Designaciones de transporte

Community groups and organisations are part of the building blocks of social capital, being one of the stocks that feed through to create higher levels of social capital as an outcome. By encouraging residents to interact, community groups can create social cohesion within a community, as residents gain familiarity with and trust in one another. Community groups also serve to empower their members, as they provide themselves with services where the state has failed, and participation in certain groups can increase income.

In order to participate in Baan Mankong, communities must have a savings group, through which members should save a 10% deposit of the total government loan to be taken out.

CODI’s predecessor, the Urban Community Development Organisation, encouraged community savings groups in low-income communities, as a way of building community

strength in collective activities. The success of community savings very much depend on the trust that the residents have in the management of the savings group – in many communities, savings activities waxed and waned, because money disappeared, eroding confidence in collective savings, or because savers were not seeing any results. For a community to maintain savings activities for long enough to qualify for a Baan Mankong loan is indicative of the trustworthiness of the savings group management, and of the faith that residents have in each other to continue their savings activities for a collective aim.

Before beginning Baan Mankong, communities also had non-savings group activities. Some of these groups have continued since upgrading, while others have died out. In many cases, these activities revolved around skills and jobs, such as sewing or artificial flower groups, functioning like cooperatives through which members would get orders. Bang Bua had a group making a liquid solution of micro-organisms that is poured down drains, improving canal water quality. Many communities also had groups for teenagers and children. These various community groups functioned on an informal basis and because they were limited to particular sectors of the community, it is hard to conclude that they were a firm basis for adding to community cohesion, though they promote closeness within the subgroups.

Following upgrading, the four communities do not seem to have formed many new groups.

The high demand that the upgrading process puts on time and resources means group activities may wane during this period, as the upgrading is a huge collective undertaking.

When residents were asked whether they were members of any groups or organisations other than community savings, the general response was “no”, other than those who qualified for the elderly person’s group (those over 60). In Klong Toey, a few respondents attend weekly meetings for the elderly at the Duang Prateep Foundation NGO. In Bang Bua community, respondents are not members of any other group, but mention that groups will be formed once all the houses are complete, as well as the community centre. There are plans, according to BB9, for a “women’s group, nursery, community cooperative for selling things”. Another respondent mentions that “they haven’t set up a housewives group yet, but there are plans for one”. Work-based cooperatives can integrate social capital with human capital, with beneficial effects on community economic capital. Hence in Klong Toey 7-12, KT3 mentioned a desire for a women’s group: “it would be good to have a group like a housewives group who could have jobs brought into the community, like making election posters”.

In Ruam Samakee, RS4 says “there used to be a skills group but now it’s tua kai tua man [each to himself]”, while RS20 explains that “there was a flower group, but they couldn’t find a market so they had to stop”. According to RS5, “the committee set up a women’s group, but for their own advantage”. This is in reference to the Mothers of the Land Fund, which is available to provide loans for small businesses or to help those in financial hardship.

Khun AP, the community leader, explains that “we got about 8,000B for 10 people. We sold 100B notes for 200B each, getting 16,000B, some of which went to making jackets”¹¹. According to Khun AP, the community also benefited from Social Investment Fund (SIF) money, totalling 500,000B, which was used to make an elderly fund. Of this, about 230,000B remains, which used to be saved within the cooperative but has been withdrawn for the Mothers of the Land group to manage. This money is used in a revolving fund, providing, for example, scholarships. Therefore, Ruam Samakee community does have a certain number of groups, though they extend mainly to funding provision. The fact that many respondents do not think there are any community groups suggests that the reach of the Mothers of the Land group is fairly limited.

Bonkai appears not to have many active groups either. According to B1, there was a housewives group that organised festivities, but it died out. B8 says there is a women’s group in another soi, while B11 is not in the women’s group, “[because] I feel too old to join”. B12 says she was “invited to join [the women’s group] but I don’t get on with the organiser so decided not to join”. Therefore, where groups do exist, there is a measure of self-selection to membership.

In terms of community-run facilities, Bonkai benefits from a long-standing community-run daycare centre, which provides an important service to residents of both the upgraded and slum sections. In Ruam Samakee, a resident voluntarily runs a health centre, with supplies provided by the government. Klong Toey 7-12 has a Microsoft-sponsored IT centre running computer classes, attracting pupils from outside the community. These community-run facilities are an important manifestation of social capital, whereby residents provide themselves with services, often with external sponsorship. In Bang Bua, there are plans to build a library and computer centre.

11 This money is revered as it is seen as coming from the Royal family. Therefore, by “buying” marked-up

Groups and organisations within the communities seem most popular when they can serve an economic benefit, such as a skills group involved in cottage industry. For most residents, lack of time precludes membership of any groups, as RS3 explains: “there are no groups. What would the group do? Most people here don’t have time, mostly they work outside the community”. As the upgrading process has increased the debt burden on community residents, the outcome is that there is even less interest in groups, unless they provide an income. Hence, Bang Bua’s plan to set up various skills group once the upgrading is truly complete will help promote the sustainability of the community, as it can ensure an additional source of income for residents. Another group for which there seems to be high demand for organised activities is the elderly. Many of the elderly feel like financial burdens on their families, and would benefit from income-generating activities they can do from home.

5.3.3 Channels: Cooperation and Collective action