Impacts of Internet Cut on Hpakant-based Gender Activists

This rapid mini-research study by HTOI Gender and Development Foundation examines how the internet shutdown imposed on Hpakant Township in August 2021 affected women leaders working on women's rights in the area. The study was conducted entirely online during a period of intersecting crises — the COVID-19 pandemic, post-coup political instability, and severe restrictions on travel and communication into the affected region. The shutdown began on the night of 20 August 2021, when MPT, Telenor, Ooredoo and Wi-Fi connections in Hpakant were cut, leaving residents reliant on a single military-linked operator (Mytel) that worked only intermittently and only on certain Chinese-made handsets. The research uses a qualitative approach, drawing on phone interviews with six women leaders — three from Myusha Zinlum and three from KWA — supplemented by Myanmar and Kachin local media reporting. Given the security and access constraints, data collection was completed in a single week.