Lesson Learned through Self-Management of Amnat Charoen Province’s Community Organization Network in Empowering Local Self-Government

Abstract

The objective of this research is to study the development lessons learned by Amnat Charoen Province’s community group network called “The Local Self-Governing Community Organizations of Amnat Charoen Province”. This is a network of civil society organizations with a role based on the concept of citizen-centered, communitybased decentralization, development and local self-government. Using qualitative research methods and descriptive analysis, the study explores the concepts of decentralization, local self-government, and local self - governing community. 

It is found that the local self-governing community organizations of Amnat Charoen Province’s network is a large network of civil society organizations. The network has parallel working mechanisms for development issues network alongside an area-based network throughout the province, with a cooperation policy along with. The result was that development for several issues among the groups of networks facilitated expansion in all areas of the province all areas, then the role of self-reliance and potential of the network were accepted by the governor of Ammnat Charoen Province. The people’s organization had opportunities to participate in local administration as an extension of network collaboration. Along with the relationship between decentralization and local
self-governing, the network helped promote local solidarity through collaboration among
people’s organizations. Therefore, the study suggests that local governments should
adjust their role in order to create the potential for local self-reliance from a local base,
which may lead to increasing the potential for people’s organizations and networks to
participate in policy decision-making and local development planning.