Building local capacity is one of the foundational concepts in Shanta Village Partners’ six-year Village Partnership Model. It reflects our belief that lasting change happens when communities gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead their own development. From the beginning, our goal has been to ensure that villagers, not outside organizations, are [...]
Team Member Spotlight Khun Aung Sein, Project Manager My name is Khun Aung Sein, and I was born into an agricultural family in Naree Village, Taunggyi Township. The youngest of four siblings, I completed my early education locally and earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science from Mawlamyine University in 2010. Shortly after graduation, [...]
As one of the most beloved figures in Shanta Village Partners’ history, Po Ja’s compassion, wisdom, and unwavering commitment to his community shaped the very foundation of our work. In this remembrance, co-founders, Tricia and Mike Karpfen share reflections on Po Ja’s life and legacy: a legacy that continues to guide and inspire [...]
Our partnership villages in Zambia launched the Women Action Group (WAG) initiative, a program adapted from Shanta’s long-running Women’s Group Discussion model in Myanmar (active since 2010). Shanta’s Global Program Manager, Khai, first trained our Zambian staff in May 2025, who then equipped 16 local women leaders to begin facilitating the program. The response was [...]
Transformative Capacity Transformative capacity means having the ability to affect systemic change or create a positive enabling environment for people to work together to invest and innovate while actively managing risks. If village flooding is made worse because of upstream conditions outside of the villagers’ control, transformative capacity can be realized if they are able to get the government and other stakeholders to act to [...]
Visit this link to read more about the impact of U Maung Boat's new business, as well as view the rest of our November Newsletter, which also contains pictures from our recent Zambia expansion trip. November Newsletter
Thoughts from Executive Director, Wade Griffith Ever been to a Golden Corral restaurant? For your sake, I hope not. Still, there is one fantastic attraction at these semi-seedy buffet joints. THE CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. An ever-flowing font of milk-chocolatey goodness surrounded by dippable treats like strawberries, pineapple, marshmallows, and cookies. No, you didn’t stumble into a [...]
Community-Led Development in the face of COVID19? The emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 posed an existential threat to thousands of international development programs. Organizations stopped operations as local staff self-isolated and expatriates left the country. How could a modest rural village-led development partnership program stand up to such a tremendous challenge? Precisely because it is [...]
Imagine walking a mile to retrieve water for your everyday use. It may require several trips a day to complete ordinary tasks like cooking, cleaning, animal care, and watering garden plants. These treks were part of a daily routine for the people of Aung Le village in the Pi Laung Township. Village leaders regularly organized [...]
While I am always enthusiastic about Shanta's work, I get truly enthused when I think about Shanta's future. On the cusp of expansion with a blueprint of the Village Partnership Model (VPM) in the works, we are poised to take our next step as a thought leader and influencer in the development space. More importantly, [...]
Building local capacity is one of the foundational concepts in Shanta Village Partners’ six-year Village Partnership Model. It reflects our belief that lasting change happens when communities gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead their own development. From the beginning, our goal has been to ensure that villagers, not outside organizations, are [...] 
Team Member Spotlight Khun Aung Sein, Project Manager My name is Khun Aung Sein, and I was born into an agricultural family in Naree Village, Taunggyi Township. The youngest of four siblings, I completed my early education locally and earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science from Mawlamyine University in 2010. Shortly after graduation, [...] 
As one of the most beloved figures in Shanta Village Partners’ history, Po Ja’s compassion, wisdom, and unwavering commitment to his community shaped the very foundation of our work. In this remembrance, co-founders, Tricia and Mike Karpfen share reflections on Po Ja’s life and legacy: a legacy that continues to guide and inspire [...] 
Our partnership villages in Zambia launched the Women Action Group (WAG) initiative, a program adapted from Shanta’s long-running Women’s Group Discussion model in Myanmar (active since 2010). Shanta’s Global Program Manager, Khai, first trained our Zambian staff in May 2025, who then equipped 16 local women leaders to begin facilitating the program. The response was [...] 
Transformative Capacity Transformative capacity means having the ability to affect systemic change or create a positive enabling environment for people to work together to invest and innovate while actively managing risks. If village flooding is made worse because of upstream conditions outside of the villagers’ control, transformative capacity can be realized if they are able to get the government and other stakeholders to act to [...] 
Visit this link to read more about the impact of U Maung Boat's new business, as well as view the rest of our November Newsletter, which also contains pictures from our recent Zambia expansion trip. November Newsletter 
Thoughts from Executive Director, Wade Griffith Ever been to a Golden Corral restaurant? For your sake, I hope not. Still, there is one fantastic attraction at these semi-seedy buffet joints. THE CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. An ever-flowing font of milk-chocolatey goodness surrounded by dippable treats like strawberries, pineapple, marshmallows, and cookies. No, you didn’t stumble into a [...] 
Community-Led Development in the face of COVID19? The emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 posed an existential threat to thousands of international development programs. Organizations stopped operations as local staff self-isolated and expatriates left the country. How could a modest rural village-led development partnership program stand up to such a tremendous challenge? Precisely because it is [...] 
Imagine walking a mile to retrieve water for your everyday use. It may require several trips a day to complete ordinary tasks like cooking, cleaning, animal care, and watering garden plants. These treks were part of a daily routine for the people of Aung Le village in the Pi Laung Township. Village leaders regularly organized [...] 
While I am always enthusiastic about Shanta's work, I get truly enthused when I think about Shanta's future. On the cusp of expansion with a blueprint of the Village Partnership Model (VPM) in the works, we are poised to take our next step as a thought leader and influencer in the development space. More importantly, [...]