CID is a community-based NGO which provides services to its community. Unfortunately there is little formal organization for the diaspora and transnational community from Burma, or strategizing around community organizations which could potentially serve as a means to address their needs. Even where these exist, they often exist under the shadow of other community organizations or NGOs or are narrowly ethnic-based.
In the process of formation of CID, it has been a prerequisite to mobilize the Diaspora a transnational community from Burma as a solid and broad market for its service provision. We could define community mobilization as a process whereby a group of people have transcended their differences to meet on equal terms in order to facilitate a participatory decision-making process. In other words, it can be viewed as a process which begins a dialogue among members of the community to determine who, what, and how issues are decided, and also to provide an avenue for everyone to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
The community-mobilization process moves ahead when key community representatives, political, and grassroots leaders agree that a special structure is needed. Consideration must be given to issues of race/ethnicity, the nature of the problem, and the community’s traditional and/or current way of dealing with it. The common factors that bind us to our communities, or that we may have in common with the other people living around us, include:
This process of community mobilization can be called ‘micro planning’ or ‘community mapping’.
For community mapping, we can use:
CID is an agency formalized in June and registered in October 2007, to serve the needs of the Diaspora and transnational community from Burma within Minnesota. CID is an autonomous, non-faith based, non-profit organization served by a volunteer board of directors. CID functions to enhance economic, social and cultural development, and to empower people as agents of change for people of Burma, through the coordination of available resources from federal, state, local foundations and private institutions.
Services provided will include, though not limited to, health, financial literacy (e.g., free tax services), and advocacy for change, employment opportunities and other supportive services.
The Diaspora community from Burma is composed of immigrants, refugees, political asylees and transnational intellectuals from Burma. These groups include various ethnic nationalities such as Arakanese, Burman/Myanmar, Chin, Karen, Kayah, Kachin, Lisu, Mon, Pa-O and Shan, etc., who are currently resident in Minnesota. CID estimates that currently there are 7500 to 8000 –mostly refugees – from Burma living in Minnesota.