What was the initiative?

Grace’s initiative was a participatory sexual and reproductive health education initiative which involved working closely with a group of 20 young women from Yangon to design and develop sexual and reproductive health resources that reflected their experiences and interests. Together, they constructed a peer education curriculum, designed and led a series of trainings and workshops, developed educational comic books, held informal conversation clubs to discuss issues of interest, and built an online community of more than 8,000 people across the country. The young women they worked with were inspired to carry on this work post-fellowship, and it continues today!

What was the community connection?

Grace conducted her master’s thesis research on reproductive health in Yangon in 2014 and formed a strong connection and close friendship with her collaborator, a medical doctor from Myanmar named Yadanar. As they were doing their research, Grace and Yadanar were constantly brainstorming ways to bring their findings into action. When Grace found out about the Pathy Foundation Fellowship, she asked Yadanar if she would want to work together on a project addressing misinformation around sexual and reproductive health among young people, and she immediately accepted. The two worked closely together throughout the fellowship, and co-founded a non-profit organization, Nyi Ma Lay (“little sister” in Burmese) which is still operational today.

How was it innovative?

Their work was innovative because they were able to work specifically with young, unmarried women, and at that point, many other organizations were struggling to reach this population. They were also able to use innovative methods to share health information, including Burmese-language comic books based on real stories and experiences.

What is Grace doing now?

Grace is currently pursuing a PhD at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is specializing in international sexual and reproductive health.