Supporting Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Local Economic Development

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Decades of economic growth in Thailand produced impressive gains in poverty reduction. As growth slowed, Government socialassistance programs lifted additional people out of poverty and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, prevented others from falling intopoverty. Tackling the remaining pockets of persistent poverty requires well-targeted and tailor-made approaches that address thestructural constraints and lack of inclusion holding back the remaining poor. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the most severecontraction in Thailand’s economy since 1997, exposing and exacerbating the economic vulnerability of rural communities. Thepandemic-included shortfall in jobs, particularly in tourist and export-related industries, has caused a reversal of migrationflows with people leaving Bangkok and other urban centers for rural areas. Poor farm households, already challenged by stagnatingagricultural productivity and increasingly dependent on non-agricultural income, are experiencing large income shocks. Withsubstantial declines in incomes and a lack of job opportunities, these households have resorted to negative coping strategies, suchas reducing food consumption, not enrolling children in school, and amassing debt. Vulnerable groups, who have traditionally beenexcluded and marginalized, are bearing a disproportionate burden of the pandemic’s impacts.Government’s rapid and effectiveinitial response helped to mitigate some of the COVID-19 impacts. Its expanded social assistance programs are estimated to haveprevented an additional 700,000 people from falling below the poverty line. Addressing the persistent vulnerability of Thailand’srural communities, amplified by the pandemic, demands a transformative approach to local service delivery and economic developmentfor longer-term term recovery and resilience.The proposed project seeks to empower communities, build institutional capacity andstrengthen conditions for local economic recovery in selected poor and vulnerable provinces. The Project will support Government’sPoverty Eradication and Sustainable Lifelong Development (PESLD) policy and in particular the income dimension of poverty asidentified by the Thai People Map and Analytics Platform (TPMAP).The project design is built on participatory local planningprocesses, improved digital platforms and tools, increased local awareness and incorporation of climate change risks and mitigationmeasures, extensive diagnostics, and expanded partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, including private sector, to triggera process of durable local economic transformation.