News from the Duang Prateep Foundation
DPF, Klong Toey and UN join for anti-drugs events
Last month the Duang Prateep Foundation joined with community groups in Klong Toey to organise anti-drugs events supported by the United Nations Drugs Control Programme. The activities were organised for World Anti-Drugs Day.
On Saturday the 22nd of June two hundred people attended a panel discussion organised by the Duang Prateep Foundation at the Chumchon Moo Baan Pattana School next to the DPF. The discussion was about the problem of drugs in Klong Toey. Participants in the panel discussion included representatives of non-government organisations, including the DPF, community spokespersons, the police and the Klong Toey district office.
At the discussion the assistant national police chief Lt-General Noppadol Somboonsap reported that the police plan to get tough on drug abusers in Klong Toey after finding that many of those given the chance to undergo rehabilitation started using drugs again when they were sent back to the slum community.
Nitaya Phrompocheunboon, the head of the Duang Prateep Foundation's Aids Control Project, said the police's conclusion that the more lenient approach to drug abusers was a failure might have been made too hastily. DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata said the government should improve coordination between police and 10 non-governmental organisations responsible for community development in Klong Toey.
On Sunday the 23 of June there was an anti-drugs parade through Klong Toey, which had over three thousand participants. The parade included representatives of forty-three communities, twenty-six organisations and five schools. The event was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Korn Dabbaransi and United Nations Drugs Control Programme Regional Director Dr. Sandro Calvani, who both spoke prior to the start of the parade. After the parade, there were further speeches and entertainment from local organisations at the Chumchon Moo Baan Pattana School, where the walk finished. The action continued till late into the night.
The photo below shows at the front from the left, DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, Deputy Prime Minister Korn Dabbaransi, UNDCP Regional Director Sandro Calvani and DPF Chairman Dr. Sumet Jumsai na Ayudhya.
The other photos show some of the youngest and oldest participants in the march.
Drama workshop
In June the Nithan Caravan Puppet Troupe hosted a three-day dramatic techniques workshop for 30 teachers who are teaching at schools in deprived communities. The workshop was attended by teachers from all parts of the country, with the hope that they will return to their schools and develop drama and puppet drama programmes. The event was sponsored by the Canada Fund and the fund's coordinator in Thailand, Ms. Christine Munro visited the workshop to watch some of the activities.
As a follow-up programme after the workshop, Ms. Rotjana Phraesrithong, the coordinator of the Duang Prateep Foundation’s Nithan Caravan, will soon be visiting all course participants at their place of work. Rotjana will be able to monitor progress and give advice where necessary. In November there will be a second meeting at which all participants will come together to report back on their progress and show some of their work.
Japanese Embassy group visit to Kanchanaburi NLP
At the end of June the wives group of the Embassy of Japan visited the Duang Prateep Foundation's New Life Project for Girls at Kanchanaburi. The fifteen members of the group who made the trip were led by Ms. Yoko Tokinoya, the wife of the ambassador.
The party visited Bann Thung Sala school near the project, to donate education materials. The school is attended by children from the project. Afterwards the Japanese group went on to the project, to meet the young people there and tour the project.
There are presently twenty-eight children aged between four and twelve at the project and ten older girls aged between thirteen and twenty.
Training for all at Kanchanaburi New Life Project
Staff and residents at the Kanchanaburi New Life Project have recently benefited from training provided by the Hotline Foundation. On two occasions, separate training sessions have taken place for children, youth and staff. For the children and youths the training has focussed on helping the youngsters better understand themselves and their problems, and raising their self-esteem. For the seven teachers, several of whom are new to the project, the training focussed on improving their understanding for the experiences and feelings of the youngsters in their care.
HMS Nottingham hosts visit from DPF children
In June the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Nottingham hosted a visit by children from the Sponsorship Programme at the Duang Prateep Foundation. Thirty-five children enjoyed the tour of the ship provided by Royal Navy officers. The outing was arranged through an invitation from the British Embassy.
Also in June, representatives of Riche Monde visited the Duang Prateep Foundation to donate money for the educational sponsorship of twenty youngsters studying at vocational and university level. Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata welcomed the Riche Monde group to the DPF and accepted their donation on behalf of the foundation.
Credit Union AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the Klong Toey Cooperative for Community Development took place in June. The union presently has 1,225 members in eighteen Klong Toey communities. The amount deposited in the bank totals over eleven million seven hundred thousand baht. Loans total over one million baht.
News from Thailand
Bid to reduce number of student addicts by half
It was reported last month that The government will step up its war on drugs in Bangkok with the aim of cutting the number of student addicts by half, from about 600,000. It was reported that about 12.4% of students could be classed as addicts, from primary school level 6 to college level.
Bid to get serious about poverty
Last month the government unveiled a comprehensive plan to tackle poverty, which included the establishment of the National Anti-Poverty Strategic Commission headed by the Prime Minister. The new commission will be responsible for policy-making, and supervising and enhancing coordination between relevant agencies, the secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board said. At a provincial level, governors would be assigned to tackle poverty while anti-poverty blueprints would be drafted for every district.
The National Economic and Social Development Board agreed on three main and urgent principles in fighting poverty. First, local products should be developed with their quality being improved and their packaging redesigned. Secondly, the government should support small-scale farmers to help them buy farmland. Thirdly, community-welfare funds should be set up to encourage people to be self-reliant.
The plan would adopt a bottom-up approach in which the views and needs of people at the grassroots level would be taken into account. According to the NESDB, previous efforts to fight poverty had failed because officials were not interested in the poor. Under the new plan, poor people would be asked to identify factors which drove them to poverty and propose measures to solve the problem. Budgets allocated to rural areas had increased to 22% of national spending. However, little of that was earmarked specifically for getting rid of poverty. In the past, most spending in rural areas went into construction. The government would merge 18 anti-poverty funds into one in a move that would that would improve efficiency. The funds had a total worth of 225 billion baht.
Of the country's current poverty situation, the development board found that based on its criteria the number of poor people had declined from 9,900,000 in 1999 to 8,160,000 last year. Of these, 91.7 per cent lived in rural areas and half were in the Northeast. Of 15,249 poor villages, 9,881 were located in the Northeast and 3,875 in the North. The Central region had 798 poor villages while the South had just 66. The board found that low education, lack of land ownership and large families to support were common problems among the poor.
The NESDB stated that slow progress in reducing poverty increases despair among the poor. Although the economy has picked up, it has yet to return to its pre-crisis level, and the slow progress in combatting poverty is fuelling the hopelessness felt by the 8.2 million Thais living below the poverty line. A NESDB survey found that the underprivileged have a deeply pessimistic view of life. They see their lives as a vicious circle of unemployment, no money to support their families and no access to education or social services, leaving no hope for a better future for them or their children.
War on poverty requires unity: Prawase
Leading social critic Dr Prawase Wasi urged the government, academics and society in general to unite to battle poverty. He said the power created by these three groups could move a mountain. "We need this power to solve the toughest problem in the country, poverty. One or two are not enough. It must be all three sectors," he said.
Large-scale testing of new vaccine
The Public Health Ministry was advised last month to be more open to community involvement in its large-scale phase 3 trial of an HIV candidate vaccine, which is to involve 16,000 Thai volunteers in Rayong and Chon Buri by the end of this year.
Lack of transparency in the past had led to abuses and even mistreatment of volunteers, in particular those who were drug addicts, critics said. Senator Jon Ungphakorn said although trials of candidate vaccines in Thailand were mostly up to standard and proven for the safety of volunteers, there were still cases in past trials where the rights of volunteers had been violated and their personal lives affected.
Bid to raise level of counselling for Aids sufferers
The Mental Health Department is working towards providing counselling for all HIV/Aids patients at public hospitals nationwide by 2006. The director of the Mental Health Development Office, said last month that providing counselling to those uncertain about their HIV/Aids status was one of the most effective tools in the prevention of the deadly disease.
The director said the country's HIV/Aids infection rate had decreased slightly, but figures were still high among intravenous drug users and teenagers. Official statistics show nearly 2 million Thais had been infected with HIV, which had developed into about 800,000 Aids cases requiring intensive care. The Director said a holistic approach should be taken toward treating HIV patients, with counselling a key component of the treatment.
"The Productivity Report - Prosperity through Productivity"
Recently, McKinsey & Company published the "The Productivity Report -Prosperity through Productivity" which stressed that to restore economic growth and increase competitiveness, Thailand must strengthen productivity throughout its economy.
The report stated that similar to many of its Asean neighbours, Thailand has historically concentrated on factor input-based competitive advantages, particular labour cost and natural resources. However, new competitors, such as China and India, the report said, make such a position harder to sustain. "In any case, to return to attractive economic growth rates and sustain higher living standards, Thailand needs to shift from labour cost advantages to productivity advantages so as to remain competitive as wages rise," the report said. The report added that Thai labour productivity is comparatively low, just 23 per cent of the US level and below many developing Asian countries.
The report concluded that productivity in Thailand is low compared to benchmark countries and that regulations within specific sectors are by far the biggest barriers to productivity. The report surveyed seven Thai industries and found labour productivity to be between 20 and 50 per cent of US levels (with the exception of the cement industry, which is close to US levels).
The sectors surveyed were: retail trade, retail banking, telecommunications, cement, chicken processing, beer and the computer and electronics industry. The performance of these industries was compared with those of world leading countries such as the US.
Farmers seek fair share of land
NGOs in the Northeast say only a fair division of land would solve land disputes between the state and farmers nationwide. In Lamphun last month, hundreds of police raided land held by farmers in Pa Sang district, burnt down huts and destroyed crops. The government said the farmers were encroaching, but the raid was carried out even as the state and the Confederation of Northern Farmers were trying to settle the dispute. The NGO coordinating committee chairman, said measures were needed to promote distribution of land to the landless and the poor.
World Bank loans all disbursed by Oct
The Social Fund Office has nearly completed managing loans intended to provide a safety net for the poor, with 13 million people estimated to have benefited so far, according to the fund's executive director.
The office was established in September 1998 to disburse US$120 million in World Bank loans as grants to people who were suffering because of the recession. The programme is to be completed in October. To date, the office has disbursed 4.257 billion baht, out of the 4.4 billion baht available, to 7,602 projects. Of the total, 6,000 projects have been completed, using three billion baht and benefiting an estimated 13 million people.
Five types of projects are eligible for grants: Development of community enterprises; community welfare; promotion of culture; natural resource management; and promotion of local culture and community capacity- building through co-operation and welfare networks.