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Community Forest Support Group

The Community Forest Support Group (CFSG) was established in 1993 through the collaborative efforts of the Social Research Unit at Chiang Mai University, various local communities and the Northern Development Foundation.

The goals of the Community Forest Support Group include supporting local communities residing in watershed areas in their efforts to implement village-level environmental conservation projects and activities; support grassroots networks of community forestry practitioners in their efforts to increase local participation in public policy decision-making processes affecting their communities; provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on community forestry issues through various media and events, including a bi-monthly news magazine and a weekly documentary television program; educate children and youth groups on various conservation issues and to help them understand the lifestyles of watershed communities; and, to create opportunities for dialogue between city and countryside dwellers to promote understanding of the ways of life and conservation efforts of watershed communities.

The Community Forest Support Group operates under the Northern Development Foundation (NDF), which supports village-based watershed and natural resources conservation and management through the strengthening of peoples' organizations (PO) and PO networks, organizational and personal development of NGOs and NGO workers, as well as raising awareness of conservation issues in the broader community. NDF also focuses on the need to analyze government natural resource management policy and to explore alternative development strategies to create an equitable and sustainable society. The emphasis is placed on building the capacity of peoples' organization networks to fully participate in the public policy decision-making processes affecting their communities.

The Community Forest Support Group organizes study trips throughout the year to villages implementing successful community forestry projects throughout Northern Thailand. These trips are aimed at educating Thai citizens from urban areas about the lifestyle and culture of the people residing in these areas, as well as giving villagers and city folks an opportunity to learn about each other's cultures, build friendships, and break down prevalent misconceptions and prejudices regarding villagers' lifestyles and relationship to the forest.

The Community Forest Support Group offers training in areas requested by local villagers such as, communication training sessions for village leaders aimed at increasing communication between villagers and government officials; a Fund Management training for village leaders, aimed at enabling villages to manage community forestry funds and implementation plan at both the community and network levels, and a Design Workshop for female leaders in the Mae Ping Watershed Network aimed at educating women on adapting their traditional textile designs to suit the market in the cities, thus generating income for themselves and their communities.

50% of the profits from the hand-crafted items produced through CFSG's fundraising program is used for awareness raising concerning community's resource management. Most of the villagers have the skills for crafting, but they lack training in design, so that CFSG provides support for this as well as in marketing. All hand-crafts are made from the natural materials.