The Development of Participatory Process of Praichumpol and Bandong Communities, Phitsanulok Province, Thailand

Abstract

The participatory process is very important for community development. The participants expressed the social awareness and empowerment of villagers in solving the community problems and devote for the benefits of their communities. In this research, it applied the participatory process by using rural constitutional development. The article showed the case study of two communities (Praichumpol and Bang Dong) in Phitsanulok province, the lower Northern part of Thailand. It focuses on the process of rural constitutional development from a formation of the rural constitution to the adoption of the rural constitution. The research results found that the rural constitution begins from the process of cooperation among local and community leaders, academicians, local organizations, civil society, and the community. Then, it is organizing a meeting for sharing and proposing ways to solve the communities’ problems. After that the public hearing process organized for drafting and revising the rural constitution of the community, before they adopted the rural constitution together. Therefore, the rural constitutional development contributed to the participatory process of community which is the foundation of community-based participatory democracy. The major factor of participation comes from social awareness in the community issues, cooperation among local and community leaders, and civil society, academicians and local organizations. The rural constitution reflected the aspires and demands of villagers in health, economic, environment, and social development.