BBC Media Action launched a LIFT-funded new weekly TV programme Yay Kyi Yar (‘Towards Clearer Waters’), in partnership with the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and Mizzima media organisations, on Thursday 23 January at Yangon’s Secretariat building. The launch featured speeches by U Thein Swe, Union Minister of Labour, Immigration and Population; Rachael McGuin, Country Director of BBC Media Action Myanmar; and Rurik Marsden, DFID Myanmar's Head of Office.
Yay Kyi Yar is an informative, educational and inspirational TV programme that provides information on decent work, labour rights, jobs, migration and more. It brings together key stakeholder representatives to discuss decent work and labour mobility policy issues. The discussions provide an opportunity for workers to directly ask questions and have their voices heard by key decision makers, ensuring space for the participation of groups that might otherwise be excluded, including women, migrants, informal sector workers, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
Yay Kyi Yar initially started as a weekly radio show in 2017-2019, broadcast on MRTV Myanmar Radio and MAP Radio in Thailand, which attracted a total of 3.2 million listeners. As U Thein Swe said, “the Yay Kyi Yar programme [has helped] to provide migrants, potential migrants and their families with information on the process for regular migration, knowledge of the potential risks involved with migration, how to migrate safely and obtain opportunities for decent work abroad”.
Through providing accurate information about the potential risks and benefits of migrating for work within Myanmar and internationally, BBC Media Action has contributed to positive behavioural changes on safe migration and money management. As pointed out by Rurik Marsden, the next phase of Yay Kyi Yar represents, “an important opportunity to further strengthen the links between stakeholders to make migration safer and improve working conditions...putting in place these types of mechanisms for social dialogue has the potential to resolve important economic and social issues, encourage good governance, advance social and industrial peace and stability and boost economic progress.”
The 11-episode show started airing on 27 January on Mizzima TV and on 28 January on DVB TV. The episodes are also available online on the Yay Kyi Yar Facebook page (www.facebook.com/YayKyiYar).
