SEEing Opportunities for Education and Employment in Myanmar

This Lives in Dignity Grant Facility-funded innovative education and employment project (June 2022 - December 2024) in Myanmar addressed the severe challenges facing displaced populations and host communities in conflict-affected ethnic areas following the February 2021 coup, where intensified military offensives had caused widespread internal displacement and severely limited access to mother-tongue education and livelihood opportunities. The initiative pioneered groundbreaking approaches by providing low-cost tablets with solar chargers and portable offline servers to enable multilingual e-learning without internet access—crucial in conflict settings where traveling to urban centers is dangerous—while establishing Community-Based Child Protection Groups to strengthen protection services in the absence of accepted national authorities. The project fostered collaboration between community-based organizations and small businesses to implement peace and pluralism initiatives, explored equitable partnerships with international private sector actors including e-learning providers, and developed innovative market systems development approaches for micro, small and medium enterprises operating in high-conflict environments. Key achievements included combining traditional teaching with technology-enhanced learning to reach children in remote areas, adapting business toolboxes for conflict-affected MSMEs, and creating sustainable business models while involving state education departments to ensure buy-in for tablet-based teaching, demonstrating how digital innovation can maintain educational continuity and economic opportunities even in the most challenging political and security contexts.