state-wise laws, policies and programmes in India for persons with disabilities. The resource kit will
benefit the disabled by providing them with a ready reference on the facilities extended by the
government for persons with disabilities.
5.3 LIRNEasia’s past work in Myanmar with CIS and MIDO
In August 2014 LIRNEasia along with CIS facilitated the strategic planning activity for MIDO. The whole
exercise has provided MIDO with the necessary tools and a plan to develop in to a globally recognized
think tank in the ICT4D space.
Phyu Phyu Thi, co-founder and research & development manager of MIDO interned with LIRNEasia for
four months. The internship has assisted in building a stronger relationship with MIDO and has provided
MIDO with insights on the internal workings of an organization such as LIRNEasia.
LIRNEasia and MIDO have in 2013 and 2014 organized two capacity building courses, of which one was
specifically designed for members of the Parliament. Eighteen members of Parliament from six different
political parties, including the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and the opposition
National League for Democracy, actively participated in the training. The other was a five-day residential
course on “Policy and regulation conducive to rapid ICT sector growth in Myanmar”. The main goal of
this course was to enable members of Myanmar civil-society groups (including academics and those
from the media) to marshal available research and evidence for effective participation in policy and
regulatory processes. CIS executive director Sunil Abraham was a facilitator in both courses.
The first translation of the book “Information lives of the poor”, co-authored by Laurent Elder, Rohan
Samarajiva, Alison Gillwald and Hernan Galperin and published by IDRC, was ceremonially released in
Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw at events last year. The translations were facilitated by MIDO and the events
were organized by MIDO and LIRNEasia jointly. CIS Executive Director Sunil Abraham was a speaker at
one of the events (in Yangon).
Sunil Abraham was also one of the facilitators and member of the judging panel of the 4-day residential
course on ‘How to engage in Broadband Policy and Regulatory Processes’ funded by Ford Foundation.
The main goal of the course was to enable and equip members of Indian civil-society with the necessary
tools for effective participation in broadband policy discourse. In April of 2011, Nirmita Narasimhan,
program manager on accessibility at CIS, visited Sri Lanka at LIRNEasia’s invitation where she also held a
colloquium. LIRNEasia also facilitated her meetings with Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka,
the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and other foundations (e.g. the Jinasena Trust) where she raised awareness
about the options available and the need for disabled persons to access ICTs.
6 Risks
Identified Risk
Likelihood
of occuring
Radical changes post-2015 Moderate
elections make it difficult to
disseminate research due
policy-makers with whom
Risk mitigation strategy
>> Continue to establish
relationships with policy
makers across all parties (as
exemplified by 6 parties being
Contingency
if
risk
becomes reality
>> Change the focus of
dissemination
by
reaching out the media
in an attempt to
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