Pilot Project of RBF Myanmar: To narrow urban and rural developmentgap

The Department of Rural Development (Tanintharyi), will implement the pilot project of Responsible Business Fund (RBF) in in Kawthoung District. That project is established to encourage smart village in order to narrow the gap between urban and rural development.

The Responsible Business Fund (RBF) Myanmar is a part of Development Assistance from Denmark to Myanmar. Denmark has been a pioneer in helping several countries in Asia and Africa to leverage local private sector abilities to deliver ‘economic’ and ‘environmental’ development results in a sustainable manner.

District Officer, Dept. of Rural Development [Kawthoung District], Soe Wai said " We selected Saingdin Village because of the good cooperation of the village and it has a lot of potential. The purpose of this project is to increase the job opportunities. For the project, we are now making discussions with locals in the Village. If they will understand and accept it, they will need to put proposal forms in groups. Every group needs to have 5 to and 15 persons. Then, we will analyze their forms and decide that what is possible or not. We will give the maximum amount 7.5 million kyats to the group which has possible business plan. Also, we will provide 300 million kyats to every village included in the project."

RBF Myanmar is a ‘Challenge Fund’ to promote responsible of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Myanmar. It aims to increase the competitiveness and responsible behavior of Myanmar enterprises by providing partial grants to MSMEs for the implementation of projects with a potential to demonstrate responsible technologies and business practices as well as development of rural businesses.