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