Day1

17th october
Meeting in Bangkok with Mr Srijarean from the Population and community Development Association (PDA). He presents us the PDA activities : creatde in 1974, this big Thai association aims to improve the quality of life for rural residents. PDA was frst active in promoting family planning. In the 80's, it completed its action with the CBIRD program : Community Based Integrated Rural Development. This program provides technical assistance in rural areas. It is a way to form community groups and to promote self-reliance, which are crucial at this time of increasing democracy in Thailand thanks to the new 1997 constitution.
He advises us to meet the Nang Rong CBIRD center, which is based in one of the poorest rural areas in Thailand (Buriram Province).

20th october
Meeting in Nang Rong with Miss Kaensri Chaikot from the Nang Rong CBIRD center. She completes the presentation of the CBIRD program :
- First step from 1984 to 1989 : with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Thai governmental help, development of basic activities (health, population, nutrition, environmental sanitation, crop production assistance, home industry activities...)
- Second step : helping the villagers to form community and economic groups to promote a better use of financial resources and self-reliance (savings groups, fare price stores, rice marketing groups...)
- Third step : creation of village co-operatives
A total of 90 villages of the Nang Rong region have benefited from this program.
To meet our social finance expectations, she gives us more information on savings groups with the example of the Ban Kwao village. The savings of several surrounding villages are managed in Ban Kwao and monitored by a board of 12 members, democratically elected. CBIRD helped the setting up of this savings group which is now fully autonomous. CBIRD's intervention is limited to training.
The aim of this group is to give the villagers a way to escape the middle-men (usurers), to collect non-banking savings with a better remuneration rate. Each member can borrow no more than 3 times his deposit and never more than 20 000 bath (500 USD).
The results are successful, with for example for the Ban Kwao group, a loan to open a gas pump and a fair price shop. Some other groups have been less successful because of corruption.

20th october
Meeting in Ban Kwao with Mr Prapat Klong Koy, teacher and savings group trainer and Mr Bantoung Prechakul, member of the savings group board. They detail the results of the group :
- savings : 2 000 000 bath (50 000 USD) at a 7% a year rate instead of 3% in banks
- loans amount : 1 700 000 bath (42 500 USD) at 12 % a year, instead of 15 % in the banks
After 9 years, 18 villages are concerned with a total of 500 members. We finished the visit by seeing the gas pump and the village shop.