Burma/Myanmar
Act for Peace in Burma
Act for Peace partners in Burma have been working to build civil society, reduce poverty and protect human rights for over 20 years.
In May 2008 our international program partners mobilised through Act International to provide emergency relief to victims of Cyclone Nargis. Through 2008 and 2009 these partners continued to work with local communities rebuilding schools and supporting farmers to re-establish their fields, increasing their capacity to provide food for their families and generate their own livelihoods.
Our long term partner, the Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC) is registered in Burma as an ecclesiastical national ecumenical fellowship of various denominational churches. MCC primarily works with its 14 constituent member national denominational churches, 11 national ecumenical Christian organisations and over 25 local councils of Churches throughout the country. The focus of the MCC is to support unity amongst the churches in Myanmar (Burma) and strengthen sharing amongst churches, other religions and related organisations working towards peace within Burma. Act for Peace specifically works with the MCC on their ‘Solidarity and Action for Disadvantaged People’ program which aims to contribute to the building of a safe civil society and reduce poverty by providing forums for education and skills development on topics including community organisation, safe migration, anti-trafficking, local law and citizen rights, and protection of the environment.
Act for Peace has been working with our largest partner, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), for over 20 years. TBBC is a consortium of 11 non-government organisations from 10 countries working to provide food, shelter, select non-food items and capacity building support to Burmese refugees and internally-displaced persons living on or near the Thai-Burma border. TBBC also conducts research into the root causes of displacement and refugee outflows. TBBC’s programs are implemented through partnerships with refugee committees, community-based organisations and local groups, and seek to promote the self-reliance of displaced people through the utilisation and development of their own resources.
Over 150,000 refugees reside in the camps on the Thailand side of the border. In conjunction with nineteen other NGO’s who provide complementary services such as health care and legal support, TBBC continues to work in these camps, not only to provide food, shelter and non-food items that the refugees are unable to acquire elsewhere, but to implement programs that will eventually increase the refugee’s capacity to provide for themselves, as it is unlikely that they will be able to return to Burma in the near future, and only a small percentage of these refugees resettle in other countries. These refugee camps are unique in that they are run by the refugees themselves, rather than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or non-government organisations (NGOs).
In 2011, with the support of AusAID, Act for Peace also began funding clinical, community and environmental health programs in Tham Hin, one of the nine refugee camps for Burmese along the Thailand Burma Border. Our partner there, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), delivers life saving health services to over 8,000 refugees, many of whom have lived in this camp for over a decade. In delivering these services, the IRC maintains a focus on equipping the refugee residents to take as much control over their own health as they can, training residents to participate in programs and where possible, deliver the care themselves.
In 2007-2008, Australia resettled the second largest number of refugees from the border, nearly 2,000 people in total.
Maya’s Story
Maya is a 21 year old, whose father was killed by the Burmese army when she was a child. When her mother died soon after due to illness, she went to live with her uncle and aunt. The Burmese soldiers came again; they killed her uncle, and Maya was forced to flee. Maya does not know what happened to her aunt and sees no hope of returning to her home village. When she came to a refugee camp and was provided with food and shelter by Act for Peace’s partners, she decided to pursue a new dream to help her community and strengthen Burma:
“Here in the camp, I want to teach in one of the schools.”
Click here to to read about how monthly giving by Act for Peace Partners is supporting a clinic in Burma which provides prosthetic limbs to victims of landmines, and educates villagers about the risks of landmines.
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can provide a Burmese refugee with one month’s rice
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can provide a Burmese refugee with one year’s worth of nutritious food
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can feed a Burmese family of five for six months
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