Redesigning the Future of Farming

I’m a statistician turned small-farmer enthusiast. After working in conservation and statistical genetics in the US, I returned to Myanmar in 2012 as my country emerged from decades-long isolation. I joined Proximity Designs then, to apply my skills in data analysis, management and technology, and work for rural development and environmental sustainability. After building up Proximity’s research and impact measurement team, I’ve led its Farm Advisory Services business that expanded to a 200-person field force team impacting 50,000+ farmers/year in 30 townships across Myanmar. We provide affordable, well-designed and climate-smart practices and services that boost smallholder farmers’ productivity and incomes. 

I hold a BA in Biology and Mathematics from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in the US, an MS in Biostatistics from Boston University and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford University. I’ve received the Women of the Future (2018) and Obama Foundation Leader (2020) awards. 

Myanmar’s 5m small farms are critical to ensure food security for a large population of 54.6m people. Yet, they’ve been neglected by government and markets through decades of isolation and misrule. Farmers lack essential support and resources to care for their land and prosper.

Proximity Designs is filling this void. We deliver affordable, innovative farm technology products, agronomy advice and finance – designed to help farmers become productive, profitable and sustainable. Since 2004, we’ve helped 907,000+ vulnerable households (around 3.9m people) increase their incomes by ~US$250/year (+20%).

A well-functioning, small-farm ecosystem is an important fulcrum to ensure food security, livelihoods and resilience for 35m aspiring rural people. Success in scaling impact in rural Myanmar can have global implications for 450m smallholder farmers. Myanmar lacks the modern infrastructure or products to meet basic human needs, and is an ideal innovation ground for sustainable technologies for similar, fragile parts of the world.

20m people in rural Myanmar depend on small-scale farming for their livelihoods. Yet, obsolete farming technology, outdated practices and a lack of credit have perpetuated extreme rural poverty and food insecurity. 85% of poverty in Myanmar – one of the world’s least-developed and most fragile countries – is in rural areas. Farm incomes and wages are the lowest in South-East Asia: rural families typically earn US$2-3/day, are vulnerable to external shocks and twice as likely to fall into debt than urban households.

Key factors contributing to this problem are:

• Fragile and complex transition: Myanmar is simultaneously undergoing three challenging transitions in its nation-building journey: from decades of military dictatorship towards democratic governance; from extreme poverty to equitable growth; and from decades of ethnic conflict to unity and peace. Rural communities have yet to benefit from reforms and remain marginalized.
• Government and market failures: The government remains cash-strapped and public investment in crop research, rural infrastructure and extension is skeletal. For private sector companies, investing in low-income farmers makes little commercial sense.
• Rapid climate change: Farmers are experiencing more frequent shifting seasonal patterns, extreme weather events, unknown pest and disease infestations, water scarcity, soil infertility and erosion. 

COVID-19 will put enormous pressure on a food supply system that already lags sorely behind neighboring countries, threatening long-term food security for millions of vulnerable people. Over the next 12-18 months, we want to provide small-farming households across Myanmar with uninterrupted access to well-designed, affordable, essential farm products that boost yields and incomes. By minimizing disruption in farming during COVID-19, this project will contribute to preventing a food security crisis in one of the world’s least developed and most fragile countries.

What we’ll do:

• Farm technology: Applying human-centered design, we’ll create and market innovative farm technologies (i.e. small-plot irrigation systems including misters, sprinklers, drip irrigation, soil health tests and bio-pesticide), using tech-enabled, contactless sales and delivery tailored for rural Myanmar – leveraging our field staff, extensive retail network and trusted online brand.
• Crop protection services: We’ll provide farmers with timely updates and alerts, on-demand responses to farmer questions about pests and disease attacks, and on-site field diagnostic for more complex problems, either on-site or via an innovative video-chat service (“tele-agronomy”)
• Agronomy advice: We’ll teach farmers improved, income-boosting agronomy techniques through a diverse digital channels (e.g. Facebook chatbot, tutorial videos, IVR), catering to different digital literacy levels.  

We focus on Myanmar, since the small-farm sector is huge and underserved, and specifically on six primary food production areas. These are the most densely populated farming zones, containing 4m farming households (80% of total) across 12,000 villages. We focus on households cultivating <15ha of land, who operate their farms as small, diversified agro-businesses. They typically earn at least 50% of their income from farming and live on US$2-3/day.

Our solutions are designed to have immediate and long-lasting impacts on rural lives, by radically reducing the labor and time needed to farm – resulting in improved agricultural productivity, increased incomes and better quality of life. Customers achieve between US$100-500 in annual net income increases. Across this range, we target an average US$250/year (~20%) income increase for users of our products/services. This is life-changing: farmers can invest in their farms, better nutrition, healthcare and education – and build long-term resilience.

Human-centered, empathy-driven, place-based design have defined our approach since 2004. Our established trust with farmers and in-depth rural expertise allows us to co-design products/services that address their unique context, behaviors and challenges. We conduct in-depth qualitative and quantitative user research, prototyping and rapid iteration, and validation of our ideas with farmers. 

450m smallholder farmers globally represent a huge underserved market. They’ve been left behind by inequitable and limited farm ecosystems for decades, neglected by public, private and aid sectors.

Proximity reframes our relationship with farmers as discerning customers – not beneficiaries – who desire choice and dignity. We’ve proven that low-income farmers present a huge, untapped market of aspiring entrepreneurs who want to participate economically. For 16 years, we’ve created markets for products/services that never existed in rural Myanmar, and done so within a context of extreme poverty. We’ve designed and introduced affordable, innovative products/services that 907,000+ farmers value and buy.

Our founders, Debbie Aung Din and Jim Taylor, launched Proximity Designs in 2004. After 20 years of making change happen in tough places around the world, they saw millions of Myanmar farmers toiling away, with unequal access to goods, services and opportunities. They believed well-designed, simple farm products/services could have lasting impact on rural families. They applied a powerful idea learnt early in their careers: deep knowledge, empathy and understanding comes from being proximate to and co-creating solutions with those you serve. Practicing the discipline of proximity, they moved to Debbie’s native Myanmar and “disrupted” the rural market, combining design creativity and social business principles.  

What started as a small idea has inspired a new generation of Myanmar leaders, such as myself. I returned to Myanmar in 2012, as it gradually emerged from decades of military rule and isolation. I joined Proximity, eager to help our hardworking and forgotten rural families. After building Proximity’s research and impact arm, I’ve scaled the agronomy services team into a robust, data-driven operation serving 50,000+ farm households per year. I’m now Head of Operations, leading our 500+ staff through a digital and operational transformation to strengthen our services to farmers through COVID-19 and beyond.

My paternal grandparents farmed groundnuts and pulses, and my maternal grandparents grew paddy and watermelon. They always shared with me how difficult and risky life was on a farm, as they had to make hundreds of critical decisions every day throughout the cropping cycles. Most of all, I remember the lack of interest and support they received from government and private companies: my grandparents, like millions of other rural households, were on their own.

When I began working at Proximity, agricultural extension services were still extremely limited and only accessible to larger, wealthier farms. Two generations later, and little had changed! I knew that to tackle structural inequalities, we needed simple, affordable products/services that would disrupt and transform the small-farm ecosystem.

I’m passionate about making science affordable and accessible to the poorest farmers on the planet. I believe every farmer has a vital role to play in how our food is produced: with the right tools and knowledge, they can transform broader society and care for their crops, the water, air and soil on which we all depend. We have an unprecedented opportunity to break the long cycle of poverty in rural Myanmar, and help millions unleash their human potential.

• Digital transformation experience: I’ve led multiple digital initiatives at Proximity, including designing a chatbot that gives farmers essential advice, information and reminders for seed cleaning, crop protection and fertilizer management. I’m spearheading our shift to “tele-agronomy”, which – like tele-medicine – will allow our agronomists to scout fields, identify pests and diseases and recommend treatments via mobile phone.
• Leadership skills: I’ve led the growth of Proximity’s Farm Advisory Services team from a pilot in 2 townships into a full-fledged business unit, with 230 staff operating in 21 townships across Myanmar. I’ve transformed it into a robust, data-driven operation providing affordable, well-designed and climate-smart techniques and services that boost farmers’ productivity and yields. We’ve impacted 290,000+ farming households.
• Commercial savviness: Agronomy services have long been fully subsidized public goods. But it doesn’t work where there are meager public coffers. While we offer most of our services for free, I’ve introduced two fee-based products – Myanmar’s first affordable soil health test and bio-pesticide for sesame growers (Trichoderma) – to generate revenue. My aspiration is to develop an innovative and financially sustainable extension service model that works for Myanmar’s farmers.
• Local knowledge: In 2012-15, I led Proximity’s Knowledge and Social Impact team, to monitor the impact of our products and services on customers. By interviewing thousands of farmers, I gathered invaluable insights on their unique context, challenges and behaviors. I’m the co-author of two in-depth research studies on the rice and sesame ecosystems in Myanmar, published by Proximity.

Working in a country like Myanmar requires a lot of resilience and grit. People can be accustomed to bending rules, or simply unfamiliar with international standards of what we would define as inappropriate use of funds. In 2016, shortly after setting up a new branch, I discovered the team had colluded to embezzle funds to cover emergency hospitalization fees for an employee’s father. Proximity has a zero tolerance policy for fraud: this is a critical part of our values and work. While I could empathize with my colleague’s troubles, I had to let go of the whole team.

It was the toughest decision of my career, and a defining moment in my leadership journey. It forced me to reflect on my core values and why they matter for the future of Myanmar, which I envision as a thriving society free of corruption. This incident also reminded me of how important it is to connect – and constantly check in – with team members, so I’m able to guide them in the right direction when challenges emerge. Since then, I’ve also extended health and financial benefits to employee’s family members, while putting in place even more rigorous financial controls.

Gender norms and stereotypes are still prevalent in Myanmar, especially in agriculture. When I took the helm of Farm Advisory in 2015, the team was shocked: I was young, and I was the first female member the team ever had! If a female agronomist going around the paddy fields was an unusual sight, a woman leading an all-male team of agronomists was just inconceivable. There’s a strong cultural taboo in Myanmar that crops will fail if a woman’s longyi (the traditional Myanmar skirt) touches them. Social norms also mandate that a man and a woman should not be together unless they’re married, and women face real challenges when working alone in remote rural areas.

Persuading my male colleagues to change their preconceptions about female agronomists wasn’t easy. While it’ll take years to bring down gender stereotypes in agriculture and across Myanmar, my efforts have started to pay off. I’m proud that Proximity is now the preferred employer for female agronomists. Our Chief Agronomist, Nang Seng Aye, is one of Myanmar’s handful of female agronomists with a PhD with soil science. Today, women comprise 43% of our staff and 60% of managers across Proximity. I’m committed to raise these numbers further.

• We’ve proven Myanmar’s low-income farmers are a huge, underserved market of aspiring entrepreneurs who want to participate economically. Rather than a charity mindset, we’re treating farmers as value-conscious customers. We’ve become the country’s largest social enterprise. 
• We co-design products with farmers that address their unique context, behavior and challenges. We operate a full-scale design lab, combining insights from villages with world-class design expertise. We curate proven, yield-boosting farm products/services and adapt them for smallholder farmers, using human-centered design, local knowledge and empathy. 
• Our designs are open-sourced. We don’t own any intellectual property: we catalyze others to piggyback and improve on our innovations and supply markets at the bottom of the pyramid.
• We use both physical and digital channels, as cheap mobile technology reaches rural areas and farmers want to engage through multiple channels. We’ve relied on field staff to introduce and sell our products; this has built deep knowledge and high levels of trust with our rural base. For two years, we’ve been developing digital marketing, sales and delivery channels to further scale our reach at lower cost – a shift accelerated by COVID-19.
• We’re bringing innovation, creative disruption and pragmatism to an environment riddled with deep and complex challenges. Myanmar is dealing with lasting effects from 20 years of sanctions, 30 years of self-isolation, 50 years of authoritarian rule, 70 years of internal war and more than 100 years of colonialism. There have been generations of virtually no public spending on health, agriculture and education. Xenophobic tendencies are entrenched. 

Small farmers want to engage with Proximity because we deliver value through our on-farm services. Our value proposition is centered around: a) providing ‘accessible innovation’; b) affordability; c) rapid return on investment; d) practical expertise; e) trusted relationships and f) ease of doing business.

• Soil health testing: Armed with a soil test, a farmer can apply fertilizers and manures to soils at rates that are appropriate for crop production: not too much, not too little. Farmers can be better stewards of nutrients in the soil by using the right rate, form, placement and timing. Their crops are healthier and higher yielding leading to higher profits/income by US$200. Greater stewardship of the soil means farm households can sustain food production in the future. Improved soil fertility and management also reduces harmful fertilizer run-off and protects water resources.
• Crop protection: Farmers experiencing a pest or disease infestation are able to immediately call and receive tailored information to diagnose and treat their problem in time to prevent crop loss and damage. (Farmers can lose, on average, US$500 from a typical pest infestation.) Farmers also review and re-read their chat histories on their mobile phones at their convenience, and can re-enforce important knowledge of crop protection solutions. For cases that cannot be solved over chatbot or the phone, our field agronomists make an on-site visit to the affected fields. With timely crop protection interventions and support, farmers get better at managing their crop risks and enjoy better harvests and profits each season.
• Precision irrigation: When farmers growing horticultural and cash crops switch from using furrow irrigation to our drip, mister or sprinkler systems to irrigate their plots, they use less water and labor, thereby increasing farm productivity and saving costs. They invest more time on other farm operations, marketing or income generating activities. With greater productivity, they also expand their sown acreage. With greater water control, they diversify into higher value crops. Small plot farmers (growing less than an acre of vegetables or cash crops) typically experience net annual income increases of US$250 from using our more efficient irrigation systems. 

Since 2004, we’ve served 907,000+ farm households across rural Myanmar, approximately 3.9m women, men and children who have benefited from improved agricultural productivity, increased incomes and better quality of life. Roughly half of customers we engage directly with are women, who remain key beneficiaries of our products and services. As men increasingly migrate in search of work, women are left behind to run family farms, manage household finances and often engage in physical, labor-intensive work (such as hauling water).

Each of these households have achieved average net income increases of between US$250/year (for irrigation products) and US$335/year (for agronomy extension services). Farmers typically use our products and services for 3-4 years, with continued benefits each year. Total additional farm income generated is conservatively estimated at US$498m. These income increases are based on in-house, rigorous social impact assessments, which have been confirmed by third-party studies:

• In 2019, MDF Myanmar surveyed 1,678 of our agronomy service customers and found that farmers achieved 12% yield increases, averaging US$335 in added net incomes. 
• In 2020, Synergia Consulting conducted an independent assessment of our irrigation product users, and found a 22-30% income increase.

Over the next year, we’re projecting to serve 150,000-200,000 farm households across Proximity Designs and Proximity Finance, including 100,000-130,000 new customers. Over the next five years, we aim to scale our operations to serve a total of 600,000 farm customers annually. This represents over 2.6 million Myanmar women, men and children.

The next year will be a defining moment for Myanmar and Proximity as an organization. Smallholder farmers are especially vulnerable to the health and economic effects of COVID-19, and are already facing acute and immediate challenges. Myanmar’s public health system cannot cope with the magnitude of the pandemic, particularly in remote rural areas. Nor is the government able to respond to the severe economic downturn, the stress on the national food supply system or the loss of income sustained by key sectors – especially in the informal economy, which accounts for 80% of the labor market.

With this Prize, we have a unique opportunity to impact the lives of millions of smallholder farmers and long-term trajectory of the food supply system, by protecting food production, building resilience and preparing for recovery. Our goal is preventing COVID-19 from turning into a severe food security crisis, which would be devastating for millions of vulnerable people, especially women and children.

My long-term aspiration is to revolutionize Myanmar’s small-farm ecosystem into the foundation of a thriving rural economy and food system for 35m people. I believe we have an historic opportunity to change how we grow food and use land for the better, and we need others to join us in empowering smallholder farmers around the world. To protect our natural resources and prevent climate change from further exacerbating food insecurity for the world’s most vulnerable people, agriculture must undergo a transformation. This is the time to redesign the future of farming. 

We face four key risks over the next 1-5 years: 

• Changing weather patterns and water shortages: Unpredictable weather patterns and water shortages have turned water use for irrigation into a serious issue for farmers. Farm households have borne the devastating brunt of more frequent natural shocks such as cyclones, storm surges, floods and droughts. Farmers are also facing crop losses through unknown pest and disease outbreaks, as a result of a long chain of events affecting a breakdown in the broader natural habitat and environment.
• Elections politics and regulatory changes: 2020 is an election year. There will be disruptions and increased scrutiny at the regional, township and village level on our activities, by various groups who may want to co-opt our work.
• Fluctuations in crop prices and volatile markets: Myanmar farmers suffer from low farmgate prices, because of the low quality of agricultural produce and low levels of investment in value-added agri-business. Sudden import restrictions in key markets like China and India wreak havoc on crop prices in Myanmar, as supplies pile up in domestic markets and farmers cannot find buyers for their crops.
• Currency fluctuation: The Central Bank of Myanmar has taken measures to tackle exchange rate volatility over the medium term, resulting in relative stability of the Myanmar kyat against the US$. While this is sign of progress, currency fluctuation remains a significant risk. Uncertainties regarding the geopolitical landscape also affect market confidence and have contributed to decreasing foreign investment in Myanmar’s agriculture sector. 

Since 2004, we've adapted to natural disasters, social and political crises, opening of markets and an evolving rural landscape. Our design-driven approach keeps us agile and responsive. We monitor the farm environment, and adjust to farmers’ changing needs and aspirations. We also leverage trusted networks with Myanmar leaders and stakeholder groups.

We’ll overcome these barriers by:

• Changing weather patterns and water shortages: Climatic shocks will impact our customers' ability to purchase our products and services. We’re addressing these risks by constantly monitoring the farm environment, staying close to our farm customers and adjusting to their changing needs for appropriately designed agronomy advice and products. We will also continue to conduct surveys and user research.

• Elections politics and regulatory changes: We will address this risk through our government relations team, who is in constant touch with the authorities/decision-makers and keeping them informed of our work. When needed, we will also leverage our trusted networks with various leaders and stakeholder groups developing during our 16 years of operating in Myanmar.
• Fluctuations in crop prices and volatile markets: Trade and market disruptions will weaken the purchasing power of our farm customers and may reduce demand for our products and services. We will address this risk by adapting to the crops that are being grown and the services demanded by our farm customers. We will also operate in multiple, diverse agro-climatic zones which allows us to spread our risk.
• Currency fluctuation: We continue to monitor reforms on the macroeconomic front.

Since March, we’ve been partnering with Myanmar’s Ministry of Social Welfare, which is leading the government’s response to COVID-19, on an impactful digital public health behavior campaign tailored for rural communities. At the request of the Ministry, we’ve been giving farmers simple, clear and actionable advice on how to protect themselves and their communities from COVID-19 – so they can carry out critical farming activities safely. We’re leveraging our experience in promoting behavioral change in agricultural practices, user-centered design approach and digital surveys to drive the right response among the rural population.   

Our 13 pieces of public health communication have been watched to near-completion 12m times by a total of 3.1m rural people. We conservatively estimate that at least 650,000 farmers – likely more – have changed their behavior as a result of our campaign. The real impact is probably higher: family and friends of farmers made up 42% of the viewers of the videos, and an average of 22% have passed the advice on to at least one farmer they know.

Since April, we’ve also been giving key policy-makers timely, important data on how the pandemic is affecting rural households, food security, market access, crop prices and food supply chains. We’ve shifted our impact research to conduct weekly (now biweekly) digital surveys covering 1,000+ farmers, supplemented by in-depth phone surveys. Based on this data, we’ve presented government decision-makers with policy input at their request, for instance on how to balance movement restrictions with keeping agricultural activities open.

Proximity Designs is a social enterprise. We design and deliver affordable, income-boosting products/services that complement the entrepreneurial spirit of rural families, and help them forge a brighter future.

Our six core product and service lines address key gaps faced by our customers under the three major segments of farm technologies, agronomy practices and farm finance:

• Precision irrigation: micro-irrigation systems (drip, sprinkler and mister)
• Seeds & planting: advisory on seed cleaning techniques, Trichoderma fungi
• Soil health & nutrient management: soil testing and tailored recommendations, advice on cost-effective and environmentally-responsible nutrient application methods
• Crop protection: advisory on environmentally-responsible pest & disease prevention, on-call diagnostics
• Farm finance: group and individual loans
• Mechanization services: harvest and tractor rental

For the past 16 years, we’ve relied heavily on a field staff model to introduce and sell our products. However, as farmers become more familiar with mobile technology, they increasingly expect a multi-channel relationship with us. Over the past 1-2 years, our channels have undergone a significant transition: we now increasingly rely on a mix of physical and digital for our go-to-market, sales and distribution activities.

We also rely on a network of 300 independent village-level entrepreneurs to act as ‘agents’ to generate leads, sell, deliver products and provide after-sales services. In addition, 115 participating agro-dealer shops across rural Myanmar carry and sell our products. These local businesses represent a lower-cost delivery channel for us, and the businesses benefit from profits earned by selling our products and enhanced business success.

We use a hybrid model to scale our innovation, through a mix of earned revenue from sales of products/services and philanthropic capital.

However, we recognize purely commercial ventures are not enough to impact farmers at the bottom of the pyramid, and some subsidy is critical. Myanmar’s small-farm ecosystem is an example of how a narrow focus on commercial gain leads to services tailored exclusively to more profitable, wealthy farmers. We leverage philanthropic funding to support our R&D, marketing and sales expenses. This keeps our products affordable for low-income farmers and increases social impact dramatically. Specifically:

• Our irrigation products are designed to create a viable commercial market for micro-irrigation systems provided by private sector companies. Thus our pricing reflects our desire to not undercut commercial players who want to supply these products. We use grant funding to reach farmers unfamiliar with the value of irrigation. Our aim for these products is a 50:50 ratio of earned revenue to grant funding.
• While we currently offer most of our agronomy extension services for free, we’ve successfully been introducing a paid soil health testing service that is generating revenue. We’ve also begun selling a natural bio-fungicide that works in the soil to prevent common harmful diseases for sesame crops (with potential to be used in additional crops). In the next five years, we’ll focus on expanding our customer reach significantly, and using less grant funding to do so.
• Our farm financial services are designed to be profitable and are managed as a for-profit entity. 

In FY20, Proximity Designs – excluding Proximity Finance, the separate, legal, for-profit entity under which our farm finance enterprise operates – relied on US$4.2m in philanthropic grants to fund our operations. In addition, earned income from the sale of our products and services to Myanmar small farmers covered approximately 21% of our operating expenses. 

We’re fortunate to receive financial support from a remarkable group of donors and investors committed to impact. In FY20, these included the following organizations:

• Autodesk Foundation
• Cartier Philanthropy
• Chandler Foundation
• David Weekley Family Foundation
• Hampshire Foundation
• Jasmine Social Investments
• King Philanthropies
• Montpelier Foundation
• Mulago Foundation
• New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade
• Peery Foundation
• Ray & Tye Noorda Foundation
• Royal Norwegian Embassy in Myanmar
• Skoll Foundation

(Please note that this list excludes philanthropic and individual donors who wish to remain anonymous).

In June 2020, Proximity Finance finalized a US$14m equity package with Finnfund, Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI) and Proparco, after a comprehensive exploration for impact-focused partners. The deal will support Proximity Finance in tripling its active client base of 130,000 farming households and disbursing 1,500,000 loans in the next four years. It will enable an increase in loan sizes and diversity in products offered. Proximity Finance was spun off in 2018 from Proximity Designs, and operates as a separate Myanmar government-licensed microfinance institution.  

Our goal is to raise US$4m in grants for the next 12 months. As of early July 2020, we’ve already secured US$2m from three of our long-standing supporters and a new government aid partner. Over the past six months, we’ve stepped up our fundraising capabilities, and our team is actively pursuing both COVID-19 emergency and long-term grant funding opportunities to raise an additional US$2m. However, as with many of our peers, we’re bracing for a particularly challenging fundraising environment in FY21 (and possibly beyond).

In an uncertain fundraising market, we want to rely less on grants and more on earned revenue from the sale of our products and services to farmers. Our goal for FY21 is 50% cost recovery, which we plan to achieve by increasing our operational efficiency and reducing our cost to serve each farm customer. 

We know the next fiscal year won’t be “business as usual”. We’ve taken some immediate steps to protect Proximity Designs and its mission. We’re strengthening our balance sheet and made spending cuts, so we can try and keep a run-rate of 12-18 months. Instead of focusing on aggressive customer growth, we’re working to reduce our cost to serve.

Our total operating budget for the next 12 months is currently US$6.5m. We anticipate earning sales revenue of US$2.5m, with a balance of US$4m to be supported by grant income.

Our work to fight rural poverty and inequality in Myanmar is at an inflection point, and we need additional financial support to protect Proximity Designs’ mission. The COVID-19 crisis and global economic contraction has undermined my organization’s ability to access funds to sustain our impact, at what is a defining moment for rural Myanmar. COVID-19 and its accompanying economic effects threaten to pull millions of rural families further into deeper poverty and food insecurity.

COVID-19 has compounded difficulties in raising funds. For the past 2-3 years, there has been a drop in government and corporate funding or investments for Myanmar and rural poverty alleviation. Donors have been increasingly dealing with multiple global emergencies that compete for limited funds.  

For our part, Proximity Designs remains deeply committed to boost Myanmar’s own abilities, by investing in poor, rural families who form the backbone of the country. Ultimately, our mission is building a tolerant, inclusive and equitable society. As Myanmar undergoes a historic transition, I’m working to tackle inequality by engaging with government and civil society leaders. After decades-long isolation, the people of Myanmar want to engage and change: I want to help inject fresh thinking, imagine and act on a hopeful future for all – and hope that The Prize will support our efforts by ensuring the voices of millions of poor farm families are heard at this critical time. 

I’m excited to tap into the Foundation’s extensive network for advice and stewardship during this critical time for Myanmar and Proximity:

• Receiving mentorship, coaching and advisory on my organization’s funding and revenue model, to further improve our financial sustainability while remaining focused on driving impact for vulnerable rural households.
  
• Connecting with private sector, social and other organizations using digital channels to reach low-income, remote customers in developing countries, to better understand what works and what doesn’t.
  
• The exposure that winning this Prize brings, would be valuable in amplifying our work, supporting our mission and inspiring other social change leaders globally. The plight of smallholder farms is a key global challenge that intersects with climate change and inequality.
  
• Connecting with other young, social entrepreneurs from developing countries, to exchange ideas and inspiration on how they’re leading their own organizations through this pandemic and effecting change in tough places around the world.

I’d like to partner with organizations which can support with:

• Fundraising: We have a small, locally-based fundraising team of three, which is facing challenges in raising funds to support our mission. In March 2020, we started recruiting for a fourth team member to ramp up our fundraising capabilities, but have had to put the process on hold because of budgetary pressures as a result of COVID-19. We’re looking for pro bono fundraising support from a fundraising firm or other philanthropy professionals, to help us identify and pursue new funders aligned with our mission, as well as further refine our strategy.
  
• Storytelling: We’re looking for organizations that can donate time, resources and expertise to help us create multi-media material that help us tell our story – such as articles, videos, case studies or social media campaigns – to drive awareness of the work we do. This is an area that we’re unable to prioritize over the next year, given budgetary and capacity constraints, but which would greatly support our impact.
  
• Digital extension expertise: The next year Proximity will be doubling-down on our investment in digital marketing, sales and delivery channels, to continue to serve smallholder farmers amid new operational and financial realities. As we re-invent how we serve remote smallholder farmers, we’re looking for a pro bono performance marketing expert, as well as developer support to improve our chatbot-based service (that we use to teach farmers income-boosting agronomy techniques and provide reliable information about COVID-19).