การพัฒนาชุมชนนวัตกรรมต้นแบบเพื่อการจัดการตนเองบนฐานปรัชญาเศรษฐกิจพอเพียง ในพื้นที่จังหวัดน่าน

Title

The development of an innovative community for self-management based on the philosophy of sufficiency economy in Nan province

Keywords

Smart community,Strengthening Community,grassroots economy community based on the comprehensive resource,philosophy of sufficiency economy

Abstract

The implementation of the development of an innovative community for self-management based on the philosophy of sufficient economy in Nan Province consists of 2 sub-projects:

1) Innovation development project to enhance the community economy based on capitals of resources and culture of the community.
2) Forest landscape restoration project and community well-being. The objectives are:

1) to develop and create appropriate innovations that can be applied in the development of community capacity and can be developed as a prototype area for self-management based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy.

2) to create community innovators who have the capacity to learn and apply innovations to problem solving and self-management.

3) to transfer knowledge and technology from research results to expand its use in the community to create alternative careers and income that leads to the development of a better quality of life.

4) to create a mechanism of collaboration between stakeholders in forest landscape restoration in Nan. The implementation is based on Mix Method Research and has a project area that works together with communities which have geosocial diversity. The communities, that are selected, have “local capital” and “potential” which are prompt to be developed as a prototype area in order to expand its results

Part 1) Innovation development under the project is to design creative new processes. It is a development and an adaptation of the existing products to be more modern, more effective, and more efficient and to match the local context. The innovation that is created is called “Process Innovation” which is to create a mutual learning area. It is to generate the empowerment and thinking process of community innovators. Also, it is to provide the designs and to select a body of knowledge to enhance the potential of the community in the project area, consisting of 6 areas:
(1) Developing community products with wisdom and innovation by upgrading the local plant Ma Kwan (Zanthoxylum limonella), extracting essential oils, and developing new products.
(2) Building a community economy is ช based on capitals of resources and culture of the community by bringing the local capital of the community in the form of livelihood, culture, and wisdom, and also community forest management in each locality to connect to the body of knowledge and modern management in order to create economic value.
(3) Community Plan for Disaster Management: Climate Change. “Community water planning process” is therefore applied to show the overview of the sub-district group network and is used for decision-making in the preparation of drought preparedness plan at the community level.
(4) Development of prototype community areas for self-management (New occupation to replace growing maize): Although the problem is not completely solved, it creates the process of mutual learning of the community and to envision options and opportunities to appoint community-level strategy in order to generate income and to replace monoculture with the environmentally friendly production. Thus, people are able to adapt to changes knowingly.
(5) Lessons on water management with technology and innovation (from the lesson of Muang Jung model and in the case of living weirs) are considered as a lesson which is upgraded as a learning resource for agricultural water management in Nan province.
(6) Assessment of services from ecosystem and application of academic principles as a tool for forest restoration with scientific data for decision-making will effectively promote forest landscape restoration to achieve its goals.

Part 2) Development of the potential of community innovators in the project consist of 39 people from 10 sub-districts who are empowered and generated the thinking process of community innovators. Asking “Questions” have led to crystallization of the ideas of community innovators more or less. Academics and mentors in the area design and select the body of knowledge and connect partners who have specific expertise to support community innovators. Acquiring community innovators is another important step of spatial development. In the role of a mechanism in the local area, this research therefore focuses on the process of creating community innovators who are the owners of the problems to arise, manage the problems, and perform their duties on their own.

Part 3) Knowledge transfer and technology are linked to the needs of each community through activities that are connected. In the first objective of the operation, it ซ finds that the community has applied knowledge in 6 areas in creating careers, improving the quality of products and services to create added value, development and problem solving of the community in a concrete way.

Part 4) Establishing a mechanism for collaboration among stakeholders in the forest landscape restoration in Nan province is an expected tool as an opportunity to find an appropriate mechanism model which is called Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM). The workshop allows stakeholders in forest landscape restoration of Nan province to exchange knowledge and learn together. It leads to the development of mechanisms that can be adapted to the context in mobilizing the operation with data and applying the academic principles as a framework for reviewing forest restoration tools. A focus on systematic monitoring planning to obtain scientific information for decision-making will facilitate forest landscape restoration to achieve its goals more effectively.

Part 5) Analysis of Social Return on Investment on project of the development of an innovative community for self-management based on the philosophy of sufficient economy in Nan Province by using the fundamental data from interviews and document examination from both 2 sub-projects and from 16 stakeholders show total net benefit of 13,479,597.29 baht from a total investment of 6,067,300 baht, which provides a social return on investment equal to 2.2. If only considering the investment from the total research project budget of 5,500,000 baht, this project produces a social return on investment equal to 2.45. Therefore, research fund of 1 baht receives a social return of 2.45 baht over a period of 3 years.

Part 6) The project management from attending the meeting with the peoples sector network through the Nan Forum reflects about working in the area on how to make researches from various departments to be able to apply to solve problems based on knowledge bases in order to create synergies for sustainable development of the area. At present, although there are a working mechanism at the local level, a cooperation between government agencies, local government organizations, the peoples sector, and the private sectors; it lacks only academic departments that have not clearly participated in the existing mechanism. Therefore, it is the origin of the research problem development.  The role of the university in mobilizing the project by the research team is to design and choose a body of knowledge which is used to answer the communitys needs. It also plays a role as a coordinator between researchers, academics, government agencies and individuals in areas to work together in the form of multidisciplinary in order to draw the potential that is the strength of each sector to combine and work together on spatial operations, developments, and problem-solving in the area directly to the point. Therefore, it causes good change by adopting the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy which is an important guideline for communities to have access to information, knowledge, and good immunity. Finally, the members of communities are able to adapt and survive in society knowingly.