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Opening Statement
by
His Excellency Mr. Paiboon Wattanasiritham
Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
at the International Conference on Happiness and Public Policy
18-19 July 2007, United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), Bangkok
อ่านเพิ่มเติม ““Sufficiency Economy: Thailand’s Operationalised Model of Happiness””
คำกล่าวเปิดงาน “International Conference on Poverty Reduction and Forests: Tenure, Market and Policy Reforms” วันที่ 4 กันยายน 2550 ณ โรงแรมอิมพีเรียล ควีนส์ ปาร์ค
Inaugural Speech
International Conference on Poverty Reduction and Forests:
Tenure, Market and Policy Reforms
4 September 2007 Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
—————————-
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to welcome all of you to Thailand for this important conference. I am very pleased to have been invited to open the conference.
I am especially pleased because this conference is relevant to a number of themes and issues which have been of professional and personal concern to me for many years. These themes include the importance of social development, human security, rights and participatory development.
The connection between sustainable use of natural resources, including forests, and poverty reduction is important. We know that forests are crucial to the livelihood security of many poor people who live in and around them and that they can also provide increased income. We also know that, in many cases, the potential of forests to provide these benefits has not been met. It is clear that achieving the potential of forests for poverty reduction requires secure access and supportive legislation. This conference is concerned with achieving that potential.
In Thailand there has been debate for many years about a Community Forestry Bill that many of us hope will contribute to assuring secure access. I strongly hope that the Bill will be passed this year or not too long after the next general election. I also hope that it will provide clear access rights for forest dwelling people and, at the same time, ensure sustainable use of forests.
A challenge for the discussions which will occur at this conference, is to put terms like “poverty reduction” in a wider context, and to remember that poverty reduction is not only about increased income. Poverty needs to be understood in a more holistic way than a mere lack of income, although it is about that too.
While the World Bank has used the idea of an absolute poverty line of one dollar a day to stress the urgency of the global need to address poverty, it has also developed the idea that poverty can be thought of as having three dimensions. These are lack of assets, lack of security and lack of power. If we accept this concept of poverty, then addressing poverty requires addressing all of these dimensions, not just the more obvious one which is a lack of assets.
It would be a shame if we forget the importance of livelihood security and empowerment in our discussions over the next few days. It is particularly important to recognise the need to empower individual people and communities and especially to empower them to define the sort of development they need rather than having development defined by others. People must be involved in the planning process. In opening this conference I would like to challenge the participants to consider the roles of communities, civil society and the private sector as well as governments, in developing linkages between forests and poverty reduction.
I would like to thank RECOFTC, the partners of the Rights and Resources Initiative and the various donors who have supported this conference, for making it possible.
I would like to welcome all the many participants from many countries in Asia and all of the other inhabited continents to Thailand. I hope that you all enjoy your stay here and I am sure there will be many fruitful discussions and that the conference will contribute to the aims we all share.
Finally, I have great pleasure in declaring the conference open.
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เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/126093
คำกล่าวเปิดงาน “ International Islamic Economic, Cultural & Tourism Conference in Thailand 2007” จัดโดย สำนักงานส่งเสริมการจัดประชุมและนิทรรศการ (องค์การมหาชน) (สสปน.) เมื่อวันที่ 2 กันยายน 2550 ณ อิมแพค เมืองทองธานี
International Islamic Economic, Cultural & Tourism Conference
Friday, September 7, 2007
IMPACT Muang Thong Thani
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure and honour to be here today on behalf of the Royal Thai Government to welcome you to Thailand, and particularly to the 2nd International Islamic Economic, Cultural & Tourism Conference in Bangkok. It is also my honour to speak on behalf of our Prime Minister, General Surayud Chulanont, who is today in Australia to attend the APEC Metting
Ladies and gentlemen, The ties between Thailand and the Islamic world have developed gradually over our long history of bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Muslim countries. The organization of this event in Bangkok is another big leap to strengthen our partnerships further in many areas of mutual interest, especially following the constructive dialogues during the visit to Thailand by OIC Secretary General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in May this year, and Thailand’s participation in the 34th Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, Pakistan, in the same month.
We are grateful for the close cooperation of our neighboring countries, particularly Malaysia, as well as the OIC’s understanding and cooperation with regard to the situation and the measures undertaken by the Royal Thai Government in the effort to bring peace and stability to the Southern Border Provinces.
From the economic point of view, which is one of the main areas of this conference and the concurrent World of Muslim Trade & Exhibition, this meaningful weekend will provide a forum to expand our partnership in trade and investment.
The World of Muslim Trade & Exhibition will be a great opportunity for delegates from Muslim economies to discover how ready Thailand is to do business with the Muslim world, particularly in the halal business.
Thailand’s significant advantage in the halal industry is the establishment of our government-funded Halal Science Center at Chulalongkorn University, which is the world’s first center specializing in halal products. The center provides a variety of halal-related services and has taken an active role to ensure that all halal products from Thailand strictly comply with the Islamic Code.
Since Thailand is one of the world’s major food producers and exporters, the Halal Science Center will also be a key drive in the promotion of our halal food industry as part of the goal to establish Thailand as the “Kitchen of the World”.
In May this year, the Halal Science Center has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on technical cooperation with Malaysia’s Halal Industry Development Corp – a move that will lead to greater knowledge of halal food and improvement of much needed laboratory skills in the industry. And today, another MOU will be signed between the Center and the International Center for Education in Islamic Finance, which is an institution with the aim to sustain and support the future growth of Islamic banking and financial services industry.
In terms of investment, our cooperation with the Muslim countries is still limited in number and scope, and we wish to expand these activities and opportunities. We would like Muslim investors to take advantage of our strong manufacturing base and our strategic position as a gateway for trade and investment into Southeast Asia by shifting investment in areas of mutual interest such as energy, petrochemical, banking, and financial services to Thailand. We also encourage investors from Islamic countries to undertake joint investment with Thai counterparts in areas of Thailand’s expertise, such as tourism, hotel management, and food and halal industry.
Also, I must bring to your attention that, without strong support from the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), the organization of this conference may never be as smooth as it is. As a government organization, TCEB has been entrusted to promote Thailand’s growing industry of corporate meetings, incentive events, conventions, and exhibitions, which is often referred to as MICE. The coordination and facilitation TCEB has provided in support of this conference as well as the World of Muslim Trade & Exhibition is one of the best affirmations of TCEB’s achievements in its effort to establish Thailand as the destination of choice for MICE events in the Asia-Pacific region. I am sure that TCEB is ready and pleased to welcome future incoming MICE events from Muslim countries as well.
I also appreciate the active role of Thai-Islamic Trade and Industrial Association (TITIA) in the organization of this eventful conference. And I would like to sincerely thank the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) for the support given.
I wish all delegates and participants at the 2nd International Islamic Economic, Cultural & Tourism Conference in Bangkok a fruitful and memorable time at the event.
Thank you.
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เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/127307
สรุปการประชุมเรื่อง “Gross National Happiness, Suffrcience Economy and Public Policy” จัดโดยจุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย ณ ห้อง GM HALL อาคารศศนิเวศ จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย
Project aims to turn His Majesty the King’s sufficiency and happiness theories into a new technology policy
Story by CRAIG WARREN SMITH
Craig Warren smith, co-host of colloquium
Electioneering will soon dominate headlines in Bangkok. But a quieter and more consequential issue looms beneath the surface: whether Thailand’s leaders can translate His Majesty the King’s ethical concept of a “sufficiency economy” and that of gross national happiness into tangible innovations in public policy.
If they succeed in doing so, the next elected government may well embrace the new approach.
But sceptics abound. Critics in Hong Kong, writing in The Economist and Asian Wall Street Journal, dismiss the King’s concepts as mere fodder in the anti-Thaksin PR wars.
They claim that sufficiency/happiness notions are too fuzzy to be operationalised, too anti-capitalistic to gain traction.
After all, Thailand sits in the geographic middle of a region that is experiencing the most significant growth surge in history.
Deputy PM Paiboon: three recommendations.
Surely, they insist, the next government will fall in line with reality. Translation: endless consumption as in the Singapore model, not spiritual growth, will remain the implicit aim of the Thai government.
Maybe not.
Last month, a project emerged that aims to prove those critics wrong. It is a year-long series of small colloquia involving some of Thailand’s top academic and government leaders.
Chaired by the head of Chulalongkorn University’s governing board, Prof Charas Suwanwela, it is organised by the University of Washington’s Human Interface Technology Laboratory and Chulalongkorn’s Centre for Ethics in Science and Technology.
Called “Happiness, Public Policy and Technology,” it is intent on producing a dramatic shift in technology policy for the next elected Thai government, one that is in tune with the King’s concepts.
The session brings together technology centres in Thailand such as the Asian Institute of Technology, the National Science and Technology Development Agency, the government’s own technology research arm, Nectec, as well as Chulalongkorn itself.
And surprise: the project already has some powerful market forces on its side. IBM, Nokia and Intel participated in the first session, and Google has signalled that it wants to join in.
If the project succeeds, it could spread rapidly. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which helps 191 nations set telecommunications policy, is listening in.
“ICT can enhance ethics and national happiness,” says Dr Eun-Ju Kim, Head of the ITU’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
Dr Suchada: momentum can grow quickly
Aligning with Web 2.0
“We believe that the ‘sufficiency/happiness’ concepts of the King are in tune with the new market forces in technology,” says Prof Soraj Hongladarom, one of the project’s co-organisers.
The key is to understand the innovation dubbed “Web 2.0,” exemplified by applications that have upended technology markets in the West, causing web sites like Google, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Flickr to amass tens of millions of users in a matter of months. Initially, these sites had no business model, but their embrace by the public drew investors. The same could happen in Thailand.
Like China and many other governments, Thailand has taken a defensive stance against Web 2.0 by outlawing YouTube and limiting children’s access to massive multiplayer online gaming. But these problems could be transcended through public/private partnerships and new alliances in Thailand that cause Thailand to move into the forefront of Web 2.0, turning it to Thailand’s advantage. By turning Thailand into a hub for Web 2.0 technologies, the country could exert its comparative advantage in the technology market place and empower its citizens.
In fact, a number of corporations around the world have been nurturing technologies that aim to foster the well-being of users. Many, such as Nokia, have released the source code of their technologies so that local developers can join in. But their innovations remain mostly hidden in research labs, far from Asia. The reason: Till now these corporations have lacked a nation to serve as their beta test site.
One such researcher drawn to Thailand is Intel’s John Sherry, who manages a health care research group in Portland, Oregon. “We are developing biofeedback technologies that draw insight from Buddhist meditation,” he said. “These technologies can help patients monitor their behaviour and reduce stress. Thailand could offer a great environment to help companies such as Intel adapt these technologies to realities of emerging markets.”
Indian researchers echo this view. “The King’s ethical concepts can be incorporated into the design of technologies for education, games, devices, whatever,” said Arvind Lodoya, a Bangalore-based researcher at the Shrishti School of Design whose work is supported by Nokia. “As an open society, Thailand fits nicely with open source. Designers here could develop applications that release the pent up creativity of Thai citizens,” he said. “Unlike India, Thailand has the scale that could bring government officials into interaction with the private sector to point to a new paradigm of technology deployment.”
Prof Charas chaired the session
Three suggestions
Just how would this process begin in Thailand? Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham, a speaker at the recent colloquium, offered three concrete recommendations.
1) Ask citizens “what makes them happy?” An advocate of a strong local role in governance, Paiboon said that technology could be used to assess citizens to find out what in fact could satisfy citizens. “Rather than tell users what to do, the government could use web sites and digital devices to find out what communities want and to monitor their progress in achieving it.
Reinforcing Paiboon’s suggestion, some participants argued that applications could be designed to foster the “wisdom of crowds,” so that by deliberating with each other users could come to embrace the ethical principles that would make their happiness sustainable over time.
2) Identify who knows what: A second concept advanced by Paiboon is a concept he called “wisdom mapping,” in which community members could identify each others’ skill levels, much as users of Amazon.com and eBay use technologies for peer review. In a similar way, applications of technology could be designed to evaluate and honour the skills of neighbours in hundreds of communities. “A village, district or tambon could develop a bank of identified skills that could be called upon in times of need,” he said.
3) Teach mindfulness: A third notion he suggested was “spiritual technologies,” in which technology applications could combine with instruction to teach mind training or mindfulness in citizens, helping them cope with the stresses of modern life. Noting web sites such as spiritualcomputing.com, Paiboon suggested that the colloquia bring to Thailand the best thinking about how technology could release citizens from stress.
A search for the new
If Thailand’s next government is to embrace such ideas it will need measures that allow policy-makers to distinguish between technologies that foster virtuous behaviour and those that cause harm. The colloquia explored the notion that recent innovations in neuroscience catalysed by the Dalai Lama could be the source of those measures.
Using the latest brain imaging technologies such as fMRI, the University of Wisconsin Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience has been measuring the “happy brains” of adept meditators, creating the visual basis for measurable comparisons with normal citizens who lack mind training. A plan of the project’s organisers is to bring neuroscience researchers to Thailand in an effort to help public policy makers and designers use such measures to chart progress towards the happy state.
So far the Thai colloquia is just a discussion. “This sort of informal conversation is the best way for significant collaborative projects to emerge in Thailand. As the ideas catch on, momentum can grow quickly,” said Dr Suchada Kiranandana, president of Chulalongkorn University.
The next colloquium in the series, slated for November 30, will focus on education technologies that foster happiness. Next in line for consideration, early next year, are colloquia that consider computer games and a final session in the Spring will address the cause favoured by the Royal Family: rural development.
Will it work? Keep your fingers crossed.
Formerly a professor at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, Craig Warren Smith, PhD, is now senior advisor to the University of Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory. Outside of academia, he has advised multinationals (Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Nokia, Oracle), philanthropic institutions, ministers of emerging markets, including Thailand, intergovernmental institutions and leading universities.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Database/08Aug2007_data21.php
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เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/133731
(จากคอลัมพ์ A Bout Politics หนังสือพิมพ์ Bangkok Post ฉบับวันที่ 11 ต.ค. 50 หน้า 16)
Instilling morality in politicians may be a mission impossible, even for hard-working Paiboon
Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham’s admission to hospital is proof, if it was needed, that he is a hard-working “old ginger”.
Mr Paiboon is one of the more senior ministers who burn the midnight oil, trying to clear the daunting backlog of work as the government’s term in office nears its final lap.
His collapse during a cabinet meeting this week was initially attributed to a combination of age and a lack of rest.
But it soon emerged the problem was, literally, close to the heart.
Mr Paiboon underwent a balloon angioplasty procedure at Ramathibodi hospital to clear a blockage in one of three coronary arteries which have narrowed over the years, restricting the supply of blood to his heart.
Sympathy poured in for Mr Paiboon who was thought to have over-exerted himself in office.
His commitment to the job, especially in handling social issues, won praise – even though social policies are among the government’s weaker points according to opinion polls.
Close associates, reporters and political observers were in agreement that Mr Paiboon had pushed himself a little too hard in his campaign to instill a sense of morality and ethics in both young people and politicians.
Before his collapse, the deputy prime minister visited flood victims in the northern provinces and juggled his time between official engagements.
On the side, his morality campaign was being tested as what promises to be yet another stressful mission arrived on his desk.
Mr Paiboon set up a fact-finding committee to probe a top official at the Social Development and Human Security Ministry accused of graft and adulterous affairs with young and middle-aged female officials.
The man’s sexual predations were said to have influenced the promotion of certain female officials and to be linked to alleged mis-spending of a ministry fund.
The inquiry is believed to relate to alleged squandering of cash donated for humanitarian causes and projects to help the poor.
Mr Paiboon enlisted help from non-partisan high-ranking officials at the Ministry of Justice, led by justice permanent secretary Jarun Pukditanakul.
The investigation must be concluded within a month, and expectations at the ministry are high.
Mr Paiboon is not likely to be lenient in handling such transgressions under his ministry’s roof.
He has the image of a socially respected, almost monkish, figure who exudes a distinguished charisma.
With such a “revered monk” working in the secular world, it will be interesting to see what steps Mr Paiboon takes next to root out morally corrupt officials. People have grown all too accustomed to politicians in power sitting on problems and turning a blind eye to the actions of unscrupulous but influential civil servants.
Rumour has it that the tremendous pressure has been weighing down Mr Paiboon. However, that is not what caused him to faint.
It may well be the thought that improving the moral standards of politicians in general is “mission impossible” that did the most damage to his heart.
Preaching morality and ethics is one thing, practising it is another. And if this is indeed the issue which landed Mr Paiboon in hospital, he could be absent from work for a long while.
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เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/141318
(คำกล่าวในงาน “The 8th Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum” เมื่อวันที่ 7 พฤศจิกายน 2550 ณ โรงแรม Crowne Plaza Galleria กรุงมะนิลา ประเทศฟิลิปปินส์)
Speech by
H.E. Paiboon Wattanasiritham
Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Social Development and Human Security Security
Thailand
At the 8th Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum
5-7 November 2007
Manila, the Philippines
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honour to be addressing this high level gathering on “leveraging resources for livable cities”. Let me begin by focussing for a few moments on the key words, ‘resources’ and ‘livable cities’.
I believe that we are all in agreement that the urban poor have, for far too long, been seen merely as unwanted problems or things to be gotten rid of, rather than as vital ‘resources’, as necessary as expertise, capital and technology, for equitable and sustainable city development. For decades that kind of negative thinking has perverted much of our development theories and practices worldwide. As a consequence, so many top-down programmes of unsuitable and unsustainable solutions to poverty and slums have been imposed on the poor without any genuine consultation with the poor about their needs and priorities. When those ‘expert’-designed solutions failed to improve the living conditions of the poor, we have piously blamed the poor for not rising to the occasion, for being uncooperative, ungrateful and unworthy.
The other key words, ‘livable cities’, beg the question of livable for whom? At present most cities are reasonably comfortable places for those who are fairly well off and, very, very comfortable for the very rich. But for still very significant numbers of poor people, what most cities give are insecurity, squalor, illegality and a hand to mouth existence, with little hope for the future. If we are sincere in seeking livable cities for all, rich and poor, we are indeed urgently in need of effective ways on how to go about creating cities of hope for those who have been hitherto denied the opportunity and power to change their predicament, namely, the urban poor.
I am very happy to be able to introduce you to what we have been doing in Thailand to enable poor people and their communities to become important and active resources in city development rather than just unwanted dependents. I also want to show you that bringing poor communities into a self managed process pays big dividends for the authorities and the society and economy as a whole.
Currently Thailand has perhaps the largest government supported slum upgrading and tenure security programme in the region, the Baan Mankong or Secure Housing Programme (BMP). The BMP was launched by the Community Organizations Development Institute of Thailand (CODI) in 2003 to work with communities organized around their own savings groups. The BMP supports partnerships between communities and other actors because the Thai government has learned over decades that community-led city-wide upgrading is an effective and sustainable means of investing in its people to help them overcome their poverty and improve their living conditions. It has taken decades of learning to listen to the poor and the commitment of thousands of dedicated officials and hundreds of thousands of poor community members for this national paradigm shift to come about.
Indeed, the Thai ‘cities without slums’ approach, which is now being implemented throughout the country in 226 cities has been developed from many experiences in the past. It has emerged from questioning misperceptions as well as correcting mistakes and from learning about what works and what doesn’t. Like most Asian countries, we have had a long history of government-built public housing and government-planned slum upgrading in the 1980s which were carried out in competition with a very large and powerful commercial real estate sector. Those housing or upgrading projects were based on a supply-driven approach in which the government did all the thinking, all the planning, all the managing of the subsidy as well as all the building and allocation of the housing or services and facilities. Poor people were mere recipients of whatever the projects delivered. Some poor people were able to get into these supply-driven housing programmes but mostly only after great difficulty and long periods of waiting. On many occasions some poor families that obtained such housing, found themselves unable to meet their repayments or unsuited to ‘high rise’ housing or housing located at a greater distance from the city, so, after some time, they sold their rights and moved back to the slums.
The major shift in the way we developed better housing opportunities for the poor came in 1992 with a new way of working, using a Community Development Fund approach. At that time the Thai Government created an “Urban Poor Development Fund” to be managed by the Urban Community Development Office (UCDO) which became the model for CODI’s work today. The UCDO’s initial Urban Poor Development Fund of approximately US$ 36 million was used to support community savings and credit groups and federations. This landmark decision allowed all urban poor communities in the country to be active participants in solving their own housing problems and owners of their own development projects through their savings groups.
Community savings groups have proved to be far more effective in helping the poor out of debt and onto a more stable economic footing as well as in improving their settlements and housing. This was found to be particularly so when the savings groups were self-managed and networked with other community savings groups in their town or city so they could learn from one another. Community-managed savings groups bring members closer together to understand one another’s needs and abilities. Savings groups lift poor people out of isolation into community solidarity and collective empowerment. Once they have impacted on the pressing issues of people’s daily survival, savings groups begin to serve as a forum for community initiatives to improve other things at the household and community level.
In 2000 the UCDO was merged with the Rural Development Fund under the Ministry of Finance thus bridging the highly artificial division between rural and urban poverty. (After all it is the rural poor who have traditionally become the mass of the urban poor over the decades.) The newly created Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) is now able to draw on the collaboration and mutual learning between poor rural and urban communities on a wide range of issues vital to their social empowerment and economic development. More recently, in 2002, CODI was more appropriately placed under the newly created Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Under the present Government, I am responsible for this Ministry’s work and see CODI as a crucial mechanism for institutionalizing city-wide development, local empowerment and improved social justice in our country.
(I may be allowed to add that I did personally play a key role in the setting up of both UCDO and CODI, also being UCDO’s first Managing Director as well as CODI’s first chairperson. However, the fact that I am now in the Government and look after the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security which in turn oversees the work of CODI, was totally unplanned and unexpected.)
A very important outcome from this shift in approach is that all urban poor communities in the country can start organizing themselves and then linking into city-wide networks. These city-wide networks can then work with local authorities and other urban development actors and start planning and surveying, at a city-wide level, to change their insecure status, to redevelop their communities, to negotiate with government or private landlords and to propose long term lease or purchase of all slum land of the existing slum communities or any nearby vacant plots of land. In this way agreements can be reached which enable poor communities in each city to obtain secure collective land leasehold or ownership.
Once land agreements have been reached, community architects can begin to work with communities to help them plan their new housing projects on the land that they had been occupying or on newly identified and mutually acceptable land. Then CODI will pass on an infrastructure development budget and housing or land loans to communities. So in this way communities can manage their settlement upgrading and new housing construction all by themselves.
Since communities are working together to develop their economic status from zero into becoming fully legal housing project with members owning all their community land and infrastructure development together, we have found that most urban poor communities undergo significant positive changes that are a direct result of their mutual management of their own projects. Many communities go on to develop just and strong community organizations with welfare systems and income generation activities for their members through their own funds and other funds that may become available. Needless to say their relationships with society as a whole and with all related agencies are all considerably improved, once communities are treated as full and equal partners.
I think it is very important in this modern and increasingly precarious world in which we are living, that this new method of supporting people on the ground to become responsible and self-reliant actors and doers is adopted urgently. How else can we provide tools and support mechanisms so that all poor people in all the places in the country can be organized and enabled to initiate real solutions to their problems through their own choices and efforts? Can we really provide an alternative support system such that desperately poor people are not kept waiting too long for the merciful intervention of development agencies and governments which treat poor people as merely helpless incompetents, passive recipients, or lesser citizens.
CODI’s main strategies are to support and enhance the roles of community organizations, their networks and other local development mechanisms. In particular it promotes community financial institutions and community economy as the basic tools for community development. They have proven extremely effective in supporting community-led settlement and tenure upgrading and housing development. As I have mentioned earlier, its Baan Mankong Programme is its main vehicle for achieving city-wide upgrading.
Through the BMP, communities have been working on city-wide mapping of their settlements for development planning. Their plans now involve everything from land and environmental conditions, resources and debt management, and measures to boost the capacity of their communities. Through the BMP squatter communities are able to negotiate with landlords and state authorities to gain security of tenure or access to alternative land to upgrade their housing and settlements.
As of September 2007 the Baan Mankong Programme has conducted 495 projects in 226 cities and districts, in 69 (out of 76) provinces around the country. In the same period it has benefited 52,700 households in 980 communities. Infrastructure upgrading grants to the amount of US$ 46.9 million have been made. Additionally US$ 35.8 million in loans for land purchases and house construction have been granted to participating communities and households. A budget equivalent to about US$50 million has been allocated to CODI for fiscal year 2008 for the support of the BMP.
Some of you may ask why the Government of Thailand would have such a policy of directly investing in social development. These are my answers:
• We have found that investing in the poor collectively through savings groups enables the poor to solve their problems in a sustainable manner
• We have found that providing flexible finance to them generates their creativity and commitment to wider collective goals of benefit and urgent relevance to the society as a whole
• We have found that this investment brings good economic and social returns that go way beyond merely recovering costs
Therefore, city-wide community-based development is in our national interest. Most importantly it is an investment in the most precious resource of a country, its people. It brings millions of overlooked poor people, into the development process rather than leaving them in despair and alienation. On a financial level it leverages far more local financial resources to develop cities sustainably without foreign loans. Most importantly it brings poor, formerly excluded people, into the formal sector or social mainstream, so that they are protected by the legal system, rather than victimized by it.
Finally this people-centered model of development expands the state’s revenue base as well as its knowledge base for more socially and environmentally responsible planning. Planning through a socially inclusive process shares the benefits more equitably for all residents and results in more timely and cost-effective development of housing and infrastructure in cities and towns. I believe this is what all governments are seeking from national urban development for their citizens.
Thank you for your kind attention.
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บันทึกนี้เขียนที่ GotoKnow โดย นาย ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม ใน ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม
เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/146344
(คำกล่าวเปิดงาน “International Seminar on Community Finance : Savings and Community-Managed Development Funds” วันที่ 10 พฤศจิกายน 2550 ณ ห้องประชุมสถาบันพัฒนาองค์กรชุมชน (องค์การมหาชน) หลังใหม่)
Opening Address
By
H.E. Paiboon Wattanasiritham
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Social Development and Human Security
At International Seminar on
Community Finance : Savings and Community-Managed
Development Funds
10 November 2007, Bangkok Thailand
Community Participants from foreign countries near and far, Community Participants from cities, towns and districts all over Thailand, Sisters, Brothers, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It brings me great joy to welcome all of you today to this truly unique and historic international meeting of communities here in Thailand. Let me personally welcome all of the community members from some 21 countries who have worked tirelessly to develop your communities through your savings groups and networks of savings groups.
I believe that you have all come a long way, not just in terms of distance but also in terms of overcoming many obstacles in reaching out to your neighbours and developing confidence and trust in one an other to do things together, for your families, your communities, your cities and for your countries. I say this because I have had the privilege of witnessing what has been taking place by communities here in Thailand over the last three decades and observe significant changes that have emerged.
The fact that this unique international is meeting taking place here in the new office of Thailand’s Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI), is surely a clear signal that the community- managed savings movement is now a major source of human and social development in the world today.
I believe that the poor in our countries have, for far too long, been seen merely as unwanted problems, as incompetents to be sorry for. For decades that kind of negative thinking has perverted most of the development theories and practices worldwide. As a consequence, so many top-down programmes of unsuitable and unsustainable solutions to poverty and homelessness have been imposed on the poor without genuine consultation with the poor about their personal capacities, real needs and priorities. When those ‘expert’- designed solutions failed to improve the living conditions of the poor, the poor were often blamed for not rising to the occasion, for being uncooperative and ungrateful.
Your example and achievements resoundingly prove what I have always known, that the poor themselves are vital and necessary actors in, and ‘resources’ for, not only their own development but for our human survival as well. After all it is only from the poor, that the world community can rediscover the importance of sharing and mutual trust which have been almost completely lost in modern civilization. The communities of the poor are as necessary a resource as educational expertise, efficient and eco-friendly technologies or capital, for securing sustainable development in our world.
I am very proud to say that Thailand has been playing its part in the development of this community – managed savings and development movement. In many respects, the Royal Thai Government has been one of the first to recognize the power of savings groups to strengthen the capacities of, and solidarity among, neighbours which is so vital to helping communities work more effectively together and with others on solving their immediate and longer term problems and challenges. Besides, we have learned that when communities are able to organize their own development through funds from their savings, genuine development for the people and by the people in communities have actually emerged.
The major shift in the way the government developed better housing opportunities for the poor in Thailand came in 1992 with a new way of working, through the socalled “ Community Development Fund” approach. At that time the Thai Government created an “Urban Poor Development Fund” to be managed by the Urban Community Development Office (UCDO) which became the model for CODI’s work today. The UCDO’s initial Urban Poor Development Fund of approximately US$ 36 million, was used to support community savings and credit groups and federations. This landmark decision allowed all urban poor communities in the country to be active participants in solving their own housing problems and owners of their own development projects through their community savings groups.
Community savings groups have proved to be far more effective in helping the poor out of debt and onto a more stable economic footing as well as in improving their settlements and housing. This was found to be particularly so when the savings groups were self-managed and networked with other community savings groups in their town or city so they could learn from one another. As you well know, community-managed savings groups bring members closer together to understand one other’s needs and abilities. Savings groups lift poor people out of isolation into community solidarity and collective empowerment to pursue shared goals. Once they have impacted on the pressing issues of people’s daily survival, community savings groups begin to serve as a forum for community initiatives to improve other things at the household and community level.
In 2000, the UCDO was merged with the Rural Development Fund under the Ministry of Finance thus bridging the division between rural and urban poverty. The newly created Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) is now able to draw on the collaboration and mutual learning between poor rural and urban communities on a wide range of issues, vital to their social empowerment and economic development. More recently, CODI was more appropriately placed under the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Under the previous, and particularly the present, Governments, I can definitely say that CODI has been a crucial mechanism for institutionalizing city-wide development, local empowerment and improved social justice involving grassroots communities throughout Thailand.
Currently Thailand has perhaps the largest government supported slum upgrading and tenure security programme in the region, the Baan Mankong or Secure Housing Programme (BMP). This country-wide upgrading has been launched by the Community Organizations Development Institute to work with communities organized around their own savings groups and to support partnerships between communities and other actors. The Thai government has learned over decades that community-led, city-wide upgrading is an effective and sustainable means of investing in people to help them overcome their poverty and improve their living conditions.
Through the BMP, communities have been working on city-wide mapping of their settlements for development planning. Their plans now involve everything from land and environmental conditions, resources and debt management, and measures to boost the capacity of their communities. The squatter communities today can negotiate with landlords and state authorities to gain security of tenure or access to alternative land on which to upgrade their housing and settlements.
As of September 2007 the Baan Mankong Programme had conducted 495 projects in 226 cities and districts, in 69 out of the total of 76 provinces around the country and benefited 52,700 households in 980 communities. For the present fiscal year (October 2007 – September 2008), the Thai government has allocated about US$ 50 million to support community upgrading activities involving some 25,000 families throughout the country.
Apart from supporting urban communities in this country-wide programme, CODI also utilizes a similar approach of community development funds support a community-led development process covering other inportant issues such as community welfare, community-managed natural resources, rural land development, community-managed rivers and waterways, organic farming and sustainable agriculture, etc. It can be said that these community–led processes have now been largely institutionalized in Thailand, due significantly to the work of CODI.
Sisters, Brothers, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I sincerely hope that this unique international meeting will enable all of you to share your various and valuable experiences. I understand from the programme that you will have an opportunity to see first hand what your Thai counterparts are achieving here, and that you will be able to benefit accordingly. At the same time I am sure that, through this international meeting, our Thai communities can also learn and benefit from your experiences and achievements as well.
Again I would like to wish all of you success in achieving the goals of this truly inspiring gathering over the coming 3 days.
Thank you for your kind attention.
อ้างอิง
บันทึกนี้เขียนที่ GotoKnow โดย นาย ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม ใน ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม
เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/146347
(คำกล่าวเปิด “การประชุมระดับภูมิภาคเอเชีย เรื่อง “ชุมชนปลอดภัย ครั้งที่ 4” “ The 4th Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities ” จัดโดย ศูนย์วิจัยเพื่อสร้างเสริมความปลอดภัยและป้องกันการบาดเจ็บในเด็ก ณ หอประชุมกองทัพเรือ เมื่อวันที่ 22 พฤศจิกายน 2550)
Opening Speech
The 4th Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities
November 22, 2007
By
H.E. Paiboon Wattanasiritham
Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Social Development and Human Security
Royal Thai Navy Convention Hall
Honorable Guests, Distinguished Speakers and Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am very pleased and honored to be invited to preside over the opening ceremony of the 4th Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities. First of all, I would like to express my appreciation for the capacity of the community and youth representatives at this conference who have expressed their intention to campaign for a safe community environment. In addition, I would like to thank the representative of the World Health Organization and the Safe Communities Networks from various countries for their participation in this conference.
The problem s of accidents and the use of force are considered to be dangers that occur in every country in the world and affect every age group such as children, youths, working-age people and even the elderly. In Thailand, accidents and the use of force are the main causes of deaths. On the average, between 2001 and 2005, the number of Thai citizens who died as a result of accidents and the use of force was about 43,000 people per year. The age group that had the highest ratio of deaths was that of youths followed by working-age people while the main causes of death were road related accidents, dangers around the residential areas and the work place, environment dangers and social dangers.
The data of the Central Information Technology Center of the Royal Thai Police illustrates that in 2005 the number of casualties from road related accidents was 94,364 people or an average of 260 people per day while the number of fatalities was 12,858 people or an average of 35 people per day. The age of the majority of road related accident casualties was between 21 to 35 years followed by 16 to 20 years. It should be noted that, the incidences of accidents generally increase during the New Year and Songkran festivities. During the 2006 New Year celebrations the percentage of casualties and fatalities from motorcycle-related accidents was 85.7 percent of which 65 percent of the casualties did not use motorcycle helmets. On the other hand, the main cause of accidents during the Songran Festivities in 2006 was drunkenness.
Another area of concern is the increase in the number of accidents and deaths resulting from drowning in every age group according to the information gathered from death certificates. In 2005, the rate of fatalities was 7.2 people for every 100,000 people or approximately 4,400 people which increased to 4,600 people in 2006. Of these incidences, the rate of fatalities from drowning in children less than 15 years of age was 10.7 children for every 100,000 children. On the other hand, fatalities from drowning in the elderly were 14 people for every 100,000 people.
In order to address these issues, the Government has adjusted its role to that of providing opportunities for communities to mobilize, plan and resolve community problems using the community-based strategy. This strategy is an effort to implement measures to prevent and address accidents, natural disasters and social dangers by integrating work plans relating to the issues at hand. Pilot safe communities have been established in 11 provinces. Of these communities, 2 pilot communities namely, Choomchon Tambon Wang Sai Poon (ชุมชนตำบลวังทรายพูน) in Pichitr Province and Choomchon Soi Petchburi 7 (ชุมชนซอยเพชรบุรี 7) in Bangkok, have the capacity to appraise the degree of danger, prioritize the importance of problems and make plans to address the issues by mobilizing the participation of the people, youths and local networks. Preparations are being made to submit these pilot communities for accreditation as an International Safe Community of the WHO Safe Community Network.
This international conference is a forum for the exchange of learning where the lessons derived from the activities of academics, local administrators and communities concerning safety management at the national and international levels can be synthesized. In addition, this forum can lead to the formation of a safe community network of academics, implementers and administrators in the International Safe Community Project. Moreover, the conference could foster the creation of a network of safe community implementers and lead to the extension of the concept to new communities in order to create more successful safe communities in the future.
I wish all participants at the 4th Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities in Bangkok a fruitful and memorable time at this event. Finally, I have great pleasure in declaring the conference open.
Thank you
อ้างอิง
บันทึกนี้เขียนที่ GotoKnow โดย นาย ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม ใน ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม
เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/148438
(คำกล่าวเปิดงาน “ the 3rd International Conference on Gross National Happiness ” จัดโดย มูลนิธิเสถียรโกเศศ เมื่อวันที่ 24 พฤศจิกายน 2550 ณ หอประชุมประจักษ์ศิลปาคม ศูนย์ราชการจังหวัดหนองคาย)
Welcome Address
by
H.E. Paiboon Wattanasiritham,
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Development and Human Security
To the Participants of the 3rd International Conference on Gross National Happiness
on the Occasion of the Plenary Gathering
“Local and Regional Policy Development towards Happiness and Wellbeing”
at the Provincial Hall, Nongkhai, 24 November 2007 .
Excellencies,
Mr. Governor,
Distinguished Guests,
Participants of the 3rd International Conference on
“Gross National Happiness”,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to thank Mr. Governor for his kind Welcome Address. I agree with the Governor that it is a good idea to have the first part of the 3rd International Conference on Gross National Happiness here in Nongkhai. It provides us with an opportunity to directly connect with emerging policy developments at the local level.
I learned that the first day of the GNH conference has been spent at Wat Hin Mak Peng (วัดหินหมากเป้ง) where the conference was devoted to inner development, or happiness at the individual and inter-personal levels. And yesterday you focused on happiness, or well-being, guiding community development. Yesterday, I have been told, started with a moving traditional Bai Sri ceremony and resulted in Palaeng celebrations (พิธีพาแลง) in the village of Ban Wang Nam Mok (บ้านวังน้ำหมอก) , not far from Wat Hin Mak Peng.
So, today we are gathered in the Provincial Hall of Nongkhai and we try to get a picture of the trends in Social Development at the regional or provincial scale; and how these trends relate to the concept of “Gross National Happiness” as brought to us by our friends from Bhutan.
Although our exchanges on Gross National Happiness refer in the first place to the national scale, i.e., to Thailand as a whole, I am very happy that you paid attention from the very beginning to the individual and community levels. If we ask ourselves “How do we promote national wellbeing in Thailand?”, we have to take into account the complex, multi-dimensional, nature of the question before coming to good answers.
In my opinion, “How to promote wellbeing or Gross National Happiness” is not, and should not be, only a national concern.
Symbolized here in Nongkhai by the Friendship Bridge connecting Thailand with Laos, we intend to take into account the so called sub-regional scale. The Mekong Region brings together the Tibetan plateau and Yunnan Province in China, the northern part of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam through the shared watershed of the Mekong River.
Not only the Mekong River, nearly all major rivers in Asia have sprung from the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau. Almost our entire Asian continent is directly inter-connected through our rivers originating from the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau.
And then beyond our continental ties, of course we all share the trend of globalization, in terms of the environment including global warming and natural resources, the economy and the political inter-connectedness.
But before we get taken away by this big picture, it is very important not to forget the micro-regional, or provincial, the local, and the community levels, the scale where people do matter. These are the levels where our efforts to develop new policies to address urgent challenges succeed or fail. It means that any national policy depends on the way people shape their lives in local circumstances.
So I am very curious to hear what local groups are doing here in Nongkhai to improve their quality of life. Before we go to Bangkok tomorrow for the second part of the conference, I am eager to know what are the initiatives arising here in the context of local history, local social conditions and local visions for the future.
Distinguished Participants and Guests,
As for the Thai Government’s national policy in the context of this Conference’s deliberations, we have the vision of “A Society of Peace and Happiness Together”, and there are two crucial elements that would contribute to the fulfillment of this vision. These are: The Philosophy of “Sufficiency Economy” and “Human Security”.
First , “Sufficiency Economy”.
It is widely understood now in Thailand – and also among a number of interested persons outside of Thailand – that the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy has been developed and introduced by our King, H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. In short, the Sufficiency Economy is an approach to life and conduct which is applicable at every level from the individual to family, community, to the business sector and national government. It promotes the middle path in management of the economy and society in the era of globalization.
The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy has three key principles: moderation; wisdom or insight; and immunity against risks arising from internal or external factors. Wisdom and insight will lead to the development of morality. Individuals need a certain measure of self-reliance to deal best with the market; and countries need a certain measure of self-reliance to deal with globalization. Sufficiency has the double meaning of ‘not too little’ and ‘not too much’. The principle of moderation or middle path is a guide for finding the right balance between internal resources and external pressures, between the needs of societies at the grassroots, and the imperatives of the global economy.
Sufficiency Economy creates local communities’ immunity to economic shocks by promoting their ability to effectively deal with all challenges such as economic downturns, soaring oil prices, natural disasters, threats to public health, or bad harvests.
The principles of Sufficiency Economy may sound simple but as a government who declared Sufficiency Economy as its guiding principle, we know now that this is not easy to achieve. Globalization and modernization have influenced Thailand so fundamentally, that it is very difficult to bring about moderation and more equality in income, without strong resistance of interest groups that have invested heavily in making Thailand an aggressive economic tiger in the global arena.
From this point of view it is interesting to compare Thailand with Bhutan. Last year I had the good fortune to travel to Bhutan and experience the country with my own senses and make my own observations. In Thailand we risk losing the authenticity and cultural resilience which are such uniquely strong points of Bhutan. In a way we have to build our own Bhutan in Thailand in order to not become completely dependant on external factors such as the global economy.
The principle of Sufficiency Economy will bring balance, sustainable development and a culture of care. It will reduce risks, not overdo things, and make efforts to transform greed constructively.
I now come to the second crucial element, “Human Security” , which I would like to briefly mention as a subject for dialogue during this Gross National Happiness or GHN Conference. Human security is the special mandate of Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security of which I am the Minister and Dr. Poldej the Deputy Minister. Not many countries in the world promote Human Security at the ministerial level, so this is quite a challenge for us.
National Security and the protection of the nation is the mandate of the armed forces. However, we see more threats to Peace and Harmony arising from social, environmental, health and economic factors. To address these factors effectively – i.e. in order to establish Human Security – we need concerted and cooperative efforts of civil society including NGO’s, the business sector, educational institutions, as well as the government sector.
As these concerted and cooperative actions toward human security are a common trend in the world, an Independent Commission for Human Security was formed at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, chaired by Madame Sadako Ogata from Japan and Professor Amartya Sen (อมาตยา เซ็น) from India. An important contribution to the formulation of this innovative policy development concept was made by Dr. Surin Pitsuwan who has been recently appointed Secretary General of ASEAN and who will be a keynote speaker at the 3rd International Conference of Gross National Happiness next week in Bangkok.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Human security may appear to some of you as something abstract, but if we translate this concept into ‘national reconciliation’ or ‘trust’, we should all recognize that this is an urgent issue at all levels and in most countries. The more we democratize, the more we individualize, the more difficult is it to unite and create a true spirit of togetherness. Without this spirit of togetherness we are not secure.
It is my personal conviction that the exchanges as we have today – and during the whole conference – which involve not only representatives of governments, but also NGO networks and local communities; exchanges that involve the business sector, educators and academics, the media; exchanges that involve remarkably many young people – these exchanges are very much needed in order to discover and reinforce our common concerns. We need to cultivate ways to resolve conflicts of interest. And we need to explore pathways to building visions together towards a future we want to create for the next generations.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sufficiency Economy, Gross National Happiness and Human Security, in my opinion, are powerful policy development concepts that can help us in shaping new patterns of cross-sector cooperation towards sustainable development. Our common intent is to shape a new world view based on inter-connectedness.
This conduct of joining hands, this working together, can happen at the local level, such as here in Nongkhai. It can happen at the regional level between the Mekong countries, many participants from which are present here today. It can happen in Asia where I think Bhutan does have a significant position at the centre of the continent. Of course it can also happen globally. In that respect Thailand has a modest aspiration to be a platform for global exchanges, and I am happy to see today that this is not only a Bangkok affair but that Nongkhai joins enthusiastically in facilitating creative international exchanges.
The remarkable quality of Gross National Happiness is that it places human interest, happiness, wellbeing, at the centre of our attention.
I thank the Bhutanese delegation for bringing this message to Thailand and thank all of you for joining the Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness. I see this Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness as a significant common effort of uniting forces towards social transformation which should benefit all peoples and all societies as well as the world at large.
Thank you very much
อ้างอิง
บันทึกนี้เขียนที่ GotoKnow โดย นาย ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม ใน ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม
เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/150487
(คำกล่าวปิดงาน “Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness ” จัดโดย มูลนิธิเสถียรโกเศศ เมื่อวันที่ 28 พฤศจิกายน 2550 ณ หอประชุมใหญ่ จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)
Closing Remarks
by H.E. Paiboon Wattanasiritham
Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Social Development and Human Security
at the Closing Ceremony of the
Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok,
28 November 2007
Dear Friends,
The Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness is now coming to an end.
I have been asked to make a few closing remarks and I will try to do so briefly.
To start with I would like to go back to the First Conference on Gross National Happiness in Thimphu, from where it all originated. I would like to remind you of the Declaration that was adopted at that conference, on February 21, 2004.
The Declaration concludes as follows:
“As a matter of individual and collective human responsibility,” we pledge “to advocate actively and fully the goal of genuine happiness as the cornerstone of national policy everywhere in the world, to be fully socially engaged, and to advocate policies and measures that uphold the great objective of happiness for all”.
I think this conclusion still stands and that, at the end of this Third conference, we all agree by consensus to re-confirm this commitment with our full strength.
Let me now try to give you some observations. I have not participated in the whole conference but based on the reports of the GNH team I personally come to the following conclusions.
· I would like to start with the sector I happen to be in at present, i.e., the government sector, as the first point. In this sector, the cooperation between governments has been strengthened, not only between Thailand and Bhutan but also from Mekong region countries such as Laos and Vietnam. In addition, important support has been given from intergovernmental bodies like UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF and ASEAN. As for Thailand, it is not only the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security that is significantly involved, but a number of other government bodies including the National Economic and Social Development Board, the National Health Commission, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, and so on, also contribute to the Conference. Meanwhile Bhutan is represented by a very strong and diverse delegation, including the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission, for example.
· The second point. A remarkable Alliance of NGO’s played a crucial role. Such organizations as the Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation; the SEM and Ashram Wongsanit; the Thai Volunteer Service; the Social Management College; and the NGO Coordinating Committee on Development of the North-East; all brought in their networks and in particular reached out to two important target groups: community leaders and youth.
· The third point. The Youth network not only extended to the Mekong region, in particular Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam; but it also found partners in Canada, New Zealand and in Bhutan itself.
· Point number 4. For the Community leaders it has been significant and encouraging that the Thailand Green Fair was organized in conjunction with the Conference here in Chulalongkorn University in order to create a meeting point for organic farmers and urban consumers and initiated an important new connection with the Ecovillages network .
· Point number 5. For the Business sector interesting contacts have been established in the Information and Communication Technology field in order to explore new, more human-based, ways to tackle the so called ‘Digital Divide’ between rich and poor countries, thus future cooperation may also include the media sector .
· Point number 6. New Opportunities for Social ventures, ‘Slow and Fair Trade’, and Social entrepreneurs have been discussed; as well as the importance of Volunteerism. I hope that Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd, a typical small-scale social enterprise and the organizer of this conference, will continue acting as a catalyst for new partnerships in this important field of shaping a new role in society for the business sector.
· Point number 7. In terms of Research, the Center for Bhutan Studies is anticipated to continue its leadership role for research from the developing countries’ perspectives; interacting with a stable International partnership including GPI Atlantic (Canada), the New Economics Foundation (U.K.), the East-West Center in Hawaii, and Osaka University in Japan.
· The last point of my observations is point number 8. And that is: the Research activities have, in general, two components. The first component is research on the development and application of well-being and happiness indicators; and the second component is research on paradigms underlying ‘development’ or ‘progress’. In Thailand I expect that this research will be by at least four players: the Social Research Institute (CUSRI), and the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, both at Chulalongkorn University; the Center for Contemplative Education at Mahidol University; and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, particularly in the field of applied research.
Dear Friends,
The Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness has been a remarkable platform for exchanges between a stimulating diversity of spiritual leaders, initiated by an extraordinary gathering in Wat Hin Mak Peng ( วัดหินหมากเป้ง) in Nongkhai Province.
In addition, the Conference has demonstrated that art and culture, including the art of cooking and story-telling, are essential for building communication in a holistic perspective.
Tomorrow, at the meeting hosted by the Center for Bhutan Studies, you will have an opportunity to exchange your own observations and to make concrete arrangements for cooperation towards the future.
Now, to conclude our meeting, I would like to make two final points that I think should constructively add to the quintessence of the Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness.
· The first point is : Ultimate Happiness is Peace.
· And the second point is: We need to work and operationalize from Local to National and Global as well as from Global to National and Local.
Thank you very much.
อ้างอิง
บันทึกนี้เขียนที่ GotoKnow โดย นาย ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม ใน ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม
เว็บไซต์ ต้นฉบับ https://www.gotoknow.org/posts/151116