In Mae Sot, a new centre is helping women turn survival into possibility

Author: Montira Narkvichien

Mae Sot, Thailand – By the time classes begin in Mae Sot, the room is full of energy. Women arrive speaking different languages, burying their worries about what comes next. Some come for sewing. Others for soap-making, digital design or language skills. But they all come for a place where they can feel safe enough to start again.

That place is the Women’s Empowerment and Learning Centre (WE Centre), launched on 10 February 2026 in Mae Sot, Tak Province with support from UN Women, in partnership with the Help Without Frontiers Foundation. It is the tenth in a connected network of women-led centres across border provinces, linking skills training, referral pathways and local partnerships in one trusted space.

For Siriporn Kaewsombat, 47, Director of Help Without Frontiers Foundation, women in border communities shaped by diversity, mobility and tension need more than services delivered at a distance. They need a shared space where they can meet, learn and build trust across differences.

“Many women do not approach one another at first,” says Siriporn. “They worry they may not be accepted. But when they begin learning together, they realize they have many of the same concerns and hopes.”

Women in Mae Sot face overlapping risks: economic insecurity, domestic violence, online scams, unsafe recruitment and social exclusion. Women with insecure legal status often face even greater barriers, and fear seeking help. Siriporn acknowledges that no single programme can remove these risks overnight. But centres like this can reduce isolation – and that matters.

The goal is not only to learn a stand-alone skill, but to understand the full path from production to income.

“Today, it is not enough to know only how to make something,” Siriporn explains. “You also need to know how to present it, promote it and sell it, including online.”

Just as important as the curriculum is the environment. At the centre, "speaking the same language” is not only about Thai or Myanmar words. It is about creating shared understanding, where women from different backgrounds can communicate with dignity and empathy. That shift, Siriporn says, has ripple effects beyond the classroom. Women begin exchanging information, noticing risks in their neighbourhoods and supporting one another. They learn where services exist and where to go when they or someone they know needs help. Sharing protection options alone makes this network a lifeline.

“Education is an equalizer of rights and access to justice for my students,” says 27-year-old WE Centre teacher Nandar Sanlwin, originally from Taungoo, Myanmar.

Demand has quickly outpaced capacity. Around 90 women applied to an early training, while only 25 could be admitted due to space and hands-on teaching limits. More cohorts are being planned, and the team is exploring whether graduates from the first round can become peer trainers for those who follow.

Siriporn measures success as women from different groups sitting together without fear; mothers supporting their children’s education; participants leaving not only with new skills, but with contacts, information and a stronger sense of agency.

In a border town where uncertainty marks daily life, that is no small achievement.

“The Women’s Empowerment and Learning Centre’s long-term goals are stronger livelihoods, safer communities and social cohesion built from the ground up. When women have a trusted place to gather, learn and support one another, survival can become possibility and possibility can become change,” says Naruedee Janthasing, UN Women Programme Analyst.

There are now 10 UN Women-supported WE Centres in eight border provinces covering four regions of Thailand.