Empowering Local Village Community Enterprises in Thailand: A Possible Model for China and South - East Asia

This paper describes a process that has been developed over the years to empower local village communities in Thailand to create sustainable community enterprises principally based on local knowledge and resources. The paper, which is written for an international audience and therefore first describes some characteristics of local communities in Thailand, then discusses research methodology and approach leading to a community enterprise learning model, refers to case study work carried out in the Central Region of Thailand, and finally discusses the community learning process. The work may be more generically applicable, and can now form the basis for a broader co-operation with similar groups conducting studies in other countries. With this in mind the research has been presented and discussed in December 2011 at The Faculty of Economics1, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China and in March 2012 with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences2 in Beijing as a basis for possible future co-operation. Further dissemination of the research into other ASEAN countries is envisaged.