People's empowerment process for social solidarity of communities

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to comprehend a process of empowerment of people (PEP) that is suitable to Thailand’s social conditions; 2) analyze major/main components of PEP in urban and rural communities; 3) to come up with a model on this matter and 4) to study problems and obstacles about this matter can also revealed. The areas of study are three communities as Ban Chonabot community; Ban Kueng-Muang community and Ban Ku-Muang community.

This research uses qualitative research as a main tool with emphasis on phenomenology, collecting data via in-depth interviews of 36 key-informants and participant observation. Data verification will be scrutinized with triangulation technique concerning people, place and time involving. Data obtain were interpretative analysis and systematic analysis along logical context coupled with an analysis of social context.

he research was found as the followings: 1) People’s empowerment process for social solidarity of community were 5 steps that created group activity, goal setting together, find problems through dialogue, created working agreement, and expanded networks working. 2) Important components of PEP were 3 components that leadership, knowledge, and trust. iv 3) “PEP Model” was focused on building awareness of the community to solve problems together via sharing personal property. 4) Problems and obstacles about this matter can also revealed were moral of next generation leadership.

Important recommendations propose for solving the problem. First should be a process of increasing trusts among people in the community via common activities in the community. Secondly, should have potential development of next generation leaders/core persons should be carried out in order to make sure that the work and process of people empowerment will continue forever. Third, the government should review it’s roles and rhythm for supporting knowledge, methods and techniques to communities by considering people’s needs, community context and problems appropriately.