Our 2006 activities:

In January 2006, Bangkok Forum invited community network in the Prang Puthon, Prang Sanpasat and Prang Nara areas and interested youth volunteers to join the activity of the Youth Cafe called the ‘Children Fair in the Old Day of the Hundred-Year- Long Communities”. The objectives of this project were to exercise the use of public space “Phuthares” among the three communities, Bangkok Forum and Bangkok people through the children fair activities. There were about 500 people, especially children and family, attended the fair and over 40 volunteers from academic institutions like Thammasat University and Sri nakarintaravirot University as well as from the corporate sector helped organizing the fair.

From April 2006 to present, the “Youth Cafe” project is fine-tuning its activities to attract the wider group of interested persons and university students from nearby areas. The project was then changed to “Bangkok Cafe” to serve that purpose. Under the wider scope of target group, the activities are composed of the community film theatre, the community eco-tourism along the Bangkok vicinity including Tawee Wattana, Nong Jok, Jom Thong, and Pra Nakrn District, for example.

Bangkok Forum also joined forces with the network alliance, for example, the Health Systems Reform Office, the Local Development Institute and the Big Bang Bangkok with a funding support from the Thai Health Fund Foundation to build the healthy Bangkok Fund from the local resources under the project “A Facilitation to Build the Healthy Bangkok Fund”. The objective of this project is to support the creation of the organization or mechanism to manage local resources to make Bangkok a healthy and happy city under the self-sufficient economic way.

A positive feedback from the public-minded people of all groups and ages in 2005 encouraged the volunteer network to launch the “Smart Giving, Smart Sharing” in the second year. A more variety of activities was designed to cover a wide range of interest of both the existing the prospective volunteers. Bangkok Forum worked with the Rak Khao Cha Mao group in organizing the volunteer camp to build the library from mud as well as to learn the community life and self-sustaining living way on August 25-27, 2006 and November 3-5, 2006 respectively. The volunteer activity of building the muddy house will also be held in collaboration with the Kang Tana Homestay group on October 19-23, 2006 .

For more information, please contact Bangkok Forum 104-106 Prang Bhuthon Road, San Chaophorsue Sub-district, Phranakorn District, Bangkok 10200, Tel: 662-622-2316, 662-228-1362, Fax: 662-228-1362 www.bangkokforum.net