Sustainable Community Development to Reduce Inequality : A Case Study of Southern Border Provinces of Thailand

Abstract

The following research studies the level of community development and comparative factors analysis which affects community development. The purpose of the research is to propose a sustainable development model which alleviates inequality in the southern border provinces of Thailand. The research is a mixed method research. Quantitative research instruments used in this study were questionnaires. There were 400 respondents from five provinces naming Satun, Songkla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat province. The sampling techniques used were quota sampling and accidental sampling. On the first part, data collection was conducted via surveys in which it employed mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis as means to data analysis. For qualitative method, data collection was conducted semi-structured in-depth interview, and purposive sampling technique had been employed for the selection of 20 major informants. The result revealed that the level of community development in the five southern border provinces from economic, social, and environmental aspect is at a high level. Comparatively, the result showed that factors affecting community development such as trade and investment promotional strategy in the economic area had the most effect on community development; followed by environmental, traditional, and southern border tourism promotional; and agricultural and agro-industrial processed products marketing development. From the results, the researcher therefore proposes an ESE Development Model which is a community development model that aims to alleviate inequality and promote sustainability development in the southern border provinces following the Three Pillars of Sustainability comprised of ‘economic’, ‘social’, and ‘environmental’ dimensions jointly with the three strategies for southern border provincial development as a key development strategy.