Pact has been implementing development programs in Myanmar for over a decade. Despite the moderate success of the Myanmar economic reforms of the 1980s, the absence of affordable capital in rural areas is an enormous economic growth constraint for the nearly 80 percent of the population who live at a subsistence level and rely on small and microenterprise activities for supplemental sources of income and employment.

There is no financial institution in the country that offers financial services to the rural poor without collateral. This forces the poor to borrow from local moneylenders, who charge extremely high interest rates. To address this need and to increase the economic opportunities for Myanmar's rural poor, Pact began operations in Myanmar in July 1997 and, in collaboration with UNDP/UNOPS, introduced credit, savings, and small and microenterprise development to community-based groups in the Dry Zone.

Now reaching nearly 300,000 poor in the Ayerwaddy River Delta, the Dry Zone, and Shan State, and with a staff of almost 1000, Pact's Myanmar poverty alleviation efforts address livelihoods' security and health-HIV/AIDS,TB, and Primary Health Care (PHC). In 2001 Pact expanded its poverty alleviation operations to include the provision of PHC services in the Dry Zone based on experience gained working with rural communities over the years.

In 2003 Pact further expanded health activities by adding a HIV/AIDS component. In 2005, Pact introduced a health and financial services integrated project. The rationale for integrating health in financial services was that while improvements in income are generally linked to economic conditions for improved health, the converse is equally true. Without a foundation of health, income-generating activities become less viable.

Aiming to improve access to economic and health opportunities for Myanmar's poor, Pact builds and strengthens existing community associations or groups to enable community members to provide for their own basic needs. This approach contributes to the sustainability of Pact's programs while meeting three interconnected needs:

• Providing access to financial services—credit and savings for productive investments.
• Organizing communities for self-help initiatives—skills training and awareness raising for informed decision-making;
• Improving health related knowledge in the community—education focusing on preventatives practices;

Currently, Pact's programs in Myanmar receive funding from UNDP/UNOPS, the Unocal Foundation, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the Stromme Foundation.