Management of Community Welfare Fund for Self-reliance in Suphanburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to study the development of community welfare fund management in Suphanburi province, (2) to study the management efficiency of model communities in Suphanburi province, (3) to explore current situations and problems in managing community welfare funds in Suphanburi province, and (4) to propose the development guidelines to develop community welfare fund management plans for self-reliance in Suphanburi province. The sample group consisted of 482 persons who involved in the community welfare fund management in 13 sub-districts of Suphanburi province. In the case of qualitative part, purposive sampling was used in key informant selection. In case of quantitative research, cluster random sampling was used in sample selection. Data collected from in-depth interviews, a survey, and a focus group discussion. Content analysis was adopted for qualitative data analysis and statistical analysis for quantitative data.

The research found that first, the operation of the community welfare fund in Suphanburi province has improved in several ways. But there are still problems with the fund management capability of the committee and the ways to increase the fund members. Second, there are various ways to manage the fund successfully, depending on the community nature and the committee experience in rural development. Third, according to the people involved in the fund management, the member’s readiness and social benefits from community welfare fund were at high level. But the opinion on the problems of community welfare fund management was at moderate level. Fourth, public relations to acknowledge people about the community welfare fund management, strengthening confidence in the operation of the fund, balancing the income and expenditure, and participatory management of the funds for self-reliance are sugested to improve their fund management.