Strengthening multiple government agencies’ effectiveness and responsiveness to urban safety needs in townships in Myanmar through good data, coordinated responses and community engagement.
Location
Myanmar
Urban Safety Project
Population
Hlinethaya Township, Yangon = 688,0001
Hpa-an Township, Kayin = 422,0001
Taunggyi Township, Shan = 382,0001
Growth Rate
1.85%2
Key Stakeholders
Women
Informal Residents
Whole Community
Other Stakeholders
Local NGOs, CSOs, CBOs
City Authorities
Other Service Providers
State / Federal Actors
Private Sector
Donors
Relevant SDGS
Disruption
Sector
Scaleability
National
Summary
Context
-
In Myanmar, only 30% of the population is currently urban, but this is expected to change.3
-
In Yangon, the fastest growing city, 33% of the population still does not have access to basic infrastructure.3
-
In some wards, women say they feel 10-20% safer than their male counterparts, indicating a normalisation of some of the urban safety issues they experience.4
Interview
In this interview, the three partners working on the ‘Urban Safety Project’ in Myanmar – David Ney, Urban Specialist, Urban Safety at The Asia Foundation, Shoko Sakuma – Program Manager at Women for the World and Lumin Lwin, Project Coordinator at Thibi – tell us how they are combining community-generated data with simple technological solutions designed around the needs of township technocrats, to start new, inclusive conversations around community identity and collective responsibility.
In the short excerpt below, David, Shoko and Lumin briefly explain the big idea behind the Urban Safety Project. For the FULL INTERVIEW, please visit Soundcloud or Spotify.
Key Programme Activities
-
Community engagement
-
Data/technology
-
Organisational training/skills building
-
Policy
-
Stakeholder co-ordination and network-building
-
Technical support
Key Outcomes
Since 2016, the Urban Safety Project has:
-
Built community cohesion with ward safety audits bringing together groups across previous social divides – such as formal and informal residents – to perceive and address shared local challenges.
-
Increased recognition of and demand by municipal authorities for community-generated data and changed mindsets on responsibility and service provision e.g. with one ward extending waste collection beyond formal tax-paying residents to informal settlers, for whole-community benefit.
-
Developed and championed organisational cultures and horizontal learning structures for data-driven decision-making across different municipal authorities.
-
Documented guidance for other communities and actors to be able to use the ward safety audit process and Township GIS Tools in other locations and on other issues.
- Photo Credits
- – Women for the World
- Notes
- – 1 Statistics from national census (2014), rounded to the nearest 1,000
- – 2 Statistics from UN World Urbanization Prospects (2018), estimated average annual rate of change of the urban population for Myanmar (2020-25)
- – 3 Statistics from The Asia Foundation
- – 4 Statistics from Women for the World
