Biography
Gum Sha Aung is a PhD researcher from Myanmar. He is a member of of "The Politics of Agrarian Transformation in Myanmar" based at the International Istitute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Chiang Mai University in Thailand, and led by Professor Jun Borras. He is also a member of the RRUSHES-5 project funded by the European Research Council Advanced Grant, led by Professor Borras. His PhD research is titled ' food sovereignty and the politics of land and landscape'. His research aims to study the challenges and possibilities of an idea of 'landscape' as a fundamental building block for achieving food sovereignty, specifically in settings marked by violent conflicts and all out wars. His PhD supervisor is Professor Jun Borras.
Gum Sha is the executive director of the Metta Development Foundation (Metta) since 2019. He has been working with various civil society organisations related to agrarian issues in Myanmar since 2000. His works includes leading food sovereignty initiatives, agroecological farming, rights to land and seeds, community forest, climate change mitigation, sustainable livelihood and local-led humanitarian networks. He started working as a community mobilisers in Shan and Kachin state, working with villages invovled in illicit crops, advocating for agroecological farming and environmental protection. Later, he advocates for a fairer and pro-grassroot changes in illicit crops, harm reductions, land, seeds and humanitarian at national and internation arenas. He helped establish local civil socieities led humanitarian networks at sub-national and national levels that play important roles in responding to Covid-19 pandemics and regions affected by violent conflicts. He got his MA in Development Studies from the Kimmage Develpment Studies Centre in Dublin, Ireland, in 2008. His MA research studies life of farmers and their social mobilisation through 'farmer's field schools' in Kachin state, engaging in participatory action research and non-formal education.
