Social Care Volunteer Group (SCVG) is a local non-profit non-governmental civil society organization working for youth and children in Myanmar since 2007. 3MDG funds one of its projects on promoting gender equality and ensuring equal access to health services.

1. What do you, and your organisation, do? 

I am director of the Social Care Volunteer Group (SCVG) and work on the gender and health services equality project funded by 3MDG. I helped found the organization in September 2007 with seven others and have worked here ever since. I am currently in charge of the overall management of the project, including program management, networking, and advocacy.

2. What lead you to this role?

When I graduated from Yay Nan Chaung Degree College with Bachelor of Arts in Magway Region, that’s when our work with SCVG began. During the first few years we did all the activities and projects with our own money because we were very new.

I’ve had a lot of different roles at SCVG including program manager, community facilitator, program coordinator and starting last year, the director for the 3MDG gender and health services equality project. It is part of the 3MDG Collective Voices initiative.

(The 3MDG Collective Voices initiative is a USD 1.5 million programme which aims to better understand community health experiences, learn more about the social factors which impact health access and support meaningful community participation in health service delivery. Read more) 

3. What motivates you?

We are faced with a lot of difficulties and emergency situations, but we try to overcome them by coming up with creative solutions. Every morning, I have to think about what to do next for our organization to succeed.

I’m really proud when someone needs help for children in their coverage area, and people from our neighborhood                       mention our organization. That motivates me to work hard and gives me the energy to keep going forward.

4. What challenges do you face in your work?

One of our biggest challenges is in training and retaining volunteers. As volunteers and interns, they expect and hope to get something from us – which we try to do through new skills and opportunities. But they still do not get paid. So, when they have enough experience they begin to look for a better salary – which we understand. But it means the sustainability of the programme is very hard.

5. What is the best part of your job?

During my career in this organisation, I have developed my skills a lot. For example, I did not know even how to use a computer at first, but later on; I have learned computer, organizational and time management skills, and public speaking skills.

We want to build a good volunteer program so that we can train more qualified people to carry this work forward, as we have. Some young people that we have trained are now working at the United Nations, and some have joined scholarship programmes. This makes me very proud.