Building Social Capital: Burma Border Assistance Program
Food distribution in Mae Lah refugee camp
Photo: Rebecca Wolsak
Since 1962, when an army coup overthrew Burma’s last democratically elected government, the ruling military regime in Burma has been among the world’s worst violators of human rights. The country is in an almost permanent state of war, causing an estimated two million refugees to enter neighbouring states of Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and China. An additional estimated one million people are internally displaced within Burma.
In efforts to address their own needs, displaced people have created organizations to develop health care services, training programs, human rights documentation, local media, refugee camps, social services for women and related activities. It is these organizations that this program supports.
The Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Canadian non-government organizations have provided significant support to displaced people’s organizations since the early 1990s. In 2000 and in 2005, CIDA’s Asia Branch supported Inter Pares in implementing multi-year capacity-building programs, providing strategic support to a number of humanitarian and social development initiatives. The 2005-2010 program supported the development of displaced peoples organizations and provided access to healthcare for just under half a million people; the total caseload of all health partners surpassed 1.3 million cases.
Jungle refugee camp in Malaysia
Photo: Rebecca Wolsak
The 2010-2015 Building Social Capital: Burma Border Assistance Program builds on almost 20 years of experience of programming on Burma’s borders. Delivered by local organizations, the program focuses on enhancing the capacity of displaced people and community organizations to participate in and contribute towards democratic transition. Inter Pares’ CIDA-funded program has two main components: social infrastructure and democratic development.
The Social Infrastructure component includes the provision of food and shelter to the approximately 145,000 people living in refugee camps on Thailand’s border through the Thailand Burma Border Consortium. It also includes the provision of healthcare to displaced people and migrant workers. The Mae Tao Clinic, operated by Dr. Cynthia Maung, its satellite clinics, the Backpack Health Worker Team program and a variety of other health initiatives are supported to improve and expand the delivery of health services to refugees and displaced people from Burma.
Dr. Cynthia Maung, Director of the Mae Tao Health Clinic
Photo: Rebecca Wolsak
The Democratic Development component supports the building of expertise and knowledge in areas such as human rights and environment, women’s rights, violence against women and access to news and information. There is an emphasis on working with multiple ethnic nationalities, on cross-sectoral issues, on women's leadership and in the development of policies in areas such as sustainable development. Local organizations are reaching out and developing relationships with organizations in neighbouring countries in order to learn from one another.
In 2008-09 the previous program was independently evaluated by CIDA and the report noted that:
“These populations are not merely passive victims in the face of such aggression, repression and neglect. They have taken stock of their situation and have organized to deal with the challenges they faced, to find ways to ensure their basic survival, and to begin the work of building an alternate Burmese society by forging constructive collaboration between different groups rather than resorting to armed conflict. This is the vision that Canada is supporting...
Canada’s support is an affirmation that it believes in the legitimate aspirations of all the people and groups who, on a daily basis, risk their lives in pursuit of a more just and democratic society.”
This program is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
| Reviewed 11 august 2010 |  |
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