The Community Model : Nong Sarai sub-district

We use money as a tool for doing good deed and then we use a good deed as our credit.

Nong Sarai sub-distrcit, Panom tuan district, Kanchanaburi province consists of 9

villages and most of residents do farming for living, especially rice farming.
Siwarot Chitniyom is the deputy mayor of the sub-district and the chairman of the
Community Monetary Institute at Nong Sarai. He is one of the most important contributors
who revitalise the community.
As the community had trouble of being over 100 million Baht in debt, Siwarot
Chitniyom - the chairman of the community monetary institute intended to relieve villagers
from that crisis.

Nong Sarai community in his memory was full with happiness, villagers were like
brothers and sisters until the irrigation canal was built and the state started using GDP
money or benefit to measure economic well-being.

From planting rice once a year, villagers accelerated their productivity more
frequently. They change the way of labour exchange into wage labour and turned to use
mechanisation in the field. Additionally, pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals came into
the community. Nong Sarai people struggled to make money to go beyond the poverty line
and to buy material things they wanted. This way of life not only increased their debt but
also damaged their environment.

With a good intention of releasing villagers from being in debt, Siwarot has brought a
self-sufficient economy philosophy into practice in the community. After two years, villagers
have changed their ways of life and started building the community group in order to
cooperate in finding solutions and ways of happiness.

Siwarot and his Villager House Volunteer group come together to analyse the
situation, and then initiated to provide information and knowledge to the rest of the
community. Then they started to do the master planning process which led them to be aware
of their own capacities and able to find the solutions and improve the quality of life. They
developed an occupational group, improved their production means and established a
Community Enterprise.
They not only generated more income but also they tried to lower their costs such as
producing household products, growing organic vegetables for consuming within the
families. Additionally, they initiated the bank of Good Deed which encourage saving money
and good actions and providing loans for members.

Getting a Bank loan with your Good Deed credit

The community has created the Good Deed Constitution because they believe that
good action is the source of happiness. After villagers do good things, they will deposit their
good action to the Good Deed Saving Bank.
They agreed to do these following activities together;

- Saving money at least 3 Baht a day to pay off all debts within 20 years
- The institutions profit will become the welfare for all in the sub-district
- Receiving interest for saving account at an annual rate of 0.85% and fixed deposit
account at an annual rate of 4.10%
- Paying the loan interest at an annual rate of 9%
- With 11 good actions, one can get a loan without a property guarantee
- with 15 good actions, one can get a loan of 10,000 Baht without paying interest
- with 18 good actions, one can get a loan of 15,000 baht without paying interest
- with 23 good actions, one can get a loan of 20,000 baht without paying interestLoan
Conditions
- Being a member of the institute at least 1 year
- Being a member of community welfare fund
- Saving money at least 200 baht /month
- Doing bookkeeping
- Growing at least 7 vegetables for a familys own food
- Following the sub-district action plan of reducing poverty and debt
- Being qualified as a good person as cited in the community indicators
- Being approved from the community and the leader council in Nong Sarai sub-district.
- Waiting in a queue
The source of money circulation in the institute is members saving, the loan from
Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) and the loan from Bank for
Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).