For women in Maungdaw, Northern Rakhine State, BAJ started sewing training courses in 1998 and trained local instructors. These local instructors have now taken leadership in holding training courses in sewing, literacy, and family health for women who are the most vulnerable. At the BAJ Maungdaw Office, there is a sewing training center with necessary equipment such as sewing machines and irons. Those who have completed sewing training are allowed to use these machines to make their own products to sell. To reach out further, courses for training women have been implemented in villages all over Maungdaw over the past years.

Improving living conditions through bridge construction

To transport returnees back to their home villages, it is necessary to keep bridges and roads in good condition. Existing bridges are often simple wooden structures that last for two to three years in this area due to heavy rain and cyclones. Having built concrete bridges that last for 40 years, accessibility in the region has improved dramatically, and it became easier for children to commute to schools, for people with illnesses to be transported by cars, and for farmers to transport their produce to market. This had led to the revitalization of the local economy.

In addition to bridges, we have also been constructing many other types of infrastructures in Northern Rakhine State, such as culverts, footpath bridges, jetties, literacy shelters for women, school buildings, local health care centers, tube wells, water tanks, and access roads.

Creating employment opportunities through community participation

During construction, villagers near project sites are hired as laborers. This creates not only employment, but also training opportunities. Villagers can learn carpentry, masonry, and other construction skills through on-the-job-training (OJT). Villagers who acquired these skills through OJT have totaled more than 6,000 people and there are many who have found jobs using their newly acquired skills.

Challenges for extreme water shortage in Central Dry Zone

BAJ began its “Secure Water Supply Programme” in the Central Dry Zone, Myanmar in 2000. With its annual rainfall of 500 to 600 mm, people living in villages have a difficult time securing a necessary daily supply of water. Villagers use water from nearby ponds for daily use, but because they dry up during the dry season, villagers have to carry 40kg of water in buckets on a yoke and walk for 3 to 4km each way every day. However, there are a wide variety of geological layers and many deep aquifers (200 to 300m), making it difficult to dig a tube-well in this area. In addition to digging the well, it is also essential to install a pump at each tube-well, operated with an engine or a generator, and a water storage tank. 

Before we begin the construction at each village, we discuss issues with a “Village Water Management Committee” and villagers in order to build mutual trust and continue the empowerment of self-sufficiency. BAJ conducts hydrogeological and electric surveys to gather information about underground water. During construction, villagers provide meals and construction materials such as gravel and sand. For drilling work, we prepare drilling bits suited to the hardness of the soil, natural clay, and water to drill into the earth by circulating large amount of muddy water. BAJ makes efforts to construct a tube-well in close cooperation with villagers, enabling them to take ownership of the well.

We also assess old wells that were constructed in 1980’s but are now damaged or abandoned, and recover them by carrying out appropriate repairs. We also hold training sessions for pump operators in operational methods and repairs. Workshops on village water committee management are also held, which are essential for maintaining tube-wells.

Water Supply Assistance in Southeastern Myanmar

 BAJ has been providing water supply assistance in Southeastern Myanmar as an implementing partner of UNHCR since 2004. Although there is heavy rainfall in the rainy season, the four month hot dry season creates annual water shortages in this area. As topography and geological formations vary, so do water supply systems to secure good yields of fresh water. Deep tube-wells, dug wells, rainwater harvesting ponds, and gravity-flow piped water supply systems have been constructed for the benefits of people in Karen State, Mon State, and Tanintharyi Division. BAJ also holds training programs regularly to enhance hygiene awareness and to improve skills for the operation and maintenance of water points. Since 2009, we have been providing well-designed shelters made of wood and bamboo for internally displaced persons to improve the health and well being of the accommodated people.

Unprecedented Cyclone Damage
On May 2nd, 2008, the large-scale Cyclone “Nargis” struck the Ayeyarwaddy Delta region in Myanmar and caused severe damage. An estimated 85,000 people died, 54,000 people went missing, and the disaster-affected population reached 2.4 million. More than 60% of school buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged by the cyclone in the Delta region. Most of the affected people were farmers, fishermen, and laborers whose daily lives were completely destroyed and thus further increasing the damage to the entire Delta region.

BAJ began distributing water and other emergency relief items to residents in the neighborhood of the Yangon Office immediately after the cyclone. By the end of May 2008, we had distributed emergency relief items at 9 different occasions to the affected residents of about 6,100 households in Yangon and Ayeyarwaddy Divisions.

Assisting Children in the Education Sector
Since the cyclone, BAJ has been constructing Reinforced Concrete (RC) school buildings for communities in the Delta region. BAJ’s selection of school sites for reconstruction and renovation is based upon needs assessment and consultation with the Township Education Department and other authorities. After completing school buildings, we provide basic furniture, sanitary school latrines, basic water facilities, and playground equipment for children. These school-related facilities have had a sizeable impact on the children of the cyclone-affected areas. Along with having a safe and clean place to learn and play, the children now have a positive psychological- and social-support system that they can rely on.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Training for Children
School-oriented Disaster Risk Reduction Training has been provided to students and Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) members in Mawlamyine Gyun and Labutta Townships. The first DRR training began in Mawlamyine Gyun in August 2009. Through DRR Training, students learn teamwork skills through group work. They are encouraged to share their DRR knowledge with their friends, parents, and other villagers, and are therefore an effective way to pass on the knowledge to the community. The training includes the following activities: showing educational videos on natural disasters, researching village history, drawing hazard maps, playing risk land games, planting trees, learning how to prepare emergency kits, drawing action plans, and carrying out drills to respond to cyclones or earthquakes.