Activities in Myanmar

Myanmar lacks adequate welfare services for the disabled. This project is aiming to foster environment in which the disabled, civil society and government officials jointly conduct activities and to establish model and foundation of social welfare administration through the process to develop sign language teaching materials.

• Record of Discussion signed on: July 18, 2007
• Total Amount: 122 million yen
• Executing Agency: Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement

The project established a taskforce composed of deaf persons, social welfare administrators and the deaf school teachers. The taskforce is conducting activities such as preparing standard Myanmar sign language teaching materials, training of facilitators to teach sign language using the materials to the families of the deaf and raising awareness at primary schools and civil organizations. The goal of these activities is to create an environment that facilitates the disabled to independently participate in social activities together with social welfare administrators.

Yangon and Mandalay are geographically distant and use different forms of sign language. During the course of the project, the stakeholders from the two cities made a joint analysis of Myanmar sign languages and prepared the standardized teaching materials by initiative of the deaf. This attempt is epoch-making in Myanmar.