24 August 2022

On 31 August 2022, Progressive Voice will hold a webinar to launch a briefing paper Setting the Tinderbox Alight — The Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar’s Dry Zone. The briefing paper highlights the expansive humanitarian challenges and local responses on the ground in Sagaing, Magwe and Mandalay Regions, since the coup attempt on 1 February 2021.

The Myanmar military’s intense operations — scorched earth campaign, devastating airstrikes and massacres of innocent civilians — have triggered mass internal displacement and a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe in Myanmar’s Bamar majority populated Dry Zone. Having never faced large scale Myanmar military attacks, communities in Myanmar’s Dry Zone neither have the fully developed local structures nor time-worn responsive measures in place to address such a crisis. Despite the lack of experiences, in addition to challenges in aid distribution and failure of the UN and ASEAN’s response, local communities have rapidly developed significant measures to alleviate the immense human suffering.

Speakers from Progressive Voice will present the findings of this research as well as recommendations. A local youth humanitarian aid worker from Sagaing Region has been invited to share her expertise and experiences with humanitarian challenges and local aid distribution, and provide analysis to offer practical ways and means to address the crisis effectively to save lives.

The webinar will be conducted in Burmese and English languages. Simultaneous translation for both languages will be provided.

Date: 31 August 2022 (Wednesday)
Time: 10 – 11 AM (Bangkok Time)
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WjsWjdD-Q9ytSS2WVibI1w

Panelists:

• Khin Ohmar, Chairperson of the Advisory Board of Progressive Voice
• Grace, Youth Humanitarian Aid Worker in Sagaing Region
• Jack Musgrave, Research Officer at Progressive Voice

Moderator: Rin Fujimatsu, Advocacy Director at Progressive Voice

The speakers will be available for interviews prior to and after the webinar. Interviews can be conducted in Burmese and English.

For more information and an embargoed version of the briefing paper, please contact: 
Rin Fujimatsu, Advocacy Director: [email protected]

Burmese version.