Advocacy
The role of the WLB is to be a platform for women of Burma to push for political change in Burma and work for gender equality in society. WLB advocates on behalf of its member organisations representing women and their families in diverse situations, whether inside Burma, displaced to refugee camps or living as undocumented migrant workers in neighbouring countries.
WLB is uniquely positioned to advocate for women and change in Burma because it represents a nexus where grassroots, regional, and international processes meet and connections are made. Our advocacy work connects grassroots communities in and displaced from Burma to global processes and resources through the United Nations and regional forums – and vice versa. The advocacy strategies designed and implemented by the WLB therefore incorporate working at these multiple levels to simultaneously bring the messages of our member organisations to international attention while garnering education, experience, connective relationships and resources to bring back to their related communities.
WLB’s advocacy work is characterised by a dynamism and spatial complexity that crosses many borders and extends in many directions. Principally, however, WLB advocacy strategies are grounded in a belief in inclusive political processes and therefore broad-based social movements inside Burma with support at the international level.
Dimensions of WLB’s advocacy therefore include:
- Lobbying at the international level
- Gender education, training and empowerment amongst ourselves and within our communities displaced from Burma
- Raising gender issues in programs inside Burma
