Section 4 | HERE AND NOW 4.4 CSO Activists No interviewees mentioned any of the historical GONGOs, like Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA) or Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation (MWAF) as key players, not even for the NSPAW. The natural champions are the few CSOs working explicitly on the gender digital divide, such as Geek Girls and the Myanmar Book and Preservation Fund, and those working on general digital divide issues, such as Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO) and Myanmar Fifth Estate. However, other CSOs working on broader gender issues, such as Girl Determined, Phan Tee Eain, and the Gender Equality Network, are well positioned to boost understanding of how the gender digital divide intersects with other obstacles faced by women and girls. CSOs working primarily in regions and states with more marginalized populations could also play an important role in sharing evidence and success stories related to the divide, such as the National Network of Rural Women and the Shan Women’s Action Network. 4.5 Consumers Generally speaking, in Myanmar the public does not hold nuanced political power as an electorate, and historically political movements such as the student protests of 1988 and 2014 have been violently suppressed and are thus rare. However, consumers have considerable and growing economic power since Myanmar opened to foreign investors and international sanctions eased. Given the country’s reliance on individually owned mobile phones rather than public access via schools, telecenters, cyber cafés, or modern public libraries, consumers represent a potential market of more than 30 million people that wields “Our office cleaner uses Viber to schedule jobs, and google translate to work with international clients.” —Urban CSO representative remarkable influence over ICT industry trends overall, influencing online and digital-content aspects of the gender digital divide in particular. For the 61 percent of people over age fifteen in Myanmar who already own a mobile phone, this influence may take the shape of demand for more and better apps in local languages or lower-cost data plans to enable them to derive more extensive, more meaningful benefits from ICT usage. For the 39 percent who do not, their influence on demand for new digital products and services is comparatively muted but still felt via shared devices (often undercounted in surveys) and public-access venues such as libraries and telecenters that serve those at the bottom of the pyramid. One network of ninety modernized public libraries enabled more than 23,000 patrons to access the internet for the first time in less than eighteen months.272 Multilaterals, INGOs, CSOs, private companies, market research firms, think tanks such as LIRNEasia,273 and industry associations such as GSMA can and have helped aggregate and articulate consumer demands. Trade unions, farmers’ cooperatives, and youth groups can also serve this function. 272 273 net/ Beyond Access program data for the period Feb 2015-Nov 2016. LIRNEasia is a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific: http://lirneasia. Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment | 85