ABOUT the research - MAP 18 BAGO KYAIKTO 31,870 131.897 KAYIN MAP BILIN 18,409 18 146,633 India China Laos THATON 55.680 196,388 17°N Thailand 208,089 69,160 PAUNG 34,413 214,323 KYAIKMARAW 14,611 THAILAND 198,786 CHAUNGZON 6,223 151,209 MUDON 53,018 Legend Population Density (person/sq.km) 160,453 32,335 137,615 100 - 200 200 - 400 Andaman Sea 1000 - 1984 36,027 NUMBER OF PERSON URBAN 18 RURAL TANINTHARYI In the absence of official data, the population of Mon State was estimated to be 3,193,000 in 2012. 20 The majority of this population are ethnic Mon who also account for 2 percent of the population of Myanmar.21 In Mon State there is a large number of ethnic Bamar, as well as members of the Kayin and Pa-O ethnic groups and a small, dwindling Anglo-Burmese community. Many of these groups are isolated and do not understand or speak Burmese. There is a Thai Community in Kyaikkami. The majority of people are Buddhist. 22 Mon has three primary dialects, all mutually intelligible and area dependent – Central, Ye and Bago. Since independence in 1948, Myanmar has foremost faced a challenge of national unity. In Mon State, a Mon nationalist movement arose shortly after the end of World War II, calling for an independent sovereign THANBYUZAYAT < 100 400 - 1000 Present day Mon State was created in 1974. Mon State is an administrative division of Myanmar. With a land area of approximately 12,200km2, it is located between Kayin State on the east and by the Andaman Sea on the West and shares a short border with Thailand to the Southeast. The state capital is Mawlamyaing.19 MAWLAMYINE Gulf of Martaban YANGON Relevance of Mon State Study to Myanmar as a whole YE 221,068 · Map ID: MIMU841v03 · Creation Date: 6 February 2013.A3 · Projection/Datum: Geographic/WGS84 · Data Sources : Population - HMIS (2011), Ministry of Health, · Boundaries - WFP/MIMU · Base Map - MIMU info.mimu@undp.org www.themimu.info 19 “Mon State,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_state (August 12, 2014). 20 “Myanmar,” City Population, http://www.citypopulation.de/Myanmar.html (August 12, 2014). 21 “Briefing: Myanmar’s ethnic problems,” IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis, http://www.irinnews.org/report/95195/briefing-myanmar-s-ethnic-problems (August 12, 2014). 22 state of Monland. In 1948, a Mon separatist movement began under the banner of the Mon Peoples Front (MPF) and fighting broke out, just as other similar ethnic rebellions were developing across the country. By 1958, MPF separatists took up an offer of amnesty and accepted a ceasefire agreement. However, a new faction, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) took leadership of the armed resistance soon after. The NMSP and its armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), continued armed struggle in Mon State against the Myanmar military government for the next 40 years, from their base in the Ye river valley, near the Thai-Myanmar border. Following the fall of NMSP headquarters to the Burmese Army in 1990, ceasefire negotiations between the government and the NMSP took place from 1993 until 1995. The NMSP signed a ceasefire with the military regime in 1995, which resulted in initial economic assistance from the central government, but no political negotiations. The ceasefire continued until 2010 when it broke down over refusal by the NMSP (along with other ethnic minority armed groups across Myanmar) to surrender control of its armed forces to the central government and transform into a Border Guard Force under Burmese Army control. A new ceasefire agreement was reached in February 2012, however, with no fighting occurring between the NMSP and the Burmese Army during the interim. “Mon people,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_people (August 12, 2014). MIMU Myanmar Information Management Unit, http://www.themimu.info/. 10 INFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS in transition: a case study from myanmar part one: rese arch findings 11 how to inform, empower, and impact communities INFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS in transition: a case study from myanmar how to inform, empower, and impact communities PART ONE: RESEARCH FINDINGS