With the acceptance of 14 new Cooperation Circles this month, URI is thrilled to welcome Myanmar as the 100th country to join our global peacebuilding network. Give a warm welcome to our two new Cooperation Circles from Myanmar: Building Better Society (BBS) and Myittar Resource Foundation.
Building Better Society (BBS) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by academicians, peace practitioners, humanitarians, social trainers, education experts, and community development experts to promote sustainable peace and socio-economic development in Myanmar. The organization focuses on communal conflict intervention and promoting the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in peacebuilding between conflicting communities.
“[We are] a young and newly established organization with a similar vision [to URI] - building a peaceful world,” BBS says. “URI offers great support and connectivity, as a network organization. We see that this is a very good opportunity for us.”
Myittar Resource Foundation (MRF) is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious humanitarian organization providing community development and humanitarian services to vulnerable people in Myanmar at a grassroots level. They work towards poverty elimination and sustainable community development. “Due to a lack of knowledge [about interfaith cooperation], religious conflicts occur frequently in our work area,” MRF says. “Therefore, we need to promote interfaith awareness for peace and coexistence.”
Maria Eugenia Crespo de Mafia, URI Director of Cooperation Circle Support, echoes the sentiment. "That URI is present in a country implies that interfaith cooperation is taking place there and this is good news," she says. "That we have Cooperation Circles in 100 countries multiplies the joy a hundred times and this gives us hope!”
