More than 80 participants from Myanmar’s Generation 88 Group travelled from far flung corners of the Southeast Asian country to be present for a meeting on the upcoming census held at the Dam Piya Monastery in Yangon on 06 November, 2013.

Ms. Janet Jackson, UNFPA’s Myanmar Representative appealed in her opening statement for a strong cooperation and engagement of Generation 88 Group in preparations for the upcoming census and to positively address and put right some of the “rumours of misconceptions and distrust to one of accuracy and transparency.” 

“We have a huge task ahead of us, but meetings like this will help raise awareness for the census and together we can set the census on the right track and be part of changing the dialogue from under spoken and under heard to ensure that everyone is counted. Today is part of a string of efforts to ensure that this happens.” 

She added that “We can learn from history, but ultimately we need to look to the future by examining the present also, and the census is part of what Myanmar is now and how correct and up to date data can be used to plan and plot out Myanmar’s future. The 2014 census is a chance for everyone to have a voice and together let’s make the census an accurate exercise which in return will help Myanmar’s ongoing transformation reform and development process.” 

During the meeting, U Ko Ko Gyi, Myanmar’s prominent Student Leader of the Generation 88 Group took to the floor and addressed the participants on the importance of the census and stated that: “I would like to encourage all of you to participate and support the census, so it will result in positive consequences for Myanmar in terms of ensuring peace, better resource management and development plans.” 

The 88 Generation Group is a Myanmar pro-democracy movement which takes its name from the 8-8-88 student-led protests in 1988. It has a wide country network involving more than 600 members. 

The 2014 Myanmar Census count will take place on the night of 29th March to 10 April. The theme of the census campaign is “A nation-wide census – Let us all Participate”.