Nang Hseng Zin

My name is Nang Hseng Zin. I am the Program Director of the Women’s Empowerment Program at SWAN.  

The word empowerment is very meaningful for me. To be empowered means to be able to make my own decision, to be able to stand on my own, to have confidence, to build a safe space for women, to get together, to share our experience with each other, to learn from each other and empower each other along the way. As someone who is also from remote area of my home state, I am also particularly interested in working with women from remote areas who are eager to learn, build their capacity and exercise their birth rights and freedom like I have always been. I have been given the opportunities and I want to pass that opportunities to many more women.  

Firstly, women need to know our rights in order to protect ourselves. After that we have to build self-confidence to be able to raise our voice and our problem.  More importantly, we have to learn leadership skills and communication skills as well as conflict resolution in order to have real peace in our community and our country. If we look at the current situation in Myanmar, there are armed conflicts and fighting between armed groups especially in the ethnic areas even after signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. Consequently, vulnerable groups especially women and children are affected by the conflicts. Therefore, it is important for women to be in leading roles and decision- making levels because we know what have affected our life and what our needs are.  

The largest challenge is overcoming social norm in the community about the role of women and empowering them by raising awareness and building their self-confidence. It takes time to build self-confidence because we have been staying in environment that does not promote and accept women to be leaders.