Reports on Monitoring Visits
- Khon Kaen, Thailand, on 24 November 2004

An AUICK delegation, consisted of Mr. Masayuki Ishitsubo, Executive Director, Mr. Nobuyuki Morimoto, Manager, and Ms. Britt Barry, Special Assistant for the English-language documentation, visited Khon Kaen, Thailand from 21 to 25 November 2004.  The delegation organized the Second 2004 Workshop on AUICK Associate Cities Research from 22 to the morning of 24 November.  In the afternoon of 24 November at a conference room of the Khon Kaen Municipal Building, they had a monitoring meeting with the mayor, two deputy mayors and other senior officials, including nine officials who attended the past AUICK training courses.

The meeting began with welcome remarks made by Mr. Peerapon Pattanapeeradej, Mayor of Khon Kaen.  He told that Khon Kaen was happy to be involved in the AUICK project, and expressed his hope that future training programs would continue to bring medium-sized cities together as a basis for cooperative development to solve urban problems in the region.

Mr. Masayuki Ishitsubo expressed his appreciation for the warm hospitality received in Khon Kaen. He also acknowledged the long relationship that Kobe has had with Khon Kaen city, and expressed his hope that it will help to lead to a better urban environment for the people of Khon Kaen.

Comments from the past participants

Mr. Wittaya Sirichativapee, Director of the Bureau of Public Works of Khon Kaen Municipality, attended the 2000 Seminar on Public Utilities in Asian Cities.  His current areas of responsibility include traffic, public gardens, solid waste disposal, wastewater treatment and ensuring structures are built according to codes and standards.

Mr. Wittaya found the techniques he learnt for solid waste disposal and wastewater treatment useful in his work for the city. Upon his return to Khon Kaen he shared the information and knowledge gained with his colleagues, and also suggested ways to improve the city’s waste management based on information gathered from other city administrators during the training.

"The contents of that seminar emphasized solid waste management and wastewater pollution. Kobe city was very clean and it has a good system of burning waste and many strategies for the management of wastewater. Site visits to observe the landfill system and water pollution management were very useful, and I have adapted this system of landfill to Khon Kaen. Each day we have about 200 tons of garbage we deposit at a landfill site 70 km from the city. Some of this garbage is recycled through a recycling station, while waste that is used as landfill is collected every day. We have also set up a campaign for people to separate their garbage into wet to dry. We learnt that Kobe people are very good at recycling and separating garbage. Now I have joined with another past participants of AUICK training in promoting the production of fertilizer from food waste and we have also brought up these ideas at city meetings on solid waste transportation and transfer stations for recycling."

Mr. Wittaya also explained that since his AUICK training he has been involved in projects for wastewater treatment and in the near future he plans to implement a project for the maintenance of local infrastructure, such as sewer and canal cleaning. Local people in charge of these projects will be paid some small salary which will help motivate them to be responsible for their village infrastructure. Some of the funds for this project will come from Khon Kaen Municipality and it is hoped that this project will solve problems with sewers overfilling or blocking in the rainy season. He also explained how he now encourages more public participation. Every Thursday, for example, Khon Kaen municipal staff go to villages and ask local people about issues such as traffic and electricity. He says it is very useful to get firsthand knowledge of services in local areas and any concerns that residents have.

Ms. Benja Koonklang attended the 1996 Seminar on Public Health and Social Welfare.  She was then Director of the Health, Medical and Environment Division.  Currently she is Director of the Public Health and Environment Division, Udorn Thani Municilpality.

In Kobe she saw a well managed health system and high quality hospitals.  Since her return to Khon Kaen she has been involved in a project for a mobile health unit whereby doctors and health workers visit local people in rural areas and at schools, and conduct other health programs locally. Newborn babies are also visited and their family is given a gift set with essential items for the baby’s health such as soy milk and nutritious supplementary food.

Ms. Patsawadee Chabundit attended the Study Course on ICPD and Health Care in 1998. She was Director of Public Health Division, Khon Kaen Municipality. Now she works in another city.

Ms. Patsawadee said that the seminar was useful as it motivated her to focus more on helping Khon Kaen residents to take care of their health. After the training course Ms. Chabundit focused on making health care more accessible and efficient by offering “one-stop service” and shared the knowledge she had gained from the training with her colleagues.

"During the AUICK seminar we were taught about primary healthcare and we discussed individual responsibility for health. The hospital we visited was the largest in Singapore and was only one year old. It offered a comprehensive service that was truly “one stop service.”  They had a fully computerized communication system and cars to pick up patients. The hospital environment was very friendly and included a children’s club which contributed to the good atmosphere in the hospital. We learnt that in Singapore patients do not wait more than 15 minutes and there is a standardized charge system for services. From that seminar I have learned how to manage health systems, use surveys and I also exchanged lots of knowledge and ideas with other administrators and health officials. From the knowledge I got from the seminar I can train people who come to our local seminars and share the knowledge I now have with other colleagues for better action plans at local levels."

Ms. Woraphan Thuleechan attended two AUICK training courses: the 1997 Seminar on Population and Housing, and the 2004 Second Workshop on AUICK Associate Cities Research. At the 1997 seminar she was a planning and policy analyst. She is currently a general services officer in the Office of the Municipal Clerk.

She reported that the Seminar on Population and Housing enabled her to reflect on what problems Khon Kaen has and what the city may face in the future, particularly regarding population. Ms. Woraphan also explained how the training applied to her job then and now:

"In 1997 housing was the responsibility of the municipality but now it is the responsibility of the central government. When I returned from the seminar I tried to collect as much information on population as possible and to make it available internationally. We now make use of that information in urban planning. I have just completed the AUICK STELLA modeling training which will also help with our urban planning and I believe that this training will help the directors of the municipality to set up action plans more effectively."

Mr. Chawalit Hongyon, currently the Chief of the Garbage and Waste Disposal Section in Khon Kaen Municipality, attended the 2001 Seminar on Population and Solid Waste Management and the 2004 Workshop on UNFPA Goals and Urban Policies.

Mr. Chawalit used knowledge gained from AUICK training courses daily in his work and had subsequently introduced improved technology into the solid waste management system of Khon Kaen.

"From visiting Kobe, I saw there is are differences in the composition of garbage between our cities and differences in the disposal processes. There are some similarities between some of the processes, such as burning of garbage, but in Khon Kaen we burn only the infectious garbage. We currently have three ways to manage garbage: sanitary landfill, burning and converting to fertilizer."

Mr. Chawalit suggested that newsletter articles on case studies of solid waste management techniques and applicable technology from different countries would be useful to compare what works for the different conditions found in each country and city. He also suggested that AUICK more frequently exchange news and data on AACs among the cities, and that future training courses be held in cities that demonstrate best practice in the field being studied.

Mr. Yinchai Arnanthanasakun, Director of the Sanitary Works Division in Khon Kaen Municipality, is responsible for solid waste and infectious waste management, wastewater management, flood management and water resource management.

Mr. Yinchai attended the 2003 Seminar on Population and Sustainable Water Resources. He said that he found information on techniques for preservation of the natural environment the most useful knowledge that he gained. Following his training, he presented a report to his colleagues and superiors on the AUICK seminar. Using the knowledge and experience he gained from the training, he has implemented a project for improving water quality, has invited public participation on the collection of service charges for wastewater treatment, and has several other ideas for improvements to sanitary works to be implemented in the future. To improve the effectiveness of AUICK activities, he suggested that training courses include many site visits to relevant facilities, such as waste treatment plants, to give a through understanding of actual practices.

"At the training last year I received a lot of useful knowledge on how to develop Khon Kaen. Kobe has a good system of information collection, and I learnt about systems of wastewater treatment and water resource management in different places in the world. I was motivated to prepare for problems that might occur in our city. During the training I visited a treatment site at Lake Biwa that used charcoal instead of chlorine, and found that they also have a research centre near the lake to observe pollution levels in the water. It made me aware that it is important to take care of water conditions before problems happen, a proactive strategy, and to not only think about the surface level conditions of water bodies, but also of conditions of the river or lake bed. I thought the seminar was also very useful for sharing good ideas between the participants, as well as sharing the various problems affecting our cities and our different strategies to overcome them. Lastly, what impressed me greatly was the UNFPA forum on water management where I received very useful ideas for public participation involving local people."

Dr. Prathip Rungphetwong is Chief of the Dental Hygiene Section of the Health and Environment Division of Khon Kaen Municipality, and he is also on the Health Care Committee of the City.

Dr. Prathip attended the 2002 Seminar on Population Ageing and Administrative Countermeasures. He reported that he found the seminar to be a good opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge with other administrators and health professionals. Since the training he has been focusing more on the problems of the elderly in Thailand and he now knows that 39% of elderly people are living in poverty, another 29% have health problems, and 10% are socially isolated.

"The economy is at a point where we are concerned about employment and we are trying to create jobs and provide welfare and subsidies for elderly villagers affected by poverty. We have about 3000 poor elderly people in Khon Kaen but we have to be selective about who we help because of our limited budget. At present we can only provide welfare payments to about 1500 elderly people. The process of distributing this is not directly from the government; instead we ask the local village leaders to decide who has the greatest need. Providing welfare alone is not a very effective way to address poverty, but what is more effective are projects which allow people to help themselves, such as microfinance schemes. The municipality also addresses poverty by acting as a centre for collection of money or goods from private donors and then distributing this to the local people in need."

Dr. Prathip reported that two important concepts which he took away from the training were that local problems need local people to solve them, and that participation of local people in the community is important for this. He also outlined some of the more successful health projects in Khon Kaen, including subsidized doctors visits for all, free examinations for the very poor, a special clinic for elderly people, special clinics for hypertension and diabetes, and a mobile health unit that regularly goes to villages and provides health exams for the rural poor. Khon Kaen also has local outdoor aerobic programs in parks to promote health and the city conducts seminars for local people on health, nutrition and sanitation.

Mr. Yongsak Nuntatikul attended the 1998 Seminar on Integrated Urban Policy as the Director of the Sanitation Works Division of Khon Kaen Municipality.

Mr. Yongsak reported that he learnt a great deal during the training, including information about burning of waste, environmental management and housing. What impressed him most was his site visit to Kobe’s Silver College, where the elderly receive training and education in a number of special interest fields. This program helps to keep older residents from becoming isolated and also stimulates them and gives them a sense of purpose in their latter years. Mr. Yongsak also said that he had reproduced this project upon his return to Khon Kaen and that such local elderly scholars are now called “local philosophers.”

Ms. Saovanee Siriphojananon, Deputy City Clerk, attended the 1999 Seminar on Primary Health Care and Reproductive Health.

b>Ms. Saovanee noted that comparing the differences in maternal and child health services between Thailand and Japan was very interesting, and it gave her ideas on how to promote health care in Khon Kaen.

"I really enjoyed the trip to the hospitals in Kobe and especially learning about maternal and child services. . I learned that the MCH services in Japan ensure Japanese mothers are taken care of from the very first stages of pregnancy right up until after the baby is born. The hospital also told us that the percentage of survival of mother and child is 100%. Of course after delivery some babies have complications but the hospitals are well equipped to take care of babies with congenital illness. In Thailand the situation is very different, though we do have a centre for health care services for women and children in Khon Kaen. We also have some staff that go to local villages to advise pregnant women on their health and to encourage them to come to hospitals for the delivery. More recently we have also been emphasizing sex education to early teenagers in schools.”<

Mr. Sunthorn Siripukdi, Vice-Governor of Khon Kaen Province, participated in the 1996 Workshop on Integrated Urban Policy. He was unable to attend the monitoring meeting, but on a feedback from that he sent to AUICK, he reported that he had found AUICK training useful in creating sustainable urban development strategies for the Province and had educated his staff on the topic since his training. He has also worked to develop and improve the local transport network as well as the water and electrisity supply, encouraged improvements in public healht and education; encouraged agricultural and industrial comperition, and encouraged the policy of OTOP (One Tambon-One Product) which promotes production of one product per area.