WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 417

Standard Project Report 2016
Story from the Field
From internally displaced person (IDP) to businesswoman: WFP cash transfers transforming lives in
Myanmar
When armed conflict erupted in June 2011, the clashes between government forces and the Kachin Independence
Army forced Daw Ze Naw and her family to flee their home village of Ga Ra Yang in Kachin State. Since then, she
has lived with her husband, eight-year-old son and two- and ten-year-old daughters in the Mainar IDP camp in
Waing Maw.
In her home village, Daw Ze Naw ran a small shop and her family cultivated three acres of paddy land and
harvested oranges from 500 trees. The transition from being self-sufficient to depending on WFP's in-kind food
assistance was not an easy one. Her family suddenly had little choice in their diet beyond the commodities in WFP's
monthly food basket, which consisted of rice, cooking oil, salt and pulses.
When WFP changed the type of assistance she and her family received, things started to brighten. In January 2016,
she received her first envelope with cash instead of the food basket. “When I heard that I would get cash instead of
food from WFP, I was very happy” said the 32-year-old woman. “Cash gives us freedom of choice and we can buy
the things we like from the market, which is a 10 to 15 minute walk from the camp.” Besides enjoying greater
freedom of choice over the food they eat, WFP's cash-based transfers also provided her with a new business
opportunity. Putting her business acumen to use, Daw Ze Naw started her own rice shop in the camp.
Subsequently, three other women have followed in her footsteps and started their own rice businesses in the camp.
“I buy the rice directly from the mill at the wholesale price and sell it in the camp at the market price,” she says.
“Many families as well as people with limited mobility appreciate buying the rice on-site. At my shop, they can also
buy on credit.” Daw Ze Naw sells between 30 and 40 rice bags per month and, if all goes well, the young
businesswoman has plans to expand her business in the future. When asked what she is spending her extra
income on, aside from food, she answered: “The school fees for my children”.
Myanmar, Union of (MM)
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Single Country PRRO - 200299