Reducing Inequalities in Public Engagement in Myanmar

自2017年10月以来，AHRC-GCRF资助的“深化民主”项目，由全球政党与人民研究网络（GRNPP）运营，一直支持对缅甸和埃塞俄比亚的政党，政治家和人民之间关系的研究，并在该领域建立了一个真正的全球研究网络。缅甸特有的两个出乎意料的事态发展使我们必须在深化该国民主方面发挥更积极和参与性的作用：缅甸的罗兴亚危机凸显了该国向民主过渡的程度仍然不完全。缅甸的许多地区和族裔群体一直被排除在经济发展和政治参与之外，造成了不稳定、体制薄弱和发展赤字的状况。在妇女方面也存在类似的障碍。虽然基于种族和性别的社会、经济和政治排斥本身并不是一个新现象，但近几个月来这种现象在缅甸根深蒂固是不可否认的，需要采取强有力的、基于证据的、创造性的想象和坚定的行动。对艺术和人文学科如何促进政治变革的理解有限：在我们支持艺术家、活动家和学者进行政治研究的赠款计划过程中，很明显缺乏跨学科能力，无法（i）更深入地理解民主（ii）向非学术受众传播研究成果;以及（iii）塑造和影响决策，使之朝着更具包容性的民主关系和经验的方向发展。综合起来，这些都对通过艺术和人文学科实现有影响力的变革构成了威胁。“减少公众参与中的不平等”（RIPE）项目是在我们缅甸合作伙伴的指导下，持续、协作和批判性反思的结果，开明缅甸研究基金会（EMReF）如何应对这些事态发展，并将其转化为促进变革的机会，RIPE项目旨在通过一系列策略实现影响，包括：1。加强民间社会的沟通机会和政治家的参与。这将改善缅甸全境长期和平与稳定的前景。建立一个多利益攸关方的包容性民主联盟将有助于减少公众参与的障碍。通过加强那些致力于使机构更具包容性和更好地参与公众的人之间的联系，该项目将产生切实和可衡量的影响，并加强包容性民主。“在研究中释放创造潜力”。该培训讲习班将有助于发展研究人员的能力，使他们能够以创造性和有影响力的方式将其研究结果带给公众和决策受众，强调艺术和人文学科在理解并最终减少民主缺陷方面的作用。他们的生活因此变得无法居住。此外，缅甸多个实践社区的合作、集体和认真行动框架--这将是RIPE项目的基础--将为其他脆弱国家发展类似的进程、实践和伙伴关系提供一个模式，从而允许对包容性民主产生积极影响的关键思想和做法的跨国流动。

Since October 2017, the AHRC-GCRF funded 'Deepening Democracy' programme, run by the Global Research Network on Parliaments and People (GRNPP), has been supporting research into the relationships between Parliaments, politicians and people in Myanmar and Ethiopia, as well as developing a truly global research network in this field.Within the first year of the programme, two unanticipated developments specific to Myanmar have made it imperative that we take a more active and participatory role in deepening democracy in that country: 1. The Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, which highlights the extent to which the country's transition to democracy remains incomplete. Many areas and ethnic groups have been persistently excluded from economic development and political participation in Myanmar, creating conditions characterised by instability, weak institutions, and developmental deficits. Similar barriers are evident in the case of women. While social, economic and political exclusion based on ethnicity and gender is not itself a new phenomenon, its entrenchment in Myanmar in recent months is undeniable and requires robust, evidence-based, creatively imagined, and committed action.2. Limited understanding of how arts and humanities can contribute to political change: It has become evident in the course of our grant-making scheme supporting artists, activists and academics to conduct political research that there is a lack of inter-disciplinary capabilities through which to (i) harness deeper understandings of democracy (and its deficits); (ii) communicate research to non-academic audiences; and (iii) shape and influence policy-making towards more inclusive democratic relationships and experiences. Taken together, these represent a threat to the realisation of impactful change through the arts and humanities.The 'Reducing Inequalities in Public Engagement' (RIPE) project is the outcome of on-going, collaborative, and critical reflection - guided by our partner in Myanmar, the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF) - about how to address these developments and transform them into opportunities for contributing to change in a positive, engaged, and sustained manner.The RIPE project seeks to achieve impact through a series of strategies including:1. Strengthening opportunities for civil society communication and engagement by politicians. This will improve the prospects for long-term peace and stability throughout Myanmar. The creation of a multi-stakeholder Alliance for Inclusive Democracy will work to reduce barriers to public engagement. By strengthening connections between those committed to make institutions more inclusive and better at public engagement, the project will achieve tangible and measurable impact, and enhance inclusive democracy.2. 'Unlocking Creative Potentials in Research'. This training workshop will help develop researchers' capacity to take their findings to public and policy-making audiences in creative and impactful ways that emphasise the role of arts and humanities in understanding, and ultimately reducing, democratic deficitsThe RIPE project aims to positively impact ethnic and other under-represented groups in Myanmar who are denied access to, participation in, and representation by Parliament and politicians; and whose lives have become unlivable as a consequence. It will also help establish academics in Myanmar as vital and integral partners in the movement to deepen democracy.Additionally, the framework of collaborative, collective, and conscientious action by multiple communities of practice in Myanmar - which will underpin the RIPE project - will provide a model for similar processes, practices, and partnerships to evolve in other fragile states, thereby allowing for the transnational flow of key ideas and practices that positively impact inclusive democracy.