Data for Democracy in Myanmar
As Myanmar continues its dramatic democratic transition, there is an urgent need and opportunity to elevate data and evidence-based decision-making when tackling social challenges. From education and health to employment and civic engagement, the country's civil society organizations (CSOs) and government are eagerly pursuing large-scale changes for transformative impact. These entities need good data, data analytics capabilities, and tools to make data accessible and usable by a diverse range of stakeholders, including the public. This project, in partnership with the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF) and the Myanmar Book Aid Preservation Foundation (MBAPF), aimed to build the data capacities of key organizations in the country through the world's first Tableau Data Fellowship dedicated entirely to governance and democratic participation. Fellows learned — and eventually taught — new methods to collect, manage, analyze, and visualize data, as well as opening up data for sharing publicly in responsible and meaningful ways. In addition, the project sought develop locally-driven tools to support the data environments of organization.
The first phase of this project brought together a cohort of representatives from various government ministries and non-profit organizations to learn new skills and exchange ideas. Through trainings, workshops, and other activities, the cohort addressed data needs, the design of effective data collection methods, data analysis, and the creation of data visualizations that highlight key findings and enable evidence-based decision making. In addition, EMReF conducted a needs assessment of Myanmar's nonprofit, government, and research organizations to better understand data practices and decision-making behavior.
The second phase of the project provided additional Tableau and data visualization training, while also using findings from the needs assessment to create resources to support Myanmar's organizations grow in the country's evolving data environment. The resulting output was a 3-day curriculum designed to build organizational data for decision-making skills. Although tailored for Myanmar's context, the curriculum was created to be extensible to other locations and groups.
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Tableau Foundation, an initiative led by the employees of Tableau Software that encourages the use of facts and analytical reasoning to solve the world's problems through fellowships that help nonprofits build data capabilities from the grassroots up.
Data for Decision Making Curriculum in Myanmar
Presentation Chris Rothschild, Nicholas Weber and Maria Garrido, February 2018
Tearing down the wall to Myanmar's information ecosystem
Research Report Erin McAuliffe and Chris Rothschild, July 2017
Myanmar Information Symposium Summary Report
Research Report Melody Clark, September 2016
Analysis on Political Parties Alliances (Burmese)
Research Report Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation, October 2015
Parliament Documentation Report: Record Keeping and Information Distribution System of Pyithu Hluttaw (Burmese)
Brief Analysis on Party Election Manifestos (Burmese)
Chris Coward, Principal Research Scientist & TASCHA Director, Information School
Chris Rothschild, Senior Research Scientist, Information School
Sara Curran, Professor, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies & Director, UW Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Mike Crandall, Principal Research Scientist, Information School
Sheryl Day, Ph.D. Alumna, Information School
Gennie Gebhart, Student, Information School
Lucas Koepke, Data Analyst, Information School
Myat The Thitsar, Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF)
Thant Thaw Kaung, Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation (MBAPF)
Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
The Tableau Foundation
Chris Rothschild
Data Equity
Data for Decision Making completes first implementation in Myanmar
Data for Decision Making implementation in Yangon
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day
TASCHA at Global Election Technology Summit
TASCHA is hiring a graduate research assistant
Data for Democracy project supports Myanmar's emerging data environment