Status of people's participation 

Participatory practice is limited in Bangladesh. Except in slum improvement projects (1985)

and National Environmental Mapping, still no public authorities practised community
involvement in development practice. Though, from 1950s and '60s in community
development the involvement of local people had been practised in many countries. From
1961, Khulna Development Authority (KDA) has been trying to guide the future planning of
Khulna City and its surrounding areas, through Master Plan. But there was no trace of place
to date where people can be integrated in planning practices. But in its new Structure Plan,
Master Plan the idea of people's participation in development comes repeatedly. And for the
first time, before approval of final Master Plan, objection from common people and opinion
from different professional groups about any part of it is invited. Five representatives from
professional groups who were present in that meting tell it as,” it was eye wash at all”.   

Structure Plan points the rising of people's participation in planning and implementation. It
suggests legalising people's participation by National Assembly, Council of Ministers,
Ministry of Works, Ministry of law, KDA, KCC and Ministry of LGED. The shift of
compulsory approach to negotiated approach has been suggested, which it indicates to
participatory approach in land acquisition. Promotion of people's participation in
development process has also been suggested in housing policy. A general process of public
participation and building partnership with community also come in housing policy. Again,
as a part of strengthening institutions, Structure Plan suggests greater participation of people
for conflict resolution and a voluntary forum will work for it. Problem is that no integrated
participatory plan is there for integrated physical planning in Khulna. The case is true for the
rest cities also.
 
 
Place making for people's participation 
An integrated physical plan is needed which will indicate the place and procedure of
community participation in planning process. KDA ordinance should include this
participatory plan by amendment. Besides policy support, a seed fund is necessary to finance
a test participatory project like Participatory Detail Area Planning Project.  

New rules for procedure of making Detail Area Plan should be formulated, which requires
skilled and trained personnel. Before preparing Detail Area Plan, KDA ordinance should add
new section by amendment, which will include neighbourhood design standards for housing
estate and rules of approval for any land sub division work have to be included. It will also
include the community and physical infrastructures standard, like open spaces,
neighbourhood level health care facilities, educational facilities, road network standard,
neighbourhood level road hierarchy standard etc. But, people will prepare a picture of their
neighbourhood indicating what they want to see in their locality. From, the Participatory
Detail Area Planning Project new design standards may come. After modification final
standard will be generated. It should be made mandatory for all public and private
developments in the future. Not only that, KDA and KCC should follow consistent
development standards under the light of Master Plan. 

To support participatory plan making and implementation institutional support is a must.

Employee of local institutions and public agencies will have to be trained about participatory
planning approaches.  
Good Local Governance and Anti-corruption
Through People's Participation: A Case of
Thailand
By
Dr. Orapin Sopchokchai
Project Management Office
Public Sector Reform Project
October 8, 2001
Introduction
Decentralization has been one of the reform efforts to improve community
development programs in rural areas to better serve the needs and concerns of the
local people. A number of studies and pilot tests have been conducted, but none
persuaded top policy makers to truly decentralize their power. Following the
promulgation of the Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Act of 1994 and
the new Constitution of 1997, decentralization and the creation of self-governing
authorities again received national and international attention.
To decentralize and transform the rigid, traditionally strong bureaucratic
system of power that ruled and controlled the country for many decades is not easy
but Thailand is now going down this thorny road. This paper discusses the
decentralization process in Thai society, which demonstrates the lessons and
experiences of the country fighting against difficulties to create good local
governance—a more transparent and people oriented system. In addition, it reports an
example of a practical approach to mobilize local communities to monitor and combat
corruption and to pave the way to gain access to public services. Through people's
participation and involvement in planning and decision-making processes, a local
authority with good local governance can be produced.
Development of Local Government in Thailand
Thailand changed from an absolute monarchy to a democratic government in
1932 as the revolutionists believed and stated that the Thai administration needed to
be modernized and governed by the people's representatives. Indeed, a more modern,
democratic system would allow the government to recruit professional and educated
people to work for the country.
The Administrative Law of 1933 primarily established three layers in the Thai
administrative structure--the central or national administration, the provincial
administration, and local administration. These structures of the centralized
2
administration have become a dominant feature of Thai administrative culture that is
difficult to change. Under supervision and direction of the Cabinet, the central
ministries and departments played major roles in policy formulation and
implementation. Implementation and administration at the provincial level were in
hands of the regional offices of ministries and departments. To facilitate and
coordinate public programs of various government agencies, a governor, who was a
permanent civil servant under the Ministry of Interior was appointed. Local
administration consisted of local officials directly or indirectly elected by the people.
The local bodies were municipalities including the Bangkok Municipality. With this
administrative pattern, Thailand, with a long history as a unitary kingdom, evolved
into a centralized administration with a strong national government until today.
The development of local governance has been as slow as the development of
the Thai democratic system. In 1952, sanitary administration was added as another
form of local body for rural communities. In 1955 and 1956, the Provincial Council
and the Tambon Council were created at the provincial and tambon levels
respectively. Members of these organizations were partly appointed and partly
elected to oversee development activities at the local level. This set up aimed to
promote and prepare local communities for a self-governing system.
Box 1: Information about Thailand
About Thailand and its Government
Location: Southeast Asia
Size: About 517,000 square km.
Capital: Bangkok
Admin. Areas: 75 Provinces plus Bangkok Metropolitan Area
876 Districts and Sub-districts
7,255 Tambons
69,367 Villages
Local Gov.: 75 Provincial Administrative Organizations
1,129 municipalities (as of June 1, 1999)
2 special forms of Local Government
(Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Pattaya)
6,747 Tambon Administrative Organizations
(as of March 2000)
Population: 61,466,178 people (30,874,576 females and 30,591,602 males)
Although Thailand has a long experience with the development of local
government at all levels, most local people have had limited access or control over
political power and resources. Decentralization has largely been in the form of
deconcentration
through provincial and district offices. During the past five decades,
3
the national government has never fully transferred power from the central to the local
administration, even though many efforts have been made to establish real local
government in Thailand.
Decentralizing decision-making powers to the local level and people’s
participation in community development has become one of the most important
development issues discussed over the past two decades. Political demand for selfgoverning
bodies at the Tambon (or sub-district) level emerges because tambons are
considered as the fundamental governing units at the provincial administrative level.
In addition, many reports and scholars have highlighted repeated problems and
undesirable experiences from the failure of government efforts to eradicate poverty
and improve the quality of life for rural people. Many questions were raised about the
sustainability of the program and its projects that were mainly managed and
implemented by the national government. Officials who work in the community are
appointed by the central government; therefore, they are accountable to their
supervisors in Bangkok rather than to the local community.
It is widely recognized that decentralization will increase the efficiency and
responsiveness of local government. Locally elected leaders know their constituents
better than officials appointed from the central government. They can provide the
public services the local people required. Technically and physically, it is easier for
local residents to hold local officials accountable for their performance.
On the other hand, it is widely recognized that true and sustainable
development takes place when the stakeholders of a community equally and
democratically share ideas and visions, as well as participate and take responsibilities
together to steer and implement development activities. This creates a sense of
ownership as well as partnership in development. An effort to establish a bottom-up,
people-centred planning and community development approach was initiated to
administer rural development at the beginning of the fifth National Economic and
Social Development Plan in 1982. In practice, however, real people’s participation in
planning their future and in development processes seems unobtainable as long as
administrative power and resources are in the control of the central offices.
The movement to decentralize power to local authorities become alive after:
(1) the end of the cold war as communism was less of a threat to national security,
(2) rural development gained higher priority and recognition, and (3) there were
increasing pressures for political and bureaucratic reforms. But the debate continued
and became an important political issue after the political unrest of 1992, the newly
elected government, with the five parties, proposed a decentralization act, and four of
the five parties proposed to replace appointed provincial governors with elected ones.
In 1994, the Government announced the Tambon Council and Tambon
Administration Organization Act, which became effective on March 2, 1995.
The top-down development approach in Thailand has illustrated the pitfalls of
improving quality of life and in serving the real needs and concerns of communities.
The new Tambon Council and Tambon Administration Organization Act of 1994
aimed to decentralize administrative power to local people and to revitalize the
4
people’s participation in community development affairs, and to decentralize
decision-making power to people at the Tambon and village levels.
After the Tambon Act of 1994, it is worth noting two other important
milestones-the development of the 8th National Economic and Social Development
Plan (1997 - 2001) and the promulgation of the new Constitution in 1997-which was
designed to promote and build a more open and democratic society. Based on a
nation-wide process of consultation that involved a series of participatory meetings to
gather inputs from all sectors of society, the 8th Plan finally defines development as a
people centered process. This includes a new development paradigm in Thai society
to replace the top-down approach that was previously and widely practiced by public
agencies. In particular, the Plan emphasizes enabling and empowering local people to
develop their own communities through decentralization of government functions and
resources, enlarged public participation, increased transparency and an improved
system of governance.
The new Constitution was promulgated on October 11, 1997. It creates a new
framework for restructuring national and local governance and for the reform of
electoral and political processes. It is the first Constitution to introduce many radical
reforms on matters concerning relations between the state and civil society. Of
particular importance to local governance, the Constitution's articles support the
decentralization Act and the Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative
Organization Act of 1994. In addition, the Constitution creates a framework for
decentralization and people's participation that can be summarized in three areas, as
follows:
1. Organization and Administration. The local authorities have the freedom
to manage development and provide public services according to the needs
of their constituents in the local community. Local administration can
formulate development plans, personnel policy, as well as budget and
financial policy. In addition, the Constitution emphasizes that all local
authorities must be elected and will be in office for four years.
2. Duties and Responsibilities. The local authorities are responsible for the
development and conservation of natural resources and the environment in
their local community. The national government will transfer appropriate
functions (including public service delivery) as well as budget subsidies to
the local government. The local government can collect certain taxes that
a tri-party committee agrees upon, and this agreement will be reviewed
every five years.
3. Public Participation. The Constitution indicates that people in local
communities can monitor, control and oversee the results and performance
of the local administration. It is the government's duty to promote the
people's participation in conserving and protecting natural resources and
the environment. People can sue any public officials or organizations that
fail to perform their authorized functions. A total of 75 percent of the
people who voted can impeach any local officials, and 50 percent of the
registered voters can propose a new community regulation.
5
Following the promulgation of the Constitution, much progress has been made
in the areas of decentralization and local governance in Thailand. To facilitate the
decentralization processes, the Government appointed a committee to review the old
structure and administration, and to recommend necessary adjustments. An important
solution announced by the committee to reform local government was that there
should be four types of local government in Thailand--Provincial Administrative
Organizations, municipalities, Tambon Administrative Organizations, and a special
form of city governance, such as the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the
Pattaya Administration. In addition, old laws and regulations were revised and
changed to be consistent with the Constitution. Currently, 12 laws related to local
governance have been enacted, and a few more are being formulated.
The Current Thai Government and Administration
The Thai Government and administration at the national and local levels
demonstrated in Chart 1 was recently adjusted to bring it in line with the Constitution.
At the national level, ministries (the Cabinet) direct and supervise the 14 ministries
and 125 departments. These organizations are divided by functions to provide and
deliver public goods and services. Almost all of them have had regional offices and
are established public service system network for more than 50 years.
While the 8th Plan and the Constitution set up a new decentralized framework,
the Government administration and practices, especially at the national and regional
levels still remain the same. At the national level, the ministries and departments still
control resources and implement most development activities. Officials are appointed
to conduct this task at the regional and local levels.
The newly created local authorities such as the Provincial Administrative
Organizations (PAOs) and Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAOs) still control
very limited resources. As the PAOs have only recently been created and elected,
there is widespread argument and confusion about their scope and areas of
responsibility, especially with regarding to TAO as well as to the traditional structure
of the central system. These questions have not yet been clarified.
6
Chart 1 The National and Local Government Structure in Thailand
National Level
Ministry of Interior (MOI)
Regional and Local Level
Elected members (politiciaus) Direct supervision
Appointed staff (civil servants) Coordinate and/or indirectly advise
Senate and
Parliament
Government
(Cabinet)
Ministries
Departments
BMA Council
BMA
Governor
Provincial
Administrative
Organization
Municipalities
BMA Staff
Provincial
Governors
(MOI)
Provincial
Offices
District Offices
TAO Staff
District Agencies
Regional or
Provincial
Agencies
TAO
Village
Representatives
Provincial
Agencies
7
In the midst of resistance from the traditional bureaucratic system, the laws
and the Constitution paved the way for many self-governing, self-regulated local
authorities to exist. The most important formation of local government in Thailand is
the Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAOs) because:
TAOs are the closest and smallest governance at the community level.
A large number of TAOs are established as legal entities and they are an
important mechanism to develop community.
The success of TAOs will lay an important foundation for developing
democratic society in the future.
Community development can better serve the needs of local people as they
can decide their own future.
Local Governance at the Tambon Level
After the Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Organization Act of
1994 was promulgated, all existing Tambon Councils became legal entities and those
that could demonstrate a sound financial capacity were designated TAOs. Once
community elections are completed, an autonomous, self-managed, and selfgoverning
community body, or the TAO, is formed to plan and manage community
development affairs.
The structure of TAO governance is divided into two branches: the Tambon
Council consists of two elected representatives from each village responsible for
policy and development direction, and the Tambon Executive Committee, which
consists of a chairperson and two TAO members selected by the TAO Council and
appointed by the District Officer. The TAO Executive Committee is responsible for
developing a tambon development plan and an annual budget, and to manage all
tambon affairs. Both elected committees are in position for four years.
The TAO staff members are classified as permanent local civil servants, and
their salary is paid from the TAO’s budget expenditures. A TAO permanent secretary
is a secretary of the TAO Executive Committee. Until the Local Public Personnel
Administration Act of 1999 is fully in effect, TAO staff is recruited and appointed by
the Department of Local Administration of the Ministry of Interior.
By law, TAOs are responsible for the economic, social, cultural and
environmental development at the tambon level. Duties and responsibilities are
classified into two categories: required responsibilities and duties such as providing
and maintaining land transportation and waterway, keeping streets and public lands
clean as well as manage solid waste disposal, etc. and optional tasks such as
promoting cottage industries, promoting occupational employment for local people,
etc.
TAOs obtain revenue to manage and implement all tasks from three sources:
8
Taxes, fees, fines and benefits collected by TAO such as housing and land
taxes, advertising board taxes, etc.
Transferred taxes collected by other organizations such as value-added
taxes collected by the Ministry of Finance, etc.
Grants and subsidies allocated through the Ministry of Interior.
After the Act of 1994 became effective, the first 617 tambons were eligible to
be upgraded and the first election was on May 1, 1995. A total of 6,747 TAOs were
elected in the following years.
Since 1994, five elections have been organized for the upgraded tambons.
Currently, a total of 6,747 tambons are governed by local representatives. This adds
up to 123,973 elected TAO members, with less than 10 percent of them being
females.
Since the first election in 1995, the percentage of people who voted has
increased every year from 51.02 percent in 1995 to 68.40 percent in 1999. It should
be noted that in the 1998 election, which was the re-election of the first 617 TAOs,
the number of registered voters and percentage of people who voted increased
remarkably. It is obvious that people are increasingly realizing the importance of
local election for their community.
The Constitution provides support for the new legislation on decentralization
acts that set out to promote the creation of autonomous, self-managed and selfregulating
communities. However, the success of the decentralization of
administrative and decision-making power is not merely a creation of a self-governing
body, it is important to ensure that the new system can function properly and that
local people will truly participate in the decision-making processes. The TAOs must
be accountable to serve the real needs and interests of the people in their community.
Establishing and creating TAOs are not as simple as passing laws. Many
problems have surfaced. People, especially those who used to hold control power, are
skeptical, and have raised their voices in concern. Major problems are:
Central agencies and civil servants do not accept the TAOs as equal
partners in development. While Article 69 of the Act attempts to establish
a coordination mechanism between Government agencies and local
authorities by requiring all state agencies planning to operate development
activities at the tambon level to inform the TAOs in advance, and adjust
their work plans and programs. In practice, very few organizations pay
attention. TAOs often carry out development projects on their own, and
almost all projects involve infrastructure, such as village roads, small
bridges, and village water supply systems that require minimum
technology. Without coordination, information and technical assistance,
many social and economic projects such as AIDS prevention programs,
education projects, drug abuse projects, environmental protection,
employment promotion projects, etc. are rarely included in the TAO's
annual budgets. This is because most responsible officials and TAO
members do not have sufficient knowledge and information on how to
design such projects. In addition, Government agencies often advise or
recommend each TAO to allocate about 20,000 -30,000 baht to help
9
support cultural activities organized by the District Offices, or to buy more
medicine for the local hospitals or allocate budgets to buy satellite disks.
As a study review, TAO budget plans were found to be alike; even through
each community has different problems and needs.
Former community leaders (Kannan and Village Headmen), who were
appointed as members of the Tambon Executive Committee before the law
changed in 1999, always played a major role in planning and allocating
TAO budgets for development activities. Elected TAO members who are
new and inexperienced usually do not have much information and cannot
actively participate in this process. As a result, limited resources are
allocated for construction projects.
All TAOs have limited and unstable revenue due to the nature of taxes
they collect. During the bubble economy, land transfer taxes made several
TAOs wealthy overnight, but this revenue is not stable. Many TAOs
expanded offices, hired more staff, and started several big projects. After
the crises, these TAOs' budgets were reduced by more than 50 percent.
The remaining revenue is now used to finance high administrative costs, or
to support the maintenance costs of existing infrastructure. Many TAOs
are facing a financial crisis as demand for services and expenditures rise.
Lack of people participation in planning and decision-making processes.
The Tambon Act and the MOI's regulations stated that people could
observe TAO meetings and minutes must be announced. These
regulations aim to create transparency and encourage tambon residents to
participate and monitor TAO decisions and performance. Unfortunately,
very few TAOs follow the guidelines and local residents are not aware that
they have the right and opportunity to participate. In general, they do not
fully understand their rights and duties.
Due to the lack of transparency and the participation of the people, TAOs
can easily be corrupted. Evidently, many contracts for TAO projects are
distributed among subcontractors who are friends or relatives. Conflict
and corruption are found in many areas, and sometimes conflicts between
different groups of TAO members who want to protect their own interests
turn violent.
Rigid and complex administrative rules and regulations issued by the
Ministry of Interior are difficult for local officials to understand and follow
as they do not have much experience of the bureaucratic system.
Although there are a number of problems and obstacles to establishing good
local governance at the tambon level, many TAOs are improving over time and
developing new governance system to be more effective. The decision in 1994 to
decentralize power to local level is bearing some fruit despite people who are
skeptical. The major benefits can be summarized as the follows:
1. Promote democracy in Thai society. The establishment of TAOs at the
community level throughout the country creates a learning opportunity for
people at the grassroots level to experience people power and to learn the
10
importance of people representatives. Villagers are now more serious
about elections and they want to vote for the people who will truly work
for the community. After several years, more and more TAO members
understand their roles as village representative and they have tried to
improve their performance to maintain their popularity.
2. Stimulate public sector reform. The Tambon Council and Tambon
Administrative Act of 1994 as well as the Constitution that supports the
decentralization acts have helped stimulate other public sector reform.
The central ministries and departments are currently forced to review the
roles and functions to be transferred to local authorities. Several central
agencies may be shifted to the local level or even terminated.
3. Development projects serve some of the immediate needs of local people.
While corruption still occurs in local administration, it is obvious that
roads and other form of land transportation in many communities are
improving and local residents are quite satisfied.
A challenging task for the Thai society is to strengthen all local authority to be
able to deliver services that are transferring from central agencies. Since the fiscal
year 2000, the central government reallocated budget to local authorities and it was
targeted to transfer up to 35% in 2006. The Cabinet resolution was clear that at the
end of the reform process, the central agencies must be smaller and focus only on
national policy and regulations.
Create Good Local Governance through People’s Participation
Over the past several decades, the Government tried to improve the quality of
life and eradicate poverty among rural people. One of the significant efforts was to
establish a bottom-up approach that aimed to mobilize people’s participation in
community development. The goal has not yet been fully achieved. Once the
Tambon Council and Tambon Administration Act of 1994 and the Decentralization
Laws are in effect, the challenging task is to set up and decentralize authority,
functions and responsibility to the local bodies. But it is as important to ensure that
this new system of local government can successfully and effectively serves the needs
of the people in their community. Good local governance will provide the people
with democratic and equal opportunities to participate in decision-making processes.
A more transparent and effective local government will challenge people to
effectively control and monitor their performance.
Approaches to mobilize people’s participation and methods to introduce a good
local governance in Thai society are drown from a series of action research projects
carried out by the Thailand Development Research Institution Foundation (TDRI)
between 1990 to 2000. TDRI conducted a series of action researches, used different
models and methodologies to mobilize people’s participation. The project discovered
a powerful brainstorming technique known as the A-I-C (Appreciation, Influence, and
11
Control, developed by ODII)1 approach to be used as a tool to mobilize people’s
participation in community development and create a more transparent local
administration.
The approach that helps transform this community from on of traditional
bureaucratic control to a more transparent and participatory community is to stimulate
development force and awareness among villagers and formulate development plan at
the village level. It developed from our belief that true and sustainable development
cannot take place through order, but it naturally happens when all actors and
stakeholders equally and democratically participate and share their ideas, dreams,
visions, and responsibility to steer and implement development projects. The TDRI
adopted and further tested the A-I-C approach, which is a technique to provide and
arrange a village forum for stakeholder groups at the community level to equally think
and plan their community future.
Organizing a village forum in every village greatly benefits the
decentralization process and the development of good local governance. From our
research experience, there are interesting findings and developments that can be
summarized as follows:
TAO members who represent the village feel that they are
accountable to their constituents and their new roles are to debate
the tambon development budget for their village and to monitor the
progress of decision for the villagers. After the forum, each TAO
member learned more about the needs and concerns of their
constituents and understood the nature of development programs.
The TAO's annual expenditures were normally allocated for
administrative costs and infrastructure projects, and did not include
social projects, such as childcare center, skill development and
employment projects, and women's projects. Once the TAO
Council members received information about the villagers' needs to
develop these social projects, they are usually willing to finance
any development activities in response to the needs of local
citizens. This will lead to future opportunities that local people
will be able to receive better public services from the TAO.
The model to bring various community stakeholder groups
(including women, youths, farmers, disadvantaged groups, the rich
and the poor) to exchange ideas, share views and visions, and
commit to help achieve their dreams not only promotes community
development but also create good local governance and support
decentralization, as follows:
- It empowers local residents to monitor and control their TAO.
- Stakeholder groups that were previously excluded from the
planning process can voice their needs and concerns.
1 The A-I-C approach is developed and introduced by the Organizing for Development, and
International Institute (ODII), a non-governmental organization in Washington D.C. The ODII and the
TDRI conducted the first research project to test this approach in 1990 and TDRI later fine-tune the
technique to fit the Thai context. The A-I-C approach, which has its origins in a concept of the power
field and the effect of the environment combines the best of several brainstorming techniques and is
designed as a participatory planning forum at the village level.
12
- Community network at the village level are formed and
strengthened.
- Villagers are more interested in monitoring and follow-up on the
progress of community development and they can exercise their
power as given by Law.
TAO council members and TAO staff have changed to be more
transparent and more honest with their constituents about all
decisions. It becomes routine to consult people about big
investment projects, tax increases or reductions, new fees, and
annual budget expenditures. And people now expect to be
informed and consulted. This can be considered a new political
culture in Thai society.
Fortunately, top policy-makers at the National Counter Corruption
Commission (NCCC) shares and understood the process and the real benefits, such as
the transparency and honesty of the TAO, people's attitudes towards local selfgoverning
authorities, and efficiency and effectiveness of development programs, a
national two-year program is developed and will start to implement in 75 provinces
between 2001- 2002. The program aims to stimulate people’s awareness about their
roles and duties to monitor TAO’s performance to ensure efficiency, transparency and
prevent any wrongdoing at the community level. An ultimate outcome from the
program is to establish people organization to combat corruption and to develop
network between these people network with the NCCC at the national level.
In addition, many measures are now put in place to stimulate people’s roles in
fighting corruption. One of them is whistle-blower and witness protection program.
This program has been developed, for the first time in Thailand, to encourage people
who have information and evident about any wrongdoing at all levels to work with
proper authorities and to ensure they safety.
13
References
Department of Local Administration. 1999. Laws, Rules and Regulations for Tambon
Administrative Organization (Revised Document). The Department of Local
Administration, the Ministry of Interior, (in Thai).
Chulalongkorn University. 1998. Study on Structure and Direction to Strengthen
Tambon Administrative Organization. A Working Paper submitted to The
Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, Bangkok
Thailand, (in Thai).
Organizing for Development: an International Institute. 1989. The A-I-C Approach:
Concepts. ODII: Washington D.C.
Office of the Civil Service Commission. 2000. Development of Local Governance in
Thailand, A Working Paper of the Project, entitled Promotion of Sound
Governance by Decentralization, the Civil Service Commission, (in Thai).
Sopchokchai, Orapin. 1995. Strengthen Women's Ability to Participate in Village
Development Planning and Decision-making Processes: An Action Research.
Bangkok: Thailand Development Research Institute.
______________. 1995. “People’s Participation in Community Development,” a
paper presented at the TDRI Year-End Conference on Thailand’s Development
Participation, December 9-10, 1995, at the Ambassador City Hotel, Jomtien,
Cholburi, Thailand, (in Thai with a summary in English).
______________.1996. “Thai Public Sector and New Partnership in Development,” a
paper presented at the Year-End Conference on Reforming Thai Public Sector
for the Future of Thailand, December 13-15, 1996 at the Ambassador City
Hotel, Jomtien, Cholburi, Thailand, (in Thai with a summary in English).
______________. 1997. “Model to Strengthen Tambon Administrative Organization,
TAO,” a final report submitted to the Office of National Economic and Social
Development Board, TDRI, (in Thai).
United Nations Development Program. 1999. Human Development Report of
Thailand. Bangkok: UNDP.
14

People's Participation in Community Development*

Orapin Sopchokchai**

INTRODUCTION

Community development is a learning process from which all actors—villagers, development

officials (both government and non-government), business representatives, and experts—will
learn and gain experience together as development progresses. True and sustainable
development cannot take place through force or order, but it will naturally happen when all
actors equally and democratically participate and share their ideas, visions, and
responsibilities to steer and implement their community or village development. One
approach to create sustainable rural development is through giving the main actors, which
means villagers who are living in the community, an equal opportunity to think and plan their
own future.

People's participation in community affairs has been considered an important rural

development policy, initiated since the establishment of the National Rural Development
Program (NRDP) in the fifth National Economic and Social Development Plan in 1982. It
was commonly understood that the rural administration system was created toward the
transition from top-down to bottom-up planning system. The system also established a
bottom-up planning structure where rural development plans would initially be formulated by
people at the village level. During the past years, efforts to strengthen people's participation
in village planning and community development has often been far from desirable. Many
rural administration obstructions, such as highly centralized controls of the line agencies, lack
of a practical approach to strengthen people's participation, and no commitment to integrate
people into community development, were encountered. In 1994, the new Tambol Council
Law was passed, which marked a major effort to decentralize decision-making power to
people. A challenging question, now, is not only how to set up and strengthen this local self-
governing body, but also how to ensure that people will democratically participate in
decision-making processes and can effectively control the Tambol Council.

Villagers are usually willing to cooperate with one another to satisfy their mutual interests
and needs. They may be inhibited from doing so owing to obstructions in communications or
for other reasons, such as lack of opportunity or favorable circumstances. But it can be
assumed that the people's will to participate in the betterment of the community is ever
present and that it will find expression spontaneously or through outside stimulation.
Therefore, it is important to find a practical approach to help enhance and provide
opportunity for people to participate effectively and democratically. The A-I-C approach,
which is a participatory planning technique, is experimented at the village level to understand
and find way to achieve this goal to stimulate people's participation in community
development.

Village participants, however, must include both men and women who represent all interest
groups in the village, such as village leaders, various women groups, business groups,
farmers, and disadvantaged groups. While including representatives from various groups is
important, female participants in village development planning enriches the processes. The
previous TDRI project on "Women's Organizing Abilities" found that women's voices and
concerns in the community are equally important to community development and welfare as
most women reflected needs to initiate social, education, health, and environmental projects,
while most men pay more attention to economic, agricultural, and infrastructural
development. Combining both sides' needs and concerns creates a more balanced community
development plan.

This report summarizes findings and recommendations drawn from the several TDRI's
projects, the most important one entitled "Strengthening Women's Ability to Participate in
Village Development Planning and Decision-making Processes: An Action Research,"
funded by WELD/CIDA. The detailed case studies of 40 villages in eight provinces are in the
main report (in Thai). In addition, to facilitate and disseminate ideas of people's participation
in village development planning and decision-making processes, the project produced a
moderator's manual, explained village workshop processes, the A-I-C and moderator's
techniques. This manual is primarily developed for development officials (Pattanakorn) from
the Community Development Department (CDD), the Ministry of Interior, and other field
development workers working with non-governmental organizations. In addition to the
manual, the project, in cooperation with the CDD, co-produced a 30-minute video
presentation detailing the A-I-C techniques and processes to conduct a village workshop.

WOMEN'S OPPORTUNITY, ABILITIES, AND ROLES IN COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT

Women make up statistically half of the population and they are important actors in village
development. Women are a target group in development; as well, they comprise human
power and resources to help implement and maintain many development projects at the
community level. At present, however, the majority of women are socially, culturally, and
politically barred from participating in community development planning and decision-
making processes. Traditionally, Thai society holds that it is a woman's role and duty to take
care of domestic chores, while men are expected to deal with tasks outside the house.
Adhering to this concept, most Thai women are not aware of and/or overlook their roles and
duties within the community, and they have little opportunity to participate in politics and
decision-making processes. The elected village leaders and village development committee
members are examples; at present, the majority of these are men.

Recognizing the fact that women comprise half of the villagers and are important actors in
village development, to successfully achieve village development goals, therefore, village
women must be included in community development planning and decision-making
processes. The project, designed to integrate half of women in development planning and
decision-making processes, found that when women are included, an opportunity was created
not only for women to express their ideas and needs but also for village leaders, most of them
are men, to listen, learn, and understand women's needs and concerns about village
development. On the other hand, women participants in the processes also learned more
about others' needs and concerns. The A-I-C technique helped to stimulate this learning
experience and communication among men and women, and it can be considered as a
mechanism to enhance women's participation in village development planning and decision-
making processes. Through the workshop process and techniques, women dramatically
gained more confidence in expressing their ideas and needs to other villagers.

When women were actively involved in the processes, women's perspectives drawn from
different life experiences created a better and more balanced community development plan.
Men, for example, considered development in terms of infrastructure, such as road and bridge
construction, electricity, the establishment of revolving funds, and new farming techniques,
while women, having different viewpoints and daily life experiences, usually paid more
attention to social and health problems; their project proposals included education, child care
facilities, nutrition programs, health-related projects, and environmental projects.

The A-I-C processes facilitated women's participation in the village decision-making arena
which used to be male domain. Bringing several women representatives together with male
counterparts to discuss village development proved to be useful; women, as a part of the
community, understood the importance of development projects and felt responsible for
implementing them. Since women effectively and successfully participated in the processes,
men, particularly village leaders, recognized women's abilities and the necessity that they be
included in community development. The male perspectives about women's roles and place
in the society changed; they thought of women as equal partners in development. Women
were selected to help in community activities and later these women were elected to be
committee members of the Village Development Committee (Kor Mor). (An increasing
number of female village committees in the villages, implemented in the project in Ang
Thong, evidences the clear impact of this project.)

The idea to include women as equal partners in village development planning and decision-
making processes has evidently offered a higher status to women in community development.
Women no longer are a target group, they have become project owners—the ones who
initiate the development projects, not merely those who carry out projects initiated by others.
As a result, development projects will reflect the real needs of women and the community.

The project also found that most of the women who attended the village workshop and had
thought about and discussed village development during the workshop actively become a
driving force in getting the project implemented. The workshop helped to stimulate
development awareness among women's groups in the village. They work together to lobby
to get their development projects considered, funded, and implemented; and, finally, they
oversee the projects to make certain that their mission is accomplished and the villagers'
vision is fulfilled.

People’s Participation

5.32 The core element that emerges from the success stories is ‘people’s participation’. The people
are expected to undertake initiatives of their own when they become conscientised and critically
aware of their life situations and begin to perceive the options for changing that reality. This is the
basic premise on which the facilitators worked. They first studied the local situation to assess the
socio-economic profile of the people and their needs, the local resource base and its potential,
existing social relations, the need for technological, financial and managerial inputs etc. and chalked
out a strategy of sensitising the people for self development. They assisted the people to reflect upon,
analyse and understand their socio-economic environment, the factors that constrain development
and access to public services. In the process of animation, alternative possibilities of dealing with the
constraints are explored and their feasibility examined, using the local knowledge (internal inputs) as
well as knowledge from outside (external inputs). Once sensitised, the facilitators provided the people
with the necessary support mechanism like technical skill, credit, extension and other services by
linking the local groups with the providers. More often than not, such development actions of the
people started on a small scale, but the initial successes gave them the necessary confidence to
embark upon larger and more sophisticated actions.

5.33 The essential ingredients of people’s participation for self development, as revealed in the
success stories, are: assessment of local resources and local level planning, sensitising people and
building local organisations for collective actions and an umbrella support mechanism to facilitate
people’s development actions. If these processes and mechanisms are to be multiplied on a wider
scale, these will have to be institutionalised. The multiplication process requires a major political
commitment by the State to provide the necessary political space and a policy framework for a
sensitive support mechanism. This will call for, among other things, simplification of ground rules that
would facilitate participation of grassroots level organisations in the development process, bringing
about flexibility and dynamism among the providers of public services, and orienting the judicial
system for speedy disposal of disputes and to be sensitive to the needs of the poor and
disadvantaged.

5.34 It is common knowledge that delivery of services and upkeep of equipment suffer due to
inadequate financial authority of the grassroots level functionaries and also due to the rigidities in the
operational rules and audit systems. This often leads to helplessness and inaction on the part of the
functionaries. In the case of voluntary organisations, for example, procedures require the filling up of a
multiplicity of forms, adherence to complex accounting/ audit systems, and multi-level and repetitive
examination of files. All these cause delay in the release of funds and affect their functioning. That
such sub-optimal functioning of the delivery system has a very high ‘opportunity cost’ must be
appreciated and reforms of outmoded rules and procedures must be undertaken in the context of
decentralised planning and implementation. The Conference of the Chief Ministers held on 27 May,
1997 deliberated on the broad areas that need to be reformed for an effective and responsive
government. What is now required is to identify specific institutional changes that need to be brought
about and a plan of action for their implementation.

Panchayat Raj Institutions

5.35 The 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments have opened up new opportunities for
decentralised management and people’s participation in the development process. While, in principle,
the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) can be the effective bodies for local level planning and
implementation, they may not be so in practice because of a number of constraints. First, all
Panchayat members do not necessarily seek to achieve social goals and hence may not be sensitive
to the needs of the people. Diversion and misuse of resources have been reported even where the
PRIs are involved in the implementation of programmes. It has also been found that the Gram
Pradhans who are mostly elected from the main village (71 to 92% in different districts of a State )
ignore the development of hamlets. Second, most of the members do not have the necessary
background in planning and implementation of development programmes. Third, unless there is a
functional link between the various tiers of the Panchayats in terms of administrative and financial
control, the required coordination in planning and implementation may not come through. Fourth, the
Panchayats need flexibilities in operational rules, authority and financial resources if they are to
participate actively in planning and implementation of development programmes.

5.36 To ensure that the PRIs act in the most effective manner, the involvement of people and
facilitators in planning, prioritisation and implementation of programmes and in monitoring of their
activities is essential. To circumvent the problem of disparity in the allocation of available financial
resources between the main village and the hamlets, there is, perhaps, a need for developing
appropriate principles of allocation of resources at the micro level. The second constraint can be
removed through training and retraining of the members of PRIs. While some States have already
created institutions for the training of Panchayat members, others too need to follow. Experienced
public administrators, managers of co-operatives and social activists/leaders should be involved in
designing training courses and managing training centres. The States should evolve appropriate
mechanisms to ensure harmonious working of different tiers of the PRIs. Perhaps, legislative actions
would be required.

5.37 The objectives sought to be realised through the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution
would remain unfulfilled without devolution of adequate financial resources to the PRIs. Their financial
needs can be effectively met in two ways, viz; (a) through quantification of the awards of the State
Finance Commission for the PRIs in line with the awards of the Central Finance Commission for the
States, and (b) by empowering the PRIs to raise resources locally. Though, in some cases the
Panchayats have received resources for specific purposes, the process of devolution of resources
needs to be institutionalised to realise the full potential of the PRIs in decentralised planning and
implementation. The issue of devolution of resources and authority to the PRIs is complex and calls
for systemic changes through legislative actions. The State of Kerala has made the pioneering move
to formally devolve 40 per cent of development funds in favour of PRIs. But there too, despite a high
degree of literacy and political awareness, the process was not entirely free from its share of problems
and difficulties. There is, therefore, a need for a more informed debate and mobilisation of the people
around the relevant issues so as to fully operationalise the various provisions of the 73 rd/74th
Constitutional amendments.

5.38 For effective functioning of the grassroots level institutions of some north eastern States, the
Central Tribal Belt and other scheduled areas, another issue that needs to be squarely addressed is
the conflict between the PRIs and the local bodies like tribal panchyats and hill councils. Sometimes,
the power and jurisdiction of these bodies are a matter of dispute and this affects the development of
such areas. Perhaps, it would be necessary to give recognition to informal bodies like tribal
panchayats, and to delineate the functions and responsibilities of various agencies where more than
one development agency is involved.

5.39 With these reforms, the PRIs can be an effective instrument for large-scale development
interventions at the grassroots level. Since the development actions have to come from the people
and since they do not have the necessary financial, technical, managerial inputs and market
information, it is essential that access to such inputs be facilitated. To be effective, the local
organisations must acquire legitimacy of their standing, particularly in the eyes of the officials and
support institutions. An important element in the acquisition of legitimacy is the extent to which the
agency officials meet their genuine demands. The PRIs can play an important role in this regard. They
can facilitate such linkages between the people and the organisations which provide these inputs. The
existing support mechanisms like credit institutions and extension services are not sensitive enough to
the needs of the people. Training of the staff of these organisations needs to be organised to bring
about the necessary behavioural changes. Some rules and procedures need drastic simplification so
as to facilitate people’s initiative and action.

5.40 Sustenance of this process and its eventual take-over by the people would also need further
institutional reforms to ensure: information exchange, conflict resolutions, joint action, strategic
planning and public awareness/education. In a large number of areas, legal and legislative actions
would be required to facilitate free flow of development related information, resolution of conflicts
arising out of denial of information, contractor disputes and other non-compliances, the use of local
resources/raw materials by locals, removal of excessive bureaucratic control over co-operatives,
growth of grassroots level organisations for strategic planning etc. The primary objective of such
reforms should be to frame simple rules, laws, incentives and disincentives to guide individuals and
groups to act for self-development on the one hand and to reduce the transaction costs of such
actions on the other.