File:Daw Thaw Da Win, 40, is a local government official in Ywangan township, Shan State in Myanmar. Photo - Garry Walsh.jpg

English: Daw Thaw Da Win is a local government official in Shan state in North Eastern Myanmar. She is 40 years old and a mother of two children. It is her duty to report issues in the community to the township administrator, such as incidents of domestic violence and disputes around inheritance.

She says there are many women working in local government, but like Daw Thaw, they tend to be in lower level positions and are rarely in senior decision making posts. Daw Thaw says that ‘women have the right to equality’ but lack knowledge and confidence, and are not applying for leadership positions.

Trócaire’s partner COM (Charity Oriented Myanmar) has brought together twenty local leaders and officials like Daw Thaw, to build their knowledge on governance and human rights. Daw Thaw says she wants to bring the knowledge she has learned in the course back to women in her community.

Daw Thaw says the training course was really useful for her, and in the future she would like to see another course that was for women only. She stresses that for women to become leaders in the future, we need to reach out to young girls, and provide the future generation with knowledge and positive attitudes.