Mission Statement

The Citizen of Burma Award (CoBA) is to recognize, appreciate and honor volunteer Burmese individuals and/or organizations who are contributing their knowledge, labor, skills and resources towards social services and charities for the Burmese community inside Burma.

(Note: The term “Burmese” is a place holder for people born or raised in Burma irrespective of the ethnicity, race, culture, religion and background.)

The CoBA organization is a virtual network of volunteers and/or donors from the Burmese community living abroad who recognize the need to appreciate the meritorious deeds of the individuals and/or organization inside Burma. The organization embraces diversity.

The award will be given out annually to individuals and/or organizations for the excellence and effectiveness of their social services.

The award is not affiliated with any political party or activities. Candidates will be nominated solely based on their humanitarian (social services and charities) work and without any consideration or discrimination of their gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or belief.

Overview

Since its inception in 2010, Citizen of Burma Award (CoBA) organization started to collect data about the list of individuals and/or organization inside Burma who are helping voluntarilyto the Burmese community in need but are usually beyond the reach of international aid.

It then presented findings about the humanitarian projects of both the famous notables and the unsung heroes via e-mail, web pages and multi-media.

The organizers solicited nominations for CoBA and also asked for advice and opinions to foster and encourage local-based volunteer spirit of Burmese helping Burma.

The award is a small but important first step to help raise awareness of Burmese to participate in volunteer social services and charities in Burma.

Candidate Selection

Anyone, regardless of the country of origin, can nominate candidates that meet the general guide lines of the CoBA award and highlight their humanitarian work worthy of international recognition.

We are accepting the nominations online (at the CoBA web site) or via email.

At the end of the registration period, the filtering process will be undertaken by the Award committee which is formed with members from CoBA Chapters.

Then the winner will be chosen with CoBA voting guidelines by CoBA Chapters.

Award Ceremony

Every year a chapter of CoBA organization will host the award ceremony.

• The Los Angeles chapter hosted the first award ceremony in April 2010.
• The San Francisco chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2011.
• The New York chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2012.
• The Korea Chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2013.
• The Florida Chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2014.
• The Utica Chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2015.
• The Maryland Chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2016.
• The Colorado Chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2017
• The Albany Chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2018
• The Arizona Chapter hosted the award ceremony for 2019
• The Singapore Chapter will be hosted the award ceremony for 2020 on Sunday, May 3rd

Outreach and Fund Raising 

All chapters are working diligently to promote the recognition of CoBA through media, newsletter and participation in other community events.

We raise funds through food fair and donations.

You hold the key to support the people in Burma.

You can be a volunteer.

You can be a donor.

You can provide leadership to the local community and beyond.

You can tell friends about CoBA.

You can nominate candidates.

You can voice your opinions.

Most importantly, you can support Burma and its people.

Thank you.