Social Networks and Remittances as Social Capital for Rural Community Development, Chin State, Myanmar : A Case Study of Vanzang Village

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Conclusion: "For the Vanzang community network, the formation of VGM plays crucial role in connecting with all Vanzang oversea people virtually in one place and solidarity with the villagers abounds afterwards. This reinforced cohesive relationships among themselves through virtual group resulted in the birth of various different projects in the home community. It is found that one key person stands out as mobilizer for the villagers to the oversea migrants. For the villagers, their main mobilizing strategy is to pinpoint the shared struggles and experiences in the community life. As it is seen above, for basic infrastructure development, the community raise the issues in such a way that the possibility of a new improvement clearly demonstrated in the understanding of the overseas migrants. And all the issues raised are central to the welfare of the community life. Most of the development issues are raised by the villagers basing on the needs of the community. The migrants are the sponsors for community development programs implemented. In this community network, both the committee and the members are agent and initiator of development. Though some ideas may originate from the village or rom overseas, some are transported from networking to other community, like neighboring villages. In most cases, community projects help share the remittance to the non-­‐receiving families. In the remittance initiated community projects, the poorer segment of the community are not marginalized but centered or equal beneficiaries of the development. It is the community projects that are reaching equally its members. The distribution of remittance through community development is effective to harness remittance for social and economic development in the rural regions where the gove rnment is not responsive to its overall development. It is noticed that several projects were carried out without formal leadership system. It was a loose network without any rule or regulations, but function effectively under this structure. Later on, this necessitates the formation of Vanzang Global Development Group in 2008 for coordinating community projects and mobilizing all Vanzang people from Myanmar and abroad is the important development of the community network. Community network helps to exchange information and mobilize more effectively for the cause of Vanzang people.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.

Creator/author: 

Cung Lian Hu

Source/publisher: 

International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015

Date of Publication: 

2015-08-26

Date of entry: 

2015-08-19

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  • Individual Documents

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Language: 

Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)

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264.09 KB