Information Technology Development Programme - Thailand

The IT Development Program has the following roles: to educate about and promote hilltribes and the organisation's work with them; to enable the sharing of resources through the establishment of an online community; to create and maintain a volunteer teacher network to attract new volunteers and allow existing volunteers to continue to make contributions to the community; and to help other NGOs wishing to establish an Internet presence. The Group has used the Internet to promote indigenous people's rights; for instance, it launched an online campaign against corrupt local politicians and has compiled a database of census records as a part of an effort to facilitate hilltribe people's efforts to acquire Thai citizenship. The Mirror Art Group also uses its networking power to support the literacy of the Akha people. The first year, the Group requested book donations on the site and, to date, has received over 100,000 books.

In 2003 the programme launched a special section of its website (Thai language only) to sell goods that are also available at a shop in the commune. The Akha peoples have begun trading their arts and crafts through this site, which also provides employment for local people, who make handicrafts to support themselves between harvests. Marketing the local handicrafts through the Internet is a strategy for raising awareness, both in Thailand and internationally, about the hilltribes and their culture. The site sells a variety of products, from traditional and modern hilltribe shirts to clay whistles and Jingnongs (a traditional Akha instrument). Up to 12 community members at a time participate in the Voice of Earth Clay Workshop, which produces the small clay Thai wild bird whistles that are sold as necklaces. Villagers employed are trained in the skills required for the job - molding local clay, firing it, painting it by hand, and glazing it. The Workshop also serves as a means to re-enter society for addicts who have completed Mirror Art Group's anti-drug programme. Organisers say that the whistle is meant to symbolically gives a voice to the local children, who face many disadvantages. A portion of the profits from sale of the whistles fund children's activities and scholarships.

Technology, Indigenous Culture, Children, Economic Development.

Launched in 1991, the Mirror Art Group is a non-profit NGO working in the Mae Yao sub-district of Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand. Sixteen core staff members are involved in projects designed to help community members create better lives while retaining their cultural identities. They believe that the Internet can be a voice for the underprivileged, a teacher for those willing to learn, a fundraising network for projects, a market to sell local handicrafts, and a forum for like-minded individuals who wish to exchange ideas.

The Group's website (in Thai only) has had 300,000 hits a month. Founder Sombat Boongamanong claims that "the Internet enabled them to build and manage a global network of supporters and volunteers to support a remote tribe which previously was hardly known to outsiders."