SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt

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The Meaning of Sufficiency Economy
International Conference
The second Inpaeng mission was to promote community entrepreneurship.
Given that food security had been established, generally, forest-like plantations
provided more than the family annual consumption. Food preservation and
transformation were required to manage the excess. Marketing and financial
management of the product should be implemented through community
entrepreneurs. Local milling groups, organic fertiliser production, herbal medicine
manufacturing and wild berry juice production were examples of the community
entrepreneurship demonstrated through the Inpaengcentre.
The third mission was to establish the community welfare system. To promote
community welfare, saving or microfinance groups have been formed. Members of
the saving group don’t need collateral to borrow money. The interest gained from
lending is used for member’s benefits such as money for hospital admission and
funeral funds.
It is evident that these three missions were interconnected. When families
established their food security, they were more likely to have excess production (first
mission). The knowledge and technology were required to preserve, transform and
manage excess production (second mission). Finally, a system was required for
distributing the products to the market, for managing financial business and for
strengthening community welfare (third mission).
In conclusion, the Inpaeng network promotes self-reliance and sustainable
integrated agricultural production, and in food security. Spiritually it promotes
moderation, thoughtfulness/consideration, encourages ecological-friendliness and
morality.
The Social capital of the Inpaeng network
The relationship between social capital and health can be reviewed from many
studies(Kawachi et al. 1996; Kawachi et al. 1997; Kennedy et al. 1998). In recent
years, concepts of social capital have been studied for the benefit of health
promotion. Social capital can be defined as characteristics that reflect the
connectedness of community members and neighborhood. These characteristics
include social network, social norms, social engagement, social cohesion and trust
(Kawachi and Kennedy 1997; Putnam 1995). Social capital can be inferred to all
forms of social aggregation, bounding and bridging for the purpose of its members’
mutual benefit(Baum and Ziersch 2003). Social capital can be considered as a
determinant of health and well being. Putnam argues that people who live in high
social capital communities have lower risk for premature death and many major
diseases including cancer and heart attacks compared to those who live in low-social
capital communities(Putnam 2000). In the field of oral health, Watt suggests that
social capital should be an important framework for oral health promotion(Watt
2002). Some research shows the studies of social capital and oral health or oral
health-related issues(Gilbert et al. 2003; Holtgrave and Crosby 2006).