Why young people in Myanmar deserve our generosity

Prospect Burma-supported students visiting Shwedagon Pagoda in 2019

People from Myanmar are the most generous in the world! During the 2010s, people from Myanmar donated and volunteered more than any other country overall.

Even in post-coup Myanmar, its people remain the second biggest donators in the world (after Indonesia), according to the annual World Giving Index.

At Prospect Burma, we constantly see that generosity in action. Our staff and alumni come from various states and regions. Some live in villages whose populations have more than doubled due to an influx of displaced people. Villagers share their food, homes and sanitation without a second thought.

They also share acute frustration at the tragic situation they are in. There is distrust and anger at the junta’s attempted coup. There is an overwhelming will to end the cycle of conflict and poverty.

In January, Prospect Burma received more than 1,000 applications for scholarships from young people across Myanmar. All are determined to change their lives, their communities and their nation for the better.

Their application forms are inspiring. We are frequently amazed, impressed and even moved to tears by the stories laid out.

Many applicants have lost people close to them due to conflict. Even more have seen their families lose livelihoods and homes due to the triple economic hit of COVID, the coup and conflict. Others have been caught in atrocities and natural disasters over decades that have never been reported.

But their resilience is irrepressible. Whatever is thrown at them, they get up again and look for ways to make things better.

They know the challenges their communities face better than anyone. They know where medical centres, roads, justice, good administration, schools, leadership, food supplies and disaster-resistant homes are needed. They know what they need to make that happen: Knowledge and skills.

For decades, Prospect Burma has supported students such as these who have gone on to amazing things. One leads a project which is eliminating malaria. Another has created financial tech for thousands of women’s small businesses. Another has introduced new farming techniques which increase food production and reduce environmental damage. The list goes on and on.

It is a fact that the junta wants to deny most young people the chance to gain skills and knowledge. Schools are attacked or taken over by armed forces. Education funding has decreased sharply.

The number of students taking their matriculation exam fell by a whopping 83% in 2023 compared to pre-coup in 2020. For the tiny proportion that graduate high school, the quality of exams is now so poor that international universities increasingly disregard them.

For young people, education is now an act of revolution which is personal, peaceful and positive. It is against the junta’s wishes, because it empowers them to become the professionals and community leaders who can create a new Myanmar for the benefit of the many, not the few.

Humanitarian aid is widely blocked. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were hundreds of educated professionals with local knowledge and logistical, leadership and the problem-solving expertise to get aid through and get communities back on their feet?

More than ever, Myanmar’s aspirational young people need our generosity to help take the first steps on their journey to create a just, inclusive Myanmar which saves and protects lives rather than takes them.

An act of generosity from all of us now, to give young people access to education, will empower them to give many more acts of generosity back to their communities for decades to come. Please support Myanmar’s young people.