2000-2003 Capacity Building and Pilot Projects The need to build capacity of our members underscored the initial era of the PWO. This involved numerous trainings and study before ‘work’ could take place. As new members came along, we embarked on conducting small trainings, passing on the skills we had recently learnt. During this time, there were no project managers, nor set rolls such as office administration - it was all hands-on-deck and involved us pooling resources and utilizing whatever knowledge each person could offer. One of the first projects we undertook was to produce our Shwe Pee Oo Journal for circulation in the Palaung area. Such was the success of this journal that it still in publication today, covering topics such as articles, poems, recipes and information about Palaung culture and history. In 2001, we began collecting and recording human right abuses and documenting drug incidents in our area. The major challenge during this period was the lack of capacity. We had good ideas and strong hearts but little avenue to build up our skills or recourses.
2004-2006 Trust Building and Growth This phase was a huge period of growth for us. Although our funding and organizational structure was still weak, our membership, training opportunities and networks grew. People believed in our work and recognized the great need in our community for the support we offered. During this time, we forged ahead beginning many of our programs and trainings in both Mae Sot and the Palaung area, and starting in earnest our collection of documentation for a our first report.
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