Known as: Ma Pann Nee

Academic Background: Bachelor of Arts in Myanmar from Dagon University, Yangon, Diploma in Computer Arts from University of Culture, Yangon.

Areas of Interest: Gender equality, feminism, human rights, civil society, community based organization, social enterprise, psychosocial, mental health, sustainable development, social change, social justice, arts and storytelling.

Languages spoken: Burmese and English

Ma Pann Nee is a proud feminist and queer woman. She was born and raised in Yangon, Myanmar, belongs to Burmese ethnicity, with Islam and Buddhism backgrounds. She has over 9 years work experience as a community worker inside and outside Myanmar.

She was one of the founding members and Burmese Publications Manager of Mote Oo Education, which is an organization working on non-formal education and social sciences curriculum development. She has many years experience working with local and international NGOs as a publishing consultant for gender, federalism, community dialogue, constitution and “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Burmese.

When Myanmar was still having free and fair elections, in 2018, she coordinated an important program called “the Political Education Programme for Junior Politicians” (PEPJP) with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Myanmar (FES) and Initiative Austausch e.V for young politicians to foster the exchange of political ideas and knowledge, and expanded the network for junior politicians both inside the country and field visits in Germany. That programme was the very first one that allowed the gathering of all young politicians from different ethnic parties in Myanmar.

She has experienced working with Action Aid Myanmar and successfully produced their digital youth talk shows and worked with the artist for social change through the mediums of art. She also believes that mental health is very important and all people should get the right and adequate support in times of hardship throughout their childhood, adulthood and in any other settings. That belief led her to contribute her time to mental support in recent years. She has extensive working experience in providing mental well-being counselling, well-being training and workshops for artists, journalists, youths and GBV victims for over 400 hours.

She founded Doh Zat, (meaning Our Stories in Burmese) which is a digital platform intended to provide a platform where people can share their stories and experiences of physical, psychological and sexual abuses, violence, and harassment/bullying by their gender, age, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Doh Zat works with victims/survivors in encouraging and providing a safe space to share their stories. It also provides artists and creatives a showcase for their stories in several mediums.

Ma Pann Nee started the hashtag #iBleed campaign, to raise awareness of menstruation positivity in people who bleed and how taboos can be broken down on social media. She is also a member of an initiative which aims to create a fairer and better society.