Daw Kyi Chan: The only female Village Tract Administrator in Yae Township

June 14, 2019


Daw Kyi Chan (47), a mother of three children, is the Village Tract Administrator of Kawt Hlaing Village Tract. She is also the only female VTA in Yae Township. She was elected during the 2017 by-election and started working as an administrator in July 2017.

“I am popular in my community as I have done a lot of social and community work and my father-in-law also used to be an administrator. Even though my opponent was a business man who canvassed for votes by using his money, the constituents voted for me,” Daw Kyi Chan said.

Daw Kyi Chan’s office is open every day except Sunday. She makes field visits with household leaders and manages public complaints. Most of the complaints are related to saving and lending and loan groups. She considers the construction of a local market and leading communities to help them to prevent fires her biggest achievements.

Daw Kyi Chan is positive about the capacity building program of UNDP. “I feel very encouraged. It inspires me to run for the next W/ VTA election or to run for a seat in parliament. My husband understands me and supports me a lot, including by helping with housework.

My message to female 10 household leaders in the village tract? I want them to work hard. If they want to be elected as VTA in 2020 W/VTA election, I will step back. But if all the candidates are men, I won’t step back and I will continue to fight to win. I wish more women become VTAs in Yae Township in the future.”

Related Project

Township Democratic Local Governance (TDLG)
The project is actively supporting democratic local governance by giving local people a voice to influence annual township planning and budgeting through elected representatives, being Hluttaw members, ward and village tract administrators and representatives from civil society organizations. The project contributes to the development of a democratic local governance policy framework for the Government of Myanmar to advance its decentralization agenda.