VZCZCXRO2034
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHBK #0378/01 0430802
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120802Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9933
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 6180
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 7642

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 000378 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL KPAO TH
SUBJECT: THAILAND S/GWI PROJECT PROPOSALS FOR THE 2010 
SMALL GRANTS INITIATIVE 
 
REF: STATE 132094 
 
BANGKOK 00000378  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Embassy Bangkok's grant review committee submits the 
following four proposals for consideration for the 2010 
Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues (S/GWI) small 
grants initiative.  Our first choice is an innovative and 
comprehensive economic empowerment program for women in 
Southern Thailand, who are often the sole support for their 
families due to the longstanding violent conflict in that 
region.  We also strongly recommend a Burmese border project 
that focuses on outreach to Burmese men in the struggle to 
prevent violence against Burmese women.  Finally, we endorse 
two smaller violence-prevention projects on the Burmese 
border that request limited budgets for targeted 
interventions.  If S/GWI selects any of these local 
organizations for an award, the grant will be co-managed by 
the Human Rights Officer in the Political Section acting as a 
Grants Officer Representative, and a Grants Officer in the 
Public Affairs Section.  If any of the Burmese cross-border 
projects are funded, Mission Thailand will coordinate 
monitoring with Embassy Rangoon, which has already reviewed 
all three proposals.  The point of contact for these 
submissions is Political Officer Gillian Apfel, 
ApfelGR@state.gov. 
 
PEOPLE'S EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION (PEF) - EMPOWERING WOMEN 
ECONOMICALLY TO PROMOTE SECURITY IN SOUTHERN THAILAND 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) The PEF proposal seeks to empower women to address 
the economic challenges faced in the southernmost provinces 
of Thailand.  Since 2004, the Deep South has been plagued 
with almost daily incidents of violence, mostly attributed to 
armed local separatist groups, which have resulted in the 
deaths of thousands of people.  At the same time that the 
ongoing violence has weakened the area's local economies, 
women have taken more responsibility in contributing much 
needed income and managing family finances.  The project 
seeks to improve the women's capacity to generate more local 
income by developing their existing base of knowledge and 
resources.  PEF already has an existing foundation for this 
program; in 2007, they began working in southern communities 
and helped to establish occupational collectives for coconut 
oil, liquid soap, and balm producers.  The current proposal 
will expand women's participation in these groups, as well as 
concentrating on individual capacity-building. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Specifically, PEF will facilitate training for women 
villagers in production, design, and marketing of goods - 
both through local workshops and by exchange trips to other 
small-scale producer communities in Northern Thailand. 
Assistance will be given to establish production centers and 
once production is established, there will be further 
training in sales and financial management.  The proposal 
describes these activities specifically and realistically, 
with a detailed budget and identification of specific program 
partners, such as the use of Rural Capital Partners Co. to 
establish savings funds in such a way to ensure 
sustainability.  The proposal convincingly presents a 
paradigm for empowering women so as to mitigate the effects 
of the conflict, improve economic security at the community 
level, and better the lives of women and families in Southern 
Thailand. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The project duration is 18 months, and the requested 
budget is US$88,091.  The proposal and the local organization 
conform to all required parameters.  The director of PEF, 
Chalida Tajaroensuk, is a close and trusted contact of 
Embassy Bangkok. 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION INSTITUTE OF BURMA (HREIB) - PROMOTING 
MEN'S COOPERATION TO STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶5. (SBU) The second recommended proposal is designed to 
address violence against women in Burmese communities by 
targeting the potential perpetrators, in addition to the 
potential victims.  Traditional ethnic communities in Burma 
are male-dominated, with men holding leading positions in 
political and religious spheres of village life.  Ideas about 
manhood are deeply ingrained, and boys are taught to believe 
that aggressive behavior towards women is part of being a 
man.  HREIB predicates their project design on the premise 
that it is impossible to promote gender equality and stop 
violence against women without the cooperation and 
participation of men.  Currently, HREIB's Gender and Women's 
Rights Program has two ongoing projects within Burma, as well 
as one in Thailand and one in India.  They would like to 
expand this program with a campaign specifically targeting 
men, using ideas and strategies developed from suggestions 
from male participants in their current program. 
 
 
BANGKOK 00000378  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) As part of their current activities, HREIB conducts 
both "Men Talk" and "Women's Exchange" discussion forums. 
The proposed project would include gender and women's rights 
trainings specifically for male participants, community 
campaign events for everyone, and peer group discussions 
solely involving men.  They plan to supplement these 
activities with Burmese-language resource materials, 
including training manuals, posters, and leaflets.  HREIB has 
had experience and success in generating these kinds of 
materials in the past, most notably its trainers' manual, 
which was originally published in 1998 and is still in use, 
and has been translated into several local languages. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The project duration is 18 months, and the requested 
budget is US$97,084.24.  The proposal and the local 
organization conform to all required parameters.  HREIB is 
well-known and trusted by Mission Thailand, and this proposal 
has also been vetted by Embassy Rangoon. 
 
KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP (KHRG) - EMPOWERING WOMEN TO RESIST 
ABUSE 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
¶8. (SBU) KHRG is an independent Karen-led NGO established in 
Eastern Burma in 1992 that operates both within refugee camps 
in Thailand and in rural Burma.  Their goal is to support 
villagers in rural Burma by helping them develop strategies 
to protect themselves against abuse and by disseminating 
their stories, along with photos and documentary evidence. 
Their current proposal addresses the problem that women 
suffer a disproportionate share of the abuse perpetuated by 
the SPDC Army and other armed groups in Burma.  Women are 
vulnerable both in negotiations with soldiers, and also 
because men go into hiding to avoid harassment and 
conscription.  KHRG has previously documented this in a 2006 
report on the abuse of Karen women under militarization. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Since 2005, KHRG has implemented their Village 
Agency Project, in which they work to actively support and 
strengthen the protection strategies that Burmese villagers 
are already using.  They have been holding workshops since 
2006, and in 2008-9, they held over 80 workshops, reaching 
more than 2,000 villagers.  Now, KHRG would like to develop a 
curriculum for women-specific Village Agency workshops, and 
then conduct 20 pilot workshops and 20 follow-up workshops, 
with an aim to expand the project and make it a permanent 
part of the Village Agency program.  In doing so, they hope 
to equip women and girls with specific skills to resist 
abuse, and to have a multiplier effect by training women who 
can train others. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The project duration is 12 months, and the 
requested budget is US$17,000.  The proposal and the local 
organization conform to all required parameters.  KHRG is 
known to be a trusted source and contact for Mission 
Thailand, and this proposal has also been vetted by Embassy 
Rangoon. 
 
BURMESE WOMEN'S UNION (BWU) - DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EDUCATION 
VIDEO 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶11. (SBU) BWU requests a small, targeted amount of assistance 
from S/GWI in order to supplement their current domestic 
violence campaigns with what they believe will be a more 
effective communication tool.  BWU has long tried to combat 
domestic violence in Burmese homes, which they attribute to 
cultural, traditional, and religious beliefs.  For example, 
they cite instances of community members pressuring women to 
stay in dangerous relationships using religious beliefs to 
justify abuse and blaming women for their own victimization. 
Previously, BWU has implemented campaigns, workshops, and 
educational programs to reduce the incidence of domestic 
violence in the community.  In 2003, they published and 
distributed a domestic violence handbook both in Thailand and 
Burma, and the demand was high enough to require reprinting. 
However, because a substantial number of women in Burma and 
within the refugee and migrant populations are illiterate, 
they are concerned that the message is not reaching the 
intended audience.  So, from 2006 to the present, they have 
expanded their program to include visual aids, such as 
posters, key chains, t-shirts, and pins.  Although these 
initiatives were successful and popular, BWU believes that an 
educational video will be an accessible tool that will 
exponentially increase their ability to spread their message. 
 
¶12. (SBU) The proposal includes the costs of producing, 
editing, promoting, launching, and distributing an 
educational video about domestic violence.  This 
Burmese-language product will include personal statements 
from domestic violence survivors from diverse backgrounds and 
cover varied aspects of this issue ranging from causes to 
 
BANGKOK 00000378  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
prevention.  BWU has been working with a professional human 
rights documentary filmmaker for the past year in 
collaboration with Voluntary Services Overseas and recently 
premiered its first film.  This experience allowed them to 
gain the necessary skills, knowledge, and resources to make 
the proposed educational video, and also to prepare an 
extremely accurate and minimal budget reflecting the costs of 
such an endeavor.  They plan to hold screenings along all 
Burmese borders (with Thailand, India and China), since BWU 
is the only Burmese women's organization that is located on 
all borders, and open to women of all ethnic groups and 
religious backgrounds. 
 
¶13. (SBU) The project duration is 12 months, and the 
requested budget is US$5,957.15.  The proposal and the local 
organization conform to all required parameters.  BWU is a 
valued Mission Thailand contact, and its leaders have been 
S/GWI interlocutors on past visits to Thailand.  This 
proposal has also been vetted by Embassy Rangoon. 
JOHN