On August 5th, 28 representatives from Mon State civil society organizations participated in survey and data gathering in the morning, while 18 representatives from government departments and political parties participated in the afternoon.
“It is the meeting where the weak points and strong points found from cooperatively-working administration organizations and civil society organizations are submitted and discussed,” said U San Taung, who attended the meeting.
According to CDEC’s coordinator Ko Zaw Linn Htwe, the purpose of the data assessment and discussion meeting was to discuss and gather data of development issues identified by local people in townships across Mon State, and to draft a report of an assessment strategy in which administration groups and civil society organizations will implement cooperatively with local development projects drawn by the union and state governments.
“We assume that for the State government, it can implement local development more effectively, by making reference to this complete data assessment,” said Ko Zaw Linn Htwe, in an interview with IMNA.
Data is being collected and assessed on the health, education, and business sectors, as well as society, literature, and culture; religion; ethnic affairs; farming and livestock; natural resources; tourism; and peace.
Thanbyuzayat Township is the 7th township in Mon State to have conducted these surveys, while survey and data assessment continues to be conducted in Ye, Chaungzone, and Moulmein townships.
A workshop is to be organized in September 2014 with representatives of Mon State government, respective departments, and civil society organizations, whereupon a report will be released regarding the data assessment of regional development in Mon State.
According to Ko Aung Thu-nyeing, senior researcher of the Myanmar Development Resource Institute (MDRI), a Mon State Development Forum was held last May, and members of the forum are [now] traveling to every township in Mon State to gather data on development.
Data has been collected from ten townships across Mon State and respective government departments, which will be analyzed by academic experts in order to draft a systematic development assessment strategy to be submitted to the Mon State and Union governments.
Mon State is the first state in Burma to collect and assess data in efforts to create a strategy for regional development.
