ABSTRACT
This chapter presents numerical indicators showing the effectiveness of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy at the community level. It assesses the value in using the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy as a framework for formulating community development plans by local communities and examines the extent to which the plans lead to sustainable development of the local community, on various measures. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy has been used extensively as a guideline for rural community development in Thailand, and has been applied directly to the operation of both local administration and local knowledge training centres. Sustainable rural development crucially depends on the capacity of local governments and organisations. Government policy on the community master plan has been implemented nationwide since 2002. In Thailand, many changes have been made to community development concepts and programs run by the Community Development Department of the Ministry of the Interior.
