ACT’s joint programme for Myanmar’s Kayin State was warmly welcomed at its launch in 2016. The Director of the Kayin State Department of Social Welfare emphasized the need to support internally displaced returnees by creating opportunities for a dignified life for them, creating sources of livelihood and other chances.
The project’s funding partners are Bread for the World, ACT Church of Sweden, Church World Service, Diakonia Sweden, ICCO Cooperation/Kerk in Actie, Dan Church Aid/Norwegian Church Aid and Christian Aid. The implementing partners are the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Karen Baptist Convention (KBC). All ACT members in Myanmar are providing technical inputs and guidance to the ACT Joint Project.
Broad partnerships
The ACT-members are partnering with many other organisations in order to achieve the best possible coordination as well as optimal technical support. They reach out to the most vulnerable population in Kayin state whose population of more than a million people. For this reason, government offices like the Department of Agriculture, the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department and the General Administrative Department are involved. The implementing partners collaborate with the Department of Social Welfare. Other partners are the Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), Mercy Crops, the Local Resource Centre (LRC), the Norvegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA), Swisscontact, BAJ Bridge Asia Japan (BAJ), the Nippon Foundation and Save the Children International (SCI).
Find here a report about a joint Agro-Ecology, Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Sloping Agriculture Land Technology (SALT) Training carried out in 2019 to build capacity among key farmers and staff. Since the outbreak of COVID 19, Livelihood Technical Forum Meetings were conducted online through Zoom on a monthly basis, starting in May 2020. Participants were the focal staffs from ACT member organizations and implementing partners, joined by KBC. The meetings aimed to exchange updates and knowledge on the project context and to brainstorm on possible innovations and adaptations to the project implementation.
In 2019 and 2020, more than 800 partner communities participated in the different kinds of trainings.
(CA=Conservation Agriculture, SALT=Sloping Agriculture Land Technology, GAP=good agricultural practices, SRI=System of rice intensification)
Read some of the participants’ stories!:
- Essential veterinary services for remote communities
- From Local Poultry farm to Family Business
- Getting enough Income from Cultivating Seasonal Crops
- Empowering Community Groups for Local Development
- Increased Income from Cultivating Seasonal Crops
Photo: ACT Joint project