Haymar Win Tun, a graduate of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) at the National University of Singapore, died of complications of nephropathy on 9th July 2012 at the age of 28. She had completed her Basic Education as well as Bachelor of Arts (English) in her hometown, Pathein, approximately 100 miles west of Yangon. She earned her Master in Public Policy in 2010 from the LKY School.
Before 2010, she was a volunteer in the Pathein Urban Youth Center who helped conduct community surveys and health promotion activities. Later, she joined the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) as a project assistant in a community-oriented reproductive health project, and was responsible for coordinating, administrating and organizing workshops within the community.
In 2010, having graduated from the LKY School, Haymar chose to return to Myanmar with newfound skills and commit herself to development work for her fellow citizens. She worked with World Vision, a humanitarian NGO, as a Design, Monitoring & Evaluation coordinator, and did a development needs assessment of people in Bogale township, an area severely affected by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, to highlight the community’s needs in health, education and livelihood. With that assessment, she designed a comprehensive area development project, and was subsequently promoted to her last position as a Zonal Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for Delta region, the one affected by Cyclone Nargis. She oversaw all Monitoring and Evaluation activities including zonal planning, daily monitoring and periodic evaluation covering 7 townships in Delta zone. Her diligence promoted accountability and transparency of the Area Development Project in Delta zone, benefitting both beneficiaries and donors.
Those achievements and her contributions in a short but fruitful life speak of Haymar’s personal goal “to be someone useful for society”. Haymar’s sudden death is a great loss not only to her family, but also to her colleagues, her community and Myanmar, which desperately needs such talented and dedicated youths.
To her family, the LKY School offers our sincerest sympathy. May she rest in peace, and our thoughts and prayers are with her family and loved ones.
Myo on behalf of the LKY School
