Our beneficiaries are women and youth from conflict areas as well as from affected and/or potentially affected areas by development projects across Myanmar, such as Myo Gyi dam, Paung Laung Dam, Tigit coal power plant, Baw Sing mining, and Ywar Ngan Mining, etc., and vulnerable women and youth from remote areas in Shan State. They are diverse ethnic groups from different backgrounds along the Than Lwin River basin such as Shan State, Kayah State, Karen State and Mon State, and those who have been affected by mega development projects in one way or another. The training programs are home to ethnic groups (Shan, Pa-Oh, Danu, Lahu, Inthar, Kayah, Kayin and Mon) to learn about the common issues that their communities have been facing and serve as an inclusive platform for them to find a better solution through collective action. The trainings are an open opportunity for youths regardless of their experience, background, religion, sex, and age as long as they are willing to work for community development, sustainable development and peace building at the national level. 

In order to create a resource bank, we will improve the capacities of women and youth in Shan State through:

• 3-month leadership for peacebuilding training
• 45-day video advocacy training
• 7-day ToT training for peace and conflict resolution

Three months leadership for peacebuilding training 

The three-month leadership training will teach peace, conflict and development concepts and information related to development issues (extractive industries such as hydropower, mining, transmission line, coal power-plant, etc.) across Myanmar. It will include environmental and human Rights issues, gender equality, law and civic education as well as peace building and conflict resolution. The students will also learn general organizational management skills such as project cycle management, proposal development, and financial management. Further, students will learn general advocacy skills such as mobile video editing, and storytelling. The students will also learn basic English and computer skills during the three months training. The leadership training will be conducted one time a year and for each batch 15-18 students will be recruited. Action research training is also a part of the leadership training. The evidence-based research is very important as it can be used as an advocacy tool to mobilize the target audiences and decision makers. Every year, 15-18 students will be recruited for the training from the targeted areas.

Video advocacy training (45-day)

With the existing social problems and the related structural violence, it is very important to provide evidence-based data about what is happening on the ground and send the message across a wider audience and decision makers. Thus, video documentation plays a very important role to collect evidence-based information on the ground and distribute the information to a wider audience. MNKI will conduct video advocacy training one time a year and the training will recruit 12-15 participants from the targeted areas. During this training, the students will learn topics such as advocacy, storytelling methods, interviewing skills, pre and post production, etc.

ToT training for peace and conflict resolution (7-day)

In the past few years, MNKI always had to hire external resource persons and trainers from outside sources for the leadership training and other technical trainings. MNKI members feel that this makes it too dependent on outside resources and poses a challenge in achieving sustainable development in the region. Thus, we plan to build a human resource bank by empowering local people and to keep supporting and using the resource persons in a more sustainable way in our targeted areas. From 2021 onwards, we will develop the core curriculums for Nam Khone School training program. We expect to invite 12-15 alumni to continuously be involved in the process of curriculum development, and then train them very well to become specialized trainers on those curriculums. With the help of experts, seven days of TOT training will be conducted continuously. TOT training includes confirming the content of the curriculums and providing the trainings to 12-15 alumni accordingly.