1 QSEM is funded by the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust (LIFT) and implemented by a joint team from the World Bank and Enlightened Myanmar Research (EMR). The analytical framework for the research focuses on understanding rural livelihoods, shocks and coping strategies, village governance, social relations and external assistance.

2 The original panel has consisted of nine villages each in three regions (Ayeyarwady, Magway and Mandalay) and three states (Chin, Rakhine and Shan). Villages were purposively selected to ensure representation across a number of variables. A seventh state (Kachin State) was added to the sample for the sixth round of research in early 2015. 3 It should be noted that the QSEM research is conducted also exclusively at the village level. There are a small number of interviews in townships to cross-check information. While there is much discussion within government and by technical experts about the progress of political, financial and administrative decentralization this has not been an area that has attracted a significant degree of interest at the village level over the course of the research. 4 Village tract administrators are official positions under the Ward and Village Tract Administration Law. The VTA represents all villages in a village tract and is important because the VTA acts as the main interlocutor between communities and the state. Prior to the Ward and Village Tract Administration Law, each village was also represented by a village administrator (VA, otherwise known as a one-hundred household head). Although this position has officially been abolished, most people in any given village are able to identify a village leader who, in practice, continues to perform this role.

5 The most recent round of research saw a small but noticeable change in this trend, with nine women across two villages each in Mandalay and Magway and one village in Ayeyarwady being elected as ten household heads (QSEM, forthcoming).

> 6 Asia Foundation research conducted in 2014 cited VTA’s who reported receiving MMK 50,000 per month as support for office expenditure and a further MMK 70,000 as a personal stipend. There is limited wage data on rural Myanmar’s civil servants, but in QSEM panel villages in 2016 teachers and rural health workers have been reported to earn between MMK 120,000 and MMK 180,000 per month.

7 It should be noted that electoral accountability remains indirect, through 10 household leaders, who are selected via an informal election within each 10-household grouping.

> 8 Although the role of village administrator was officially abolished after passage of the _Ward and Village Tract Administration Law_ , in all villages in the research panel villagers were able to identify a village leader and there was consensus within that village as to who held that position.

> 9 Restrictions on the ability of local officials to collect fees were imposed at the same time as the government increased stipends for VTAs and government officials and additional financing was accessible through an increase in development resources at the local level.

10 The idea of the ‘everyday state’ – encounters with staff of government agencies that most citizens (especially those in rural areas) experience most frequently, such as teachers, health workers, police, agricultural extension officers, local officials – comes from Corbridge et al (2005).

11 Government services are activities funded by the government that are delivered at the village level. Those identified through the research primarily cover village education and health services, local infrastructure and electrification programs and credit services. The research calculates the number of different types of services or programs funded by government in each village. The information is derived from interviews with villagers, including village leaders and updated through each round of research. Through the research approach it is not possible to track the level of funding across government services or per village as information about budgets is, more often than not, not available at the village level.

12 In March 2012, the Government passed two new laws regulating land ownership. For the first time since military rule, the _Farmland Law_ effectively formally acknowledges private interests in agricultural land. The law enables farmers to register land use certificates in their names and freely buy, sell and pawn land. The _Vacant, Fallow, Virgin Lands Management Law_ regulates the use of vacant, fallow or virgin lands, including provisions for leasing such land and enabling farmers to apply to use otherwise unused land (QSEM 2013).

13 It should be noted that in many areas of Myanmar, especially paddy producing areas, an additional driving incentive for registration was to facilitate access to loans and, in particular, Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank (MADB) loans.

14 Across each round research teams asked village leaders in each village to estimate the proportion of the population currently migrating. These village averages were subsequently averaged across the villages in each state or region. The research emphasizes significant variations across villages.

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