MYANMAR – Women Leaders Join AFFM’s Decision-Making Bodies

When the Agriculture and Farmer Federation of Myanmar (AFFM) was established in 2011, there were no women members elected to handle leadership roles in the organization. Throughout the years, there were still no women members elected in the AFFM Central Committee and in the Central Executive Committee. However, recognizing the importance of women and the need to involve more women in the decision-making bodies, AFFM worked hard to reach this objective.

When the organization held its Third Congress on 20-22 October 2017, four (4) women members were elected in the Central Committee out of the 15 members and two (2) women were elected as Executive Committee members out of 5 members. This is one of the achievements of AFFM after many years of organizational and training commitment for women’s participation in leadership roles. The Third Congress was attended by 155 delegates from different Regions/ States, and after an inclusive discussion on the main policies for the future and on the organizational needs, the congress delegates elected the AFFM leaders.

AFFM, as the national implementing agency of the AFOSP-MTCP2 in Myanmar, sends women farmers, women farmer leaders, and women secretariat staff as part of their delegation to participate in training courses, workshops, and meetings organized under the program. From these meetings, AFFM women farmer members gain knowledge and skills and the exposure to different platforms helps hone their leadership skills. Currently, AFFM has 35,000 members throughout the country, and 30% of the leadership roles are handled by women.

AFOSP-MTCP2 is a capacity building program funded by the European Union (EU) with co-financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The program is being implemented in seven ASEAN countries through the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC). AFOSP-MTCP2 supports the strengthening of national farmers’ organizations (FOs) and their national platform towards improving their institutional capacity to deliver economic services to their members as well as to effectively engage them in policy processes. At the ASEAN level, the consortium AFA – LVC works in partnership with the ASEAN Foundation in expanding the spaces for the engagement of FOs in ASEAN processes.