Bordermedia

Bordermedia was approached by the organisation Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in August 2006 about facilitating a series of computer training courses for Burma-related women and youth groups based in Thailand.

The courses would take place between October and December 2006, in three locations in Thailand; Mae Sot, Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai.

It was agreed that the first courses would be focused on Basic Computer Maintenance and Security, with a view to introducing one or two key staff members from each of the approximately 35 organisations, to the main course topics listed below.

• Implementing preventive measures on PC components
• How to keep computers safe from humidity
• Basic Hardware troubleshooting
• Backups
• Windows XP System Restore functions
• Operating system updates
• Removing unwanted programs
• Disk Management
• Viruses
• Spyware/Malware
• Firewalls
• User accounts and security
• File security
• Browser and internet security
• Advanced topics (Computer & program freezes, Blue Screens, What to do when Windows XP won’t start)

The intention would then be that these key staff members would then take responsibility for securing and maintaining their office computers. The groups were kept small - 8 people per group - and were mainly comprised of students from the following ethic groups; Karen, Kayan, Palaung, Pa-O, Arakan, Karenni, Kachin, Lahu, Shan and Mon.

KESAN (Karen Environmental and Social Action Network) is the first local native non-profit Karen organisation to raise environmental awareness among Karen society.

It works to create a platform for Karens’ to express their concerns about the environment to the world as well as to the local and national leaderships.

The KESAN website was developed to allow the organization to provide information on their currently running projects to a wider audience as well as to provide a number of regular publications online.

Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) are a small grass-roots organisation documenting the human rights situation of people in rural Burma.

One of our developers undertook a redesign and redevelopment of the KHRG website whilst working for KHRG, which began with an assessment of the current website - looking at its design, speed to download & visitor statistics.

A series of documentation was drawn up including sitemaps & wireframe diagrams detailing the proposed new design & functionality. This was followed by full page mock-ups in Photoshop.

The new website has been developed in HTML and PHP with a MySQL database storing report information. Search & donation functionality has been introduced to the website. A password-protected admin area allows KHRG to update sections of the website themselves, and a Dreamweaver template system has been put into place for updating static website content.

Delivery of the website was followed up with several training sessions, and a training manual containing all the information required for KHRG to update and maintain the system themselves.

The Thoo Mwe Nee School has been built in Karen State to address the critical shortage of education available for IDP children in this area.

The website was designed with assistance from the Thoo Mwe Nee School’s founder in order to generate donations so that the school can continue to provide essential services to the local children such as education, food and medicines.

BWU is an independent association aiming to organize the women of Burma, both along the Thailand, India and China borders and internationally. Membership with BWU is open to all women of Burma regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, marital status, sexual preference, or livelihood. Part of BWU’s mission is to respond to the social welfare needs of its members and provide short‑term educational and vocational training programs for women.

The Burmese Women’s Union website was developed by Bordermedia with the assistance of staff from BWU and international volunteers.

The first Safe Haven Orphanage is located at Tha Song Yang, a couple of hours north of Mae Sot on the Thailand / Burma border. Their aim is to provide orphanages that are “safe havens” to children throughout Thailand. A Safe Haven Orphanage is a home that provides disadvantaged children with proper nurture, nutrition, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education.

Bordermedia designed, built & delivered the website in 3 days, with one of these days spent at the orphanage photographing the children.