International IDEA works with democratic stakeholders in Myanmar to consolidate the transition to democracy, contributing to strengthening of constitutional expertise, state-building, and governance in the country. International IDEA established its country presence in Myanmar in 2012. In response to the February 2021 military coup, International IDEA has temporarily closed its offices in Yangon and Naypyitaw and provides its democracy assistance from outside the country.

Our projects are developing knowledge resources, promoting institutional development and facilitating inclusive and informed dialogue about democratic reform options in Myanmar. 

Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar

Through the new Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar (2023-2024) programme, International IDEA aims to contribute to restoring genuine democracy in Myanmar after the 2021 military coup by supporting legitimate democratic actors in Myanmar building in designing, agreeing and preparing for the implementation of a new constitutional framework and form effective and accountable institutions that ensure inclusive and participatory governance at all levels. Key support areas will include:

Constitution-building and governance

• On-demand capacity development and advisory support in the form of workshops/training/peer-to-peer exchanges/dialogue/coaching to those involved in negotiations and decision-making relating to post-coup transition and constitution building process.   
• 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  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 and research on constitutional, governance and inclusion issues.
• Practical tools and support to adapt well-established assessment methodologies.

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 and democracy education in the form of workshops/trainings/peer-to-peer exchanges,

Inclusion and diversity

• Facilitation of dialogue between the interim institutions and representatives of disadvantaged groups to discuss inclusive design of Myanmar’s future federal/administrative structure, election system and human rights protection mechanisms incl. affirmative action.
• Capacity development and advisory support for disadvantaged groups and interim institutions to inform data collection and analysis and the implementation of data collection efforts 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, including inclusive and genuine elections.
• Capacity development and advisory support to design mechanisms or institutions which enable sustainable development, inclusive natural resource management and environment protection, including through decentralized governance arrangements.

Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar 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).

MyConstitution website

The MyConstitution website will be rebranded and maintained to ensure that its resources remain available and to enable International IDEA to continue supporting Myanmar’s democracy under the Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar programme.

Myanmar Constitution Academy

The Myanmar Constitution Academy is a free, self-guided, intensive online course on the fundamentals of democratic constitutionalism.

The online course is aimed at giving participants from Myanmar an introduction to key constitutional principles and comparative practice in terms of both constitution-building processes and constitutional design.

The course focuses on the role of constitution-building in conflict and post-conflict or transitional settings, and in diverse or multi-ethnic countries, and covers constitutional issues directly relevant to the Myanmar context. It is available in English and Burmese and ends with a certificate.

MyConstitution

MyConstitution supported partners in Myanmar to strengthen their expertise on constitution building with a view to building a home-grown, well-informed, and inclusive constitutional culture that contributes to democratic transition. We did this by providing:

• On-demand expert advisory services to those involved in negotiations and decision-makings relating to constitution building.   
• Tailored learning on a range of relevant constitutional and governance issues relevant to the 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 and research on constitutional and governance issues in Myanmar language
• Practical tools and support to adapt well-established assessment methodologies to the Myanmar context.

MyConstitution targeted a range of stakeholders, including interim governance institutions, political parties, members of parliament, ethnic armed groups, media, and civil society organizations (CSOs). 

The MyConstitution project was hosted by International IDEA (Myanmar). The project was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden.

In December 2022, the second phase of International IDEA’s MyConstitution programme in Myanmar, funded by Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Luxembourg (2018-2022) is completed.

The MyConstitution website will be rebranded and maintained to ensure that its resources remain available and to enable International IDEA to continue supporting Myanmar’s democracy under the Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar programme.

Support to Electoral Processes and Democracy (STEP Democracy)

As part of the European Union-funded project Support to Electoral Processes and Democracy (STEP Democracy), International IDEA Myanmar has worked with the Union Election Commission (UEC) in support of peaceful, transparent and credible elections in Myanmar. Highlights include the development of a system and regulations to accredit election observers.

The phase of the programme from 2018 to 2021 focused on supporting political parties, CSOs and constitutional sub-national governments in reform processes that are more participatory, transparent, accountable, inclusive and reflective of stakeholder needs. STEP Democracy’s comprehensive elections program supported key electoral stakeholders, namely the national and subnational levels of the constitutional UEC, political parties, CSOs, constitutional sub-national governments and voters and first-time voters.

Download the 2020 General Election in Myanmar Fact Sheet.

As of 1 February 2021, the programme explored possibilities to contribute to its long term objective of supporting a democratic Myanmar by conducting research and analysis but was closed in agreement with the European Union due to the escalated risk to International IDEA and STEP Democracy partner staff in country.    

Maps presented do not imply on the part of the Institute any judgement on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement of such boundaries, nor does the placement or size of any country or territory reflect the political view of International IDEA. Maps are used in order to add visual clarity to data.