now to support the IRC's life-changing work in Myanmar and worldwide. We are on the frontlines providing critical aid to crisis-affected people in more than 40 countries, including places on the 2022 Emergency Watchlist.

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Crisis in Myanmar: Violent deadlock leaves millions in need

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Population: 54.8 million 14.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid 60% loss in value of Kyat currency since September 2021 8,000 arrested, 1,100 killed in crackdown 5/5 score for severity of aid access constraints Myanmar returns to the IRC's Watchlist after the military seized power in February 2021, leading to unrest and conflict throughout the country.

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The team was able to research by reading journal and news articles, and watching video clips and interviews. All these researches are integrated throughout this project.

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The team was able to connect with several groups advocating for peace in Mindanao like the (1) Mindanao Peaceweavers, (2) Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute, (3) Silsilah, (4) Alyansa Tigil Mina, and (5) Peace Advocates Zamboanga Foundation, Inc. These groups helped connect us to materials and answered questions related to the peace and development situation in Mindanao—the current state, solutions being implemented, and the gaps that need to be filled. All information from these activities are integrated throughout this project

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Those who are evacuated and displaced due to the situation in Mindano. It is important as they are the ones with first-hand experience about the situation in Mindanao and they are also the ones deeply affected by it, much so that they have to relocate and leave their life behind them. They were quite difficult to reach due to technological problems.

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LGUs will give us a view of the government’s take on the situation. Reaching them will also help us see their take on why solutions are and are not working, and will help us gain a new perspective on why things are the way they are. Lastly, these government units will also help us gain a better understanding of the plans regarding the situation in Mindanao and what, if there are any, are the plans to address existing gaps. They were quire difficult to contact as offices were quire unresponsive during the elections period.

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As we have only been able to contact NGOs, it is important that we reach organization or people like the Lumads, Bakwits, and the government, as they will present different takes to the situation and reaching them will also reveal different layers to the problem. To flesh it out, reaching Lumads and Bakwits will help us understand the situation based from people with first-hand experiences, while touching bases with the government units will help us understand why they are taking the actions they are taking and what plans are there for Mindanao.

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The last elections meant a new set of leaders who come with new sets of policies. These policies have the potential to affect Mindanao in either a positive or negative manner, and the group must be able to evaluate these policies and plans to have an idea of what to expect for the years to come.

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Alex Brotonel - President, Parola Children's Rights Advocates

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Alex Brotonel - President, Parola Children's Rights Advocates

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Challenge: The issue is specific and very timely. It is convenient and nice how the main issue in question was specified, which would pertain to the struggle for peace and development in the area, and there was also additional context added to further support on why it is important to address such an issue. The utilization of relevant infographics which indicate the impact of the issue in question, such as the socioeconomic impacts, displacement, and socioeconomic indicators, were appropriate to the question being asked which is commendable. It was nice how additional background information was added such as the Spanish Colonial period which triggered distinct division between the Christianized and Muslim Filipino that is still very evident to these modern times.

Solutions: The questions were also answered thoroughly and it was also appropriate to add short clips to help the viewer have a better understanding of the issue in question. Accordingly, the second question for this segment was also answered clearly and concisely while also citing the appropriate sources. The usage of sections to divide the questions to be answered were also used appropriately. However, on the technical side I noticed that the citations were only indicated with the link compared to the Challenges section. It would be better to indicate them with their author/organization and year to make it more cohesive.

Impact Gaps: The questions were answered properly and concisely. However, Impact Gaps 3 seems to be not addressed fully. Can you specify what is being overlooked?

Learning Action Logs: The researchers were able to adequately demonstrate how they came to have a thorough comprehension of the topic at hand. It was commendable how they went out to many parties campaigning for peace in Mindanao. It was also good to see how they were able to reflect on what they could do better and how they could move forward to address the voids.

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Kirchhoff Angala - Save our Schools Network

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Kirchhoff Angala - Save our Schools Network

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For me wala naman ako gusto idagdag or scrutiny don sa questions/padlet. Comprehensive nga siya, maganda na inuugat ng mga tanong yung ongoing crisis ng subjects and saan siya talaga nagmumula.

On the results siguro ay make sure lang na dudulo siya sa systematic crisis na kinakaharap ng subject (If we're tackling the situation of the people in Mindanao).

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Andre Quirapas - Economics Student from General Santos, Mindanao

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Andre Quirapas - Economics Student from General Santos, Mindanao

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I see that you're talking about conflicts centered on the Lumad and Moro peoples, but the conflict associated with the Lumads is different from the conflict associated with the Moros. Even then, within those groups of people, they're very diverse rin, i.e. the moros are comprised of different ethnic groups like the maranaw, tausug, etc etc which have differing cultures and differing problems. For instance, iba ang problems sa sulu archipelago vs mainland mindanao territories ng BARMM. So, I'd suggest narrowing down your scope into a specific geographic location,