59-05-032 Proceeding

8 Proceedings of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Congress 2. Consensus oriented: Requires harmonization of the multitude of interests in society on what has the most utility for the common good of the community and how this can be achieved. 3. Accountable: In general, an organization, institute, or society is accountable to those who are affected by its decisions/actions/inactions 4. Transparent: Decisions taken and their implementation are done according to rules and regulations; information is freely available and directly accessible to those affected, or to be affected, by such decisions and their implementation. 5. Responsive: Institutions and processes must try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe. 6. Effective and efficient: Processes and institutions must produce outcomes that meet the needs of society, while making optimal use of resources at their disposal; this also covers the sustainable use of natural resources and environmental protection practices. 7. Equitable and inclusive: A society’s well-being is predicated on ensuring all feel that they have a stake in it; not feeling excluded from the mainstream society. In particular the most vulnerable must have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being. 8. Follows the rule of law: This requires fair legal frameworks, impartially enforced; an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force. Thai government and ministries identify more than 8 characteristics for achieving good governance, but are still far from successfully achieving it. National Development Reform In a nutshell, national reformmeans to make things improve, including the quality of life. Whenwe talk of national reform, wemust take into account economic, social, and welfare systems. Development/Rural Development I believe that development does not occur unless outcomes are sustainable. Non-sustainable actions are either a quick fix or populist programs; not development. Here I use the word sustainable with the samemeaning used by theUNwhen they relate to theUNSustainableDevelopment Goals: “…development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 2 ” There are many aspects of development inThailand, but my focus is mainly on rural areas’ sustainable development. My focus is not only because I was born and worked in rural areas for a long time. It is because of the reality of the large and widening gap in access to quality of life 2 Sustainable Development: John Drexhage and Deborah Murphy. From Brundtland to Rio 2012. United Nations Headquarters, New York, September 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2014 from http://www.un.org/wcm/ webdav/site/climatechange/shared/gsp/docs/GSP16 Background%20on%20Sustainable%20Devt.pdf