| Overview : Under UNDP Myanmar’s Pillar 1 Local Governance Programme, Output 2 focuses on Civil Society and Media support. The effective participation of Civil Society Organizations (as representatives of the people) and the Media (as one of the organizations concerned with transparent, credible and accurate reporting of local news) is an integral element of sustainable human development and local governance. UNDP’s overall programme strategy for Myanmar (2013 – 2015) is aligned with the priorities of the Myanmar government and aims to support an enabling environment for development to reach out to all, democracy to flourish and citizens to realize their basic human rights. As highlighted by UNDP’s Local Governance Mapping and other studies, women’s engagement with and participation in local governance remains extremely low in Myanmar, and particularly in rural areas. This holds back achievement of Myanmar’s broader development goals. Output 2 places special emphasis on empowering rural women’s leadership in communities and their engagement in local development and monitoring of public service delivery, working with the federated Self-Reliant Groups (SRGs), represented at township level by Township Leading Groups (TLGs), and increasingly supporting women’s leadership development through CSO and Media networks. |
