Myanmar

Myanmar, also called Burma, is Southeast Asia’s largest, most northern country. It’s called the “Golden Land,” because of its gold pagodas and temples. Myanmar is located on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea coast, with Bangladesh and India to the west, China to the north, and Laos and Thailand to the east. The Himalayan Range runs to the South and serves as a wall separating Myanmar from India.

Stories in Myanmar

Htay Ei Thandar
Sponsored Child In Myanmar Htay
Htay and his family are Muslim. More specifically, they’re the Muslim minority Rohingya.
Rohingya people in Myanmar are persecuted. Because of their ethnicity, they’re viewed as second-class citizens, or not even citizens at all. Many Rohingya people don’t have identification papers. That means they’re denied public services, can’t travel freely and face challenges accessing hospitals, schools and employment.

But Rohingya children are just like children anywhere else — they need to be free to learn and play. Htay’s favorite thing to do is spend time at the child-friendly space that was set up in his village by Plan International.

“The child-friendly space is a safe place for the children who are here,” explains Htay. “I’m especially happy for them that they have the possibility to play and learn here.”

These spaces are part of Plan’s protection work, which aims to keep children safe from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, and make sure that they understand their rights. Creating safe spaces for children to learn and play, especially children who have experienced violence, is very important.

This space is letting many children and adolescents like Htay better prepare for their futures.

“I want to learn more about life skills to know how to support my family in the future,” Htay says.

*Htay’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
Learn more about our protection work
Sponsored Girl In Myanmar Ei Thandar
Ei Thandar is one of the many youth activists in Myanmar really stepping up as a leader during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plan Myanmar launched a virtual youth-led campaign in collaboration with UNICEF. The campaign is spearheaded by 125 young leaders, including Ei Thandar. It aims to raise awareness about COVID-19 and make sure children understand how they can report gender-based violence.

This is crucial right now. The pandemic has put children, especially girls, at even more risk of violence. And with many of them isolated at home, they’re less likely to have access to traditional ways of seeking help.

Ei Thandar plans to be an activist for life.

“As a young woman, I see the virtual campaign as an opportunity for us to acquire leadership skills and take our first steps towards becoming great leaders,” she says.
The youth activists chose a sun as their campaign symbol. They’re painting it near their homes to signify that they’re shining a light on the violence and abuse that might otherwise go ignored.

Their campaign motto is: "When they go quiet, we go loud." Ei Thandar and her peers want to make sure vulnerable girls and children in Myanmar know that they have allies beside them during this difficult time.
You can protect girls during COVID-19

Plan International has been working to improve children’s lives in Myanmar since 2008.

Plan stats in Myanmar

Plan works in Myanmar
Office & operations

Plan Myanmar’s country office is in Yangon, with program offices in Mandalay and additional operations in Ayeyarwady, Kachin, Rakhine and Sagaing.

Technical areas

Protection, Health, WASH, Skills and Work, Social Cohesion and Peacebuilding

Number of sponsored children

As of June 2020, people like you sponsor 14,765 children in Myanmar through Plan International.

When you sponsor a child through through Plan, you form an incredible friendship.

You can exchange letters with your sponsored child Send Sunny Days magazine to your sponsored child Sponsor a child with Plan International USA

But that’s just the beginning. With Plan, you also have the unique opportunity to:

Send her birthday gifts and cards.

Give her special holiday presents called Little Treasures.

Subscribe her to Plan’s educational kids’ magazine, Sunny Days.

— Visit her (when travel restrictions are lifted), with individual travel assistance from us.

Each gift offering is safely hand-delivered by us, and given to your child with personalized cards from you. It’s likely that the child you sponsor will have never seen anything like these gifts, and they’re available year-round to make the bond between you and your sponsored child even stronger.

Meet a child to sponsor