Questions/Answers

Living in the area of the alluvial plains of the Chao Phraya River and Noi River, Singburi inhabitants make a living mainly from farming and gardening. However, challenges still remain, such as the increasing rate of debt from purchasing agricultural material and low income resulting from the agricultural market fluctuations. Therefore, people in the community have neither savings nor welfare for their future plans. In addition, many factors have showed that people have neglected to save money because the Thai people are used to receiving continuous welfare provided by the government, as well as the Thai supportive-oriented culture resulting in the natural community welfare wherein everyone helps and respects each other. Recently, the society has changed, and culture plays a less important role, and Singburi Province, as a result, realized the importance of the welfare and security of life that the community welfare fund initiative is supported.The community welfare fund was, therefore, established and developed in accordance with various community lifestyles with the emphasis on the revival of culture and traditions, and relationships in the form of integrated welfare. The integrated welfare is an example of the self-reliance initiative which is managed by the community and is counted as a mutual fund owned by everyone, and is run by funds supported by 3 sectors, namely fund members, local administrative organizations and government under the concept of ‘giving the value and receiving with dignity’. 4Objectives are 1.Promoting the participation of the local community to create the security system for good life quality of the inhabitants. 2.Building up the sustainable community welfare system with community-based principle conforming to way of life, culture, honesty and working efficiency. 3.Encouraging public sectors to create an integrated mechanism to provide community-based welfare. 4.Creating an online saving system in order to improve the data system, encourage transparency and responsibility.

The project supports the integrated working mechanism between public and people sectors.Private sector provides technical assistance,knowledge and financial support for the community in order to create the exchanging platform.It will lead to a good quality of life and self-reliance among inhabitants based on the participation of the community,public sectors.The participation of people in the community is regarded as the main principle to formulate the proper and creative administration in line with community context which leads to sustainability.People can access welfare that is inclusive,transparent and accountable.Comparing to human body,the leader is the head,the working network and saving is the heart.

Sustainable development of the community welfare funds is in line with SDG 11, target 11.3 ‘To Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacities for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries’. Moreover, the sustainability of the project connects people, especially in promoting good quality of life, happiness and cohabitation with essential welfare throughout the life-cycle, as well as strengthening the domestic resource mobilization and encouraging the use of technology.The welfare provided to the family is counted as the fundamental social protection which is created from a collaboration between public, private and people sectors. The project also promotes the provision of welfare by people in the community to reduce the duplication of work in the organization, including helping to establish a community organization which can literally support the inhabitants.

To promote sustainability, Community welfare fund members should be encouraged to pursue a career in their own way, with funds being a financial support for members in the form of working capital to return products to the fund so that members can use the funds. And make members more responsible, raise awareness about giving and helping, promoting appropriate activities from careers to conserve soil and water and applying sufficiency economy principles for occupation.

This project attaches great importance on socio-economic benefits, e.g. encouraging the participation of people in the community, self-management, and collaboration between public organizations and the community. The community is the composition of various community contexts, traditions, cultures, groups and individuality of the people. The community welfare fund is driven by an inclusive approach where resources were distributed equally among people in the community to ensure life security. Apart from fundamental welfare for life-cycle, occupational welfare is also provided. For example, welfare for investing in drinking water factories so that members of the fund can gain access to clean drinking water and decent work, investing in cafés for circulating funds among people in the community, investing in a banana plantation for safe agricultural products and connections with public organizations and hotels.

Gender inequality is a common challenge in Thailand in various dimensions.The community welfare operates with no gender discrimination.Also,it allows people of all ages and genders to participate in management,and to be fund members, as well as providing the opportunities for inhabitants to congregate,exchange experience and work together.In this way,they will come up with ideas to apply good practices within the community for future improvement. To achieve this, various communication channels is used among members, such as organizing a forum to exchange knowledge in the community, the preparations of publications,and informing useful information via public announcements and social media groups.

Positive work results 1. The community offers welfare for members for life cycle 2. Assistance is provided in the community which is more valuable than money and gifts. 3. People in the community created systematic rules for saving money and welfare starting from saving only 1 baht per day. 4. The community-based management system is formed. 5. People in the community can efficiently learn and monitor their own work. The results of the target groups’ development People in the community can exchange ideas and have a strong participation in work, including obtaining a sense of being a co-owner in the community. Moreover, the fund is developed continuously and the duplication of government work regarding management of welfare is reduced. This also helps to narrow down the use of government resources and enhance working processes to achieve sustainable development more quickly.

1 At Singburi provincial level:The committee is the main mechanism to support the community welfare fund mobilization to enhance effective support of the work in local level,e.g. organization management,academic matters,work processes and monitoring methods.The implementation process succeeded through the participation of government agencies at the provincial level,local administrative organizations and the CSOs in an appropriate proportion. 2 Community Welfare Fund: is supported by the Network of Community Welfare Funds in order to foster work linkages between committees of community welfare funds at provincial level and sub-district level.The fundraising from the community welfare fund is a key mechanism to drive the funds at the sub-district level.Also,it provides administrative services for community welfare funds,monitors,evaluations,and provides suggestions in creating a database of community welfare funds throughout the province,including coordinating with relevant agencies to request contributions from local administrative organizations and government. 3 Sub-district community welfare fund is responsible for management and crowdfunding, according to the indicated agreement (1 baht per day),as well as management of government and local government budget subsidies.Also,the fund is working to maintain operating rules and allocate welfare to members,including the preparation of reports and the collection of good practices for Community Welfare Fund Network. 4 Members should contribute to the Community Welfare Fund(1 baht per day)and receive benefits in return.From the beginning of the establishment of the Community Welfare Fund in 2005,only 7 sub-districts were selected to be a part of the pilot project,with 100 - 600 members, or in total 700 members.From the beginning to the present,the continuous development is apparent.Currently,Singburi Community Welfare Fund has more than 29,613 members from 43 sub-districts,1 municipality(39 administrative districts)with a circulating fund of 101,572,169.45 Baht. Around 29,077 members received welfare in the amount of 48,522,394.50 Baht,and in the future,according to the fund, it is expected to gain more members(not less than 10-15% every year).

Challenges:The members lack of knowledge regarding welfare which leads to improper learning methods and misunderstandings about the welfare allocation.Solutions:The intensive training in order for the Welfare Fund Committee to be the representative to work with members thoroughly.The beginning point is to renew the idea of the fund committee in sub-district level and members.Challenges:The Community Welfare Fund Committee is selected from inhabitants who are not familiar with accounting systems,some mistakes in accounting were found.Solutions:Training the fund's accounting system is organized through a mentor system.Good practices of the funds are used as learning examples.Also,The online accounting system is utilized to support process.

The fund's operating system faced some challenges within the accounting systems.therefore,used an on-line accounting system so that it will be convenient for all fund information can be filled and sent to the Provincial Community Welfare Fund Network.The progress and important information of the funds will be kept in records and easy for the network to track and update the information accurately.Also,the information can be used to analyze the movement and to be applied as a guideline to tackle challenges that may happen within the database.The participation of the community is encouraged to improve the quality of life of people.

From the above-mentioned innovation,the concept has been developed and was inspired by the computer systems in the government working process in various fields,such as the monitoring and evaluating system of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security,the auditing system of the Office of the Auditor General of Thailand and the operating systems of mobile phone networks.The systems are widely used nowadays and are accessible due to the free Wi-Fi networks that is currently available in the areas of the local community.Also,technology is everywhere that people in the community own mobile phones and often sends information via LINE application.

Sing Buri Province, which is a model province for Implementing Community Welfare Fund, has recently set up an expert team and has continuously shared knowledge and experiences on the Implementation of the Fund among 35 provinces in central, northern and northeastern regions such as Lopburi, Saraburi, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Kamphaeng Phet and Nakhon Ratchasima. The sharing of knowledge starts at the process of adjusting the mindset of the Fund Committee to be in line with or resembling Sing Buri. Moreover, Sing Buri was selected as the model province for Community Welfare Fund Accounting. The province further implements the concept of Community Welfare Fund into the Government’s Housing Policy for low income earners in which national budget is allocated for house renovation, restoration and reconstruction with the partnership of community members, local administrative organizations (LAOs), and private sectors. The project also involves the operation of Community Financial Institute which encourages members to invest in crowdfunding. In addition, the government supports the community with budget for policy-driven and technical implementation.

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1.Financial Resource:The government allocates a primary budget for the Implementation of Community Welfare Fund through Community Organizations Development Institute(CODI).In Singburi,the implementation is operated by dividing into 3 parts,including expenses for Committee Meeting,Administration,Contributions to the Fund at the rate of 1:1:1 from government,LAOs and people respectively. 2.Human Resource:The given human resources supported by the Provincial Social Development and Welfare Office,LAOs. 3.Equipment and Venue:The Local Government of Singburi supports Equipment and Venues for activities.The venues of coordination center(at the city hall)and sub-district coordinating space is also supported by government. 4.Private and Business sectors:The support of money materials and knowledge for organizational management is provided.

For the people,the project transformed their mindset from being a receiver to being a giver who sacrificed what they have in order to help others, and shared within the community.It encouraged them to acknowledge the problems of others. It change the way that government serves the people as a receiver to be as a partner participating and change the form of policy development to be more people-centered. The community will determine the scope of work and qualifications of stakeholder groups based on the needs of community by focusing on the sustainability of welfare allocation instead use of limited resources provided by government.

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1.The evaluation of the operation of welfare allocation and information management system of the fund is conducted by CODI.The evaluation method is co-organizing a learning-exchanging platform.The condition includes a continuous meeting every 3 months or 4 meetings in a year and a rising number of participants.Since some funds have problems to be resolved,the whole district committee and government organizations. 2.The evaluation of the Fund Account,is conducted by the State Audit Office.The evaluation method is organizing a meeting among the Fund Committee and related government agencies to exchange knowledge and randomly inspect the account preparation of 3 funds in the provinces.

1.Strong management/accounting and financial systems 2.Rules and Regulations 3.Transparency and Reporting 4.Traceability 5.Strong Welfare Fund Committee. 6.Fund management 7.Coverage and Inclusiveness of member participation 8.Participation and Accountability 9.Appropriate fund welfare potential which corresponds to the context area 10.The compliance of welfare in accordance with the regulations. 11.Integration,linkages and cooperation with other sectors in the society on welfare and other development activities. 12.Elevation of practice to policy or strategy State Audit Office uses the following qualification as indicators for auditing. 1.Tracking and Checking budget expenditures - Accounting system/financial system - Information system - Rules/Regulations 2.Follow up the process of enhancing the work for the Tambon Community Welfare Fund.

Fund still needs continuous funding from various sectors in order to create stability.Budget contributions from members can provide many forms of welfare and public services such as the building of a coffee shops,etc. The upcoming challenges is providing welfare in the form of money which lacks people participation.Because people receive money unconditionally,they are accustomed to be the recipient,and the Community Welfare System may not be effective.Moreover,Technology currently plays an important role in the community and society,causing the people to lack generosity and resulting in the ineffectiveness. Result The members are satisfied with the benefits they receive while some others are satisfied with the generosity of the community that provides to one-another.They can also rely on people in the community in times of distress. Sustainability People receive welfare based on cooperation from all sectors and participate in the provision of community welfare,resulting in a sense of ownership to the organization that they were involved in the establishment.In addition,there is a sacrifice and the concept of operational partnerships for fund development. Impacts/Effects The project has highly impacted. People can provide welfare for themselves and are able to manage their own welfare.This creates a system of Local Economy which leads to other types of welfare services such as housing,etc.

1.The target group in the community consists of organization managers who manage the organization in all aspects. 2.Members of the fund or people who receive community-operated welfare have an important role to support the budget for the fund as the provided suggestions in order to support fund operations,monitoring and follow-up system and other cooperation. 3.Community Welfare Fund Network Committee oversees and coordinates with the fund committee in the province so as to enable funds to be driven efficiently.Also,provide a platform for exchanging knowledge,following up and evaluating the fund continuously as well as to establish a management control system and an effective report system. Roles of government sectors are as follows: -Singburi Provincial Social Development and Welfare Office has a role in the welfare system arrangement that is suitable for Thailand.It is also involved in organizing a forum for exchanging knowledge and the contribution of budgets for community welfare funds. -CODI is involved in supporting budget,technical knowledge,and personnel to oversee the promotion of the people,to be able to provide welfare for themselves appropriately. -LAOs are responsible for providing public services for the people,supporting the people in the area to attain a good quality of life.and supports budget for community welfare fund,and providing location and personnel.

This project focuses on creating partnerships between government agencies and other stakeholders such as civil society and academia in public services, to develop government services, as well as concrete implementation beginning with the establishment of a community welfare fund, and the invitation of relevant parties to participate in the process at all levels. At the community level, villagers in every district will be invited to work together and vote for the agreed policy and activities, as well as electing the leaders by using democratic principles. The main way to drive and create cooperation is to brainstorm ideas continuously, exchanging knowledge and analyzing problems and obstacles, accepting opinions and expressions without discrimination and empowering people to express their ideas. Due to the benefits of welfare which has impacts on the members, the designs of operations must be approved by the meeting before execution. The cooperation of all sectors results in the proper care for all. For the low-income earners, welfare will be provided in many forms in order to support their well-being in society.

-The implementation of the Community Welfare Fund cannot be achieved without the correct understanding of both the operators and members about the concept of community welfare. -Operations must be based on fairness, accuracy and transparency and Community welfare must cover the basic needs of human life, resulting in love, loyalty and sense of ownership for the organization. -Government agencies need to understand their roles and continuously support the operation to reduce duplication in the operations of community welfare. -Participation of all sectors must be encouraged based on mutual support and participatory understanding. For the development of the “Leaving No one Behind by Sing Buri Community Welfare” program, it is necessary to strengthen all community welfare funds especially in the development of information systems, accounting systems, and self-help management systems. At the same time, private sectors should also support the operation of the fund by both financing and applying the fund for further benefits such as Housing Policy, which aims to provide low-income earners with safe and secure housing in a better environment, and a Community Financial Institution Policy which allows people to raise or crowdfund from people in the community through the contribution of budget for organizational management from the government.