Lasting Communities

Few topics are more important to our future than building sustainability in communities, meeting challenges with integrated and long-term solutions. With rapid growth in tourism in Southeast Asia, governments are eager to make the most of of their natural resources to attract tourists, yet to remain competitive, more focus needs to be placed on sustainability.

Kenan Institute Asia has developed a unique approach to community development that works by empowering individual community members, especially community leaders, to take charge of their community’s development by identifying, prioritizing and addressing local challenges through community action. The model rests upon the concept of “community as a leader”, which has its roots in His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Sufficiency Economy Philosophy.

Kenan’s programming promotes community development by adhering to three core principles:

1. Focusing the main effort on developing self-reliant communities through community leadership (bottom-up approach).
2. Responding to the unique context of each community.

Applying proven development approaches to address underlying community challenges as a “call to action” on issues such as economic development, education and health.