Chevron-supported Pact, a nonprofit in Myanmar, provided Ma Kyi Ma with emergency financial support that allowed her to travel to a clinic, where her baby was safely delivered.
As one of four partners, a Chevron subsidiary has a nonoperating, minority interest in the Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea offshore Myanmar as well as in a 249-mile (401-km) natural gas pipeline. The Yadana Project is operated by Total, a French international energy company, and is helping meet the increasing demand for energy in Southeast Asia.
Myanmar is faced with many challenges. Chevron supports the efforts of the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to constructively engage with the government of Myanmar to improve conditions in the country and enhance humanitarian efforts.
The Yadana Project aims to play a constructive role in addressing Myanmar's health and economic development challenges. The project provides employment to approximately 900 people, 95 percent of whom are Myanmar nationals. The project initially invested $10 million in training for the local workforce, and the annual training budget is $800,000. The Yadana Project's sustainable socioeconomic program contributes to positive change in the region and improves the lives of those living in the pipeline corridor.
Supporting Sustainability, Improving Lives
The Yadana Project funds programs focused on health, education and training, economic and community development, and general infrastructure projects that benefit the area.
Approximately 31,000 local residents along the Yadana pipeline and in 25 nearby villages now receive free health care and immunizations, as well as access to education and economic support through the community investment programs of the Yadana Project.
The Yadana Project also engages at the national level by funding capacity building and other programs.
- Support for six orphanages in the Yangon area, providing homes for more than 1,300 children.
- Support for a nationwide program against blindness, in partnership with the Helen Keller International Foundation.
- Provided HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for 2,000 people in Mandalay with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and the World Health Organization.
- Financial support for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, to provide governance training for Myanmar officials.
Read about the programs at Burma.Total.com.
Outside the pipeline corridor, Chevron's subsidiary helps to fund a program called Strengthening Community Response to Disease. The program is run by Pact, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization that has been providing health, microfinance and other programs in Myanmar for 13 years.
Third-Party Validation
Independent, third-party assessments of the Yadana pipeline region were conducted by CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Mass., most recently in February 2008. These assessments, based on communication with a broad range of local stakeholders, found that people in the region of the Yadana Project felt that the consortium's socioeconomic program had provided important benefits to the communities. The CDA assessments also noted opportunities for the Yadana Project to listen to stakeholders and work collaboratively with other companies to improve corporate practices in Myanmar. The detailed reports can be found at www.cdainc.com.
Commitment to Myanmar's Future
Chevron continues to support the calls for a peaceful resolution to the issues facing Myanmar in a manner that respects human rights.
Updated: April 2012