An Introduction to the Duang Prateep Foundation

The DPF has grown from humble beginnings in 1978 with 5 people working in a small office. Now the Foundation has over 100 staff and some 20 full time volunteers, with many more part-time helpers. In 1992 the Foundation moved into a smart new permanent building, Thailand's first comprehensive development and resource centre for a slum community.

The DPF has grown in size but it has not lost contact with the community it serves. Most of the Foundation staff are slum dwellers themselves. The DPF works closely at all times with the area committees in Klong Toey Slum and with other slum communities. Committee chairmen meet regularly at the Foundation. There is a constant exchange of information and opinions between Foundation staff and the slum communities. Good contacts enable the DPF to respond to the needs of the people of Klong Toey Slum and work with them for the common good.

The Foundation is also increasingly active in rural areas of Thailand. Foundation staff realize that the problems of the urban and rural poor are related. The Foundation sponsorship programme is providing assistance to schools and children throughout Thailand. AIDS project staff, working with local volunteers, organize outreach projects in rural communities in several provinces, and the DPF Young Women s Group has a project at a village in the South of Thailand.

The DPF is recognized throughout Thailand as a representative of poor people. Poverty is still far too widespread and with an ever widening income gap many challenges lie ahead for the Foundation.