The Students and Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB) came to the UNOPS office to learn about how UNOPS and the UN in general functions and what the organisations are doing around the world. LIFT was given as an example of a fund that UNOPS currently manages. Adithya Kumar who is an intern at UNOPS gave a brief presentation on UNOPS and the UN overall. LIFT's Civil Society Partnerships Officer, Thu Thu Nwe Hlaing then presented about LIFT and how the fund is involved in Myanmar's development - especially with regards to food security and livelihoods empowerment.
SYCB acts as a form of student think tank. Founded in 1996, it is an umbrella organisation consisting of 13 youth democratic and ethnic groups. The SYCB aims to increase and promote understanding and cooperation among various ethnic nationalities of Myanmar and its member organisations. In this period of political change, the SYCB want to develop ideas to build trust and mutual understanding, to develop the skills of its members and to acquire the knowledge to assist in bringing about the political, economic and social reconstruction of Myanmar. SYCB does a 5 month leadership/skills based training, and visiting international organisations is part of the course.
SYCB have conducted youth training events every year since 2006, especially targeting the youth and students from their member organisations. The purpose of the training is for the youth to feel empowered and be able to actively participate in the democracy movement across the country, and for the women to be able to reach leadership and decision-making roles. In 2016, they selected 15 participants to join the Youth Training Centre (YTC). “We have trained them in general knowledge, political sciences and life skills. The participants come from different ethnic rural areas of Myanmar and they don’t have any previous knowledge about the international community and how organisations such as UNOPS work on a daily basis,” stated Shayi Ah Nang, Coordinator of YTC.
The participants appreciated visiting LIFT/UNOPS and they were happy to meet the LIFT staff. After the presentations the students were eager to ask questions for further details on LIFT and UNOPS. Shayi Ah Nang went on to say, “the students learned a lot about LIFT and their operations in Myanmar and how they are supporting rural areas. They have increased their general knowledge of the operations of international organisations and also witnessed the international community’s efforts in Myanmar with this visit.”
Find out more about SYCB here.
