Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
City population: 7039202
Duration: 2017 – 2019
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: 15000 m2
Type of area: Residential
Last updated: April 2023

Doh Eain, which means “Our Home” in the Burmese language, is a community-centred design firm that converts trash alleys in Yangon into gardens, composting stations, street markets, playgrounds, and art galleries, where community members can make memories and positive change. As Yangon has one of the lowest public space-per-person ratios in South East Asia, Doh Eain saw a role for a social enterprise to preserve and improve heritage and urban landscapes directly with the people and communities who inhabit them. Doh Eain’s vision is to collectively make cities more vibrant, inclusive and sustainable places to live, work, and enjoy by maintaining the city's unique characteristics and creating an urban environment that enables people and society to thrive. Their mission is to preserve heritage, improve public spaces, and organise activities that connect people with places, employing a user-centred and participatory approach. In doing this, they aim to inspire and enable people to participate in reshaping their city while retaining cultural heritage (1). The Yangon's alley gardens project started when a group of young, local and expatriate residents in Yangon decided to set up a small permaculture garden, however, they could not find a suitable plot of land for it (2). As a consequence they had to change the focus and transplant green pots filled with vegetation and vegetables into the back alleys. The implementer used an innovative technique by using bokashi composting of food waste, with around 80 households signing up to take part in the initiative. (5) The initiative was quite successful as it helped break the cycle of throwing trash out the window into alleyways and built several elevated garden beds. (6)

Trash alley to gardens
Trash alley to gardens
https://english.dvb.no/rangoon-trash-alley-gets-makeover/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
  • House gardens
  • Green playgrounds and school grounds
  • Nature on buildings (external)
  • Balcony greens

Key challenges

  • Environmental quality
  • Air quality improvement
  • Waste management
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
  • Inclusive governance
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental education

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Transformation of previously derelict areas

Project objectives

The intervention set the following goals: 1. To convert trash alleys into gardens, composting stations, street markets, playgrounds, and art galleries, increasing the greening level across Yangon. 2. To transform wasted or neglected spaces into public usage by providing a waste collection system. 3. To improve public spaces, and organise activities that connect people with places. 4. To transform Yangon into a city with cleaner air, safer streets, and increased economic opportunities. 5. To turn many miles of forgotten wasteland into clean and healthy recreational spaces featuring gardens, street markets, art galleries and children’s playgrounds. 6. To spread awareness and understanding of the importance of liveable, sustainable and inclusive cities. 7. To ensure equal participation amongst different ethnic and religious groups by including women and girls, people with disabilities and the elderly. (1, 2, 3, 4)

Implementation activities

Alley Garden Project was implemented by Doh Eain together with community members and authorities in the CBD, in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Multiple stakeholders include residents, the ward and township officers, parliamentary members, and representatives from the municipality of Yangon. (4) The project’s implementation process was created based on a principle of people’s participation which encouraged the formation of a resident committee for project administration and management as well as the participation of the residents in the activities such as meetings and design workshops. (4) The implementer aimed to "preserve heritage, improve public spaces, and organise activities that connect people with places, employing a user-centred, participatory approach" by starting with planting shrubs, converting trash alleys into small vegetable gardens, and incorporating recycling and composting techniques. (1) In 2019, 80 households signed up to take part in the project but there's a constant need for training and motivation to make this work at the household level. "So while the pilot project is working on a technical level, it needs more social energy to succeed on a larger scale." (5)

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups
  • Marginalized groups: Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed), People with functional diversities, Other
  • Young people and children

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Social enterprise

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Crowd-sourcing/Crowd-funding/Participatory budget
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Co-management/Joint management
  • Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory)
  • Citizen monitoring and review

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

Social Enterprise, Doh Eain - Initiating, Planning, Implementing (1) Citizens or community groups - Maintaining, Monitoring ( 2) Residents, local businesses and embassies- Funding (2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (The intervention did not exactly respond to a local strategy but quite the contrary to the lack of one. The project responds to the Martial law imposed in 1988, which shaped the city of Yangon, not only by local policies that evicted residents to the outskirts and limited transit routes but through effectively shutting down foreign investment due to American and European embargoes. Furthermore, it responded to the lack of policies in terms of waste management. (1,5))

Financing

Total cost

€50,000 - €100,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
  • Crowdfunding
  • Other

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
  • Donations

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Environmental quality
  • Improved air quality
  • Improved waste management
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area

Economic impacts

  • Increased property prices
  • Generation of income from NBS

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples
  • Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Doh Eain: Renewing Yangon (No Date), The Urban Agenda Platform, available at Source link (accessed 1.2.2023).
2. Emilie Roell (Doh Eain), (November 4, 2020) , Yangon's Alley Garden Project, The City at Eye Level Asia, available at Source link (accessed 1.2.2023).
3. Make your city beautiful. Support the Yangon Alley Garden project. (No Date), Coconuts Yangon, available at Source link (accessed 1.2.2023).
4. Matsushita, Tomoko & Roell, Emilie & Kubota, Aya & Meguro, & Kimiro, (December 2018), Impact Evaluation of Alley Revitalization Project in Yangon and Investigation of Potential as Urban Commons, Conference Paper in GREAT ASIAN STREETS SYMPOSIUM / PACIFIC RIM COMMUNITY DESIGN NETWORK / STRUCTURES FOR INCLUSION, available at Source link (accessed 1.2.2023).
5. Bokashi Myanmar (no date), Doh Eain downtown alleys, available at Source link (accessed 29.03.2023)
6. DVB (2017), Rangoon trash alley gets a makeover, available at Source link (accessed 29.03.2023)
7. CHIFA (no date), Doh Eain, Yangon, Myanmar, attached.
Walking Tours to Alley Gardens organized by Doheain
Walking Tours to Alley Gardens
N/A
Participatory design workshop led by women and girls
Participatory design workshop led by women and girls
N/A
Alley Garden
Alley Garden
N/A
Alley Garden
Alley Garden
N/A
After the project
After the project
N/A
Before the project
Before the project
N/A
Trash alley to gardens
Trash alley to gardens
https://english.dvb.no/rangoon-trash-alley-gets-makeover/
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the "NBS 2022" UNA Asian extension project funded by the Asia-Europe Foundation.