Community cohesion refers to the extent of connectedness and solidarity among residents living in a community of place. While a community may be diverse in ethnicity and age groups, they can be united through sharing a common set of norms and values shaped through local history, stories, interactions, celebrations, and music that occur in everyday spaces.
In face of changes from urbanization, modernization, as well as migration, the values and beliefs of the community should be regularly consolidated to ensure that change and development occur in accordance with its values. A united set of values and beliefs can guide community members in terms of its vision, mission, and the way in which it develops and allocate its resources to community members.
- For faith-based communities, study the existing values and beliefs that underlie their faith or religion, and can leveraged to drive community members to action, see Case Study 1.1a for example.
- For communities that are more diverse in ethnicity or faith, create community conversations and art events for community members to reflect on the diversity/changes in their community, and core values that they want to uphold. These values may not be faith-based but anchored on ethical beliefs (e.g. justice, respect for older persons or excellence) that resonate across groups.
Practiced by the majority of the population, Theravada Buddhism is the official religion of Thailand and plays a key role in many aspects of Thai culture. A key concept of Thai Buddhism is making merit – donating time, service, possessions, or money, most often to Buddhist temples or to Buddhist monks.
The belief is that by doing good deeds, one can accumulate merit, eventually achieving enlightenment and be free from the endless cycle of rebirth and suffering. This belief has been influential over generations of Thai people and has been regularly referred to promote mutual aid, see Case Study 1.1b.
- Celebrate exemplary individuals who espouse the core values of the community. For example, most communities or societies promote volunteerism to give back to the community. This could be encouraged through offering awards to the ‘Volunteer of the Year, see Good Practice 2.6 which will raise the social value of becoming volunteers, and their sense of generativity.
- Tap on popular cultural festivals or events to promote community values, particularly those around mutual aid. For example, encouraging fund-raising and donation of service to those in need as part of the spirit of giving celebrated in Christmas, Lunar New Year, or any other religious events, see Case Study 1.1b.
A popular cultural practice in Thailand is the donation of items to Buddhist monks, through ceremonies like the Pha-Pa ceremony that is regularly practiced by Thai people. This practice has been modified and recreated in the Don Kaew subdistrict of the Chiang Mai province to promote community mutual aid. Instead of giving only to the monks, community members gathered necessity items and gave them to bedridden people and older persons in need.
Other initiatives using Pha-Pa include raising funds for volunteering work, which helped the local community to mobilize resources during COVID-19. Doing so taps on the same belief of gaining merit, to benefit other community groups.
- Teach community members to brand their community through mottos, logos or telling of local stories that communicate their core values and aspirations, see Case Study 1.1c.
- Document and create educational materials for youths or new community members to learn about the core values of the community, stories of community members, as well as reflect on how they can be expressed as they live and interact with other community members. For example, Don Kaew set up volunteering colleges as well as Sunday schools to teach youths to reflect on the relevance of Buddhist teachings and values in everyday life see Case Study 1.1d.
- Offer community members platforms to exercise values they can relate to through action. For example, empowering community members to decide what they want to do for their community (e.g., initiating projects to improve their neighborhood).
Community leaders, and local government staff in Don Kaew were trained through participatory activities to build their capacity to communicate the vision, values and goals of their community’s efforts. Part of the training involved storytelling and branding skills to showcase their local history knowledge, and products. These training were conducted as part of the learning network created by the Don Kaew subdistrict administrative organization.
Since its inception as an autonomous subdistrict, Don Kaew has endorsed volunteering as the community ‘DNA’, shaping its meaning beyond gaining merit to also gaining ‘dignity’ and respect from others to improve one’s social status. To prevent erosion of values, a specific community curriculum called ‘Don Kaew spirit of volunteering’ was initiated, aimed at sharing its experience of promoting volunteerism.
The curriculum was adapted to different target groups, including youths, government staff across other Subdistrict Administrative Organizations. Some of their materials has also been adapted for use in primary schools set up by the subdistrict, as well as Sunday Buddhism school in Don Kaew, where students are also encouraged to volunteer through internships, home visit, and other types of service.
Communities guided by a common set of values and beliefs are more likely to develop a stronger Sense of Community (CC4) and Place Attachment (CC6). These values and beliefs strengthen the social capital of the community that can be tapped on in times of need to drive mutual aid, see Good Practice 3.3 on catalysing mutual aid. In the case of Don Kaew, deliberate efforts by the subdistrict organization to teach volunteerism in schools, helped them to further institutionalize volunteerism at a wide level.
The success of their efforts was evident in how many mutual aid groups sprang up to help vulnerable groups during COVID-19 and their high level of volunteerism (up to 40% of the population). Consolidating community values and beliefs is an essential building block for community resilience so communities can be more cohesive, drive mutual aid, and strengthen their Services and Support (CC14).
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