Day in the life of a community trainer, Kayin State, Myanmar

The Advancing Community Empowerment (ACE) project, funded by USAID, works with communities to enhance their ownership, capacity and actions to meet their priority needs in health, WASH, education, livelihoods and disaster risk reduction. Community Trainers travel frequently to participating villages throughout the project in southeastern Myanmar.  

Naw Gaw Hsar Paw, a Community Trainer for Pact Myanmar, knows all too well the needs of local communities as she is ethnic Kayin (Sgaw) from Thandaungyi Township, Kayin State. As she is familiar with the local context and can speak the relevant languages she is able to work closely with the communities in Leiktho Sub-Township, near her hometown. Yet even trying to access these remote communities especially during the monsoon period can become perilous, due to dirt roads becoming slippery mud paths on the side of steep mountain drops. Despite this, Naw Gaw Hsar Paw and her colleagues risk their lives to help communities for a better future.