The Promotion of the Participatory Sufficiency Economy Philosophy: Experience from Selected Community Organizations in Upper Northern Thailand

Abstract

The direction of country’s development in the past focused on inviting “Sufficiency Economy Philosophy” as a practical guideline affecting the country development at all levels, especially at the local level. Therefore, this research aims to study strategies for promoting sufficiency economy philosophy, results returned to the public and factors contributing people participation from  2 selected community organizations in the upper northern Thailand by applying 3 steps of Participatory Action Research (PAR) namely: preparation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation Data were collected by using a set of questions, observational form, and public forums together with in-depth interview, observation, small group discussion, and lesson learned techniques from 240 villagers, 8 local scholars, and 12 representatives from public stakeholders. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and semantic content analysis.       

The results revealed 2 main strategies for promoting the participatory sufficiency economy philosophy, namely 1) managerial administration of the organization with an appropriate executive committee and transparent budget management, and 2) method of promoting the sufficiency economy philosophy in  4 steps namely: field trip study, establishing a community organization, courses and training, and knowledge transfer services. Considering the return to the people, these were the results: more than two-thirds of the people could be applied the knowledge to live a life according to the philosophy of sufficiency economy, reducing burning, waste separation, and vegetable gardening. Moreover, the empirical works of community organizations, local scholars, lecturers, and staff as well as training courses were the main factors contributing community organizations to the promotion of the participatory sufficiency economy philosophy.