Anti-trafficking/Scholarships

In 1993, PDA started a pilot project to provide scholarships to young women to keep them in school and prevent vulnerable girls from entering the commercial sex industry. Soroptimist International (SI) clubs of Berwick and Victoria in Australia and the SI club of Dusit and Bangkok supported this project. This project has provided scholarships to more that 1,400 children from around 20 Chiang Rai villages. Soroptimist International facilitated the creation of an endowment fund from the UK Lottery fund committee that has made it possible for this project to continue today.

PDA Chiang Rai works with Tai Lue villagers at the Thai-Myanmar border area in preventing human trafficking activities. Villagers were organized to form a group to monitor activities suspected to be human trafficking related. By raising the awareness of other villagers and providing them with better education and opportunities, the incidence of human trafficking at this hotspot has been reduced. This project received assistance from the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)

Community-based tourism

The first Community-based tourism (CBT) activity implemented by PDA-Chiang Rai was in the year 2001 at the Akha village of Ban Lorcha. Since then, we realized that other villages had potential for CBT activities. Today, PDA implemented CBT activities in no less than 6 villages in Chiang Rai province.

Village banks

All villages where PDA-Chiang implements community development activities are required to establish village banks. All villagers that participate in activities are required to become members of the bank. PDA-Chiang Rai is able to encourage villagers to become self-sufficient through these banks. Many of these banks have been able to provide an alternative source of financing for villagers.

AIDS Education

In the early 90s, the Thai government was in a hurry to raise peoples awareness regarding HIV/AIDS and a massive information drive showing posters of person with AIDS that were at the door step of death was implemented. The success in raising peoples awareness caused a secondary problem. People discriminated and feared persons that had HIV or AIDS. HIV-free children born to parents that have HIV were ostracized and forced out of schools. Persons with HIV were summarily terminated from work because colleagues were afraid to work beside them. Many persons that discovered they had HIV hid this fact from other persons to avoid being discriminated upon.

In order to reduce peoples fear with of persons with HIV, it was necessary to re-educate them and inform them about how they could get infected with HIV. It was necessary to identify the myths about HIV/AIDS from the truth. Raising peoples knowledge about HIV/AIDS has made it possible for persons living with HIV/AIDS to peacefully coexist with other villagers.