Written by Mekong Institute

The two-day Roundtable Meeting marks the end of Phase 3 of the Mekong Institute – New Zealand Ambassador Scholarship (MINZAS) Program. MINZAS is a collaborative program between the Mekong Institute and the New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok aiming to provide professional development opportunities for master’s degree students from CLMT countries through a structured training program and research assignment under the guidance of
experienced regional and international experts. An important part of the scholarship program is to provide the scholars a training course on Research Methodology.

The training course on Research Methodology was held from March 4 – 28, 2013 at the MI Residential Center in Khon Kaen Province, Northeast of Thailand. At the end of the four-week training course, the participants developed a research proposal that incorporated the knowledge and skills acquired during the training. The proposal was to be conducted upon their return to each of their respective countries based on the agreed methodology and timeframe.

The twelve research proposals are:

1. The Effects of Rice Contract Farming on Smallholder Farmers’ Incomes in Cambodia: A Case Study in Toul Sala Commune in Barsedth District, Kampong Spue Province,
2. Factors Contributing to the Success of Agricultural Cooperative Farms, Case Study: Ye-Nant-Tha Agricultural Co-operative Farm, Mataya Township, Mandalay Region, Myanmar,
3. Analysis of Pomelo Value Chains in the Yangon Region, Myanmar,
4. Value Chain Analysis of Mandarins in Selected Areas of Myanmar,
5. Rice Value Chain in S’ang District, Kandal Province, Cambodia,
6. Value Chain Analysis of Sesame in Magway Township, Myanmar,
7. Rural Household Vulnerability Assessment Study to Climate Variability: The Case of Peang Lvea Commune, Odongk District, Kampong Spue Province, Cambodia,
8. Financial Development, Trade Openness and Economic Growth in the CLV Countries,
9. The Effects of Trade Liberalization on Myanmar’s Foreign Trade with Selected Asian Countries,
10. Impact of FDI on the Economic Growth of Lao PDR,
11. The Impact of Household Savings on the Development of Rural Livelihood: Evidence from Luang Prabang, Northern Laos; and
12. Business Development and Market Expansion of Women Entrepreneurs: Case Study of SMEs Community in Chiang Rai Province.

The MINZAS Roundtable Meeting provided a platform for the scholars to present and share the research results. The meeting also created a platform for deliberation of the results and validated the findings among experts. Two subject matter experts were invited to present an overview on the research topics in the context of the GMS. Home advisors of the twelve students were also invited to provide comments and feedbacks for further improvement of the research reports.