Social Sector Development and Project Proposal of Decentralized Rural Development Planning in Khok Charoen District in Lopburi Province, Thailand

7/27/2019 Social Sector Development and Project Proposal of Decentralized Rural Development Planning in Khok Charoen District in Lopburi Province, Thailand

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CHAPTER VI

SOCIAL SECTOR

Khok Charoen district was created on March 19th, 1987 by splitting off four tambon from

Khok Samrong district. It was upgraded to a full district on November 4th

, 1993.

Khok Charoen district is located in the north of Lop Buri province, has the north border with

Nakhon Sawan province, Phetchabun province and the South border with three districts of

Lop Buri province are Chai Badan, Sa Bot and Nong Muang provinces. The district is

subdivided into 5 subdistricts (tambon), which are further subdivided into 53 villages(muban). There are no municipal areas, and 5 Tambon administrative organizations (TAO).

The total area is 317.14 km2 (198,221 rai) and total population is 24,354 (2007). There are 16

primary schools, two secondary schools (Tambon Khok Charoen and tambon Yang Rak). In

this district, there are 39 temples, one hospital, four health stations, 16 primary schools, two

secondary schools and one research station.

6.1 Population6.1.1 Population change

Table 6.1: Households size change by Tambon, 2004-2007

Year 2004 2005 2006 2007Average growth

from 2004-2007


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In terms of population, tambon Yang Rak and Khok Charoen have the highest population of

7,661 and 7,458 persons respectively.

Among tambons, again Yang Rak has the highest density, 117 people per km2, followed

respectively by Khok Charoen and Wang Thong 104 people per km2, Khok Samesan has 83

persons per km2. The lowest density is Tambon Nong Makha has 29 persons per km2.

Population Structure

Figure 6.1: Population Distributions by Tambon


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Figure 6.2: Population by age and gender

Population by age and sex,Khok Charoen District 2006

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

0-5 6-10 11-

15

16-

20

21-

25

26-

30

31-

35

36-

40

41-

45

46-

50

51-

55

56-

60

61-

65

66-

70

71-

75

76-

80

>80

Age grouping

People Male

Female

Source: Khok Charoen district website

Table 6.3: Population by gender, 2007 Figure 6.3: Gender balance


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over 60 year old is 8.9%. The total dependency ratio is calculated as 32.5%. It indicates that

there is nearly 33 people are depended on others. Therefore, there should be development

plans and programs to assure their good life living standard.

Table 6.5: The dependency and dependency ratio

Age grouping Description Male Female Total population %

Less than 5 Infant population 985 965 1,950 8.1

6-15Schooling

population 1,895 1,807 3,702 15.5

16-60 Working population 8,154 7,981 16,135 67.5

More than 60Dependent

population988 1,135 2,123 8.9

Total 12,022 11,888 23,910 100

Source: District administration office, 2008

6.1.6 Population Projection

When there is a slightly increase in population; Gibbs is the most suitable method for

applying population projection in Thailand, particularly in Khok Charoen district. Based on

the district population data 2002 to 2007 (5 years period), the district and Tambon population

have been projected using Gibbs Technique for 2015 and 2020 as followed:


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Figure 6.5: Population Growth Rate

Population Growth Rate,

Khok Charoen district, 2003-2007

-0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Khok Charoen Yang Rak Nong Makha Wang Thong Khok Samea

San

Tambon

Growthrat

Source: Khok Charoen District Office, Jan 2008

6.1.8 Birth and Death Rates

Table 6.8: Birth and Death Rates Khok Charoen district, 2007

Tambon Population Birth Death Number of birth

rate per death

rate

Khok Charoen 7,519 78 39 2

Yang Rak 7,670 1 20 0.05

N M kh 3 176 0 17 0


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The death rate is higher in the district as compare to birthrate, the birth rate is 0.33% and the

death rate is 0.38%. all the Tambon has lower birth rates except the tambon Khok Charoen where

birth is higher then the death rate. Moreover, the high death rate could be supposed of old age

and health problems, so it needs to get attention about health services and take care of old age

people.

6.1.9 Household income and saving households

There are two indicators of measuring the living standards of the district in BMN i.e. household

incomes and savings. The results of these two indicators have been satisfactory and all the

tambon achieved the set targets in BMN as shown in table 6.9.

Table 6.9: Household income

Average income is not less

than 23,000 baht/person/yearTambon

Target (%) Achievement (%) Result

Khok Charoen 70 90.4 Achieved

Yang Rak 70 99.3 Achieved

Nong Makha 70 97.8 Achieved

Wang Thong 70 90.9 Achieved

Khok Samesan 70 93.5 Achieved


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Second, indicator of household savings, the expected target is 80%. There are four Tambons

achieved the target at the rate of 89% to 93%. There is one Tambon Nong Makha did not achieve

the target and only achieve nearly 56% of house have savings.

Figure 6.6: Achievement of households have saving by tambon

Achivement of households have saving

by Tambon, 2006

01020304050

60708090

100

Khok Charoen Yang Rak Nong Makha Wang Thong Khok Samea

San

Source: BMN 2007


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The two highest reasons of poverty in Khok Charoen district are about land and debt problems

37.6% and 34.7% respectively. In terms of land problem, no land certificate is the most

important problem appropriated 20.4%. Moreover, the rate of indebtedness is also very high

appropriately 34.7% with most of them are internal indebt 21.7%. In addition, the situation of job

exploitation and unpaid job is also the problem of the poor, especially the sugarcane workers.

6.1.11 Migration

Out- migration

Out migration of each Tambon in this district shows that the high out migration occurred in three

tambon: Yang Rak, Khok Charoen and Nong Makha at 30.7%, 29.1% and 21.9% respectively.

Followed by Khok Samesan has the lower rate of out migration 10.4%. The lowest number of

out migration is Tambon Wang Thong 7.9%. The main reasons or the push factors for out

migration are; the people moved out in order to find a supplementary source of income, higher

education or family settlement. According to NRD-2C the main income source of this district

from agriculture, therefore which areas with low production of agriculture like Tambon Khok

Charoen, Yang Rak, Nong Makha has higher immigration. During the dry season for seasonal

work since lack of jobs, especially in those areas, where there is scarcity of water for agricultural

practices during dry season.


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In-migration

Table 6.13: Tambon wise in - migration

In migrationTambon Population 2007

Male Female Total

Khok Charoen 7,519 122 120 242

Yang Rak 7,670 94 106 200Nong Makha 3,176 55 63 118

Wang Thong 2,590 51 39 90

Khok Samesan 3,504 45 32 77

Total 24,459 367 360 727

Migration rate 2.97

Source: Khok Charoen District Statistic, 2008

Pull factors

In all tambons: upland crop, paddy production and other occupations like cattle rearing have high

potential and many land area available for farming (500 baht/rai/year); and harvesting sugarcane

season is the mostly time for labors need


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underprivileged. There is also a need for improving regulations on loan programs for education

to be more open for the poor and the underprivileged. Another means to enable the poor and the

underprivileged to income-generating assets is micro- credit from lending institutions run by the

Government. Also, an establishment of community managed social fund programs with the

support from public sector is required so that people in the community can manage the money to

cope with adverse shocks.

Natural Resources Management Strategy: The most effective natural resources management with

the main focus on land and water management for the poor farmers should grant the community

to dramatically participate in every level of planning and implementation. There should,

consequently, be an establishment of local organization whose responsibility embraces running

community managed fund for natural resources restoration. The local organization can also

operate as a community stage for expressing local residents opinion. To make natural resources

management successful, an Act of legislation relating to this issue such as forestry, fishery and

also land and water need to be drawn up and brought into practice soon.

Public Sector Restructuring Strategy:

The role of central government has been changed from designing policies and controlling

implementation process to facilitating and supporting the local institution/organization to work

and participate in analyzing and solving the problems along side with other actors. The local

institution and organization previously were objects. They adopted policies from the central

government and implemented by themselves. Nowadays, they turn to be subjects as they

ti t h i li d i i d i l t ti d k di t


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6.2.2 National Health Development Plan 2002-2006


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6.2.3 Distribution of basic health institutes

The figure 6.7 showed the distribution of health instruction in Khok Charoen District.

Figure 6.7: Location of public health station

Facilities and Services


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cleared that the patient to doctor ration is quite high and at least there is an urgent need of one

doctor in Khok Charoen district .

Table 6.16: Detail of health personnel

Source: District health office, Khok Charoen district,2008

The figure 6.9 depicts that number of nurses are also less as compare to the standard

ratio set by the government. Only Khok Charoen district hospital and sufficient poll of

nurses but the only one nurse is taking care of one public health station as cleared from the figure

6 9 I i h h l i i h h l T b h i l i f

1

1

1

1

1***

Hospital/Health

Station

0

0

0

0

3**

Doctor

1

1

1

1

24

Nurse

1:7670-7670Yang Rak

1:2590-2590Wang Tong

1:3176-3176Nong Makha

1:3504-3504Khok Samae San

1:3581:37607519Khok Charoen

Nurses1:1000

*

Doctor

1:6000+PopulationTambon


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** Doctor(02) & Dentist(01) working in District Hospital only

***District Hospital, Khok Charoen

6.2.6 Existing Health Services

Here is the list of main types of health facilities/treatments provided by public health station and

Khok Charoen district hospital to the pollution.

The level of treat is just preventive and the health institutes lack equipment and human recourse

facilities to treat serious illness/disease.

Diabetes

Breathing Affection

Common diseases like fever

Childcare

Dentist

Pregnancy

General Illness treatment

Treatment

PP

PP

P

PP

PP

P

PP

PP

District HospitalHealth Station


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It is cleared from the figure 6.12 that the Health Volunteers are equally distributed in each

Tambon with respect to population

Responsibilities of Health Volunteer

Following are the main responsibilities associated with Health Volunteers;

To inform new/information for villagers such as demonstrate a good role model in self-care

and distribute documents and suggestion to the villagers

Health Leadership in community

Health service in the village

Common diseases like fever, headache etc prevention and control in the community

To Survey and collect data for example BMN survey, Survey and collect sanitation and

environment data and send it to the health worker

Selection Criteria

There is no hard and fast rule to select a health volunteers, following are the key factors while

appointing an individual as a health volunteer.

He/She must have strong passion to serve the community voluntarily

He/She must have comparatively knowledgeable and concern about the health matter.

He/She should not be less than 20 year of age

T i i d I i


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6.2.11 Conclusions/Recommendations

Health Volunteers have played a very vital role in the provision of basic health facilities to the

community especially in remote rural areas in the past. But now, many rural health volunteers

say they dont have the time, resources or training to carry out their duties and the complaints are

increasing. Despite this government continues to assign them more work on disease inspection

without any reward that is de-motivating them as if government uses any other source to carry

out these task, it will pay to concern service provision organization. Therefore, it is suggested

that for motivating and to enhance Health Volunteers capacities government should introduce

some incentive for them along with more planned comprehensive training courses

6.2.12 Case studies

Public Health Station - Tambon Yang Rak

Health Station is located in village number 12 Majority of this community receive health service

or treatment from health station. the health station providing health facilities free of cost as per

new health policy of the government. In this health station there are twelve village health

volunteer works with them. These Health Volunteers would coordinate the villagers in each

village to promote health facilities in the area.

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Day Service Special service

Monday General Illnesses, Dental service Hypertension Check

Tuesday General Illnesses Dental service Diabetes clinic, pregnancy

Wednesday General Illnesses Dental service Give Vaccine for children

Thursday General Illnesses Dental service

Friday General Illnesses Dental service

Saturday - Sunday General Illnesses

Source: Public Health station, Yang Rak

Working procedure

The health station staff has maintained separate file for every habitant of the yang Rak Tambon

containing information about ones medical treatment history. The staff updates the file as soon

as the concern individual avail medical treatment by showing his/her health card.

According to the health officer, Yang Rak health station, they usually provide treatment to 40 to

50 patients and they are mostly the sugarcane farmers or belong to cattle farming groups who

usually got small injuries while working.

Budget and support

In general, the ministry of public health controls and supports all public health station through

province and district governments. The district health officer looks after the functionalities of the


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Health Schemes

The District Health Office in collaboration with district hospital imitated time to time health

scheme to promoter health awareness among the public and health schemes for disease

prevention in the district shown in the figure 6.14 below.

Figure 6.14: Details of health awareness schemes

Health Awarance Scheme

8

10

04

913

6

12 12

20

0

510

15

20

25

Khok

Charoen

Khok Samae

San

Nong Makha Wang Tong Yang Rak

Tambon

Numberof

program

/scheme


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Non-formal and informal education systems will promote and support lifelong learning activities

to develop a culture of lifelong learning and the creation of a learning society based on active

participation from all segments of society, through:

- awareness campaigns to stress the importance of lifelong learning, and surveys to identify

interests and needs;

- curriculum improvement and development;

- organization of different courses through a variety of methods, with emphasis on networking

and cooperation;

- collaboration with public and private sector agencies to establish a system for the transfer of

learning outcomes and experiences;

- establishment of a free television channel for education and improvement of programming

throughout the media.


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232

Figure 6.15: Organization of the Present School System in Thailand

Sources: Office of Education Council, Education in Thailand 2005/2006, Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing, 2006.


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6.3.2 Formal Education

Formal education consists of basic education and higher education. Within basic education, it

covers 12 years before higher education including 9 years compulsory education. The nine years

of compulsory education requires children aged seven to enroll in basic education institutions

until the age of 16. The focus of formal education in this report is on the basic education.

Organizational Structure

As can be seen from Figure 6.16, the Ministry of Education consists of National Council of

Education, Commission of Basic Education, Commission of Higher Education and Commission

of Vocational Education. Its main responsibility is to promote and oversee all levels and types of

education.

Lop Buri Educational Service Area Office 2 is a main organization for arranging, promoting, and

supporting the foundational education and distributing authority to all educational establishmentsto administrate the studying ages thoroughly. It is also to bring the moral principle knowledge

according to the loyal sufficient economy philosophy and to meet the quality standard.

There are four objectives in Lop Buri Educational Service Area Office 2:

- All studying ages included disability and less opportunity people receive

opportunities to study basic education for 12 years as equivalent and entire right.


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Figure 6.16: Education Administration and Management Structure

Educational

service areas

Ministry of

Education

Responsibilities:

- Formulation ofpolicies, plans,standards;

- Support of resources;- Monitoring and

evaluation

Ministry of

Interior

Ministryprovidingspecializededucation

Local administration

organization

Public units

providingeducation

Responsibilities:

- Supervision, support,

and promotion inresponse to policies and

standards


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All schools in Khok Charoen district are public schools, there lack of private school and

vocational school.

Table 6.18: Distribution of Education Institutions by Tambons

Tambon

Pre-school /

child care-

center

Primary

school

Lower

secondary

school

Upper

secondary

school

Total %

Khok

Charoen3

3

(2 schools combined

with Lower secondary

school )

1

(combined

with lower

secondary

school)

10 27%

Yang Rak 4 4

1

(combined with lower

secondary school)

11 30%

Nong

Makha4

4

(1 school combined with

Lower secondary school )

- 9 24%

Whang

Thong2 2 - - 4 11%

1


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Primary School 98 1864 1:19 55% 50%

Lower Secondary

School 33 941 1:29 19% 25%

Upper Secondary

School 12 326 1:27 7% 9%

Total 177 3,738 1:21 100% 100%

Source: Adopted from Lop Buri Educational Service Area Office 2, 2008

The Figure 6.17 and Figure 6.18 present that 16% of children in pre-primary schools own 19% of

classrooms. At primary school level, 50% of students share 55% of classrooms. At lower

secondary school level, 25% of students own 19% of classrooms and at upper secondary school,

9% of students share 7% of classrooms.

Figure 6.17: Percentage of Classrooms by Education Level

%of cl assrooms by school l evel

19%19%

7%

Pr e-pr i mary School

Pr i mary School

Lower Secondar y School

Upper Secondar y School


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Table 6.20: Ratio of Students-classroom in Pre-primary Education Khok Chareon District

Pre-primary School

No. Name of School Boys Girls Total

No. of

classroom Ratio

National

Standard

ratio

students per

classroom

1 Ban Yang Rak school 37 38 75 4 1:19

2 Ban Nong Maka 25 21 46 2 1:23

3 Ban Wang Ta In 34 26 60 2 1:30

4 Ban Sa Paeng 28 19 47 2 1:24

5 Ban Lam Chon Dan 13 10 23 2 1:12

6 Ban Khao Rab 9 20 29 2 1:15

7 Anu bann Khok Charoen 55 45 100 4 1:25

8 Ban Ta Le Tong 13 13 26 2 1:13

9 Ban Haey Saram 22 18 40 2 1:20 1:25


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4 Ban Sa Paeng 94 67 161 6 1:27

5 Ban Lam Chon Dan 31 33 64 6 1:11

6 Ban Khao Rab 49 53 102 6 1:17

7 Anu bann Khok Charoen 165 138 303 12 1:25

8 Ban Ta Le Tong 36 44 80 6 1:13

9 Ban Haey Saram 51 64 115 6 1:19

10 Ban Din Daeng 24 20 44 6 1:7

11 Ban Ram Pong Paed 23 22 45 6 1:8

12 Ban Bor Ta Kaen Tong 22 23 45 6 1:8

13 Ban Pu Ka Chad 48 49 97 6 1:16

14 Ban Khok Same San 132 118 250 11 1:23

Total 972 892 1864 98 1:19

Source: Lop Buri Educational Service Area Office 2, 2008

The table 6.22 has been suggested that the total ratio of students-classroom (1:29) in lower


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The table 6.23 also present that the ratio of students-classroom (1: 27) in upper secondary

schools is higher than government standard (1:25).

Table 6.23: Ratio of Students-classroom in Upper Secondary Education, Khok Chareon District

Upper Secondary


No. of

classroom Ratio

National

Standard

15

Khok Charoen wittaya

school 73 134 207 6 1:35

16 Yang Rak wittaya school 60 59 119 6 1:20

Total 133 193 326 12 1:27

1:25


6.3.5 Education Personnel

There are 192 teachers distribute in 16 schools including 16 pre-primary care centers in Khok

Chareon district in academic year 2008.

As can be seen from table 6.24, there are 17 teachers attained at masters degree or higher, and

most of teachers are qualified at bachelors degree; only two teachers degree is lower than


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Number of Students and Teachers

The table 6.25 show that 2793 pupils study in both pre-primary and primary schools. Of 2793

students, 1454 boys are larger than 1339 girls in primary education. Comparing with the national

standard of ratio of students-teacher (1:25), the average ratio of students-teacher is 1:18 in both

pre-primary and primary schools. The lowest ratio of students-teacher is 1:6 in Ban Bor Ta Kaen

Tong primary school and the highest ratio of students-teacher is 1:31 in Ban Haey Saram

primary school.

Table 6.25: Students-teacher Ratio by School

Pre-primary and primary school


No. of

teachers Ratio

National

Standard

1

Ban Yang Rak

school 157 141 298 13 1:23

2 Ban Nong Maka 150 134 284 15 1:19

3 Ban Wang Ta In 163 140 303 17 1:18

4 Ban Sa Paeng 156 126 282 15 1:19

5 Ban Lam Chon Dan 44 43 87 4 1:22

6 Ban Khao Rab 58 73 131 7 1:19

Anu bann Khok


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Table 6.26: Students-teacher Ratio by Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary School

Lower secondary and upper secondary

school


No. of

teachers Ratio

National

Standard

15

Khok Charoen

wittaya 290 362 652

28

1:23

16 Yang Rak Vittya 145 148 293 13 1:23

Total 435 510 945 41 1:23

1:25


The rate of dropout as table 6.27 presented that 16 students who dropped out accounting for

0.43%. The dropout rate (0.95%) at level of secondary school is bit of larger than level of

primary school (0.25%). The school with the highest dropout rate is Ban Nong Maka at 1.76%.

The main reason of dropout is that households migrate out to make lives because parents dont

have a stable occupation.

Table 6.27: Percentage of Dropout by Schools

Serial

No. Name of school

No. of

boys

No. of

girls Total

No. of

dropout

% of

dropout


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15

Khok Charoen

wittaya school 290 362 652 9 0.24%

16

Yang Rak wittaya

school 145 148 293 0 0.00%

Sub-total 435 510 945 9 0.24%

Total 1889 1849 3738 16 0.43%


Schools Distribution Mapping

As map 6.1 presented, all the 16 schools locate by the roads. The most of time of distance to a

particular school by foot is 45 minutes in Nong Makha. The most school distance by average is

2.25 km in tambon Nong Makha and the least school distance by average is 1.2 km in tambon

Yang Rak. On the scale of spatial level, children can go to schools conveniently according

school schools distribution mapping.


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Table 6.28: Time of Distance to a Particular School Service by Foot and by Bike

School distance by minutes

School distance

by km

Name of Tambon By foot (4km/hr)

By Bike

(50 km/hr) By average km

Khok Charoen 37.5 3 1.5

Yang Rak 30 2.4 1.2

Nong Makha 45 3.6 2.25

Wang Thong 30 2.4 2

Khok Samae San 37.5 3 1.5

Source: Infrastructure sector report, 2008

According NRD-2C, as the Figure 6.19 presented that most of Tambons achieved progressive

education level in 2007. This indicator denotes that 100% of 6-15 years old children are in

compulsory schools, 100% of 3-5 years old children are in pre-primary school, and greater

than 50% of villagers who missed compulsory school or standard education and received

non-formal education training.

Figure 6.19: Percentage of Villages Achieved Progressive Education Level by Tambons

%of vi l l ages achi eve pr ogr essi ve educat i on l evel

100

8392

7888

60%

80%

100%

120%

entage

1


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Khok Charoen school for 3 days, at Ban Ta Le Tong school for 1 day, and at Ban Din Daeng

school for 1 day.

Table 6.29: Schedule of English Teacher of Anu Bann Khok Charoen School

Source: Social group interview

As interview presented, its difficult for students to study English because of limitation of

teaching hours. Bangon Khanket is teaching English in three schools with grade 1 to grade 6.

With regard to grade 1 to grade 3, there is one hour English class per week respectively; forgrade 4 to grade 6, there are two hours per week per school. Therefore, lack of teaching and

learning hours limited children interest in English learning.

He believe that the quality of English learning could be improved if the number of learning

hours increased from 1 hours to 3 hours; however, English teacher cannot stand such

intensive workload.

Name of schools Working days per week

Anu bann Khok Charoen 3

Ban Ta Le Tong 1

Ban Din Daeng 1


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the curriculum. They are composed of 4 standards, with 10 indicators.

As we can see from the table 6.30, there are gaps in comparing academic achievements byschools, inequality existed in all subjects. The highest average score is 2.79 that achieved by

the school Anu bann Khok Charoen. The lowest score is in school Ban Bor Ta Kaen Tong

at1.79. The lowest scores distributed in subjects of English, Mathematics, Chemistry and

Physics.

There are 25% of schools reached at progressive level, 75% of schools still need to be

improved.

Of six schools with lower secondary and upper secondary grades, only school Ban KhokSame San achieved level of good standard. Therefore, we can find that the quality of 83% of

lower and upper secondary schools need to be improved which affect on the rate of

continuation education to higher education.

Table 6.30 : School Assessment by External Education in Khok Charoen District

No. Name of School Average Score Evaluation

1 Ban Yang Rak school 2.71 Progressive

2 Ban Nong Maka 2.43 Need to be improved

3 Ban Wang Ta In 2.29 Need to be improved

4 Ban Sa Paeng 2.36 Need to be improved

5 Ban Lam Chon Dan 2.57 Need to be improved


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One interview with three parents took place in Khok Samae San that there are two main

reasons affecting lower rate of study of continuation. First, children cannot pass the entranceexamination for high education because of quality of teaching and learning. The second

reason is that poor households cannot afford the cost of high education at average of 4000

Baht per month per child.

Table 6.31 Number of Villages Reached at Progressive Level of Studying Continuation

Tambon Number of

villages

Backward level Moderate level Progressive

level

Khok Charoen 12 N/A N/A 4Yang Rak 12 N/A N/A 2

Nong Makha 12 N/A N/A 1

Wang Thong 9 N/A N/A N/A

Khok Samae

San

8 1 N/A 6

Sources: Village Basic Information (NRD-2C), November 2007, Thailand

6.3.7 Case Study on Yang Rak Vittaya School

Background of Yang Rak Wittaya School

Yang Rak Wittaya school is located in village Number 12 in Tambon Yang Rak. It was

opened in 1989 and linked with its mother school, Khok Charoen Wittaya school. Initially,

lack of classrooms led students had to study in the area of Wat Yang Rak under supported by


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Activities

Yang Rak Wittaya school engage in three projects, Whit School Project, To be Number 1

Project and Buddlist School Project.Three factors limit Yang Rak Wittaya schools development, one is lack of enough financial

support to improve schools infrastructure and necessary teaching and learning aids such as

buildings maintenance, provision of computers, academic books and text books; another

factor is the poor quality of teaching and learning. According to the external assessment, this

school still needs to be improved in their quality. The last factor is the inefficient school

management that weaken both teachers and students performance.

School Committee and Parent Association

The roles and responsibilities of the school committee are important to support students

school education. Some villages have weaving project, the project become part of localized

curriculum that students drawing picture as design of weaving pattern. The village No. 8 in

Wang Thong Tambon provides fund and lunch not only for poor students regularly, but also

for vulnerable people in village.

6.3.8 Case Study of Village Development Fund Project in Supporting Students Study

The project Village Development Fund (VDF) is located in small village number 8 in

Wang Thong Tambon of Khok Charoen District of Lop Puri Province. It was

separated from a big village in 1990. The total population of village is 343 and it is


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Education Loan and Scholarship

The government provides larger subsidies for disadvantaged students in welfare education

schools, students from low-income families, disabled students in schools for the disabled, andstudents in sports schools since 2003 Ministerial Regulations on the Educational Fund for

the Disabled (Education in Thailand 2005/2006, p 142).

Although Thai government offer free education twelve years for Thai citizen, it does not

mean that there are no expenditure for their children. In particular, the students in secondary

schools must afford food, books, learning materials, transportation, uniform and other

equipment. As interview with the principal of Yang Rak Wittaya school, shown that most of

villagers engage in agriculture with the average income around 25,000 30,000 Baht.

Therefore, the less scholarship cannot meet students needs whose familys income is lower.

As table 6.34 shown, the proportion of scholarship in Yang Rak Wittaya school is at moderate

level; its about 3% of students get scholarship, although the principal complain the less

scholarship in the academic year 2008.

Table 6.34: The Distribution of Scholarship in Khok Charoen District, 2008

Number of students

No. Name of School

No. of student

obtained

scholarship Boys Girls Total

1 Ban Yang Rak school 6 157 141 298

2 Ban Nong Maka 9 150 134 284

3 Ban Wang Ta In 11 163 140 303


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6.3.9 Problems ,Potentials and conclusion (Formal Education)

The main problems and potentials are following in Khok Chorean district:

Problems- Short of classrooms (students-classroom ratio 1: 35) in Khok Charoen wittaya

upper secondary school

- Although students-teacher ratio is lower than standard 1: 25, schools are still

inadequate English teachers, computer teachers and science teachers

- 75% of schools quality is not attain at progressive level

- Current scholarship cannot meet students needs

- Low number of pupils to continue higher educationPotentials

- Both parents and teachers have high expectation on education reform

- School leaders are willing to improve schools efficiency.

- Parents high expectation on their children lead them to participate school

management and education reform

- Qualified teacher team

- Government loan program growing

Conclusion

In general, almost children access to the basic education, in particular to the 9-year

compulsory education in Khok Charoen district. Children under 6-year can access to pre-

primary school care or education. School facilities and staffs are able to satisfy students

basic needs. Government education policies and institutions provide stronger support for


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Table 6.35: The Rate of Illiteracy by Tambons in 2007

Tambon Population at age 15-60

Number of people

illiteracy

Rate of

illiteracyKhok

Charooen 3763 1 0.01%

Yang Rak 2509 0 0.00%

Nong Makha 1421 0 0.00%

Wang Thong 1300 0 0.00%

Khok Samesan 1568 2 0.02%

Total 10561 3 0.03%


Its service covers the continuing education programs for those who have not competed formal

education. They are qualified or certificated as same as those in the formal school system.

Non-formal education includes technical, vocational education and training under the

supervision of the Office of Vocational Education Commission, as well as the Office of the

Non-formal Education Commission.

Non-formal education office is located at Khok Charoen, that is an organization with vision

that brings wisdom to society by providing and supporting with life-long learning knowledge

to people worthily and thoroughly.

6.3.11 Organizational Structure

As can be seen from below chart, there are three parts under directors supervision at district


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Personnel in Non-formal Education Office

There are seven staffs in non-formal education office, they are: one director, three teachers,

two other staffs, one librarian. One librarian is not one of permanent staffs who make thecontract only for one year. All staffs have to plan, implement, monitoring and evaluate

programs and activities in the field of basic education, vocational and skill training, as well as

information services in five Tambons.

The main responsibilities of non-formal education office in Khok Charoen are described as

below:

- Support life-long knowledge to people those can learn from media and otherlearning sources;

- To provide learning opportunities to distributing learning sources, media, and IT

technology to meet peoples needs;

- Provide knowledge and opportunities to those need to improved working skills

and quality of life;

- To strength network in coordinating non-formal education activities for life-long

learning.

- To promote community adapting indigenous knowledge and global knowledge.

- To improve quality of non-formal education and management and ensure target

people to have moral knowledge and skills according to the loyal sufficient

economy philosophy.

6.3.12 Program, Activities and Participation of People


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Exhibition 30 30

Promotion of reading activities in the library 30 15

Mobile library N/A 10

Sub-total 410,650 740 1,086

Poverty Eradication project

The sufficiency economy learning processmanagement project 80,000 100 1252

Sub-total 80,000 100 125

General grant

Non-formal education 112,250

At primary level 80 88

At secondary level 400 335

At upper level 450 479

3


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Nong Maka 7 13 20 7 13 20 3%9

Photo

frames

making

25

Wang Tong 2 22 24 2 22 24 4%

10

Chemical

solution

production

25

Nong Maka 1 19 20 1 19 20 3%

10Nong Maka 16 16 32 16 16 32 5%

Yang Rak 1 23 9 32 23 9 32 5%5

Yang Rak 2 1 24 25 1 24 25 4%

Yang Rak 1 - 21 21 - 20 20 3%

11

Herbs

processing

into

chemical

products

30

Yang Rak 2 - 17 17 - 17 17 3%

Yang Rak 1 21 15 36 21 15 36 6%12

Bio-

fertilizer

production

12

Yang Rak 2 23 9 32 23 9 32 5%

13Food

cookies10

Yang Rak - 15 15 - 15 15 2%


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Human Resource of TAO

Table 6.39: Human Resource of the Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO)Tambom

Groups Khok

CharoenYang Rak

Nong

Makha

Wang

Tong

Khok Same

San

Administrative Officers 4 4 4 4 4

TAOs member 24 24 23 16 16

Public Works Officers 3 2 2 2 2

Financial Officers 3 4 4 3 3Permanent Officers NA 6 NA NA NA

Temporary Officers NA NA NA NA 1

Total 34 40 33 25 26

Source: Tambon Administrative Organizations in Khok Charoen District

Table 6.39 shows that the Human Resources of five Tambon Administrative Organization.

Tambon Yang Rak has the most members of Tambon Administrative Organization. Whereas,

Tambon Wang Tong has the lewest human resources than other TAOs.

Revenues and Expenditure of TAO

Head of financial officers in TAOs said that the revenues or income of five local

governments can classified into 3 categories:

i. Taxes collected by local governments. Theses included two types consist of taxes and


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Table 6.41 : Local Revenues by Source of income in TAO, 2007

Source of incomeKhok

Charoen

Yang Rak Nong Makha Wang Tong Khok Same San

Taxes 9,451,405 N/A 120,648. 5,219,846 6,521,583

Fees,fines,and licenses

permits324,759 N/A 35,728. 5,516 196

Income from its own

Properties119,518 N/A 71,410. 34,003 217,999

Income from services and

facilities 0.00 N/A 0.00 0.00 0.00

State support budget

- General grants

- Special grants

5,348,521

0.00N/A

4,051,235

3,305,199

3,437,115

1,539,555

3,799,768

4,258,423

Other 28,820 N/A 108,900 12,312 14,035

Total15,273,023 7,693,120.00 10,248,347 14,812,004

Source: TAO, 2007

Table 6.42 : Expenditure of TAO

Expenditure assignment Khok

Charoen

Yang Rak Nong

Makha

Wang Tong Khok Same

San

Routine expenditure 8,045,430 N/A 6,331,231 5,498,144 3,867,501

Salary and wage 885,466 N/A 913,724 751,336 1,059,190


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6.4.3 Community Planning Process of Tambon

The community planning of the five Tambon in Khok Charoen district had similar process,

such as surveying and collecting the community information, analyzing and developing thecommunity plans for village and Tambon level planning, and organizing. There are some

differences in the process of the selection of core-leader participants, community planning at

the community/village level, and data collection which have been done through meeting and

barnstorming. The community planning in the five Tambons associated with key factors such

as concept, skills, knowledge and understanding of process-based facilitator, the community

leaders, and the participants, the existing management. These key factors lead to development

of the project for community in each aspect such as focused on infrastructure project.

Development Projects

Table 6.43: List of Development Projects in Khok Charoen District

Development Projects Activity

1.Infrastructure

Transportation Projects

The TAOs are responsible for this project in term of

construct road, repair road such as construct concrete roads

and narrow gravel roads2. Public Service Projects The activity for the TAOs members is to coordinate with the

village head in each village in order to bring the better

delivery service and the better satisfaction in Public Service

for people.

3. Occupation Support

Projects

The main duty under this project is to support the community

based group to achieve their activities of groups especially


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6.27 depicts that Wang Thong and Khok Samae San receive the less number of sufficiency

economy project and Public information Centre as compare to other tambons..

6.4.7 Community-base Groups

We classified into eight groups and exhibited in table 6.46

Table 6.46: List of Community Groups in Khok Charoen District by Tambon

Tambom

Groups KhokCharoen

Yang Rak NongMakha

Wang Tong Khok SameSan

Total

1.Agricultural groups 4 4 5 3 3 19

2.Housewife agricultural

groups11 11 12 8 8 50

3.Occupation groups 9 5 6 2 4 26

4.Village Development Fund(VDF) 12 12 12 9 8 53

5.Funeral group 12 11 12 9 8 52

6.Youth groups 3 8 2 1 1 15

7.Saving Groups 12 12 12 9 8 53

8.Others(Community Shops) - - - - 1 1


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Finance group / Budget (Baht)

Tambon

Total

no. of

village

VDFSaving

group

The Poverty

Solution Project

Total

(Baht)

1.Khok

Charoen12 21,695,000 1,765,450 2,800,000 26,260,450

2.Yang Rak 12 22,400,000 1,369,170 2,520,000 26,289,170

3.Nong Makha 12 19,600,000 897,450 2,240,000 22,737,450

4.Wang Tong 9 16,598,000 890,106 1,960,000 19,448,106

5.Khok Same

San8 14,574,000 1,054,055 2,240,000 17,868,055

Total 53 94,867,000 5,976,231 11,760,000 112,603,231

Source: Community Development Department at Khok Charoen District

From this table show that the total budget in all Finace group is Tambon Khok Charoen and

follow by Yang Rak, Nong Makha, Wang Tong and Khok Same SanBase on interview

from some villagers and the key informants such as the village headman, the president of the

Finance group; we found that the villagers in particular poor households less access to

finance. At household level, microfinance already plays an important role in enabling

villagers to invest in productive activity. The poor people find it particularly difficult to

access such finance and loan from various resources. It can say that a number of innovative

financial mechanisms that not only provide capital funds for medium and long-term

development investment such as establishment strong community-base group.


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Budget and Technical

support

Grants are supported by TAO. Six weaving equipments are supported by House of

representative member Chaowat Sudlapa. The CDD supported the training, new

patterns and colors, and group management.Group Activity There are meeting group one time per month and in the past they have saving

activity in their group. Now, they are drop out because they said that it lack of

leader who is stimulate the members to do this activity

Share and loan

granted

Incomes are shared within the group members. Before Ms. Somsin passed away,

each member receives 4000 4500 baht per month, but after that the amount was

decreased to approximately 2000 baht.

Problems The major problems are lack of markets and middlemen. Middlemen purchased the

products and sometimes brought the raw materials for them to produce. These

members turned to be labors rather than entrepreneur as before.

Needs Markets are the most significant needs and also to guarantee minimum price for

400 baht per piece. They also need to participate in more trainings and study trips.

Saving group case study in Tambon Khok Charoen

Saving Group Description

Objective - To enhance the saving capacity of the villagers.

- To enhance the willingness to help one another among the villagers.

Location/ area It located in village no 4 inTambon Khok Charoen, district, Lop buri province

Year of establishment The group was established in 2001.


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- There are no banks in Khok Charoen District. The representatives have to travel

to Muang Sri District to save the money in the Government Savings Bank.

Future Plan - To establish the community bank.- To invest the money in other groups in the community such as the occupational

groups.

Village Development Funds Case Study on Village Development Funds village no.of 8

Tambon Wang Tong

Village Development

Fund (VDF)

Description

Objective To help the members for capital investment and expand their business or

occupation To serve as a rotation fund for the agricultural purposes.

Year of establishment In 2001, meeting and set out group working

Number of members 56 members

Criteria Before the local people enroll to become a member of the VDF, they have to

enroll to become a member of savings group first and have to pay for the 20 baht

enter fee. They also have to support regular payment for the group every month.

The members have to only reside in the village no less than 6 months. Only one

member from one household can become a member.

Structure of VDF Now, they have nine committee members and they are divided into chairperson,

vice chairperson, secretary, treasurer and other committee members. These

members are elected by the group members. At present, there are 56 members in

the group.


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CHAPTER VII

PROJECT PROPOSALS

Project proposal 1

Title: Awareness Raising Project on Natural Resources and Environmental Problems

1.1. Objectives:

To increase awareness on natural resources and environmental problems among localpeople

To educate local people regarding precaution measures to address natural resources and

environmental problems

1.2. Justification

Khok Charoen district have limited availability of natural resources ranging from lessfertile

land, inadequate water for agriculture, and limited availability and variety of mines and

mineral. The only abundant resource is the forest which is also degraded to highest degree.

The situation is further worsened by the unsustainable interaction of people with these

resources. Main reason for this unsustainable interaction is the lack of awareness among localpeople on environmental problems. It leads to many problems, the most important among all

is the air pollution due to sugarcane burning which is planted on 18.54% of the totalagricultural area of the district. Major impacts from sugarcane burning practice are air

pollution, skin allergies (15.2% of the total visits in hospitals in the district are due to skin

allergies), respiratory problems (26.5% of the total visits in hospitals in the district are due to

respiratory diseases), irritation, drinking water contamination by fly ash, disturbance of

domestic and business operations and often leads conflicts among the villagers. In similar


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secondary level schools in the project area will also be the target for project intervention forenvironmental awareness. The students of the scholls will be sensitized about environment

problems in their fast learning capacity which will have positive implications in long-term.

Table 1.1: Tambon wise distribution of agricultural households

Tambon Number of Agricultural Households

Khok Charoen 1,394

Yang Rak 1,634

Nong Makha 925

Khok Samae San 649

Wang Tong 578

Total 5189

Source: Agriculture Land District Office, 2007

The soil conservation awareness will be implemented in 4 tambons of the district except

Tambon Khok Charoen. In total there are 19 villages in the district which have soil erosion

problem. These village number which are in bold have relatively severe problem. Thesevillages are

1. Tambon Yang Rak 7 out of 12 villages (1,4,6,7,8,10,11)2. Nong Makha 5 out of 12 villages (3,4,5,6,9)3 Wang Thong 3 out of 9 villages (7 8 9) and


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g. Monitoring and Evaluation


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1.5. Stakeholders

1.5.1. Primary StakeholdersAll the local people from all five tambons and all five tambon Administrative organizations

will be the primary stakeholders since they will be directly involved in the implementation of

the project.

1.5.2 Secondary Stakeholders1. Provincial Natural Resources and Environment Office

2. Provincial Land Development Office3. DistrictAgricultural Office

1.5.3 Project Duration:

The project will be implemented over the period of 2 years starting from January 2009 and

ending in December 2010.

1.5.4 Project ResponsibilitiesThe project will work through 57 farmers groups with 2673 members. The 5189 households

will be the major targets. In case of soil conservation activities, soil doctors available in alltambons and all villages will be used to train the villagers. The TAO will be responsible for

monitoring & evaluation of the project activities and impacts thereafter. The TAO will alsobe responsible for facilitation of project implementation while farmer groups members will

be responsible for actual implementation of the project. \

1.5.5. Implementation Procedures

Preparatory meetings with concerned organizations


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resources available with these governmental organizations. Therefore, the project will notneed huge financial contribution for its implementation. In addition, major focus of the

project is to create awareness among the people it does not require huge fund for its

implementation. Furthermore, in line with provincial level strategies, tambon level plans have

also adequately addressed the importance of natural resources and environmental awareness

programs, so the project will complement governments programs.

1.7.3. Environmental:The project is environmentally sound. It is going to contribute significantly in reducing the

severity of problems associated with natural resources and environment by increasedawareness raising among the local people. Therefore the project will not create any

environmental problems rather it will improve the environmental condition of the projectarea.

1.8. Institutional MechanismsInstitutions existing at four tiers will be involved in the project implementation. TAO is the

primary stakeholder of the project and will be responsible for administration, arranging and

providing human resources and monitoring & evaluation of the project. Local people in

general and farmers groups in particular, with the help from TAO will be implementing the

project. At district, level District Agricultural Office will provide technical support needed in

the project. At the provincial level, two institutions namely; (i) Natural Resources andEnvironmental Office and (ii) Land Development Office will be providing financial and

technical support for smooth implementation of the project.Table 3: Distribution of responsibilities among the stakeholders

Institutions Responsibilities

Provincial Level

Natural Resources and Environment Office Financial and technical


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4.Monitoring and evaluation of

community forestry

Tambon Wang Thong

Administration

Organization Office

2 Hours A guest speaker from

Natural Resources and

Environment Office,Lopburi Province

2) For General Stakeholders/Local Villagers

Topic of Training Place Duration Trainer

1.Roles and advantages of

community forestry

Tambon Wang Thong

Administration

Organization Office


Natural Resources

and Environment

Office, LopburiProvince

2. Forest ecosystem and forest

species management

Tambon Wang Thong

AdministrationOrganization Office


Natural Resourcesand Environment

Office, Lopburi

Province

3. Monitoring and evaluationof community forestry

Tambon Wang ThongAdministration

Organization Office

2 Hours A guest speaker fromNatural Resources

and Environment

Office, Lopburi

Province

4. Mutual agreements,

voluntary rules and regulations

for managing community

Tambon Wang Thong

Administration

Organization Office


Natural Resources

and Environment


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5.Providing quality seedlings

e.g. Eucalyptus and bamboo at certain

amount of seedlings per household.6. Planting trees

Plant Eucalyptus trees in thefield.

Plant bamboo at everyhousehold including promoting

bamboo as cash crop.

Plant edible trees along canals

and reservoirs and in degradedreserved forest. And plants trees

along road side.

Plant trees at schools, templesand government offices in order

to increase greenery.

Jointly plant trees during special

occasions of King and QueensBirthdays.

Februar

y

May-

October

May-October

May-October

May-

October

May-October

May-

October

May-October

May-

October

May-October

May-

October

7.Annually replant the dead trees duringrainy season

May-October

May-October

May-October

May-October

May-October

8 Jointly create forest fire protectionalignment

January-April

January-April

January-April

January-April

January-April

9. Harvesting of Eucalyptus


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Increase forest area along roadside in the community and enhancing greater pleasantsurroundings.

Being a living laboratory for primary and secondary educations in their own localcommunities.

2.7. DurationThe project will be implemented for 6 years starting from 2008-2013. Upon completion, it

will be handed over to Tambon Wangthong Community, and funding source for planting treewill be getting from Tambon Wangthong Community Forestry Fund.

2.8. Feasibility/Appraisal

Feasibilities are viable in some aspects as follows:2.8.1 Economic aspect.

Seed fund for running the project could be secured from provincial level through

Natural Resources and Environment Office.

2.8.2 Social aspect.Tambon Wang thong has strong social cohesion in order to support participatory

community forestry management.

2.8.3 Environmental aspect.The project is environmentally friendly which all people in the communities wish to

get benefits in terms of alternative source of food, clean air and pleasant environment.

2.8.4 Institutional aspect.

Strong local network is existed which can help facilitate smooth implementation of

the community forestry project in Tambon Wang Thong.


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The main objective is to increase income of the farmers by providing technical servicesthrough strengthening Agricultural Technology Transfer Centre

3.3 Rationale/Justification

Ineffective service delivery (1 extension worker equally to 1334 farmers) but highernumber of farmers involve in agriculture occupation

Only one place where farmers and extension workers meet each other, farmers candiscuss on their problems and solution

Source of information (District Agriculture Development Office)

Strengthening this centre can assure effective delivery of technical services

3.4 Target Groups/Beneficiary and CoveragePrimary target groups: Agriculture Technology Transfer Centre of 5 Tambons

Secondary target groups: leader farmers and farmers of the respective Tambons

3.5 Outputs

3.5.1 Output-1: Agriculture and Livestock Community Technician developed

Activities

1.Selection of leader farmers2.Train to lead farmers on improved farming practices3.Train to lead farmers on general livestock management and veterinary practices4.Refresher training on agriculture farming and livestock


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3.7 Project duration: 1.5 Year

Project Proposal 4

Title: Enhancement of Area under Cassava Cultivation

4.1 ObjectivesThe main objective is to increase the income level of farmers through promoting cassava

cultivation. Specific objectives are:

To impart technical skills on managing proper crop rotation

To impart skills on improved cassava cultivation practices To improve/maintain the soil fertility through proper crop rotation

4.2 Justification

1. In district Khok Charoen the area under cassava cultivation was 27221 Rai as on31

stDecember 2007 and area under sugarcane cultivation was 57257 Rai as on 31

st

December 2007. There is a great difference between covered areas of both major

crops. Both crops are upland crops and annual crops. More interestingly both crops

are appropriate to be cultivated under same conditions (climate, soil structure etc).2. Benefit-cost ratio of cassava (2.06) is higher than sugar cane (1.37).3. Sugarcane is exhaustive crop but cassava is not exhaustive crop. Sugarcane utilizes

more soil nutrients and water than cassava that is why it becomes necessary to

cultivate any leguminous crop (peas, beans etc. for catalyzing nitrogen fixation) in

place of sugarcane if sugarcane is being cultivated in the same field for consecutive

two years. It shows that after two years, production of sugarcane comes down from


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4.4 Activities:

1. Selection of upland farmers who have sufficient land holding.2. Formation of farmers groups if currently not existing3. Training and guidance to the farmers regarding cropping pattern (especially crop

rotation from sugarcane to cassava).

4. Refresher training for farmers regarding cultivation, field operations, harvesting, post-harvesting practices and marketing of cassava.

5. Technical backstopping from the agriculture technician

4.5 Project management and implementation/ Responsible agencies/institutions atvarious levels

4.5.1 Implementing agency:

District Agriculture Development Office

4.5.2Coordinating agencies:

1-Village level:

Farmers groups

2-Tambon level:

Tambon Administrative Organization

3-District Level:

Agriculture Cooperative

Agriculture Research and Extension Centre


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To provide framework for people participating in weaving activities to facilitate eachother financially as well as forming a bloc for attracting funds from relevant local

administration.

To provide a marketing channel for weaving and other OTOP products.

5.2 Justification

Based on our analysis, the strength of Khok Chareon in the non-agricultural sector lies in its

weaving products, whether in terms of quality, the proportion of the population alreadyinvolved in this activity and the indigenous knowledge and skills that the people of Khok

Chareon possess in this area. However, due to a number of problems and constraints exist inthe area, this potential has not been most effectively utilized and consequently its benefits

have not been distributed among the local population. The aim of this proposal is to attempt

to tackle these problems and provide the local people with incentive to continue this activity

in order to raise their income as well as preserving the tradition and knowledge of weaving

within the area.

The first major problem in the area is that there is generally a lack of marketing channel for

weaving products and well as other OTOPs and home-made products. In fact, there is low

recognition of Khok Chareon brand of weaving products even though the products are of veryhigh quality. From the interviews of key informants, we have found that the majority of

weaving groups relies on middlemen purchasing their products (e.g. all villages in TambonWang Thong) and many of them are also dependant on the same middlemen providing them

with raw materials (e.g. village number 5 in Tambon Khok Samae San). In addition, there is

a lack of collaboration among weaving groups, meaning that there is no learning process that

can be pass on to different groups performing similar activities. Besides, the segregation


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proportion to their patronage. This provides a fair and transparent basis from an operationalstandpoint.

Formally, weaving cooperative group should be set up in the form of service cooperative.

Forming a service cooperative can be done by those undertaking the same occupation or bythose with the same needs such as provision of electricity and water supply. The roles of a

service cooperative are shown as follow:

Operating a business enterprise. Supply of equipments and other necessities for providing such services Provision of loan and saving accounts Sale of various commodities to members

Assist members in legal procedures Support in social welfare for members and their family Cooperate with various administrative organizations for promotion of the

cooperative.

5.5 Procedures to forming a cooperative group

Coordination. A group interested in forming a cooperative needs to coordinate withan official from Provincial Cooperative Promotion Department (CPD), whereby a

training on cooperative will be given for at least 6 hours. Meeting among those interested in becoming members of the cooperative. This

involves an election of representatives for forming the cooperative of at least 10persons who will be responsible in registering the cooperative. It also includes

nomination of at least 3 names to be given to the cooperative in order of preference.

Reserving name for the cooperative. The representatives need to reserve the namefor their cooperative via the CPD website and wait for the name verification process.


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provide such training and thus the cooperatives representatives can applied for suchactivity on an annual basis.

Bulk purchasing of raw materials can be made by the cooperative as to be able to

obtain the necessary input materials required in the weaving process at a minimumcost. The raw materials can then be sold to members at cost price in order to

maximize their income.

Loan can be provided by the cooperative to the members at a low interest rate, solelyfor the purchase of raw materials and the necessary machines. Since the raw

materials are to be purchased by the cooperative, the loaned capital would remaincirculated within the group.

Marketing channel. In setting up a viable business for the cooperative, identificationof markets is a necessary step. One possible solution is to convert existing weaving

site such as that in village no. 4 of Tambon Khok Chareon into a demonstration centre

where all the buying process of local weaving products will take place. This will

reduce the role of middlemen who have previously approached various weaving

groups directly. This demonstration centre is also a potential for cultural tourism as

vocational trainings can be organized for interested tourists. In addition, it may be

viable to approach a retailing house in Bangkok or other provinces by promoting the

concept of fair trade whereby the retail house would gain public image from theconcept of corporate social responsibility. If successfully implemented, the retailing

house can help the weavers from Khok Chareon directly by placing orders with themfor their goods and also indirectly, by lending credibility to their work. The training

should also be conducted with this goal in mind so that the orders placed by the

retailing house to become a mainstay.

Family welfare. Apart from purely economic pre-occupation, the cooperative should


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to help themselves rather than rely on the Government. They can determineobjectives, financing, operating policies, and methods of sharing the benefits.

Increased income. The weaving cooperative can increase income to members in a

number of ways. These include: (1) Raising the general price level for productsmarketed or lowering the level for supplies purchased; (2) reducing per-unit handling

or processing costs by assembling large volumes, i.e., economies of size or scale; (3)

developing new markets for products; and (4) encourage saving among members. By

pooling supply purchases, sales, and handling and selling expenses, cooperatives can

operate more efficiently-at lower costs per unit-than members/small groups canindividually. Members usually judge the benefit of belonging to a cooperative by its

net margins or savings-a tangible measure. More specifically, they look at the amountcurrently paid to them in cash.

Improved Service. A basic objective of cooperatives is to serve their membersneeds. They do this by providing services not available or by improving existing

services. These services include provision of loans, trainings and some family

welfare.

Quality of Supplies and Products. In marketing weaving products, cooperativespricing practices can be based on differentials for quality. The task of the cooperative

is to provide information, train and advice on ways to produce quality products and tomaintain that quality in the marketing process. Basically, cooperatives encourage

production oriented to market requirements by developing producer payment plansbased upon meeting grade, size, time, and other market specifications.

Assured Sources of Supplies. Cooperatives provide members with a dependablesource of reasonably priced supplies.

Expanded Markets. Through pooling products of specified grade or quality,


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A cooperative is not formed spontaneously and is not a quick fix; it needs nurturing andmentoring, especially in the start up phase. They also need on-going leadership and

management skills and expertise. It may be possible that during the startup period, the group

will struggle to bring down costs, raise weaving standards, and if a contract with a retailinghouse can be reached, it may fail to meet production deadlines. Weavers have to be school to

understand the demand for new products and to accept the market requirements of quality

assurance, competitive prices and timely delivery. This may cause some weavers to drop out

of the program because the whole concepts clash with the pace of rural life. Another possible

problem is that some members may see the cooperative group as a factory owned by thepromoters thus it is important that at some stage the weavers have to be brought face-to-face

with their customers to realize their role in maintaining and running the cooperative.5.10 Responsible agencies

Level Responsible agencies Tasks

Provincial Cooperative PromotionDepartment

Registration Cooperative and

entrepreneurship training

District AdministrationOffice

Public awareness campaign Funding

CommunityDevelopment Office

Promotion of KhokChareon weaving products

Non-formal educationoffice

Training of weavingactivities

District

Bank of Agricultureand Cooperative

Loan for cooperativesoperation


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these groups have indigenous knowledge in weaving and their weaving products have uniquedesign and pattern of fabric which awards 5 stars. This proposal is needed to promote and

maintain local cultural and tradition of doing weaving by training centre. This activity could

be developed as one activity for cultural tourism in Khoh Charoen district so the local can getadditional income and the skills and culture could be passed to young generation.

From problem matrix, the weaving groups in Khoh Charoen district have problem in limited

market channel and market opportunity for weaving products and limited collaboration

among various weaving groups. These problems are the major for weaving groups that they

have faced. Therefore, this proposal could help to solve the identify problems that arementioned as above. It could help and make changes to weaving groups as they can have

more opportunity in networking by dealing with different institutions that will come to theirtraining centre and their products could be increased as they work cooperatively.

6.3 ConsequencesThe expected benefit that Khok Charoen District will get from this proposal are that the

cultural tourism in the district would be created as the first activity and this district can

maintain the culture of doing weaving. The indigenous knowledge and skill can be passed to

local young generation and others who are willing to learn weaving. So, it is positive impact

that they will not lose their culture in doing weaving by having training centre.

Moreover, Khok Charoen District has low number of local entrepreneurs so it is also a greatopportunity to create local entrepreneurs in this district because they can develop the products

of weaving after attending training and become entrepreneurs instead of labors. Then, notonly District and Tambon office but also local people could generate their income. The young

generation does not want to learn weaving and instead of it, they prefer to work in Bangkok.

So, there should be some motivation for them to start learning weaving in this centre and

participate in this project. Through this project, they could be persuaded to learn this skill so


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guests from other areas, they will stay with local and the food cost should be shared. Theguide will have to attend tour guide training that is provided by TAT (Thailand Authority

Tourist) firstly.

The training fee will be collected for tour guide and trainer so the training centre do not needto depend on district office for funding and they could run sustainability after project year.

However, the fundi

Documents

Social Sector Development and Project Proposal of Decentralized Rural Development Planning in Khok Charoen District in Lopburi Province, Thailand