People's Participation in Dong Na Tham Community Forest Management Project, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand

Abstract

     This study aimed to assess the factors, extent, and outcomes of people's participation in the Dong Na Tham CFM Project and explored the influence of multi-level factors in the extent of people's participation. A total of 347 people were randomly selected for data collection using an interview schedule, including 10 project staff and five village heads in a key informant interview process. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The people were mostly male, had primary school education, low income, and had a high community attachment and favorable attitude towards participation. Project staff tended to have a coordinator management style, and resource support was moderate. People mostly lived on the mid slopes of the mountain, deemed their village leadership to be of fair quality, viewed their community as highly cohesive, and had a moderate extent of participation identified in five dimensions of benefits to them. Gender, 1-2 affiliations with organizations, community attachment, the level of resource support, leadership quality, and cohesiveness influenced people's participation in the project. No time to participate, limited resources, and less transparency in village budgeting were determined as the problems, which respondents suggested could be addressed by offering equal opportunities to all participants, providing an adequate budget, supplying equipment, training, and personnel, and undertaking funds sourcing and networking.