Myanmar: DW Akademie steps up its engagement

The skies open and huge raindrops splatter to the ground. The small canopy outside the new DW Akademie office in Yangon gives way under the deluge. The rain is so loud that it is almost impossible to have a conversation. It's just another normal day of heavy monsoon rain in Myanmar - except that the DW Akademie office is officially scheduled to open in just 90 minutes times and more than one hundred guests are on their way. Myanmar country coordinator Isabella Kurkowski takes it all in her stride. "That's just how it is," she says.

Busy time for development workers

Kurkowski has been in the capital Yangon for around a year now, setting up the field office together with project manager Patrick Benning. Kurkowski is responsible for running all of DW Akademie's Myanmar projects, which are sponsored by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ). After decades of military dictatorship, Myanmar is beginning to open up to the outside world and it currently hosts more aid and development organizations than almost any other country.

MRTV is one of DW Akademie's largest local project partners. The former state-owned broadcaster is in the process of transforming into a public-service broadcaster. Once the mouthpiece of the military government, MRTV now has an official mandate to develop programming to serve the public. "We are consulting and assisting in the restructuring process," Kurkowski explains. "It isn't always easy because the station is out in the middle of nowhere and getting there can be a real adventure."

MRTV chairman U Win Kyi sees this as the least of the station's problems at the moment. Every morning shuttle buses transport hundreds of young employees out to MRTV's huge headquarters in Tatkone around 450 kilometers north of Yangon.

"What we really need are more qualified journalists and well-trained editors," U Win Kyi says.

Reviving the media

Information Minister U Ye Htut is a key driving force behind Myanmar's current media development. Well-versed in social media, he wastes little time getting right to the point. Ever since the military junta paved the way for free elections in 2010, Myanmar's media sector has been developing at an astonishing rate. Once subject to draconian government censorship, new newspapers are popping up everywhere.

In a continued environment of fairly rigid government control though, and with little operating experience and not enough well-trained journalists, many quickly fold.

For U Ye Htut the solution is simple. "What we need is long-term commitment from all the development organizations currently working here," he says.

To this end, DW Akademie and the Myanmar Ministry of Information have signed a memorandum of understanding which confirms their cooperation until 2017. At the same time, Information Minister U Ye Htut is pushing for new media laws that promise more press freedom - and he is also supporting the newly created Myanmar Journalism Institute (MJI).

Countering the lack of trained journalists

The journalism institute has found a home on the first floor of a high-rise apartment building. Like so much in Myanmar, the MJI office, with its conference and seminar rooms, seem a bit cobbled together. MJI Chairman U Thiha Saw enters the office clad in a longyi, the traditional Burmese wrap-around skirt. In the 1980s he studied at the International Institute for Journalism in Berlin, and welcomes his German visitors with a cheery "Guten Tag." "Here in Myanmar I passed on everything I learned in Germany. We organized journalism workshops - in secret of course," he says.

In 2014, DW Akademie joined an international consortium providing assistance with setting up MJI and the preparation of practical coursework for the institute. Consortium partner organizations come from a range of countries, including France, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Myanmar. Even the Myanmar government is now supporting the types of seminars U Thiha Saw used to organize underground. In 2016, MJI will begin accepting students into a new full-time journalism program, which is expected to improve journalists' access to the job market. The first batch of students has just graduated from MJI's part-time program.

Green light for press council

Parliament ratified amendments to Myanmar's media statutes in June 2015, paving the way for a permanent press council. U Thiha Saw, who alongside his MJI responsibilities is a member of the interim Myanmar Press Council, is active in helping establish the permanent press council. DW Akademie is also advising on the formation of the council, which will be based on the German model.

Back at the DW Akademie office, the rain has let up just in time for the official opening bash. The air is thick with humidity as the first of around 120 guests begin arriving. These include representatives from the Ministry of Information, the German Ambassador, project partners and friends.

The DW Akademie office on Pyay Road shares the French Cultural Institute compound with other international organizations. DW Akademie Director Christian Gramsch holds the opening address. "A lot of our neighbors here - the French Consulate, Canal France International, Danish International Media Services, the Swedish Fojo Institute - are closely involved in our projects," he says.

With Myanmar's parliamentary elections slated for November 2015, the country finds itself at a historic crossroads. No one can predict the election's outcome and what path the country will take post-election. Kurkowski and Benning believe Myanmar will continue to develop - and the next DW Akademie project, a community radio network, is already in the works.