Myanmar’s digital ecosystem has been a lifeline for many, from education to community and humanitarian support, bringing a sense of stability in the midst of chaos. Alas, it is also a tool for repression, crime, and abuse. IDRC’s Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar has supported researchers looking into these complex issues.
This story is featured in the Asia Research News 2026 magazine.
The Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar (K4DM) initiative strengthens local research and analytical capacity of Myanmar scholars in higher education and research. Initially launched in 2017 by Global Affairs Canada and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the second phase since 2022 has now mentored over 2,000 young scholars with almost 250 fellowships, of which 60% were offered to women and individuals from ethnic communities, enabling them to pursue higher education in countries like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Canada.
Even amid political, economic, and social upheaval, Myanmar remains at a crossroads in the global digital landscape, with its expanding digital engagement — both positive and negative — linking it to everything from rare-earth supply chains to transnational crime to education.
Edgard Rodriguez, Myanmar lead at IDRC’s Asia Regional Office
K-Pop, crypto, and scams
What do K-Pop and English football have in common? The fans. After the February 2021 coup, many people in Myanmar turned to pre-existing online communities for support — and nothing holds a community better than celebrities. Interspersing information about their idols and digital activism, fan clubs have raised funds, planned campaigns, and provided food, moral, and social support to their communities, demonstrating the power of grassroots movements and resistance in the digital age.
“We were too young or too afraid or too far away. But inside [the] fandom, we found purpose and healing. We were no longer powerless spectators.” ~The power of fandom, written by the researchers for the Mekong Review
Those are findings from a study on fan clubs, one of a series of 26 Myanmar Digital Research projects coordinated by The SecDev Foundation, a Canadian non-profit focused on digital safety. The series looked at various aspects of life in the digital space, from education to media, gender, governance, misinformation, mental health, and finances.
Another study in the Myanmar Digital Research series focused on mobile finances. Myanmar’s economy moved from entirely cash-based to digital when the internet and mobile phones took off. Mobile money was particularly helpful to people living in rural areas, growing from 1% to 80% market penetration in just three years, according to a source in the study. Since the coup, people have reverted to cash-based again as digital banking is vulnerable to account suspension and surveillance. For example, mobile finances require identity checks and phone numbers, which in turn may provide data like call records, online activities, and location. Families abroad are turning to methods like hundi, a traditional system often used for donations to temples, informal money lenders, or fake accounts to send money home. The more digitally savvy use crypto-based platforms.
Right after my mobile money account was freezed, my home got raided, my family had to legally disown me. After that, I also lost all my IDs and documents. ~A 23-year-old interviewed by researchers looking into mobile money policing in Myanmar
While cryptocurrency has helped to sustain families, activism, and humanitarian relief, it is also used in a dark industry. Hardly a day goes by without mention of cyberscams in the news. A United Nations report estimated that up to US$37 billion have been scammed by operations in Southeast Asia. Researchers looked at the types of scams and their targets and gained insight into the operations of scam centres.
The scams vary: promises of investment return, identity theft, fake lottery wins, employment, and romance. Scammers are sophisticated, working in teams specialising in different aspects of a scam cycle, passing on a target to different teams as required. As an example, the researchers mention how a team learnt about electrical engineering so they could talk to wealthy electrical engineers.
Much has been reported about the people trafficked to work in scam centres, but due to the political and economic difficulties in Myanmar, many young people also go to work in the centres to support their families or to avoid forced military conscription. However, those who change their minds find it impossible to leave.
Despite numerous crackdowns, the industry continues to grow and adapt. As part of their recommendations, researchers urge authorities to adopt victim-centred, trauma-informed practices with multi-border coordination to support victims across nationalities, while increasing enforcement against organised crime. They also urge an expansion of anti-trafficking awareness and improved digital literacy so communities can recognise and resist scams.
I want to stop doing this job. Because in the long-run, it’s dangerous. But if I go back home, how can I earn money? ~Interviewee in the Myanmar Digital Research series
Read the paper
Myanmar Digital Research Series: https://k4dm.ca/2025/12/01/myanmar-digital-research-series-compilation/
Further information
SecDev Foundation
info@secdev.foundation
secdev-foundation.org
The pursuit of knowledge
As dawn breaks deep in the Myanmar jungle, Myo Min, a paramedic, rises from his hammock, washes at the river and walks uphill for internet connectivity to attend his online class. Later that day, a thousand miles away at a refugee camp, Shwe Zin Bi Bi has completed her graphic design job and is getting ready to learn. Both are students of Pyin-Nya-Man-Daing (PNMD), an online human rights education academic programme led by the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University and the YCU-Yangon Research Institute. PNMD has offered Master’s, diploma and certificate courses to over 1,300 students all over Myanmar and neighbouring countries, including those living in camps after they were forced to flee their homes.
Aside from providing education, they have established Myanmar’s first social science research ethics board, supported the provision of legal aid and mediation of community dispute, empowered survivors of violence, documented human rights violations with civil society organisations, and developed research that is crucial for any later democratic reform initiatives on education, human rights, justice, climate change, and environmental protection.
Going forward, PNMD’s partner Kant Kaw Taw Library, which already gets 10,000 regular visitors a month with 1,300 books and 64 databases with over 1,000 resources each, will be expanded with more translations into Burmese and other ethnic languages. PNMD is setting up a new foundation and is developing Myanmar’s first-ever Master’s course in English and Burmese to further strengthen rights knowledge and a bottom-up peace building ecosystem for Myanmar.
I decided to become a human rights defender after attending this course. Many people in Myanmar don’t know their own rights and have faced serious violations, especially in this digital age. ~ Thura, PNMD Student
Further information
Pyin-Nya-Man-Daing
yri-mm.org
ihrp.mahidol.ac.th
Online education has been a lifeline for many young people from Myanmar. Yet, online education requires stable electricity and internet connection. Digital infrastructure in camps and the jungle are almost non-existent. To enable continuation of education, James, now at Spring University Myanmar, built eduLamp, a portable digital box that creates a local wireless network for students to connect their devices and access curated educational content stored on the box, bringing education to thousands of isolated students. Spring University Myanmar was established in May 2021 as an emergency response to the military coup and has since reached over 25,000 learners of their diploma, certificate, and self-paced courses, including those who use eduLamp.
Further information
Spring University Myanmar
admin@springuniversitymm.com
springuniversitymm.com
Parami University, initially established in 2017, transitioned to online education in 2021 due to the political unrest in Myanmar. They launched undergraduate degree programmes in 2022, which are licensed under the Higher Education Licensure Commission of Washington, DC, in the United States. Additionally, a partnership with New York’s Bard College enables students to receive dual degrees from Parami and Bard universities. Parami is currently home to over 300 students from Myanmar, Thailand, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Rwanda. Although all classes are online, some students live on-site at five Parami Learning Hubs in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, which are havens for refugee and displaced students.
Further information
Parami University
info@parami.edu.mm
parami.edu.mm
(All names have been changed for personal security.)
Rights and rare earths
The digital world as we know it exists thanks to 17 key elements known as rare earth minerals. Myanmar’s Kachin state is home to 15,000 rare species, and mining for rare earth minerals has increased by 194% according to a report by the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, whose research was supported by IDRC. The researchers found that the “resource curse” is well underway with widespread environmental damage to the water, air, and soil, resulting in the collapse of traditional livelihoods and communities. Families have been forced to move or into the mining industry; drug abuse, gender-based violence, and health issues abound, with increases in miscarriages, respiratory, and skin diseases.
The ongoing conflict economy is a key factor, and the researchers urge that it is first addressed along with environmental governance, transparency, and equitable sharing of benefits for sustainable development, including ethical sourcing certification within global supply chains to guarantee responsible mining.
Read the paper
Rare Earth Mining in Myanmar’s War-Torn Regions: https://ispmyanmar.com/unearthing-the-cost-rare-earth-mining-in-myanmars-war-torn-regions/
Further information
Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar
info@ispmyanmar.com
ispmyanmar.com
Globally, we are seeing real harms flow from digital communications and yet the responses by policymakers, whether in good faith or otherwise, are also increasingly repressive and not effective.
Toby Mendel, President of Centre for Law and Democracy
Respect for human rights is the foundation of democracy. That is the belief of Canada-based Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), a K4DM partner that works with organisations globally to promote, protect, and develop human rights.
“The world is in a challenging and dynamic time, including the advent of full-scale AI, which will only continue to evolve and become more powerful. We need to match that with constant investment in developing new international standards which can be adapted to countries in different situations,” says Toby Mendel, President of CLD. He adds, “For change to happen, Myanmar needs a democratically elected government followed by a complete overhaul of all of the restrictions on rights to bring them in line with international standards.”
Further information
Centre for Law and Democracy
info@law-democracy.org
law-democracy.org
Since 2017, K4DM has helped strengthen the research and analytical capacity of Myanmar scholars. Despite the conflict, the Myanmar people continue to strive for a better life, building stability amid conflict and chaos.
K4DM is an initiative of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in partnership with Global Affairs Canada.
Asia Research News is K4DM’s knowledge transfer advisor.