The Mehm Kan Kyi Education Network (MKK) is an organisation in Myanmar that focuses on capacity-building programmes in the Mon and Karen states along the Thai-Myanmar border.

In 2015 MKK developed the Intensive English Career Bridging Program (IECPB). It is a one-year programme that includes a three-month internship, established to address the inequalities experienced by different ethnic groups in the Burmese border states. The programme targets talented young adults with leadership potential and a drive to promote change in their communities.

Each year up to 20 students receive training in leadership skills, project management and community development. The training greatly increases the employability of the participants, especially with local and international aid organisations committed to the restoration process that has recently been initiated in Burma.

Thanks to one of our generous sponsors, the Lucendi Foundation, we can support the programme for three years to ensure that youth in Mon and Karen State are equipped with key skills that will increase their chances of the envisioned job opportunities.

The Mehm Kan Kyi Education Network (MKK) was founded by Min Thein Win in 2010 in Myanmar. The inspiration behind MKK was to support and fulfil the needs of young students, mainly ethnic minority youths who want to get the opportunity to study abroad or get access to better jobs, through setting up language centres. By 2015, MKK set up five centres in the Mon and Karen States along the Thai-Myanmar border to provide English language lessons to students from an introductory to advanced level.

To take the capacity building programme a step further, MKK developed the Intensive English Career Bridging Programme to promote cultural understanding and enhance professional capacity of ethnic minorities.

During the programme, students from various ethnic minority groups study and live together for a year with the primary objective to increase their professional skills, as well as to reach a better understanding of one another’s cultural backgrounds to promote tolerance, collaboration, peace building and reconciliation. The programme accomplishes this by providing the students with a thorough understanding of the English language, community development, project management, and leadership skills.