Kelley receives grant to start partnership with Burma

The Kelley School of Business was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to create a partnership with the Yangon Institute of Economics in Burma.

The partnership is an extension of the first bilateral agreement between the United States and Burma since 1957, according to a press release from the IU Newsroom.

The award is the first Global Development Alliance grant for IU.

“This grant is the latest example of Indiana University’s decades-long engagement and commitment with many of the countries of Southeast Asia that form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,” IU President Michael McRobbie said in the release. “These countries and ASEAN more generally are a priority for the University, as is demonstrated by our plans to establish a new Center for Southeast Asian Studies in IU’s School of Global and International Studies.”

The partnership would help Burma develop a market-led economy and
enhance the teaching and outreach capabilities of YECO, according to the press release.

“Advancement and Development through Entrepreneurship Programs and Training,” a specific project within the partnership, aims to strengthen both the institutional framework of the Yangon Institute of Economics and the entrepreneurial activity in Burma.

With the support of Hewlett-Packard, another contributor to the project, Kelley and YECO will create 12 learning centers in four regions of Burma.

The centers would include business-specific HP technology and the HP LIFE
e-Learning program.

The aim of these centers would be to allow students and entrepreneurs the resources
to incorporate technology into their business activities.

“It is our hope to improve lives by working with the school to identify opportunities that will lead to economic development and a robust private sector,” Kelley Dean Idalene Kesner said in the release.