Since 2016, the Thai Government has pursued a twenty-year national economic growth policy, Thailand 4.0, promoting innovation and stimulating international investment through the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project. The EEC project involves significant land acquisition resulting in the need to relocate villagers with potential impact on food security in a major food production area. This research explored the concerns of a local farming community regarding the potential loss of their farmland and means of livelihood under the EEC project using a case study in Ban Pho District of Chachoengsao (CCS) province. It described their resulting action to protect their farmland using community organizing. Data was collected through documents, observation and semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders. The results demonstrate the role of social capital in community organizing. We contend that high social capital stock is a necessary precursor to create conditions for community members to take steps to defend and protect their interests. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of social capital in community organizing in cases involving natural resource management.
This article reports upon the efforts of three social work/social science academics in partnership with social and community practitioners, at radicalising community development (CD) within social work. The project was motivated by painful political events and processes unfolding around the world in 2017 and led to the design of a participatory action research approach with thirty-three practitioners. Engaging in several cycles of research (pre- and post questionnaires, observation, focus groups and interviews) and action learning (a popular education knowledge exchange day, a community of practice day and prototyping new projects) several new initiatives were implemented, including the formation of a new Popular Education Network. Reflections and discussion consider the implications of radicalising CD within social worker practice through combining education, organising and linking to progressive social movements. The article overall makes the case that popular education could be a crucial element in enabling the radicalisation of CD within social work.
In a rapidly changing and unpredictable global environment, there is new impetus to draw on
community development approaches in the face of complex practice challenges that include the
long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As social work and community development educators
in Ireland and Australia, the question becomes how can we respond in a time of major
‘disruption’ where there are both opportunities and constraints? This paper
settles on this pause and uncertainty to seek new approaches to prepare social work students
for changing conditions. Long-standing questions re-surface in relation to social, economic,
political and environmental structures and conditions that are located in a neoliberal
framework. The paper explores challenges and opportunities facing educators and social work
students through a core set of principles—critical, relational and connected—that
underpin our community development pedagogy. Within these themes, we explore teaching practices
which seek to create a ‘Community of Learners’, generate a process of
collaborative critical inquiry, engage students in reflective praxis enriched by contemporary
theory and research, and foster a deep, connected and adaptive perspective on global and local
issues. This stimulates creativity and meets the need for critical and adaptable practitioners
capable of practical action through this period of disruption and crises of governance, climate
and technologies of the future.
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