Learning Route:
Developing Rural
Territories through Business and Knowledge.
The Thai experience with the OTOP and CLC
October 21 - 28, Thailand
An invitation to experience Thailand’s Wisdom
Witnessing market development with social inclusion
Is
there market development with social inclusion? Yes, even though it seems like
an elusive goal in many rural development projects. The Kingdom of Thailand is
among the least urbanized countries in Asia: almost twice as many Thais live in
the countryside as in the cities. This is one main reason for Thailand to
become a fertile ground for innovation in rural development, while the country
aspires—at the same time—to be the future keystone of mainland South-East Asia.
There
are huge and costly proofs of the Thai strategy for rural development, like a
network of high-speed railway lines to connect Thailand’s four main regions
with the capital city of Bangkok in order to cut transport costs everywhere.
But there are also significant examples of valuable knowledge supply from the
institutional grassroots level, such as the One Tambon One Product Program
(OTOP) and the Pratch Chao Bann Community Learning Centres Program (CLC),
considered efficient tools for market development with social inclusion.
Those
are valuable models with potential for replication not just for South-East
Asia, but also for all the development country interested in acquiring in-depth
understanding of the overarching policy rationale, the provincial and local
operating settings, and the impacts of Thai strategy for rural development, in
particular the best practices and lessons learned by the OTOP and CLC programs.
Within
a South-South collaborative framework, the Agricultural Technology and
Sustainable Agriculture Policy Division (ATSAP) at the Ministry of Agriculture
and Cooperatives (MOAC) and the Community Development Department (CDD) of the
Ministry of the Interior (MOI) of Thailand with the International Fund for
Agriculture Development (IFAD-UN) and the Procasur Corporation, invite you to
experience the Learning Route “Developing Rural Territories through Business
and Knowledge: The Thai experience with the OTOP and CLC” (October 21 - 28,
2013).
40 participants
including high-level government officials, rural development practitioners and outstanding
farmers from Latin America, Africa and Asia take part of this Learning
adventure through Bangkok, Saraburi, Suphanburi, Lopburi, Nakorn-ratchasima and
Nakorn-prathom.
Outstanding
farmers, often self-taught and self-reliant, who have mastered ‘learning by
doing’ skills, provide technical assistance for land and rural organization
management. Thai policy illustrates the institutional potential of embedding
these agents into the public delivery framework of rural development. By
identifying, acknowledging, valuing and legitimizing their roles, and by
creating new networking opportunities, the policy prompts market sophistication
in the rural grassroots scene.
Welcome
to Thailand’s Wisdom!
For more information, visit www.asia.procasur.org and follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/procasur.asia
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