A multi-layered facilitation initiative supporting Myanmar activists in exile, focused on rebuilding trust, enabling collective imagination, and seeding long-term collaboration in a low-trust environment.
Context
Re-Imagine Myanmar is a gathering-based, multi-layered transformation initiative supporting activists, journalists, and changemakers from Myanmar — many of whom are now in exile following the 2021 coup.
The work sits within a broader effort to support the pro-democracy movement, particularly by rebuilding trust and connection across fragmented networks. In a context where isolation and risk are pervasive, the gatherings create space for participants to reconnect, find alignment, and imagine futures that would be difficult to access alone.
Challenge
The Myanmar pro-democracy movement is operating in a deeply low-trust and highly fragmented environment.
Participants are navigating:
- displacement and loss of safety
- breakdown of trust across networks
- emotional and psychological strain
- a sense of losing momentum over time
In this context, collaboration is difficult not only structurally, but relationally. Without trust, even shared goals are hard to act on.
My Role
I designed and facilitated the residency programs, shaping both the structure and relational conditions of the space.
This included:
- designing multi-day program arcs
- facilitating group processes and discussions
- holding space for both analytical and emotional work
- developing modules and facilitation tools
- teaching participants how to facilitate and hold space themselves
The work also includes open-sourcing modules and training facilitators, enabling the approach to extend beyond individual gatherings.
Approach
The work is grounded in a relationship-first approach.
Rather than beginning with problem-solving, the process focuses on creating the conditions for trust to emerge — both within individuals and across the group.
This includes:
- structured practices for self and relational trust-building
- balancing analytical inquiry with healing-centered processes
- creating space for participants to open up before collaboration
- using futures thinking and collective imagination methods
A core principle is that meaningful collaboration cannot be forced — it emerges when people feel safe enough to engage.
Outcome
Participants consistently described the gatherings as one of the first spaces where they felt safe to openly connect and share since the coup.
Outcomes include:
- renewed trust and connection
- new collaborations and initiatives emerging
- increased willingness to engage and take action
- strengthened relational networks within the movement
In this context, rebuilding trust and enabling reconnection is itself a significant outcome.
Reflection
One of the key learnings from this work is that tools and structures alone are not enough.
What matters most is the ability to hold a space where people genuinely feel safe, and the balance between intellectual inquiry and relational, heart-centered processes.
This work continues to shape my approach to facilitation — not as a method, but as a practice of holding conditions where transformation can emerge.