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TRAVEL PULSE

Making development sustainable
in Thailand
by Lawrence Watson
Lawrence Watson is a retired management consultant who
recycled himself in 2000 to assist social enterprises develop sustainable economic activities. Lawrence is a member
of the advisory board of the Mae Fah Luang Foundation
(under Royal patronage) and the Doi Tung Development
Project-Thailand. He lives in Brussels.

In April, the UN General Assembly examined
progress made in Alternative Development (AD)
projects (“alternatives” to the cultivation of narcotic
plants like opium). At last, there is recognition that
narcotics are not the core “supply-side” issue – rather
they are a symptom of the real root cause - poverty.
So the challenge is to make AD projects truly effective over the long term and increasingly the development community is using the word “Sustainable”,
demonstrating an expectation for more tangible
results from such projects. One of the countries at
the forefront of this effort has been Thailand.
For over 15 years I have had the opportunity to
observe a well-respected Thai royal foundation
(MFLF), founded by the Thai King’s late mother “Mae
Fah Luang.” MFLF has been in the forefront over a
period of 40+years to ensure that development is
indeed sustainable - creating a set of vibrant “social
enterprises” that generate profits that – in turn – are
used for even more community development.
For me, the very word “development” suggests a
dynamic journey from an unacceptable situation
(poverty, absence of adequate health-care and
education…) to one where debts are repaid, family
incomes becomes sufficient and where savings are
generated for hard times (crop failure, floods…). The
Thai King calls this the “sufficiency economy” – a
careful balance between “enough” and wasteful
excess. Another word would be “sustainable”.
Such a balanced development process only works
however if it is underpinned by adequate health
care, education and investment in infrastructure
– integrated, holistic development.

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The Thais have understood this; working in communities in the “Golden Triangle,” they have successfully replaced opium with alternative products. Initiatives like the Doi Tung Development
Project have reforested the watershed area and
planted easy-to-grow products like bananas and
bamboo that you can use, eat and sell – a “sustenance forest”. Additionally, economic forests
were created (coffee, macadamia nuts…) where
products are professionally farmed. Elsewhere,
vegetable gardens provide even more products
for consumption and sale. More products…but
more regenerated forest!
But what’s new in that – what did the Thais do
differently? Three points resume the approach.
(1) Time required (2) Community acceptance (3) A
focus on value-added opportunities as the development journey unfolds.
1. Development takes time – quick shot 2 year
programmes can improve things temporarily
but are not enough to build sustainable change.
Value-chains and behavior change are not
created in 2 years; education alone takes 12,
providing the skills needed to undertake higher
value-added activities.