Next Generation Myanmar > 9 studies in healthcare, these reports account for youth behaviour within their respective policy area. Further, youth participation in Myanmar’s ongoing peace process has often been studied.9 A discussion paper published by the Paung Sie Facility (2017) provides detailed accounts of youth contributions to peace efforts, both under the Thein Sein government and the current National League for Democracy (NLD) government. Earlier studies conducted by foreign academic institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) highlight youth efforts in inter-religious mediation, and propose reforms to political processes and education to expand youth engagement.10 Youth participation in peace negotiations is also a frequent subject covered in local journals and periodicals.11 Many of the above materials rely primarily on qualitative information, though some quantitative data is available. The 2014 census provides several statistics on youth in Myanmar, such as marriage rates, migration rates and literacy rates, each disaggregated by age group (Government of Myanmar, 2017a, 2017b). Thematic reports subsequently released by the Department of Population further elaborate on the demographic profiles of young people (Government of Myanmar, 2017c). Complementary surveys on social harmony and perceptions of the political transition have been conducted by CDNH (2017a, 2017b). Though unpublished, this data was referenced for the purposes of this study. 9 10 11 Limitations of existing research Spanning across policy areas, the studies cited above are of significant value to policymakers, donor agencies and youth themselves. Indeed, many of these same policy areas are named in the Government of Myanmar’s 2018 Youth Policy (Myanmar News Agency, 2018). The utility of these studies in understanding youth opinion, however, is limited in three critical ways: 1. Narrow research focus: policyspecific research can infer only a fraction of youth opinion. Studies dedicated to healthcare, education and peacebuilding can only account for youth perceptions relevant to their particular subject, if they account for youth perceptions at all. Studies in employment, for example, may help policymakers understand young people’s experience in labour markets, but they cannot assess youth opinion on Myanmar’s international reputation. Separate and independent studies are similarly unable to determine the relative importance of different issues to youth. A report may provide detailed recommendations for greater youth inclusion in the peace process, but it cannot alone assess the extent of youth interest in the peace process in comparison to other issues. For officials with limited resources, the dearth of comparative information makes decisions between worthwhile but disparate programmes difficult. 2. Unrepresentative samples: most topical studies that consider youth opinion in Myanmar rely primarily on qualitative research methods. While valuable, such data cannot claim to be representative of youth as a national demographic. Further, many studies rely heavily on research conducted in major urban areas in Myanmar, such as Yangon and Mandalay. 3. Youth behaviour over youth opinion: the available quantitative data on youth, enumerated on a national scale, avoids the limitations of representation exhibited by the qualitative studies reviewed above. However, this research focuses on youth habits or outcomes, not youth attitudes or aspirations. Data from the 2014 Myanmar Census and the UNICEF-supported U-Report (2018) platform, for example, present useful indicators of youth behaviour on a national scale, but little information about youth opinion. Data such as enrolment figures, literacy rates or migration patterns is of immense value, but offers little to no information on the worldview of youth. The existing literature provides a wealth of information about youth, but invites further exploration. Issuespecific research on youth behaviour, often relying on data from sources unrepresentative of youth nationally, produce disparate findings that are difficult to compare in terms of importance to their subjects. The result is a rich collection of information tailored to particular issues, with little data with which to understand youth attitudes and aspirations generally. Indeed, no previous study has yet attempted to study youth opinion across Myanmar. This is precisely the contribution of the Next Generation Myanmar study to the existing literature. With its wide topical scope, samplebased survey methodology, and explicit focus on youth opinion over behaviour, the Next Generation Myanmar study begins to address the research gaps detailed above. > For a useful bibliography on youth in Myanmar’s peace process, see Joint Peace Fund (n.d.). > S ee Grizelj (2017a) and Lopes Cardozo et al. (2016). See also Gray and Roos (2014), Research Consortium on Education and Peacebuilding (2016), Swe Tha Har Social Services (2014) and UNDP (2017). > See Danmark (2013), Grizelj (2017b), Nyein (2018) and Mang (2018).