May Hnin Kyaw

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Starting Point

Ms May Hnin Kyaw was involved in preventing conflicts and in Capacity-Building Training Projects. She has contributed to peacebuilding through capacity-building. The traditional belief among the undergraduate local fellow countrymen is that “you will be bullied unless you take up arms!” This belief still exists.

She introduced and developed a reading habit so the natives understood and appreciated her principle: "Without Peace, there will be no development in their region.” Her activities to develop reading habits for the natives expanded beyond Shan to the other State, Kayah. She also attended a number of workshops and meetings both at home and abroad, enabling her to share the knowledge she had gained.

She raised awareness programs by distributing pamphlets entitled “Peace”, “Active Citizen”, “Voter Education”, “Plastic Waste”, and “Noise Pollution”, to name a few. She is currently building a foundation for Peace as a “Peace facilitator”. Her role models are Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Peace Journey 

With the lack of peace and security in her region, she feels it is not safe enough for women and children. She thinks the government should know the situation on the ground and work according to international norms and standards, as well as against discrimination. Now, it is like “the Blind Leading the Blind”; it needs transparency; it should think globally and act accordingly; the right person should be in the right place. Instead of development, bribery and corruption are going on. Awareness should be followed by capacity building and empowering local people to develop the region.

She has attended several workshops and participated in meetings held by various institutions, such as the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, American Center (Mandalay, Myanmar), Chiang Mai University (Thailand), International Visitor Leadership Program (US Department of State), WPS (Yangon), and Shalom Foundation (Cambodia). Among her participations were the Mobile Information Literacy program (Loca) and her participation in the voter education team. She has also attended the meeting on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) at the Myanmar Peace Centre.

Success Stories

Her success stories included setting up mobile libraries, imparting knowledge about various issues (recycling, voter education, peace, plastic pollution education, organic farming, and environmental conservation), educating the minority at the international level, and holding exhibitions on “environment” and “climate change.”

She learned critical educational lessons, such as that family members need to extend a helping hand at home, donations should go more towards development than places of worship, and every individual should change their mindset. She wishes to continue working with mobile libraries and organic farming.

She stated that many women still feel their place is in the kitchen. Fear of politics makes them unaware of their rights and responsibilities as citizen. She believes women should also be a “mediator” in the peace process. To bring more women into the peace processes, she suggested that first, they should come out of the kitchen to develop more creative and critical thinking on their role, enhance their knowledge and share with others for the development of the region, listen carefully to both sides before considering and taking decisions. Women must be aware of changes and keep themselves abreast with reality. The main challenge is illiteracy; hence, the situation needs awareness programs and cooperation.