Challenge
University students in Myanmar need support preparing for and fiding employment opportunities.
Goal
Create a space where university students can discover who they are, develop life skills and connect to employment opportunities in Myanmar.
Team
Htet Yin Tun
Background
Early in the Design-Thinking for Community Engagement course, change agents identified “livelihoods” as a core value within the ecosystem of a citizen in Myanmar. During a 3-week project cycle, student teams conducted research to uncover the hidden needs, fears, desires and challenges associated with finding employment opportunities after graduating university.
After interviewing over 100 university students, change agents developed Archetypes to communicate the diverse perspectives, behaviors and attitudes among Mawlamyine University students.
Research findings showed that there is a significant gap between what students learn in university and what skills/knowledge they are able to apply to a job. Many students need to enroll in costly courses after graduating in order to develop basic job skills like English language, computer, communication, administration and accounting skills. In addition, poor communication and access to local jobs has forced many youth to seek employment in neighboring countries like Thailand, Korea and Singapore.
Methodology
To better understand how to prepare university students for jobs. Htet Yin Tun built upon the early prototypes of her fellow change agents by:
- Interviewing 9 local entrepreneurs, 33 university students and 5 faculty from Mawlamyine University
- Developed and played a Ranking Game with local entrepreneurs, university students and faculty from Mawlamyine University, which prioritized the jobs skills
- Held participatory design sessions with Mawlamyine University faculty and students to co-create self-discovery and job skills workshops.
Prototypes
Local Job App (low-fidelity prototype)
Volunteering Excursion Trip 15 university students
Entrepreneur Talks with 12 local business owners
Self-Discovery workshop with 10 university students
Job Skills Workshop with 16 university students
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Business, Civil Society + Government
PARTNERS
Mawlamyine University
Myanmar Youth Entrepreneurship Association
MDG Company
Mawlamyine Beauty Salon
Ramanyarattha Education Center
MYMA Center
Okay Internet Cafe
Swiss Development Agency
Ngwe Moe Hotel
Pyae Sone Steel Shop
Mr. Safe
RVi Centre Mawlamyine
Mon Youth Educated Organization
NEXT STEPS
pointB is working with change agent, Htet Yin Tun, to continue developing a Student Development Center located at Mawlamyine University. This project is focused on co-creating student-led space where university students may access self-discovery and job skills workshops, local job opportunities, entrepreneur and job fair events, peer mentoring and life skills training.