International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and Local Non-Governmental-Organizations (LNGOs) became crucial in shaping the Local Development in Kayah State, the smallest state in Myanmar. An important activity of NGO work is to apply participation and empowerment tools in their development projects. This research assessed how both Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP)/INGO and Catholic Karuna Loikaw/LNGO took account of using participation and empowerment tools in the development processes. Specifically, the case study was done in the two villages of Kayah State which is situated in the Eastern part of Myanmar. The research analyzed whether participation and empowerment applied by the two NGOs can contribute to the local development by examining the income generation activities of a Self-Reliance-Group of ICDP and a Micro-Credit-Union Group of CKL in these two projects.

Within the state of Tamil Nadu in Southern India, there are presently 42 active leprosy colonies. The decreasing rate of leprosy in India has not been trailed by a decline in leprosy colonies, but rather, an alteration in the demographic composition of the colonies has occurred. Leprous individuals no longer make up the dominant population of a colony with leprosy colonies now consisting largely of non-leprous children and grandchildren of the patients. Consequently, life in a leprosy colony no longer equates to being a carrier of the physical deformities of the disease.

CL offers a viable means to address the access to essential medicine problem. Transnational social movements, in turn, legitimize this method. The CL campaign and the networking of transnational social movement worked in conjunction to present an alternative to pharmaceutical market order. This research evaluates the success of the transnational social movement after Thailand’s issuance of Compulsory Licensing (CL) in Nov 2006. By assessing the characteristics, reasons, and nature of the movement, this work aims to determine its sustainability for future CL movements. Research findings illustrate that the networking of transnational social movements proved necessary, if not crucial, to the success of the Thai CL campaign. This research assesses the success of the transnational social movement and its theoretical implications. 

Burma receives a paltry amount of foreign assistance. This is because donors rescinded aid and devised new policies strictly limiting cooperation with the Burmese government in response to the military’s ruthless crackdown on protests in August 1988 and the junta’s subsequent failure to establish democracy. The little assistance that remains is primarily humanitarian. This paper begins with the premise that carefully considered, attentively applied, closely monitored aid can be effective in eventually bringing about governance reforms in Burma

Between February 2005 and September 2006, Nepal incurred the most eventful bout of political happenings in the country’s recent history. The totalitarian takeover by King Gyanendra resulted in a mass people's movement numbering in the millions along with the emergence of the Communist Party Nepal-Maoists from a ten-year underground existence. This paper uses Classical Marxist Theory to show the plausibility of a Maoist-affiliated party participating in mainstream politics.

Workers around the globe seem to share the same constant up-hill struggle for dignity, justice, fairness and a decent way of life. Trade unions have been and continue to be the pivotal institution for working class people to advance their struggle for themselves, their families, and their communities. The past few decades have borne witness to ever-greater challenges to workers and their unions by those who believe they benefit from limiting the power and effectiveness of unions. Consequently, unions all over the world, including in America and Thailand, have faced setbacks in recent decades.

This dissertation focuses on the issue of media representations of reality, and analyzes the case of violence in Southern Thailand as an example of the manner in which the American media may be misrepresenting reality in its portrayal of global political events. The critical and other empirical reference sources used have been referenced and analyzed to create a theoretical framework within which to understand the media's response to the insurgency in Thailand. The study presents an overview of media effects and other theories to form the analytical framework, with special focus on theories referring to the anthoritarian, the libertarian, and the social construction of reality.

The increasing frequency of disaster risks due to natural hazards such as typhoons that hit the Philippines over the past years has become a major concern of disaster risk reduction (DRR) managers especially in the Province of Albay which is considered as the typhoon highway of the country. Local and national legislations have begun to address this issue by means of capacitating the local government units (LGUs) to reduce disaster risks and building the resilience of communities in Albay.

In 2006, the Myitsone Dam was proposed to be built at the confluence of Mali Hka and Nmai Hka Rivers in Kachin State by the Burmese government and a Chinese company. Whilst 90% of electricity would go to China, millions of people who depend on the Ayeyarwady River in Burma would be affected due to environmental and social impacts. The initial construction, which started in 2009, produced immediate impacts such as forced resettlement, loss of livelihoods, properties, and lands, loss Of fish species, and deforestation. Hence, local affected people opposed the project and a social movement grew that eventually included media, non-state actors and political parties. On 30th September 2011, President Thein Sein officially suspended the construction of Myitsone Dam in his presidential term until 2015.

This research explores the reasons why the State Party faces challenges in respecting and protecting the rights of child soldiers in Myanmar. It also identifies the root causes of underage recruitment and its violation of child rights, and emphasizes the actions duty bearers should take to protect children's rights. Finally, it analyzes the challenges of implementing disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs to provide economic and social services for child soldiers. The methodology of research is a qualitative approach of key informants and in-depth interviews with a concerned range of key stakeholders and child soldiers with review and research based on available secondary data.

This thesis is concerned with the fulfillment of the right to education for displaced persons from Burma in Thailand, more specifically with accreditation as an essential part of the right to education (UNESCO/IIEP, 2008). For not only does accreditation work towards the fulfillment of the right to education but it also entails that the received education is recognized by a nation-state that guarantees that said education fulfills quality standards defined by the respective government. One of the recent efforts towards this goal entails the accreditation of schools in temporary shelters along the Thai-Burmese border by the Thai Ministry of Education.

The aim of this research to examine the impact of education rights for Burmese migrant workers, especially non-formal education or vocational training. The objective of this paper is to identify the rights of migrant workers that non-formal education helps promote and protect. The case study is DEAR (Development of Education and Awareness of Refugees from Burma) Burma School which is a project of Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB).

Access to finance is at the core of the development process and it is now widely accepted that well functioning financial systems are crucial for channeling funds for productive use, thus boosting economic development. Conversely, limited availability of financial services will have adverse effects, especially for those households made vulnerable by the effects of HIV/AIDS to livelihoods - making them resort to negative coping mechanisms. Drawn from the above scenario, this thesis therefore examines the need and availability of financial services at household level, their uptake of the same, and which coping mechanisms they engage in.

This study aims to review and assess the situation of the community participation approach of the Community Based Health Development Project and find out the facilitating factors of success and obstacle when using it to improve the health services in disadvantaged areas in Viet Nam. The study area is Northern Mountainous Yen Bai Province of Viet Nam with characteristics of poor and diversity of ethnic minorities. Research methodology includes the literature on community based approach both in health and non-health sectors qualitative method and tools to measure the level of participation of community in different dimensions including needs assessment, leadership, management, organization and resource mobilizing.

Since the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 in Cairo, reproductive health has become an important component of health development strategy. The promotion of reproductive health has been known to have significant influence on the autonomy of women. Reproductive choice, especially access to high quality reproductive health services, must be secured for every woman without discrimination. In Thailand, migrant workers from neighboring countries fill unskilled labor needs of many industries.

This research explores the reasons why the State Party faces challenges in respecting and protecting the rights of child soldiers in Myanmar. It also identifies the root causes of underage recruitment and its violation of child rights, and emphasizes the actions duty bearers should take to protect children's rights. Finally, it analyzes the challenges of implementing disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs to provide economic and social services for child soldiers. The methodology of research is a qualitative approach of key informants and in-depth interviews with a concerned range of key stakeholders and child soldiers with review and research based on available secondary data.

The role of media, as "the fourth pillar" of the nation is important for country's reformation process. Media freedom (press freedom) in Myanmar got improved when reformation started in 2011. Censorship board was eliminated; a number of imprisoned bloggers and journalists were released; private daily papers are permitted to publish; some political opinions or comments are allowed in the publications.

The emergence of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has accelerated in recent years, and with it sexuality discrimination has also emerged as one of the most serious issues in Cambodia. While a number of civil society organizations (CSOs) have increased in recent years, only some have been dealing with human rights of LGBT.

Myanmar, a country that only officially opened its borders to tourists in 1996, has a new level of visibility amongst international travelers with the recent political transformations and lifting of both U.S. and E.U. sanctions. The government of Myanmar has officially adopted tourism development as one of its economic priorities, recognizing it as one of its biggest potential growth areas in the near term future.

Since the 1980s, due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, Taiwan has faced the novel phenomenon of "global house holding," indicating the increasing needs of Taiwanese males to find spouses from Mainland China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Lin, 2012). However, considering more social and criminal problems, the Taiwanese government implemented border interviews in 2004, and then the rate of the transnational marriage sharply decreased to 23.82 percent that year. These foreign-born spouses migrating from countries of a lower socioeconomic level face prejudiced expectations and commercial manipulation of marriage brokers; these conditions worsen their situation in Taiwan.

 Currently, many international aid agencies seek to contritbute to development and peacebuilding in Southern Thailand, yet recent investigation suggests that there are still many shortcomings in the realization of meaningful contributions to peacebuilding. Although development agencies and organizations through their work have the potential to contribute to and support peace work, the reality is that developmental contributions to situations of conflict are not always nor are necessarily positive ones. In considering the developmental contributions to peacebuilding in Southern Thailand, a range of development actors and outcomes are noted, highlighting the political nature of development.

In an ongoing conflict area, the contribution of partnership between International Funding Agencies (IFAs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on the entire peace building process is asserted. This study argues that IFAs' funding scheme which encourages strategic cooperation and networking between local peace actors at the vertical and horizontal levels will contribute to the development of peace constituencies. The strengthened network is to constitute a meaningful political space for grass root and middle-range leadership in multi-track peace building.

This research is intended to find out the challenges of education for people with disabilities (PWDs) in Myanmar and the factors that undermine the education development opportunity for them in Myanmar. The objectives of this research are to analyze the concept of inclusive education (IE) and its policy framework and implementation in Myanmar, to assess the government's and stakeholders' perceptions on inclusive education, to identify problems of accessibility to education faced by PWDs, and to identify an appropriate design of IE for children with disabilities (CWDs).

On 2 May 2008 the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, causing over 140,000 deaths and affecting about 2.4 million people in the country. Despite the desperate situation, the Government of Myanmar refused the humanitarian assistance offered by international development organizations and Western governments. This act caused the international community to formulate unconventional ways in order to bring relief into Myanmar. They attempted to apply the Responsibility to Protect principle but failed, and later on used disaster diplomacy tactics by utilizing ASEAN as a mediating agent to build dialogue between Myanmar and the humanitarian community.

This study focuses on the Yalannanbaru program run by the Thai army in the southern border provinces of Thailand in order to examine whether the project contributes to obtain trust from the local people. In so doing, this thesis introduces theories on trust and distrust to the conflict situation and development initiatives run by the Thai army. The study utilizes an in-depth single-case study on the Yalannanbaru program; a drugs re-education camp for youth in the southern border provinces. In the course of analysis, the notion of separate dimensions of trust and distrust is applied, acknowledging the multifaceted character of many relations and the possible coexistence of trust and distrust in a relationship.

This study aims to identify and assess existing efforts of the local people in managing natural disaster at the community level. It also explores the necessary conditions for the promotion of community-based disaster management focusing on three communities of Bogale Township, Ayeyarwady delta, including Ma Gu Ywar Ma, Pay Chain Lay and Thar Yar Gone villages. Exploratory and qualitative methods are used in the study. Analysis is based on empirical field observations guided by disaster management framework of the UN agencies, international non-governmental organizations and local non-governmental organizations concerned. The study evaluates the government policies and framework on disaster management, and the role of local communities in disaster relief activities. Local household members were interviewed.

This research investigates the impacts of the community environmental education program implemented by the Pan Kachin Development Society Environmental project in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State, Myanmar. The study aims to ascertain the role of international aid agencies in this post-political conflict region. A participatory approach was employed in field research, and an outcome-based evaluation comprising the planning-process-product model was applied for measuring the impacts of the program. Measurements were derived from the qualitative data collected based on the activities of two key villages, namely: Prang Ngwan and Seng Mai Pa.

The 1996 Khmer Rouge (KR) defections were a precursor for the ultimate termination of Cambodia's protracted civil. During the Royal Government of Cambodia's (RGC) first mandate, KR factions broke from the hard-line KR elites and negotiated with the government. The Win-Win policy encouraged these defections. This policy was based on economic goals, a power sharing agreement and promises of development for marginalized areas.

63,000 children from Myanmar who were under age 12, registered as migrants in July 2004 in Thailand though the number can be higher taking into account unregistered children. Most of the children are deprived of their needs, which are essential for their development in life. One of the most important needs for Myanmar migrant children lies in the area of education. The objective of the study was to assess the situation of Myanmar migrant children vis-a-vis education in Thailand and to identify the barriers to their education.

This study discusses the issue of human trafficking, which focuses on Khmu girls who are trafficked into Thailand. It explores what mechanisms of protection are offered to Khmu victims of human trafficking to reach an approach of sustainable reintegration into their places of origin in order to ensure their human security. There are many Khmu girls from Luang Namtha, the northern poorest province in Laos, who move to Thailand to seek new opportunities. In 2014, there are 150 Khmu girls who are victims of human trafficking in shelter in Thailand.

The issue of trafficking in persons for the purposes of labor exploitation is growing phenomenon amongst migrant workers from Myanmar who are working in Thailand's commercial fishing industry. Along with the development of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the opening up of cross-border trade and work flows, this problem can only be expected to continue grow so long as the root causes remain unaddressed.

The research finds out the link between human security and migration through the lived experience of Indonesian domestic workers (IDWs) from recruitment to settlement in Malaysia. Objectives of the research are to identify the potential threats of human security among IDWs, to analyze the respond of IDWs to such threat, and to evaluate the legal mechanisms applicable to protect them. It uses qualitative methods to gather information from key informants with semi-structured and in-depth interviews.

This study was framed around the concept of the right to access healthcare services. Article 25, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, states that everyone has the right to a standard of living that is adequate for their health and well-being, including medical care and necessary social services. The studies intended to describe the Myanmar migrant profile in Selayang, Kuala Lumpur, identify barriers to maternal and child healthcare (MCH) access in the population and analyze gender obstacles in health access.

There are hundreds of men, women and children employed to transport commercial goods between Thailand and Cambodia. Through qualitative research, social mapping, and network theory we try to develop a better understanding of this complex livelihood. This case study paints a picture of Poipet's cart pullers and porters and the labour practices and the short-term cross-border migration situation of frontier workers. The research examines their reality and frames their situation in terms of personal and economic security, migration and labour protection mechanisms for cart pullers and porters. This research couples an overview of a complex socio-economic picture with the first-hand experiences and daily challenges that cart pullers and porters face at this bustling economic corridor.

Previous research has acknowledged that labour migration have had huge benefits for both receiving and sending countries of migrant workers. Thai migrants seasonally traveling to Sweden to pick wild berries have been an ongoing trend since the past two decades. Simultaneously there has been a drastic decline of Swedish labour in the wild berry picking industry. Since the year 2000 there has been an increasing number of Thai berry pickers; in particular rural people from the North-east parts of Thailand. It has been recognized that migration and development are interdependent processes which profoundly influences one another, where migration policies nowadays are developed to take on a development approach.

The objectives of international refugee regime are to provide the three durable solutions for refugees in an attempt to end the cycle of displacement: voluntary repatriation, local integration, and third country resettlement. In case the voluntary repatriation and local integration are not viable options for those in exile, the UNHCR in collaboration with NGOs would seek another approach to protect the lives of refugees, and therefore the third country resettlement would be preferred.

My study focuses on analyzing how the foreign domestic workers in the Maldives resist the cultural alienation that they experience within their workplace and the society at large. The relatively large migrant worker population in the Maldives lives in an environment with heavy restrictions on their rights, limited mobility and limited physical space and privacy. Their vulnerability is emphasized by the limited legal protection, inadequate institutional support and limited voice of migrant workers in the media. The domestic workers work in households, and are often isolated and hidden from the view, making the group potentially an even more vulnerable group within the migrant workers. However, several studies on migrant workers had described their agency in finding ways to resist and respond to socially, culturally and politically restrictive situations. Through participatory fieldwork with Sri Lankan Singhalese domestic workers, I explore how they resist their cultural alienation by redefining their identities and through the use of social networks and by negotiating place and space.

Over the last decade a growing consensus has emerged to address climate change, and international agreements on the regulation of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses (GHGs), namely the Kyoto Protocol, have come into full effect. Under the Kyoto protocol, developed countries agreed to reduce emissions of GHGs by an average of 5% of 1990 levels by 2012. Three mechanisms were set up, including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows Annex 1 (developed) countries to source a percentage of their emission reductions within developing countries.

n environmentally friendly, reliable source of energy, and access to it, can be seen as a critical element in supporting sustainable development at the local community level. Additionally, for developing countries in particular, e.g. renewable energy projects have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide finance through the clean development mechanism (CDM). The main objective of this thesis is to explore how the high transaction costs of small-scale CDM projects can be reduced. Bundling several small-scale CDM projects together and developing them as one larger CDM project bundle is one option.

River basins create hydrologic interdependencies that force States to negotiate their interests and national security within a regional context. A hydropolitical security complex emerges when States consider shared resources as a major national security issue. Changes within the political economy of the Mekong basin create new security issues as multiple interests complete for the Mekong’s shared resources. In particular, China has begun developing the upper portions of the Mekong River, which could change the quantity and quality of downstream flows and could impede other States’ ability to fulfill their national agendas vis-à-vis the Mekong.

This study investigates hydropower development in Bhutan, and analyses its roles of sustainability through the frame-work of water governance, focusing on the decision making process. The Royal Government of Bhutan's aspiration to achieve "economic self-reliance" by the year 2020 has accelerated the construction of hydropower in various river basins. However, with its limitations on the implication of effective decision-making process and the nation's water governance, impacts and resistance have emerged at the Local level where the hydropower project are developed.

Lhunste is one of the least developed districts in the eastern part of Bhutan with 43% of population below poverty line. The elected government decided to construct the Shingkhar-Gorgan road which passes through Thrumshingla National Park (INP) to reduce poverty. However, the country's existing laws and policies prohibit roads passing through national parks and protected areas. Therefore, NGOs and other concerned stakeholders have raised concerns towards the government's decision. This thesis examines the competing policy priorities between poverty reduction and environmental protection in Bhutan in which the Shingkhar-Gorgan road is being debated and acted upon by various concerned stakeholders. The information used in the study was collected from two main sources: documentary research; and in-depth focus-group and individual interviews with key informants, including two environmental NGOs, two government stakeholders responsible for environmental protection, a Member of Parliament, and informants from Lhuntse District it includes Jarey, Metsho and Menbi Gups (local leaders) and residents in Gorgan.

Recycling, as proposed by the UN to be one of the means to achieve sustainable development, has not been practiced sufficiently at the household level in Bangkok where waste problem is endemic. This research focuses on recycling in Bangkok's gated communities of which their prevalence and consuming-class residents render them an ideal target group for a source separation program. The roles of three major stakeholders were examined -- the gated community itself, the private recycling agent, and the local authority in charge of waste management.

Vedan Vietnam, a fully-owned Taiwanese enterprise, had polluted The Thi Vai River in the South of Vietnam from 1994 to 2008 and had caused negative impact to health and livelihoods of thousands local farmers living along its basin in Ba Ria­Vung Tau, Dong Nai provinces and Ho Chi Minh City. In response to the negative impact caused by the river pollution, local communities had reacted to the case from 1994 to 2011 with different strategy and actors to empower themselves to strengthen local environmental governance and to stop the pollution.

This study examines organic rice contract farming in Cambodia and its impact on farmers' livelihood and land tenure. The study's objective is to gain a better insight of the terms and conditions of rice contract farming scheme in Cambodia, and determine under what conditions contract farming could bring improvements to farmers' livelihoods and strengthen land tenure security. This study contributes new research findings on farmers' livelihood and land ownership changes due to organic-rice contract farming with a case study in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia.

Community based natural resources management (CBNRM) is regarded as a significant strategy in the conservation of natural resources and sustainability of rural livelihoods in Cambodia, helps to reduce poverty and increase local participation in resources management. This research aims to investigate the implementation of this approach at the local level with the special attention to its outcomes towards the sustainability of women's and men's livelihood and their roles in generating activities. The study uses data from both of primary and secondary sources. The secondary data are relied on books, research documents and reports while the primary data are derived from field research, using the case study method.