Local Partner: SWAN Foundation
Background and objective: The rural areas of Chiang Mai province are among the poorest in Thailand with the socio-economic situation in Fang, Wieng Haeng, and Mae Ai districts being very unstable. Many indigenous people from the neighboring Shan State in Burma have fled across the border over the past 3 decades in response to military offensives, raids and human rights abuses, perpetuated by the Burmese Army (or Tatmadaw). The migrants , majority of whom are undocumented constitute a vital source of cheap labor for many industries the comprise the Thai economy and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020, many industries shut down and strict travel restriction have been imposed by local government authorities affecting the agriculture sector. This has adversely affected as alarge number of indigenous migrant workers who lost their jobs or experience dramatic reductions in their ability to find steady employment, while at the same time they were not eligible for Thai government COVID-19 emergency assistance hence a large proportion of migrant workers living in the northen region of Chiang Mai province have been struggling to feed their families and to find enough money to address other daily needs and women bear more burden.SWAN in collaboration with a network of existing Shan community teachers and health workers aims to provide emergency relief to 500 Shan, Lisu, Lahu, Karen and Dara-ang women during the period December 2021- May 2022. This emergency relief will be combined with a number of health education activities particularly as it relates to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The goal is to assist indigenous women and their families to overcome the serious economic effects they are presently encountering as a result of the COVID-19 crisis in their communities.
Purchased emergency food and other supplies for 500 ethnic minority families. As the SWAN team began visiting the “identified communities” to distribute emergency food and hygiene supplies it learned from local villagers that there were (a) additional families (beyond the earlier identified recipient families) as well as (b) additional nearby communities that were similarly suffering from the adverse affects caused by the Covid crisis.
Local partner information: SWAN is a non profit organization whose mission is focused on women development and basic education for children was established in 2011, in response to the vast number of displaced Shan children unable to access education along the Thai-Burma border and other additional needs. SWAN understands education is vital in changing the lives of young people thus promoting children to stay in school via the scholarship and an education exchange program.
