Which areas do we PRIORITISE?

These are our main programming areas where we have developed expertise:

• Expanding and strengthening Inclusive Self-Help Groups: For our community-based work, our core approach is empowering ISHGs (see Partners). Once an ISHG is established in a community and capable of mobilising residents to support each other in participatory ways, the ISHG can address a wide range of community challenges such as livelihoods, health and care, food security, protection, and disaster risk reduction.
• Providing humanitarian assistance: Considering Myanmar’s high-risk context, humanitarian assistance is often what communities need immediately. Working through our partners at the community and local level, AGE Myanmar is an effective and accountable intermediary to channel humanitarian aid to at-risk households through local actors.
• Delivering social protection: Through long engagement via HelpAge, the AGE Myanmar team has developed expertise in designing and delivering social protection. In Myanmar’s current situation, this means mostly community-based social protection. In the more stable past (and possibly again in the future), AGE Myanmar also provided technical support for state social protection systems, particularly social (non-contributory) pensions.
• Promoting healthy ageing: Working through ISHGs at community level, AGE Myanmar promotes healthy ageing practices, volunteer-based home care, and health and social care support including basic screening using tools like ICOPE in communities.
• Advocating for age and disability inclusion: In support of the Leave No One Behind agenda, AGE Myanmar builds awareness and promotes inclusion of older people and people with disabilities, who are often left without a voice in community and societal affairs.
• Building community and local governance capacity: AGE Myanmar aims to leave behind strong local institutions and move beyond direct delivery of aid by external actors. Much of our capacity-building effort is invested in ISHGs and the township and region networking committees that support them, but we also provide technical assistance for local governance bodies.