Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar

Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar (2023-2024) contributes to restoring genuine democracy in Myanmar after the 2021 military coup by supporting legitimate democratic actors to build a new constitutional framework and form institutions that ensure inclusive and participatory governance at all levels. 

The programme targets a range of Myanmar’s democratic stakeholders, including its interim and transitional institutions, political parties, members of parliament (at federal and subnational level), ethnic resistance organizations, media, academia, and civil society organizations (CSOs).

Support areas include:

Constitution-building and governance 

• On-demand capacity development and advisory support in the form of workshops and peer-to-peer exchanges//coaching to those involved in negotiations and decision-making relating to post-coup transitional constitution building.   
• Tailored learning and capacity development on a range of constitutional and governance issues relevant to inform strategy and policy making in the post-coup transitional context of Myanmar and based on comparative experiences from around the world.
• Safe spaces and opportunities for dialogue on constitutional issues, including their links to democratization, good governance, and inclusion.
  Knowledge materials, practical tools and research on constitutional, governance and inclusion issues.

Increasing inclusive political participation

• Support to interim education and curriculum reform for education ministries and academic institutions with a focus on civic education and democracy.
• Outreach and capacity development of youth on civic education and democracy in the form of workshops/trainings/peer-to-peer exchanges.

Inclusion and diversity

• Facilitation of dialogue between the interim government institutions and representatives of disadvantaged groups to discuss inclusive design of Myanmar’s future federal/administrative structure, election system and human rights protection mechanisms.
• Capacity development and advisory support for disadvantaged groups and interim government institutions to inform the establishment of data collection mechanisms and the implementation of data collection projects for the benefit of disadvantaged groups.
• Capacity development and advisory support to define effective mechanisms or independent institutions within the transitional and permanent constitution which ensure the protection of individual and collective human rights.
• Capacity development and advisory support to design mechanisms or institutions which enable sustainable development, inclusive natural resource management and environment protection.

On October 2023, International IDEA’s Myanmar Youth Democracy Academy launched. This free online self-guided training course offers fundamental knowledge of democracy.  

On April 2024, two new courses were added to the Myanmar Youth Democracy Academy: "Inclusion and Human Rights" and “Negotiating Democracy”. The courses include presentations by international and local experts, comparative case studies, quizzes, and resources from recognized democracy assistance, mediation/negotiation experts and human rights organizations for optional further learning. It is available in both Burmese and English languages. Participants who complete the courses and pass all quizzes will receive a certificate.

Read more about Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar on our ConstitutionNet website.