Reaching Myanmar’s communities online Online professional development for Afghan justice professionals

Reaching Myanmar’s communities online

35%

Prior the pandemic, 35% of women experienced genderbased violence in their lifetime.

Almost 1.2 million children between 5 and 15 years old are working in Myanmar.7

1.2MM

Under the restrictions in Myanmar prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, IDLO has been working to ensure that vulnerable populations continue to have access to reliable information about their rights.

Since their opening in 2015, IDLO’s Rule of Law Centres in Myanmar have provided training to justice professionals, engaged with communities through rights awareness initiatives, and fostered dialogue to build trust between justice actors and the communities they serve.

When in-person activities were suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic, IDLO responded quickly by using social media platforms and radio programing to stay connected to its communities. As people in Myanmar rely on Facebook as their primary source of information, the Centres ramped up their online communication to implement campaigns with a special focus on COVID-19.

Forms of digital engagement have had a significantly higher reach than in-person events would have allowed. An online panel discussion series – titled Lawyers in Lockdown – was viewed by over 38,000 people watching live, as a recording, or in video clips produced for social media. The series featured prominent legal practitioners from Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay who discussed the current context and limitations on access to justice as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions. A Facebook campaign on COVID-19 and human rights reached nearly 60,000 people and more than 67,000 people followed online discussions about legal aid service provision and justice sector coordination during COVID-19.

In response to the increased vulnerability of women to sexual and gender-based violence during COVID-19, IDLO produced a podcast series, ‘Ma OK Bu’ (‘It’s Not OK’), on overcoming legal, social and cultural barriers to accessing justice for survivors. The podcasts were accompanied by a Facebook campaign to raise awareness of the prevalence of sexual and genderbased violence during the crisis and guide people to legal and psychosocial support services. Additionally, over 22,000 pamphlets about COVID-19 and sexual and gender-based violence were distributed to members of the public with contact details for legal assistance.

To address children’s justice needs, in partnership with UNICEF, IDLO worked throughout 2020 to develop rules to guide the implementation of the 2019 Child Rights Law and raise awareness about the law’s provisions. Limited in its ability to hold face-to-face consultations, IDLO carried out a telephone survey on child rights with 190 respondents to better understand community attitudes, knowledge and perceptions of the law, and better define the program’s future awareness raising activities.

“Before the [Foundations in Rule of Law Course], I thought that lawyers do not need to cooperate with civil society organizations. I now know that we need to engage, communicate and cooperate with others.”

Participant, Foundation in Rule of Law Course

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