Supporting Myanmar’s Interim Governance Institutions to counter the military’s narrative through Strategic Communication
Under its MyConstitution programme, International IDEA continues to support the legitimate interim government institutions of Myanmar in their pursuit of restoring democracy and constitutional governance since the 2021 coup, together with an increasing number of young civil servants who are emerging as change-makers in Myanmar’s interim National Unity Government (NUG), its interim parliament, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and the inclusive platform of the pro-democracy actors in the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC).
One key challenge of the interim government institutions has been to strategically communicate the goals of the Spring revolution, their mandates and their efforts in re-building Myanmar as a state and producing a political road map towards a transitional constitution in the form of the Federal Democracy Charter to Myanmar’s citizens and the public.
To meet this challenge, the Hertie School in Berlin and International IDEA successfully concluded a training in June for Myanmar’s interim government institutions focused on effectively communicating their efforts to the general public and to the international community. The eight-day training included interactive sessions with expert input and simulation exercises on government, media and strategic communication and messaging, building and changing narratives, policy brief writing, advocacy planning and strategising.
“Democracy and effective governance require capable and well-functioning state bodies and institutions. That in turn requires people that have the resources, skills, and knowledge to master their daily tasks and the time to also focus on longer-term capacity development and strategic thinking. We offered this course in the framework of our MyConstitution programme to help Myanmar’s interim government institutions define and communicate their priorities outlined in the Federal Democracy Charter towards a government that effectively serves its people.”
- Dr Marcus Brand, Head of International IDEA's Myanmar Programme
“We take pride in this partnership with International IDEA that allowed us to exchange with the next generation of Myanmar’s civil servants around thematic modules. We tailored the curricular content to address the institutional needs of Myanmar’s IGIs. This is possibly the first of its kind for Myanmar’s interim government institutions.”
- Dr Bernhard Knoll-Tudor, Hertie School's Director of Executive Education
Training participants from the interim government institutions rated the training as highly relevant, practical, and useful within the current Myanmar context. They felt the course served to strengthen their political communication skills, provided media training, strengthened confidence and team working skills due to the extensive knowledge of the professional Hertie School mentors. In follow-up to the training, participants indicated they planned to use the tips for government communication within the interim government institutions, to propose the development of a communication strategy, support policy brief preparation, and indicate the importance to Ministers to focus on hope-based communication to counter the Myanmar military’s narrative. A follow-up briefing for the full NUG Cabinet and their Spokespersons on Strategic Communication by International IDEA and the Hertie School is planned.
For more information and resources on Myanmar and the constitutional process learn more on MyConstitution page.
