Building Career Experience Helps Burmese Refugees

 

Taking the step to embed social media at the heart of a communications plan present a variety of strategic challenges. It requires an understanding of how best to engage with potential supporters in each setting and how to get your message across while creating conversations that others will want to participate in. And in the case of many of our causes it demands a thoughtful approach to addressing what can be extremely emotive issues.

In the fall of 2012 Valerie Lecomte was studying for a degree in marketing through the Chartered Institute of Marketing and as a part of her studies she needed to gain work experience. She connected with Stephanie Voytier, Communications and Resources Manager at Burma Assist, through a French association and they made plans for Valerie to help Burma Assist with their social media marketing.

In order to take their work in Burma and India further Burma Assist needed to connect with more supporters online. They had plans to redesign their website and explore social media networking, but they needed volunteer support to make it happen. Having learnt about Pimp My Cause through the CIM Valerie signed up and encouraged Stephanie to sign up Burma Assist to connect with other marketing volunteers to help them achieve their goals.

Burma Assist is an international development organisation based in Edinburgh that provides professional and financial support to Burmese community-led projects.

The image above shows Kamthang, a beneficiary of Burma Assist,  who was 15 years old when she joined the Dorcas Tailoring Training Centre in Delhi, a community-led project supported by Burma Assist. After graduating in 2010, she decided to take the risk of returning to Burma by herself. She is now a successful tailor in her village and doing very well.

Kamthang, like many other Burmese fled fear and poverty in Burma. And over 100,000 are struggling to survive in India. They face harsh living conditions but until recently they had hope that they would be resettled in a third country to start a new life. With the recent changes in Burma resettlements have become rare. In Burma, poverty is still a reality and democracy has a long way to go. So more than ever skills and self-confidence are crucial for them to survive in India or in Burma.

Valerie worked for Burma Assist for about three months as a Social Media and Marketing Volunteer. She developed Social Media accounts which were nearly non-existent before her arrival. She designed the Facebook page and participated in the development of the communication strategy. The aim of the strategy was to develop the charity network and raise the awareness of their work. "As a result of Valerie's work we are now getting more and more comments on our Facebook page. Her involvement has made a big different to the charity and we really appreciated her professionalism and her enthusiasm," shared Stephanie.

Valerie has returned to France for the time being for health reasons. Burma Assist is very sorry to lose her support, but are very grateful for her help in setting them on the right track with social media. They hope to be able to continue her work and continue to expand their online community of supporters.

And due to Valerie's encouragement Stephanie created a help wanted ad on Pimp My Cause requesting web design support. Recent graphic design graduate Steven Harding responded to their ad and is now using his impressive skills to redesign the Burma Assist website and at the same time is building his professional portfolio. We will share the new website design in a future post.