The Village Development Partnership
The Village Development Partnership developed by renowned social entrepreneur Mechai Viravaidya is an innovative endeavor to empower rural communities in Thailand and Cambodia to eradicate poverty and improve their quality of life. It is a genuine partnership between the villagers and a sponsoring company or organization, providing business skills training and capital to enable each village to have its own community owned and managed Village Bank.
The micro-credit program is managed through Population & Community Development Association (PDA), based in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Village Development Partnership developed by renowned social entrepreneur Mechai Viravaidya is an innovative endeavor to empower rural communities in Thailand and Cambodia to eradicate poverty and improve their quality of life. It is a genuine partnership between the villagers and a sponsoring company or organization, providing business skills training and capital to enable each village to have its own community owned and managed Village Bank.
The micro-credit program is managed through Population & Community Development Association (PDA), based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Village Bicycle Program
The Bicycle Program is managed by the Youth Committee in each village and supervised by the village’s Junior Officer. Students are trained on how to use and maintain the bicycles and are required to wear helmets to and from school and to keep their borrowed bike locked at all times. The children are taking ownership of the project in terms of honoring their community service requirement and managing the record keeping system. This program has proven to be very successful and with the continuing help of PDI will be expanded into other villages in Cambodia and Thailand.
The Bicycle Program is managed by the Youth Committee in each village and supervised by the village’s Junior Officer. Students are trained on how to use and maintain the bicycles and are required to wear helmets to and from school and to keep their borrowed bike locked at all times. The children are taking ownership of the project in terms of honoring their community service requirement and managing the record keeping system. This program has proven to be very successful and with the continuing help of PDI will be expanded into other villages in Cambodia and Thailand.