Around 7,200 district trainers from across Myanmar completed a five-day training course jointly prepared by UNFPA and the Ministry of Immigration and Population on 11 March 2014 in stepped up nation-wide preparations for the country’s first census in over thirty years.

The district trainers acquired the skills which they will need to educate and train the over 100,000 enumerators and supervisors which will be responsible for carrying out the population count, which will be Myanmar's first since 1983. The census will be held from 30 March to 10 April.

The district trainers were themselves instructed by 464 so-called master trainers, who all participated in special training sessions in late February.

A total of 144 District Trainers attended a regional training session in Taungoo Township, Bago Region, approximately 175 miles from Yangon, as part of in total 11 countrywide training sessions.

Daw Khin Oo Aung, Headmistress of Myo Ma Primary School in Taungoo, stated that she was excited as well as proud to be participating in the training. "The census is important because it can help us get information about the country's population," she said.

She also stressed that she was grateful to her seniors and supervisors for allowing her to take part in the training and that after completing the session she would be assigned to "respective townships and conduct the township level training of the enumerators and supervisors".

UNFPA provided technical support for the development of the training curriculum and related instruction materials and provided funding for the three rounds of training sessions across the country involving master, district, enumerator and supervisor training. Technical assistance from Australia's Statistics Bureau and India's Census Bureau was also provided to improve the census training manuals and accompanying learning materials.

A final round of training sessions, to instruct enumerators and supervisors, takes place from 17th to 22nd March.