FNF organizes the first liberalism training for Myanmar’s local NGOs

FNF (Friedrich Naumann Foundation) Myanmar has organized the first liberalism training for local NGOs/CSOs, based in Yangon and Mandalay, from 26 September to 29 September 2017 at the Novotel Max Yangon Hotel.

“We learned about the values and principles of liberalism in  this training, though 3.5 days weren't enough to learn about all the benefits of liberalism.Liberalism does not only mean 'pro  freedom' but is also  connected with  Liberal Democracy, Rule of Law, Minimum Government, Subsidiarity and Economic Freedom, we learned,” U Ye Aung, Director of training department of Open Myanmar Initiatives said.

The training was conducted by Mr. Rainer Heufers, co-founder of Center for Indonesia Policy Studies (CIPA) based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

29 participants from different organizations of  Panna Institute, EduLife, Yangon School of Political Science, Open Myanmar Initiatives, 8888 generation Open Society, Yone Kyi Yar, Fifth Pillar, Center of Study for Myanmar and Political Studies and FNF Myanmar joined the training.

“The training was really good generally. People talk about liberal but they don’t know exactly what 'liberal' means. We could learn from this training more about liberalism in different styles, like what is liberalism and what is social liberalism as well,” Nay Win Naing, Program Director from Fifth Pillar told FNF after the training.

Mr. Rainer Heufers explained 6 principles of liberalism: freedom, rule of law, liberal democracy, subsidiarity, economic freedom and minimum government to participants at the training.

“I have learned many things about liberalism from this training but the most remarkable thing for me is the example for freedom of education part. The trainer explained to us about freedom of education by an example of spider web and star fish ,” U Ye Aung added.

Participants gave their attention actively in group discussions and questioned about what they would like to know clearly.

“The individual's right is the most remarkable from this training for me, it is encouraged much in liberalism,” Nay Win Naing said.