Celebrating the First Graduation at the Health & EarthRights Training Program

Congratulations to the inaugural graduating class of the Health and Earth Rights Training (HEART) Program! The twenty new graduates recently celebrated their achievement in a ceremony marking the conclusion of the seven month intensive training program.

The HEART Program is a partnership between ERI and Dr. Cynthia Maung, award winning Founder and Director of the Mae Tao Clinic, which provides free health care to refugees, migrant workers, and other individuals crossing the border from Burma to Thailand. The HEART Program trains participants drawn from communities along the Thai-Burma border and inside Burma in knowledge and skills around the intersection of health, the environment and human rights.

The 2011 graduates of the HEART Program

The new graduates are young people from a range of ethnic groups working or intending to work as health and community workers serving refugee and migrant communities on the border and internally displaced (IDP) and affected populations inside Burma. These groups suffer a range of issues in which environmental and human rights abuses result in detrimental health impacts on individuals and communities.

The training program combines theory and practice aimed at developing participant capacity in a systematic and holistic way. Participants are equipped with knowledge of the legal, social and political contexts in which health and earth rights violations occur and examine case studies on issues pertinent to those in their own communities. They are then trained in the practical skills required to be effective health and earth rights advocates and actors of positive community change. Finally, participants apply their knowledge and skills through a fieldwork practicum undertaken in their home communities.

During their fieldwork, students conducted research and developed reports and presentations on health and earth rights issues impacting local populations and communities. These included: illness and disease caused by waste and pollution from mining and factories; malnutrition resulting from dams and deforestation destroying community livelihoods; and negative health impacts of conflict and displacement on community access to health care services, secure food sources and safe environments. 

The Health and Earth Rights Training Graduation Ceremony was held on Thursday November 11 at the HEART compound in Mae Sot, Thailand. The event featured inspiring speeches by HEART co-founders Dr Cynthia Maung and Ka Hsaw Wa, ERI’s Executive Director, as well as representatives of the local community and Back Pack Health Worker Teams. Local and international guests joined students, staff, volunteers and friends of the school in celebrating the hard work, commitment and momentous achievement of the new graduates.

In speeches to mark the occasion, student representatives noted the importance of the training program in providing an invaluable and unique educational opportunity for themselves and their communities.  

“This school is very important for the new generation for bringing a better Burma. This school also can help the young people who are not able to access higher education. This school can help the organizations and communities. After we finish at this school, we can improve our communities and change Burma.”

“We now know more about the connection between the issues that we have learnt, such as the connection between health and human rights and the environment. We got many skills too. I’m sure that all we students here will take responsibility in our respected communities to educate people about the issues and skills that we have learnt from this training. [The training] is very necessary for ethnic young people from Burma who do not have a chance to study and continue to learn about human rights issues. They are then able to change and develop their society, to participate in democratic action in Burma. This is one part in a battle for a peaceful Burma and a step of participation for the benefit of our future…”.

Graduates plan to join or local organizations in promoting the health of their communities or advocating against health and earth rights abuses. Others will undertake further study, training and internships to develop their capacities as health and community workers, building on the foundation laid by participation in the HEART program. By promoting the skills and knowledge of emerging community and health workers, the HEART program is supporting a new generation of leaders able to work for the protection of the environment, human rights and health in local communities.

ERI would like to thank all of the donors and supporters who have made this program a reality for our new graduates.