A Guideline for Reinforcing Water based Community's Economic Strength

This paper studies the potentials of the area and the community throughout the Sean Saeb canal that promote the establishment of community economy by providing a model for reinforcing economic strength for the community. The chosen community for the study is the community alongside Sean Saeb canal nearby Minburi district, Bangkok. This research applies a mixed method research which includes interviews, group discussion, and a participatory observation.The finding shed light on the potential of the area and the community. Trading activities originally occurred with inconsistency and scattering numbers. The area is not too far from Bangkok, so it is convenient to transport both on land and in water. The population in the area believes in Islamic religion and still preserves old religious customs. Most of the population performs agricultural profession by the use of water in the canal. In addition, a strong community leader and a strong religious belief are also essential components in contributing to this strong community. Hence, we propose a model to promote the community market centre for agricultural products. The objective of the market is to stimulate economic system for this community and the nearby area to strengthen the community system by creating career opportunity for people in the community, and a venue for purchasing agricultural products with reasonable prices in accordance with the sufficiency economy philosophy. This will eventually lead to building a strong community and also maintaining a resources conservation and propagation of traditional customs, culture, and tradition of Islamic religion which is the main religion of the community.