Mr. Sansern Wongcha-um, Secretary-General of NESAC, announced that the member selection of the Committee for Recruiting NESAC Members was completed. This Committee has set criteria for recruitment procedure in selecting NESAC members and disseminate information about recruitment of the qualified organizations that interested in proposing their representatives within March 28,2001.
He also said that, according to the article 6 of the NESAC Act 200, the member selection procedure that started on December 20,200 was finalized to appoint 20 members of the Committee for Recruiting Members of NESAC as follows:-
1. Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (Mr. Petipong Pungbun Na Ayudhya)
2. Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce (Mr. Krirkkrai Jirapaet)
3. Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry (Mr. Manu Leopairote)
4. Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance (Mr. Somchai nuk Engtrakul)
5. President of Bangkok University (Dr.Thanu Kulachol)
6. President of Chulalongkorn University (Assodiate Professor Tatchai Sumitra)
7. President of Srinakharinwirot University (Professor Sumonta Promnoon)
8. President of Suan Dusit Rathchapat Institrte (Associate Professor Sirote pholpuntin)
9. Representative of the Chamber of Commerce (Mr. Vichien Tejapaibul)
10. Representative of the Federation of Thai Industries (Mr.Erwin Muller)
11.Representative of the Thai Banker's Association (Miss Sirimas Watanachoti)
12.Represesntative of aGricultural cooperation Association (Mr. Suchai Orsuwan)
13.Representative of Labour Union (Mr. Panus Thailuan)
14.Representative of Private Organization on Rural Community Development (Mrs. Raevadee Prasurtcharoensuk)
15.Representative of Private Organization on Development of Children's Lives (Mrs. Darawan Dharmaruksa)
16.Representative of Private Organization on Freedom of the People (Mr. Pairoj Phlopet)
17.Representative of Private Organization on Public Health (Mr. Pibhop Dhongchai)
18.Representative of the Media on the Press (Mr. Surasak Jirawatmonkol)
19.Representative of the Media on the on the Radio (Mr. songgrit Koomrug)
20.Representative of the Media on the Television (Mai. Gen Kiettikun Sudhirak)
Dr. Sippnondha Ketudat, the chairperson of the NESDB's Board, has been appointed as the chairperson of the Committee for Recruiting NESAC Members. Mr. SAnsern Wongcha-um has been disignated as the secretary and Miss Phannarai Kantaghit, Senior Advisor in Policy and Plannarai Kantaghit, Senior Advisor in Policy and Planning, has been the assistant secretary of the Committee.
Mr. Sansern Wongcha-um also spoke that the Committee for Recurtiing NESAC's Members would expedite the appointment of six Sub-Committees composed of 12 members each. These members would be selected from implementators or experts in various fields to propose qualified organizations in nominating NESAC's members from many groups. Following to the provided criteria and method, these qualified organizations would have current activities and management whether being juristic entity or not.
The criteria for appointing all six Sub-Committees would consider the diversification of representatives by region, occpation, sex and firm size. These Sub-Committees are inculding the Agricultural Production Sub-Committee; Industrial Production Sub-Committee; Service Production Sub-Committee; Social Sector Sub-Committee; Resource Base Sector Sub-Committee; and Expert Group Sub-Committee.
The Secretary-General concluded that these Sub-Committees would select representatives proposed by the qualified organizations in triple number of those 99 members required by the law. Then, the selected representatives would meet together to choose all of the 99 members among themselves by using provided criteria and methods. These representatives should be experts who have reputation ot being knowledgeable,capable, andintellectual.
The application from for the qualified organizations in proposing NESAC members would be submitted during February 27 - March 28, 2001. The nominees would be publicly announced for objection during April 12-May 4, 2001. For further information, please contact the Office of the National and Social Advisory Council, telephone number 216-5268-72.
Prediction on th Trends of Water Resource Management in Thailand
On February 7, 2001, Mr. Sansern Wongcha-um presided over the opening of the lecture on "The Trends of Water Resource Management in Thailand" Presented by Mrs. Mingsan Kaosa-ard, Professor of Faculty of Economics, Chiengmai University. The lecture was held at the Dej Sanitwong conference room, NESDB.
Mrs. Mingsan started the introductory part that water resource management inthe past aimed at providing water supply mainly in dry season. Since the increased population and the expanded economy, the demand for water supply are higher. Wheresa the Royal Irrigation Department, the main organizationresponsible for supplying water, is incapable to allocate enough water supply. Moreover, it is now available and accessible to utilize water supply so that the conflict of claiming for water utilization occurred during the water shortage period. In addition, the water resource management was lack of unity, equipment and suitable knowledge. Besides, guidelines for problems solving have been applied only for urgent problems by using engineering tools and laws without the societal consensus. Even though there are efforts to solve this problem by drafting the Water Resource Act, and appointing of the National Water Resource Committee and the Watershed Committee, but it is still unsolved because of lacking capacity in water resource management with systematic coordiantion.
She further spoke that the water situation in Thailand tends to be more severe in the next 20 years and would be critical at the end of this decade because the change in technology has generated high quantity of rice production in dry season and farmers have also reserved underground water for rice cultvation so that the Royal Irrigation Department is incapable to control the water utilization. Besides, water utilization has varied with the fluctuation of rice proce in the world market.
The analysis of water resource policy indicates that, in the present situation, it is lacking of equity, efficiency, and enabling in resource utilization with sustainability. The core preoblems are the free access to water resource and the Draft Water Resource Act forcuses on facilitating the implementation in government sector more than the activities of ordinary people. Thus, the water resource policy guidelines should e flexible, have consensus from every level and be changed in term of policy and equity.
Considering the efficiency of water resource management, Mrs. Mingsan suggested that guidelines should be prioritized with the highest priority on equity by applying good governance for reducing the conflicts and being relevant to Thai traditions. The second priority is the increasing of efficiency in using water supply with high utility and the last priority was the sustainability. The main policy guidelines are as follow:-
1) Water resource is national property and government would administer for having high utility.
2) Every groups have rights in water utilization.
3) These rights could be transferred to other groups during the critical period.
4) Water resource management should be done by zoning and appointing committee, especially for those having severe problems first, where this issue has not covered in the draft of Water Resource Act.
5) Water resource management should be decentralized to district and Tambon Administrative Organizations, which is expected to implement in at least 6 years.
For the reservoir development, she also recommended that the social impact report should be considered separately from environmental impact report because it causes a high cost in the project. Moreover, people in that project areas should participate at the very beginning of the project. In addition, the Enhancement and Conservation of Environmental Auality ACt of 1992 should be amended by adjusting the precise public bharing process and implemented by the Authority for Water Resource Zoning Committee. For the international water basins, the represestatives from the Water Resource Zoning Committee should participate in public hearing process in the country who possesses the project.
Special Report
Community Empowerment: A New Alternaive for Development
The economic crisis has afficted since mid 1997, the first year of the Einghth National Economic an Social Development Plan, caused many econmic and social problems and affected a large number of prople at every level and every sector in the society. Due to the complexity of the problems, both public ans private agencies should coordinated to tackle them with the emphasis on human-centre development, which is the main philosophy of the Eight Plan, through increasing potential of people and community for readily participating in economic and social development, natural resource management, and enironmental preservation with sustainbility. Therefore the concept of "Community empowerment" has been considered as the sound and important alternative for development. It is the significant basis for alleviating economic and social impacts as well as the creation of development process for sustainability in the future, which is one of the development guidelines in the Ninth Plan.
The Definition of "Community Empowerment"
To have sustainability for country development, the strengths and existing social capital on the society should be considered, particularly the community, which is the core unit for making it be self-reliant.
In the Eighth Plan, the concept and definition of community and community empowerment are specified as guidelines and translation into action as follows:-
Community is defined as a group of people interact through living in the same boundary, or gathering in doing activiies with the same purposes and/or having common culture, beliefs or interests. While communication is explained as a group of persons who have common purposes, have communicated or are gathering in doing and managing some kind of community activities together for achieving mutual objectives.
From the above definitions of the community, its meaning is beyond people living together. They have created the relationships by having principles, conditions and rules that called "liveing togother norms". The community is regarded as group, club, Cooperatives, company, and village organization that functions as a mechanism for assisting members in solving community problems.
The community empowerment is defined as a group of people in various urban and rural communities assemble to be community organizations, then, learning, managing and solving problems that have generated the change and economic, social culture and environment development within the community and reflected the positive aspects outside the community. This community is the so-called group, party, cooperatives, company, village organization, network or others that indicates the cooperation for mutual benefits in the community and is supportive for other communities.
The community organization is defined as a group, or party, or cooperatives, or other names whether registered or not and is established by voluntarily assembling with mutual purposes and determination, friendships and assistance, continuous learning in problem solving and developing economy, spirit, society, culture and environment, and having leaders that naturally occurred through working together.
The community empowerment is based on the process of people's participation, through economic, natural resource, social and cultural dimensions. However, the differential conditions and proceses of communities are main factors of the achieves in empowerment.
Components of Community Empowerment
To promote community empowerment, the SubCommittee on Community Empowerment for Response to Crisis Action :lan (CERCAP), under the National Social Policy Committee, set the components of community empowerment as follows: 1) people from various groups/ carreers are formed to be a community organization whether registered or not, 2) haveh the mutual goals and benefits for members and the public, 3) have consciousness of self-reliance, help and friendships, and sense of belonging to the community, 4) freely participate in thinking, decision making, working and being responsible for the community, 5) fully mobilize resources in the community with efficiency, 6) have various forms of learning, networking and communicating, 7) continuously undertakin for for various groups, and 8) continuously reinforcing the change agents in the community.
Charactristics of Empowered Community
1. Community members are confident in their potentials for solving problems and developing their daily lives.
2. Community members are ready to participate in problem solving for their own and for community.
3. A continuting and dynamic community process haa applied as a current path of life under the support of community process has applied as a current path of life under the support of community organization's leaders in forms of operness, participation, transparency, and accountability.
4. All members participate in evaluating the community situation, drafting visions, thinking togerher, making decision, implementing, monitoring and evaluating rpoblem solving, and developing community through community process.
5. Community members generate learing process through the participation in community process.
6. Community plans have been formulated and consisted of every development aspect that focus on self-reliance, mutual benefits and sustainable development.
7. External assistance is a mean to achieve the commuity self-reliance.
8. The community should have equally coordination networking with the developmental partners such as villages, other commuities, local organizations, public and private sectors, businessmen and academics.
Community Empowerment
To empower community as a foundation for problem solving ans economic, social, culture, natural resource and environment development, public and private agencies as well as other local and international development partners, should closely cooperate in implementing community empowerment in order to solve problem by community themselves. Working process with the participatory approach has been created ans stimulated. Meanwhile, the enabling environment has been created for the community to think, work, and learn together for leading to have sustainable community development in the long term. The main activities in empowering community include:
1. To promote the process of community empowerment for response to the crisis through enhancing the potentials of people in the community for working being responsible and safeguarding their community benefits as well as adjusting the attitudes and working methods for the public personnel form being commanders to be facilitators.
2. To promote the participatory development process for the community in ways of "thinking, acting and learning together" in order ot empower the community including the promotion of community learning; the experience sharing for career and community business development, the development of social welfare and safety; the conservation, rehabilitation and menagement of natural resources; the search of potentials and local wisdom; the formulation of community plans; and the creation of civil society and networking in the community.
Development News Bulletin, National Economic and Social Development Board, Volume 16, No. 2 : February 2001 End.
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