I’m already one month into my six-month fellowship with the UNESCO project office in Myanmar. A short disclaimer about myself before I begin this post. Unlike the other fellows my position in the program is slightly different for two reasons: 1) My academic background is not in International Education but in Global Communication. I am the only fellow this year from GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and; 2.) I will be extending my time in Myanmar beyond the traditional three months for a full six. That being said, I am incredibly humbled by my acceptance into this program, alongside such outstanding colleagues, and excited to contribute to the work of UNESCO in Myanmar.
The last month has been something of a blur. I walked the stage at graduation on the 17th of May, packed my things and flew home to Texas on the 20th, and moved to Myanmar on the 23rd. After my first week in Yangon, I had the chance to join a two-week Burmese language course hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Unfortunately, it was also at the three-week mark that adjustment to life in Yangon hit hard and I got sick enough to miss my last week of class. Even so, I am looking for a tutor and hope to be able to have basic conversations by the time I leave in December.
The Yangon office has several projects which fall under the pillars of Education, Culture and Communication & Information. I will be splitting time between the Capacity Development for Education (CapED) and Strengthening Pre-Service Teacher Education in Myanmar (STEM) teams. Over the last month, I have worked mostly with CapED researching their various projects and supporting the facilitation of a recent Policy Seminar.
As a program, Capacity Development for Education looks to, “provide targeted assistance and reinforcement of national capacities to undertake evidence-based national education reforms with a focus on Least Developed Countries and those farthest away from achieving SDG4 targets.” (SDG4, as mentioned in previous posts in the Sustainable Development Goal centered around education.) In Myanmar, the CapED group coordinates meetings between Development Partners and the Ministry of Education working on education sector reforms, hosts policy dialogues and seminars on integrating SDG4 into education policy, as well as collaborates with the Ministry on the National Education Sector Plan and National Strategies for the Development of Education Statistics, among other things.
As a part of the Policy Seminar series I was able to travel to the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, to support an event on Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. The day-long discussion hosted the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Director and the Minister of Education along with other Ministry of Education officials, Teacher Educators, and Development Partners. Together the group debated how best to integrate SDG4.7 into the Myanmar education system.
The Union Government of Myanmar, specifically in the Ministry of Education is in the process of sector wide policy reforms. Opportunities for dialouge between key stakeholders on topics of access, quality, equity and inclusion (themes of previous seminars) are critical in helping policymakers think through the steps of integrating the SDG’s into the national agenda.
In the coming months I will start truly dividing my time between the different projects and learning more about the STEM program. Currently, I am researching the monitoring and evaluation efforts of different countries around Teacher Education. I am interested in working on projects like this because of the opportunity to apply lesson from my classes to the real world.
Next week I will be moving into my new apartment, much closer to the office. I am excited to discover what the neighborhood has to offer. The UNESCO office is just north of Kandawgyi lake and one of the most famous landmarks in the country, the Shwedagon Pagoda. The pagoda is plated in gold and its crown is studded with over 5,000 diamonds and 2,000 rubies. I can’t wait to explore these areas and the rest of Yangon over the next six months, even during the middle of rainy season!
Stephanie Roach is a Master’s candidate in Global Communication with a focus on Public Diplomacy and China at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.