Community Participation in administration of Pak Kret Municipality, Nonthaburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research are 1) to study roles, characteristics, and components of Pak Kret Municipality community, Nonthaburi Province, 2) to study levels of community participation in administration of Pak Kret Municipality, Nonthaburi Province, 3) to compare the levels of community participation in administration of Pak Kret Municipality, Nonthaburi Province, and to suggest guidelines for promoting the community participation in administration of Pak Kret Municipality, Nonthaburi Province. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to study; in terms of the quantitative method, 400 Pak Kret Municipality residents were sampled with stratified random selection. Questionnaires were distributed to study opinions of the community the statistics used for data analysis include frequency, percentage, means and standard deviation. As for qualitative method, 17 administration personnel members in Pak Kret Municipality and the community committee were interviewed with semi-structured interview forms, and content analysis were conducted subsequently. The results of the research reveal that 1) the roles and responsibilities of the Pak Kret Municipality Nonthaburi Province Community encompass four main points as follows: (1) to promote awareness of unity, (2) to perform as a leader organization in carrying out various activities in the community (3) to serve as a mediator in listening as well as collecting opinions and problems of the community and (4) to act as a project coordinator among groups in the community. The components of the community consist of one (1) community committee chairman and eight (8) or below community committee members. The opinion towards the community participation indicates strength at high level ( = 4.12, S.D. = .45). The research suggests that Pak Kret Municipality residents with different age, education level, and marital status does not show a significant difference in opinions towards the community participation. However, Pak Kret Municipality residents with different sexes and incomes point out a significant difference in opinions towards the community participation, p = 0.05. Finally, to develop guidelines for the community, it is found that seven (7) guidelines can be applied: (1) Creating love, sense of unity, and support among the residents,
(2) Promoting clear and distinct administration and community participation, (3) Ensuring life and properties security in the community, (4) Promoting household’s income and career stability, (5) Encouraging continuing group activities in the community, (6) Building external relationship with other agencies, and (7) Developing all-encompassing community infrastructure and public assistance