The funding cuts come as donors are showing an increased preference for programmes that help the refugees return to their homeland, said the organisations, which assist the estimated 130,000 Myanmar living in camps just over the border with Thailand.
There is a general push by donors to focus on preparing the refugees for a possible return to Myanmar, said Ms Andrea Costa, from the Committee for the Coordination of Services for Displaced Persons in Thailand, a coalition of 20 aid groups.
The shift in focus by donors to what they call a 'convergence' of social services has become a "hot topic" in the aid sector, partly because it has different meanings on each side of the border, said Ms Costa, the chair of the CCSDPT's education sub-committee and an education convergence advisor with the international non-government organisation, Save the Children, in the Thai border town of Mae Sot.
Ms Costa said refugees in the nine camps along the border understand 'convergence' to mean access to education, so that a child's schooling in the camps is recognised in Myanmar, enabling them to attend schools if they return to their homeland. They also understand it to mean that the qualifications of teachers in the camps will be recognised should they return to Myanmar.
For displaced populations in Myanmar, 'convergence' has a broader meaning and refers to the integration of education systems used in ethnic minority areas into a national system, she said.
“Convergence is ensuring the 35,000 students in schools [in refugee camps] have an opportunity to continue education [in Myanmar] and the 1,600 teachers teaching in refugee camps have their skills recognised upon return [to Myanmar],” said Ms Costa.
The Thai and Myanmar governments do not have policy on students transferring between either country and the process takes place at a “sector level,” she said.
Programmes to help prepare refugees and illegal migrants for a return to Myanmar are operating along the border.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency, an INGO of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, said on its website it received funding early this year for vocational training courses to prepare refugees for a return to Myanmar. The 10 courses include sewing, hair dressing, basic automotive mechanics and massage, the website said. Those who complete the courses will receive a certificate from Thailand's Vocational Education Commission.
For the past two years, Myanmar migrant students in Thailand have been able to cross the border and sit their matriculation exam at Myawaddy.
Some state and regional governments, such as the Kayah Ministry of Education, allow Myanmar students coming from Thailand to enrol in their schools, Mr Patrick Kearns, the country director of World Education Thailand, an American aid group, told Mizzima Business Weekly.
“Understandings at the district level are happening but need time to solidify,” Mr Kearns said.
Since reforms began under the government of President U Thein Sein, expectations have risen among donors that projects for camp residents will eventually end, he said. This is despite the continuing need to provide funding to the aid organisations that assist refugees and illegal migrants in border areas.
“We are focussing on transition,” Mr Kearns said.
Ms Costa said CCSDPT members anticipate reducing funding for essential services in the camps because of the shift in donor interest away from the border.
“The fact is, the camps along the border are becoming less of a priority [for donors],” she said.
Among the groups affected by the change in donor priorities is The Border Consortium, an alliance of 10 non-government organisations and a member of the CCSDPT.
In its programme report for July to December 2013, TBC said it received reduced funding from the governments of Sweden and the Netherlands and nothing from the government of Ireland. (TBC's programme report for the same period the previous year showed it had received €186,000 (about K248 million, or US$253,350) in 2012 from the Irish government through its aid agency, Trocaire).
However, TBC said Sweden had remained its second biggest donor this year and it was reduced funding from the European Union that had been more significant in recent years.
The report said EU funding fell from €4,860,000 (about K6.485 billion, or $6.6 million) in 2010 to a projected €818,000 (about K1.9 billion, or $1.1 million) in 2014.
“A decrease in funding from some donor governments has induced an overall reduction in food and shelter supplies as well as health care and education services,” Mr Duncan McArthur, TBC's partnership director told Mizzima Business Weekly in an email.
“The reduction in assistance is causing anxiety in the camps and has the potential to coerce a premature return of refugees and undermine the peace process,” said Mr McArthur.
Aid organisations that support Myanmar migrants in Thailand also face funding insecurity. Boston-based non-government organisation, World Education Thailand, which is entirely funded by the American government aid agency, USAID, reaches the end of the 15-year funding term this year.
World Education Thailand, which has focused on teacher training and curriculum development, has worked on the border for nearly 15 years and provides financial and technical assistance to 13 partner organisations.
USAID, which opened a mission in Yangon early this year, will conduct an assessment of World Education Thailand in July, said Mr Kearns.
"It is too early to say what the future of their [USAID] funding will look like on the border,” he said.
In a statement emailed to Mizzima Business Weekly, a spokesperson for the US embassy in Yangon said humanitarian assistance to the border remains one of USAID's largest programs "while U.S. development assistance increases in support of ongoing social and economic reforms [in Myanmar]."
Mr Kearns said some World Education Thailand partner organisations have been successful in securing Yangon-based funding. Funding packages came from offices in Bangkok in the past because of the political situation in Myanmar, he said.
“We can definitely say on the migrant education side, which has been funded more or less by smaller organisations, foundations and independent donors, these donors have changed strategy, pulled out and moved into Myanmar,” he said.
However, Mr Kearns has doubts that migrants with employment opportunities in Thailand will be in a hurry to return to Myanmar anytime soon.
“In the areas they [Myanmar migrants] are coming from, they are not going to see development [in Myanmar] that is competitive to that in Thailand for the next decade,” he said.
For Myanmar children in the Thai border provinces of Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Tak, access to schooling is becoming increasing difficult as donors withdraw funding support. In a worst case scenario, between 3,000 and 5,000 students will be unable to attend school in the next few months, said Mr Kearns, referring to the institutions known as migrant learning centres.
Between 20 to 25 migrant learning centres, which developed independently with their own donors and are loosely affiliated with the Thai Ministry of Education, have opened for the school year but cannot cover running costs for the next four months, he said.
On June 9, World Education Thailand began a four-month research project with the Thai Ministry of Education and organisations such as Save the Children International and the Burmese Migrant Teacher Association to recommend long-term solutions for the funding crisis.
With funding levels declining, an emphasis is being placed on providing basic services in the camps, which has meant that opportunities to acquire an education are dwindling.
Mr Kearns attributed a rise in school drop-out rates, drug use and gang activity in the camps to uncertainty about the future.
“They don't know what their future is; they don't even know where it is,” he said.
“They [young adults] are not going to be farmers; they haven't ever lived on a farm or been exposed to a farming lifestyle. What are the options going to be for them?”
Young adults in the camps seem to be going back and forth between Thailand and Myanmar.
They are “testing the waters in Myanmar,” said Mr Kearns.
“If they start to find opportunities in Myanmar, they are going to stay there and If they don't, they'll go back to camp,” he said.
Many CCSDPT members are competing for the reduced funding to provide basic services in the camps. The 2014 EU Aid to Uprooted People Programme, which assists displaced Myanmar living along the border, has sought funding proposal applications for a total of €5 million, much less than what is needed, said Ms Costa.
Despite the funding cuts, Ms Costa said CCSDPT members will continue to stretch their resources as they try to ensure access to education for all.
“If you're in the camp you have a right to education,” she said.
This Article first appeared in the July 10, 2014 edition of Mizzima Business Weekly.
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