Thailand

General Social and Economic Background

According to the 2007 UNDP Report on the socio-economic development of Thailand in the past three decades the country has made impressive strides. Nonethelss, the economic crisis of 1997, and the subsequent severe recession, begged an even greater urgency for an appropriate response to the needs of the poor there. Since 1990, poverty has fallen, 27% to 14%, primary school enrolment has risen, 93% to nearly 100%, and infant mortality is only about 2.7%. However, these aggregate level achievements conceal worsening inequities between regions and groups of people, especially between urban and rural areas. Poverty is still widespread in the rural Northeast, North, far South of the country and in the slums of the Capital. Household savings have declined, while the incidence and level of debt have increased. Despite a high level of school enrolment, the quality of education and inadequate training for workers prevents Thai rural people to reap the benefits of globalization and threatens their future human development. Child malnutrition persists among hill tribe people in remote northern areas like those surrounding Chiang Rai where the Good Shepherd Sisters run a program to secure hill tribe youth education and income generation for their families. Although the spread of HIV/AIDS has slowed, Thailand remains under the threat of this epidemic. There are nearly 1 million people in the country living with HIV/AIDS, a condition that is addressed by the Outreach Program run by the Good Shepherd Sisters in the villages around Nong Khai where people affected by HIV/AIDS are marginalized by their families and left without any kind of social or economic support. Other challenges include rampant narcotic drug use, social exclusion of marginalized groups, teeming slums in the Capital, disintegration of family and community, prostitution, sexual exploitation, and violence against women, all issues addressed by the Good Shepherd programs in Bangkok.

According to the UNDP Human Achievement Index (HAI) the rural provinces in the North and North East of Thailand where the Good Shepherd Sisters operate (Nong Khai and Chiang Rai) rank among the worst in the country, respectively at 57 (low) and 65  (very low).  Overall, the HAI highlights the pattern of disparity that has persisted over decades. In particular, it places Nong Khai among the five worst provinces in terms of securing employment to its citizens in safe and healthy conditions, and as the second-worst in terms of housing and environmental conditions with 80.8% of the population affected by regular floods and droughts. Chiang Rai, on the other end, ranks as the worst province in the country as far as health conditions are concerned. This province ranks second-to-last in the whole country, also according to the conditions of the family and community life.

 Good Shepherd Programs in Nong Khai

The people served by the Good Shepherd  projects in the Nong Khai province come from 83 different villages in the Isan (Northeastern) region. They are poor, even by Thai standards. The conditions in the villages where they live are harsh due to the very limited availability of water for five months out of the year. Few of the people involved in these projects own their own land and their housing varies from simple bamboo or cement block structures to wooden houses belonging to parents or other relatives. For years, breadwinners have migrated from their villages to work in the cities where they tried to earn money as labourers on building sites. Women have been forced to leave the villages to seek for income in the streets and brothels of Bangkok. Both groups have been mercilessly exploited and often became victims of trafficking to other countries. When Thailand’s economy crashed in 1997,wage earners returned from the cities to the villages jobless and they often contributed to the spread if HIV/AIDS. The Good Shepherd Sisters started several programs for the people of the villages. This project, in particular, addresses the needs of the following IGPs:

The Regina Women’s Self-help Projects, which comprises four programs in Nongkhai town, Huai Sai, Don Wai, Isan Weaving Centre,  where women are produce clothing, toys, accessorizes by hand and machine work. In 2010 these projects involved 213 women and 4 men. 171 children and elderly parents rely on the earnings of the daily attendees;

The Isan Pottery and Jewellery Centre, where 12 between men and women learn the skills of pottery and jewels production. 54 family members are supported by the earnings of the project participants;

The Hands of Hope Project, which is a card making project set up in response to the needs of income generation and overall empowerment of people living in the villages with HIV/Aids. The Good Shepherd Village Outreach Programme provides education, medical assistance and skills training. At present 39 of these people are involved in the project and there are 69 dependents relying on their earnings.

Good Shepherd Programs in Chiang Rai

The Good Shepherd Sisters are based in Phan, a small provincial town in the Chiang Rai Province, which is the most northern and most mountainous of Thailand, bordering Myanmar to west and to the north and Laos to the east. The mountains and jungles in the province are home to the “hilltribes” people a group including the Lahu, Lisu, Ahka, Hmong and Karen. These ethnic minorities are marginalized and rarely have full rights as Thai citizens; only a few villagers possess Thai citizenship, the rest are either registered as temporary migrants or undocumented.  The main reason for this is their isolation from the administrative centres.  Those who do not have birth records issued by a hospital have great difficulty qualifying for proper documents as a citizen.  The villagers live in small communities without proper water and sanitation, unreliable electricity supply.  Education is problematical, because of the lack of proper schools; some villages have dedicated a community-built structure to lower primary schooling, but, finding teachers, books and supplies is difficult. Villagers survive on meager returns of slash and burn farming and some poultry and livestock breeding. Girls are often married as young as 13 years and have several children by the time they reach the age of 18. Without stable income and little or no education, parents become easy targets for human traffickers. 

The Good Shepherd Sisters have been working hard to break this cycle of poverty, low education and human trafficking. Since 1996 they run education and vocational training programs and Income Generating activities for hilltribe girls between 12 and 20 years at the Youth Center in Phan. In the Youth Center, the sisters offer non-formal education, Thai language classes, final examinations with government schools, leadership training, sewing training in dress-making and tailoring; handcraft production, cooking classes, fruit cultivation and general agricultural training,  computer training.  

Over the last ten years the Sisters have provided education and vocational training to approximately 1,200 girls from hill tribe communities. Some of these girls wish to continue their education and stay longer at the Center to develop their skills and work in the Income Generating Porjects. In 2010 the Centre involved in Income Generating Activities 34 young girls attending schools, 16 other girls who have finished their studies and are employed full-time. In addition to them, 120 women from the villages are registered at the Centre and do piecework embroidery. These women have on average 4-5 children, so the number of dependants is about 500.

Bangkok: The Good Shepherd Programs

The Income Generating Programmes in Bangkok offer an alternative to prostitution and other forms of exploitation to 112 women from the slums of Bangkok at the Fatima Centre, to 25 single mothers at the Mother and Baby Home, to 60 girls at risk at the Teen-age Residential Project and to 14 people who work as staff members and piece workers. 618 people depend on the income of the beneficiaries of these IGPs. As far as the living conditions are concerned 65% of the participants live in the slums, 20% in rented rooms and15% in government housing.

The Fatima Self-Help Centre, the main production site, produces and exports various types of handcrafts, mainly in fabric, such as toys, clothes, accessorizes, cards.

The Fatima Centre organises also basic education and skills training programs and offer support in  finding jobs.

For more information Visit http://www.goodshepherdbangkok.com/wp/