In the wake of the Myanmar’s recent dramatic political transition, the country’s government departments and Civil Society Organizations are required to make better commitments to maintaining reliable data and presenting the data effectively to all relevant stakeholders, including the public. In this context, Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF) and the Myanmar Book Aid Preservation Foundation (MBAPF), in partnership with the Tableau Foundation and the University of Washington, provided “Training on data visualizations through Tableau” in March 2016 to a cohort of organizations across various sectors in Myanmar to encourage the use of facts and analytical reasoning to address the country’s issues. Cohort organizations included Union Election Commission (UEC), Institute of Development Administration under General Administration Department (GAD), Central Statistical Organization (CSO), Department of Rural Development (DRD), Myanmar information Management Unit (MIMU), Open Myanmar Initiative (OMI) and The Centre for Diversity and National Harmony (CDNH).
As one of the follow up activities of the cohort, a Tableau professional license keys were provided to each cohort organization during May and July of 2016. Another activity was the “Needs Assessment Study among Cohort” conducted by EMReF and MBAPF between June and August 2016. The objective was to explore the needs related to data availability, processing, utilization, visualization and collaboration.