This program is the heart of Makhampom’s work, applying theatre as a community media form for local practice, whether in problem solving, critical dialogue, cultural learning, artistic skill development, youth empowerment, or community celebration.

In 2007, Makhampom’s Community Program involved a diverse range of activities with Chiang Dao communities, schools, youth groups and local organizations. We also worked on the

Already in early 2008, we have finished the ‘Art of Peace’ publication, as a trainer’s manual for conflict resolution, and hosted the Bookworm Children’s Festival beside the Ping River. The plans for 2008 include:

As Thailand continues its rapid development, the village community is being gradually broken down. From shifts in farming practices, to urban work and study for the young generation, social dislocations, and growing consumerism, change appears to be the only certainty in Thailand today. And if the family is the glue that binds the Thai person, the community is the glue that binds the Thai society. For Makhampom, the sustainability of community as a cultural, social, and political body is the major principle of our community program, alongside the notion of marginal people’s having a voice to express their concerns and struggles. In essence, for Makhampom, communitas and community media are at the centre of progressive social change and cultural sustainability.

Typically, Makhampom’s community work primarily occurs in communities of location, typically the rural village or urban slum, but also in communities of association (ie. youth clubs), work (ie. factories) and containment (ie. refugee camps or detention centres). Simple theatre-based workshops in rural Thailand provided the basis of Makhampom’s work in the 1980s, developing into long-term youth theatre projects in the 1990s. These projects combined issue-based awareness-raising and community dialogue strategies on themes of HIV/AIDS, participatory democracy, child sex trafficking, drug abuse, indigenous cultural assimilation, child rights, workplace health and safety, and natural resource management with objectives of personal and group development and the creation of community theatre media. Several of these groups, such as Dao Luuk Gai (Phitsanulok Province), Krong Krang (Ayudhaya Province), Makheurjae (Phayao Province), Makhamkaew (Mae Hong Son Province), and Fai Lamai (Songkla Province) have developed youth based strategies at community, district, national and international levels.

More recently, Makhampom has developed the Community Program in two streams: (i) in a community-wide TCCD program in Chiang Dao; and (ii) in support, training and development projects in refugee and conflict regions. The Chiang Dao program is based on building relationships of mutual interest with various villages and across different community sectors. Long-term youth theatre activities have now been running for several years towards the formation of community media groups as active social and cultural movements in local communities with impacts at local, inter-community and district levels. Classroom and school-based programs in literacy, curriculum development, theatre-making skills, and other non-formal participatory learning methods, including teacher training have also emerged as an important area of Makhampom’s work in Chiang Dao.

One prominent area of Makhampom’s work has been with indigenous minorities, although generally on an adhoc basis. This has included the Makhamkaew project with youth from 6 ethnic groups in Mae Hong Son, individual workshops with the Palaung villages of Pang Daeng in Chiang Dao, refugee camp training programs in human rights education and leadership training, the Pakakyaw (Karen) folk tale derived production and other community theatre activities in the north of Thailand . The development of the Makhampom Living Theatre in Chiang Dao provides the basis for a coordinated program with indigenous minorities, as the impact of discrimination and marginalization in Thailand and conflict and oppression in Burma continues with little improvement, and often deterioration.

Through Makhampom’s 20 plus year workshop praxis, we have developed both a toolkit of theatre processes and a pool of facilitators able to adapt the theatre workshop methodology to various contexts. In addition to the youth and indigenous focus, we have found the process to be very effective for conflict resolution and peace building throughout the Asia-Pacific region and, more recently, for psycho-social support and development with tsunami-affected communities in southern Thailand.

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