As Shanta grows in Myanmar, increasing both our number of staff and partner villages and preparing to expand into two new regions of the country, it was time to hire a Country Director to be in Myanmar managing operations and furthering our connections for in-country funding. After many interviews, plenty of angst, and endless deliberation, we found Seinne Lai Zaw (pronounced Sane Lay) this past spring in Myanmar. We are so excited to welcome her to the Shanta family.
Seinne Lai is a 37-year-old medical doctor whose career has always been in development. She is smart and curious, a fast learner, motivated and committed to her work, ambitious to succeed, and an open and honest communicator. After working as a health project coordinator, she was recruited four years ago to run a small, local nonprofit in Yangon. As the operations manager, she has been responsible for all activities under a part-time director. She grew the organization from one region to three, from nine staff to 21, and expanded the program types. The program budget at her former organization (not including Yangon office staff) in 2016 was $300,000, which was all raised in Myanmar. Seinne Lai was involved with writing and administrating grants, and has many contacts with funding organizations in Yangon.
Seinne Lai has made a five-year commitment to Shanta, which she began in early July. She is already investing herself tremendously in Shanta’s future and demonstrating initiative and enthusiasm in her work with our staff.
