THAILAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2003

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xii Thailand’s experience with community empowerment is uniquely important because it has been growing over at least two decades, because it involves a range of different actors, and because there is an active and sometimes passionate debate about the community, its role, and its future. The Thai case is interesting because it is so varied and so vibrant. WRITING EMPOWERMENT The commitment to produce this Report began within UNDP, among professional development workers. But it quickly became obvious to those involved that the production of a report on the theme of community empowerment ought to empower communities as part of the process. Hence the method of producing the report was radically revised. Four representatives of local communities were included on the Review Board overseeing the project. Community members were added to the editorial team. Community forums were convened to express ideas and to select local writers to draft sections of the report. Drafts (in Thai) were submitted to review by community representatives. The report is thus the result of a dialogue between development professionals and consultants on one side, and community representatives and sympathetic organizations on the other. It would be wrong to present this as a smooth and easy process. Rather, it revealed very considerable gaps in understanding and hence took much longer than expected to complete. It would be wrong too to expect the resulting report to present a single, homogenous, and neatly logical view. The aim of the report is to explore community empowerment in the Thai context, including the diversity of experience and the conflict of views. EXPLORING DIVERSITY The term “explore” is important. The objective of the report is not to provide an operational definition of community empowerment or to prescribe formulas of how it works in practice. Empowerment has been defined within UNDP as “the ability of people to gain understanding and control over personal, social, economic, and political forces in order to take action to improve their life situation”. But this is a definition of “what” rather than “how”. The English term “empowerment” is something of a paradox. It suggests there is an agent (the government? the development specialist?) who is somehow making the community more powerful in some way. But this action itself is a display of power on the part of the agent. Not surprisingly, Thai community representatives who were involved in producing this Report rejected Thai translations which made this paradox explicit. They preferred forms which translate as “regain community power” or “revive community authority”. Their definitions clearly shifted the right to empowerment away from any outside agent to the community itself. One important conclusion of this exploration is that diversity is an intrinsic characteristic of local communities, and that embracing this diversity is a precondition for community empowerment. Each community has its own uniqueness. Each community has its own problems and its own capacity (or lack of ) to confront those problems. When we move from national policy to a community focus, we move from the unified to the diverse. A second important conclusion is that community empowerment is neither easy nor uncontroversial. By definition, it implies a shift in power relations – sometimes within communities, more often between the community and power-holders in the outside world. THAILAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2003
Often this entails a struggle. How far such struggles are justified, and to what extent they should alter the power relations on a general basis, is a matter of debate. In many of the examples of community empowerment in Thailand presented below there has been a high degree of cooperation and agreement between the parties involved – between communities and their various components, and government in its various components. However in some cases there has been disagreement and contest, on a fairly large scale. These cases may be in the minority but they are important because they pinpoint the areas where there is not yet a consensus. One of the objectives of this report is to identify these areas and suggest routes towards a solution. In sum, this Report is an exploration which seeks to uncover diversity and reveal debate rather than lay down definitions, prescriptions, formulae, road maps, or quick guides. It is hoped that by reviewing not only records of success but also points of confrontation and areas of misunderstanding it will contribute to a process of learning and consensus building by all parties concerned. PLAN OF THE REPORT PART I: COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 1: THE COMMUNITIES’ VIEW This is the foundation chapter in which people from local communities themselves describe how they have struggled to gain power to improve their lives and prospects. It includes case studies compiled by communities from all regions of Thailand. The chapter concludes that communities have a clear idea of community empowerment as a learning process with three key strategies. 2: THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT This chapter begins by looking briefly at the history of communities in Thailand, highlighting how much they were disempowered by the political and economic changes which arrived rapidly from the 1950s onwards. It then looks at the forces which returned community empowerment to the national agenda in the 1990s and which have begun to change the institutional environment. It reviews the major changes in the institutional context brought about by the 1997 constitution, the Eighth and Ninth Plans, the decentralization to local government, and education reform. Finally, it questions how far these changes facilitate community empowerment and what further reforms are necessary. 3: PROMOTING COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT Community empowerment takes place within a broader, national context. This chapter looks at the development of community-based approaches as a learning process on a national scale. It starts by reviewing some early examples of community schemes and cooperation between communities and outside agencies. Then it traces how government agencies have funded research to understand community dynamics, resulting in the gradual adoption of bottom-up community-based planning techniques. Finally the chapter reviews the rapid expansion of community-based initiatives in response to the 1997 crisis, especially projects inspired by H.M. the King’s “Sufficiency Economy”, and projects supported by the Social Investment Fund. OVERVIEW xiii
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Page 5 and 6: His Excellency Thaksin Shinawatra P
Page 7 and 8: Mr. J.K. Robert England Resident Co
Page 9 and 10: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS UNDP Thailand wish
Page 12 and 13: x Empowerment is both a means and a
Page 16 and 17: xiv 4: COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT AT THE
Page 18 and 19: xvi CONTENTS Institutional Shifts I
Page 20 and 21: xviii CONTENTS PART II: MEASURING H
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Page 24 and 25: 4 Thailand’s Central Plain is nat
Page 26 and 27: 6 Headman Wibun Khemchaloem has bec
Page 28 and 29: 8 to process and preserve agricultu
Page 30 and 31: 10 The bank charges a fee or intere
Page 32 and 33: 12 The Samrong canal links the Song
Page 34 and 35: 14 The idea to clean up the canal c
Page 36 and 37: 16 produced for our own use. We had
Page 38 and 39: Tree ordination - Karen’s belief
Page 40 and 41: 20 The Mun is the biggest river in
Page 42 and 43: 22 We used various methods to win a
Page 44 and 45: 24 The World Commission on Dams 22
Page 46 and 47: 26 strategy to reduce the exposure
Page 48 and 49: This concern with urban growth and
Page 50 and 51: 30 Communities were now subordinate
Page 52 and 53: 32 The second stream of the NGO mov
Page 54 and 55: 34 “... As we are in the “globa
Page 56 and 57: 36 The Constitution enshrines many
Page 58 and 59: 38 potential to serve as another ch
Page 60 and 61: 40 The share of local government’
Page 62 and 63: The changes over the past decade in
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44 Project proponents still view an
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Our fate is in the hands of both th
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48 COMMUNITY SCHEMES FOR EMPOWERMEN
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50 community activities in a northe
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52 5. communities that have a good
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“Examine the problem and start wi
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56 Not the Document but the Process
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58 million for loans to municipal g
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60 1. Capacity and Learning Develop
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62 The HIV/AIDS pandemic prompted a
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The local communities’ view of th
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66 The rapid deterioration of natur
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68 Our idea of struggle is that far
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Providing funding directly to commu
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72 In the past we were made to thin
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The prospects for community empower
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76 dual roles as provider and nurtu
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The insight that community empowerm
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80 THAILAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPOR
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82 THAILAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPOR
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84 The result is a new composite in
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86 Another Endeavor to Measure Huma
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88 For some indicators, i.e. unempl
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90 1. Bangkok 2. Nakhon Pathom 3. N
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92 Special attention should be give
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94 deserve special attention. It sh
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96 4. Income Index Income represent
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98 It is also interesting to observ
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100 6. Family and Community Life In
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102 and Tak on the western border a
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104 Table 8. Five Best and Worst Pe
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106 Vote turnout (%) Table 9. The F
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108 Location Table 10 (continued) H
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110 Health Education Employment Inc
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112 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI) W
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114 Table 12 (continued) HDI rank H
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116 the policy makers and the peopl
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118 THAILAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPO
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120 GENDER-RELATED DEVELOPMENT INDE
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122 TABLE 1 - BASIC DATA Columns 1-
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124 Column 17 Technical Studies and
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DATA TABLES
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Table 1 Basic Data (Continued) Popu
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Table 1 Basic Data Location Udon Th
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Table 2 Health (Continued) Populati
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Table 2 Health (Continued) Udon Tha
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Table 3 Education (Continued) Udon
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Table 3 Education Quality of educat
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Table 4 Employment (Continued) Empl
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Table 4 Employment Employment 2001
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Table 5 Income (Continued) Househol
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Table 5 Income (Continued) Poverty
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Table 6 Housing and living conditio
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Table 7 Familiy and Community life
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Table 8 Transport and Communication
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Table 9 Participation Udon Thani 1,
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