This is a story of more than 2000 women making a change in their communities through the art of handicraft making.

In the rural areas of Myanmar, deep-rooted customs and patriarchy have pushed women in a disadvantaged, vulnerable position, both mentally and physically. On top of that climate change is hitting the dry-zone and its agriculture based communities hard.

Seven years ago, the Social Economic Development Network (SEDN) project started a training programme, focused on economic development and social protection of women and their families living in the dry-zone, which resulted in over 2000 women from 150 villages being trained in handicraft making and becoming educated on their rights to access healthcare and social services.

SEDN is a project funded by the European Union through the multi-donor Livelihood and Food Security Fund (LIFT). SEDN is implemented by ActionAid.