The Socio-Economic Program
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National Socio-Economic Initiatives
Since 1999, the program has been supporting orphanages (seven in 2010), primarily in the Yangon region, that accommodate over1,300 children in 2007. The aid includes ensuring this particularly vulnerable population has access to quality medical and health care, food, education, and sports and recreational facilities. It involves providing staff (one doctor and three nurse aids), food donations and financing for recreational and health facilities, classrooms and dormitories. It also benefits from the commitment of certain Total E&P Myanmar employees or their spouses, who contribute to the operation of the orphanages on a voluntary basis.
In March 2002, a ceremony was held in Yangon to inaugurate the Yadana Foster Home, a facility built on land donated by a monk to accommodate orphans in a family atmosphere and support their education from early childhood through to vocational training. This modern facility, underwritten by the Yadana programand managed by Foster Family, can accommodate 100 orphans and abandoned children.
The Socio-Economic Program also supports Helen Keller International, a U.S. foundation that conducts blindness prevention programs around the world, in particular in Myanmar, by supplying equipment, medicine, training and specialized staff. The Foundation has observed that six out of every 1,000 inhabitants in Myanmar are blind, and that, in 63% of these cases, their condition is due to poorly treated cataracts. Its initiatives, supported by the affiliate and its partners, are part of a local program known as the Trachoma Control and Prevention of Blindness Program of Myanmar. The support provided to this organization by MGTC has benefited the ophthalmology departments of the Yangon Eye Hospital and Mandalay Eye/Nose/Throat Hospital, plus seven smaller eye clinics (Shwa Bo, Sagaing, Maiktila, Myaing, Taung Dwingyi, Minbu, Myingyan). A broad variety of support is offered, including training and technical assistance, supply of specialist equipment and introduction of an eye surgery technique using implants.
In 2005, Total E&P Myanmar joined a public health initiative in Myanmar designed to support and treat people living with HIV/AIDS in the Mandalay region.
On January 31, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (Union), a medical and scientific association, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Moattama Gas Transportation Company (MGTC), whose shareholders are the partners in the Yadana oil and gas project. The MOU is actively supported by national programs to prevent HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and by the World Health Organization (WHO), which made triple therapy for patients with both tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS a priority of the 3 by 5 Initiative, which aimed to get 3 million people living with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005.
Tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic infection associated with HIV/AIDS, and it is estimated that 75% of HIV-positive people in Myanmar are or will be affected. Long active in the Mandalay region, Union therefore sought a partner to be able to treat HIV/AIDS in HIV-positive tuberculosis patients. MGTC has agreed to fund the cost of antiretrovirals used by the Union to treat the people concerned, in line with WHO recommendations.
The program benefited from a budget of US$ 250,000 in its first year, 2005. US$800,000 was allocated in 2010. The project now covers the entire Mandalay district and has been extended to Pakokku and Taunggyi.
The five-year initiative marks the first time that an international scientific organization and a private company have cooperated in the country, with the support of the Health Ministry and the WHO. To enhance the program’s effectiveness, MGTC is supporting training in France for Myanmar physicians specialized in treating HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Robert Gallo, the internationally-renowned U.S. scientist who helped to identify the link between HIV and AIDS in the 1980s, witnessed the signing of the MOU and chaired the Technical Forum on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care in Yangon, in which the country’s medical community was closely involved.
These initiatives are part of the operations conducted by Total E&P Myanmar to form partnerships with humanitarian organizations in order to further enhance the effectiveness of its Socio-Economic Program.
Through its socioeconomic team, Total E&P Myanmar has taken an active part in assisting Cyclone Nargis victims
Cyclone Nargis devastated a number of regions in Myanmar between Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3, 2008.
After the devastating passage of Cyclone Nargis, Total donated US$2 million to the emergency appeal launched by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Immediately following the passage of Cyclone Nargis, Total E&P Myanmar's socioeconomic team members, who work to improve conditions for villagers in the pipeline region on a day-to-day basis, geared up to provide assistance to the local population.
Given the enormous needs, the teams had to focus their efforts in Yangon. Emergency assistance was provided to people living in the immediate vicinity of the affiliate’s offices, who were already disadvantaged even before the cyclone struck. With the generous support of office employees and local residents, the socio-economic team distributed enough food for 2,200 people for two weeks. The team and volunteer workers pursued their efforts to rebuild 100 houses and the local school. Team members also repaired a number of badly damaged buildings at orphanages supported by the Yadana project partners. As well, they provided additional food to the orphans, as the usual supplier was unable to meet their needs. Each week, the socioeconomic team boiled 2,000 eggs and distributed them to the orphanages. Medicine was also donated to the Yangon Children’s Hospital, which was short of supplies.
Given the enormous needs, the teams had to focus their efforts in Yangon. Emergency assistance was provided to people living in the immediate vicinity of the affiliate’s offices, who were already disadvantaged even before the cyclone struck. With the generous support of office employees and local residents, the socio-economic team distributed enough food for 2,200 people for two weeks. The team and volunteer workers pursued their efforts to rebuild 100 houses and the local school. Team members also repaired a number of badly damaged buildings at orphanages supported by the Yadana project partners. As well, they provided additional food to the orphans, as the usual supplier was unable to meet their needs. Each week, the socioeconomic team boiled 2,000 eggs and distributed them to the orphanages. Medicine was also donated to the Yangon Children’s Hospital, which was short of supplies.
In addition to the $2 million in financial aid provided by Total to leading international relief organizations, Total E&P Myanmar also prepared a list of recognized NGOs that, through their local presence, were able to effectively deliver assistance to people in remote areas. The affiliate provided both financial assistance, like the $25,000 donated to International Development Enterprises (IDE), and supplies, such as the water purification tablets donated to Metta Development Foundation, a Myanmar NGO, that provided 70,000 people with enough drinking water for one week.
Total E&P Myanmar (TEPM) worked with NGOs in the field to help other victims of cyclone Nargis, specifically people in the region around Ama. This village is located where other means of transportation are not accessible, but near our emergency helipad in the southeastern Irrawaddy Delta.
Ama and the surrounding region were particularly hard hit by Nargis. Many people lost everything, including their source of income (shops, fishing boats, tools, etc.), and were living in makeshift shelters in the village where they took refuge.
The region is located some distance from TEPM’s operational centers, meaning that human and logistics resources had to be transported to the area. TEPM began by distributing food and equipment to improve the shelters, after which the socio-economic team assessed needs and implemented a program to provide further food aid and help people get back to work.
The program, approved and conducted in partnership with leading villagers such as the schoolmaster and volunteer Thi Da Gu monks, covered four areas:
- Aid to help 223 householders resume work: TEPM financed the rebuilding of 166 boats and also supplied fishing nets, 18,400 kilograms of seed to 50 farmers, livestock, two tractors, farming tools, fuel for rice growers and equipment needed by local businesses.
- Food aid for more than 1,200 families: TEPM supplied rice and lentils to families in two villages and people in various camps in Ama for several months.
- Water and sanitation: A total of 200,000 water purification tables were distributed at the Ama high school and public health centers, and our team of doctors taught residents how to use them. The community reservoirs (ponds) in the villages of Kyauk Tine and Lake Chaung were cleaned, in coordination with UNICEF, and plastic tarps were distributed to collect rainwater.
- Support for schools in and around Ama: TEPM supported the reconstruction of the Ama high school, which normally has 1,105 students. The school was partly destroyed by the cyclone and classes were held in tents. In addition, the primary schools (around 100 pupils) in the two villages supported by TEPM were rebuilt thanks to private donations collected by a TEPM employee.
In total, nearly 5,400 people in the Ama region received assistance from Total E&P Myanmar, at a cost of $125,000.
Total E&P Myanmar also helped its own and contractor employees, who received rice and drinking water. For people with wells, portable generators were transported around the city to power pumps and fill up water tanks. For others, water trucks filled up tanks.
