Highlighting fall 2025 Civic Engagement Award recipients

Photo of Parami University students participating in a service-learning project at a monastery in Taunggyi

Three student-led teams—Project PyitTineHtaung, Project Luminary, and the Book Buddies Team—have been selected as recipients of the Civic Engagement Project Awards (Fall 2025). A collaboration between Parami University and the Global Higher Education Alliance for the 21st Century (GHEA 21), formerly known as the Open Society University Network (OSUN), this award recognizes and empowers student initiatives that create meaningful community impact through hands-on engagement and sustainable solutions.

The award provides up to USD 300 to each winning team to develop or expand initiatives addressing community challenges. Each team includes at least two Parami students from different communities to promote collaboration, cultural exchange, and shared learning.

Project PyitTineHtaung, led by Myint Myat, Eaint Thet Hum, and Ei Phyu Sin Win in collaboration with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), YOUnified 2024, started a creative initiative focused on gender roles and sexuality (SOGIESC) last year. Building on the success of their previous essay competition, which encouraged participants to develop their storytelling skills, the team now plans to create a comic story that highlights turning points in people’s experiences with gender and identity. The comic will be published as a Burmese e-book, with a target release in January. Inspired by the Third Story Project and its book on puberty, this new work aims to reach a wider audience by addressing themes of SOGIESC, sex, and gender through relatable narratives and accessible visual storytelling.

Project Luminary, founded in December 2023 and now run by Kaung Myat Phyo, Ei Phyu Sin Win, and Moe Honey, empowers underserved youth by expanding access to higher education while fostering social responsibility and intellectual growth, having successfully offered two free-of-charge programmes. Its latest cycle, the Pathways & Perspectives Programme, combines two strands: Pathways, offering workshops and mentorship on university applications, scholarships, essays, and interviews; and Perspectives, engaging participants in discussions on societal issues such as social mobility, identity, climate and power, invisible labour, and ethical technology in practice to develop critical thinking and civic confidence. Together, these strands prepare youth for higher education and meaningful community contribution.

The Book Buddies Team, led by Naw Gay Gay Chit with Chue Myat Noe and Khin Thazin Soe, works to nurture a love of reading among children in war-affected and underserved areas. Inspired by Naw Gay Gay Chit’s experience teaching her cousins online with limited learning materials, the team aims to provide colorful storybooks that inspire creativity and joy. With the Civic Engagement Award, they will launch the “Fun Story Library” by building a mini-library for a preschool of 16 children, donating 100 books, flashcards, and crayons, and offering basic teacher training. In the long term, they hope to build a sustainable network of book donors and partners to expand access to storybooks across disadvantaged communities.

They are currently advancing their projects and plan to complete them by early next year. The students shared that they feel honored to receive Parami University’s Civic Engagement Award this fall. This recognition inspires them to further enhance the sustainability and long-term impact of their initiatives.

Aligned with Parami University’s mission to cultivate youth leadership that drives positive change, the Civic Engagement Project Awards aim to empower students to actively contribute to community well-being, strengthen partnerships with local leaders, and foster sustainable, meaningful engagement between students and the communities they serve.