Leading Learning Amidst Conflict: A Qualitative Study of Leaders of Training and Education Organizations in Post-Coup Myanmar

Abstract

Community-based organizations (CBOs) play a key role in providing nonformal adult education and training in many contexts, including emerging economies such as Myanmar. Following the 2021 coup and amid the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic disruption, CBO-based learning programs have faced heightened constraints that require leaders to adapt to sustain training opportunities. This exploratory qualitative study examined how leaders of community-based nonformal adult education and training programs in rural Myanmar define their organizational roles, navigate constraints that shape program delivery, and sustain learning opportunities amid disruptions. Using an interpretive qualitative design, we conducted online semi-structured interviews with six CBO leaders and analyzed data using thematic analysis. Findings revealed four themes: leaders framed training as an investment in community futures; leaders described intersecting constraints tied to resource scarcity and access barriers; leaders sustained programming through relationships, networks, and community legitimacy; and leaders drew on perseverance, proactive planning, and service-oriented commitments to continue their work under disruption. The study contributes to adult education and HRD scholarship by illuminating leadership as situated program-sustaining work in a fragile context and by extending understanding of community-based learning provision in an understudied and difficult-to-access setting.

Keywords

community-based organization leadership Myanmar conflict nonformal education

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