March 2015—The Association of Muslim Women (AMW) in Thailand, a group that engages women on local governance issues across the country, recently strengthened its own governance and reputation for notable training and advocacy efforts.

“USAID Sapan’s training courses on organizational capacity development, systems strengthening and strategy-building have helped us gain trust and push forward the Women’s Development Fund (WDF) policy,” said Saroh Rasi, founder and president of AMW.

The WDF is a Thai Government program launched in 2012 to provide provinces with grants promoting women’s roles in society and in businesses as well as their overall quality of life.

Since 2010, the Sapan Program has worked with seven civil society organizations, including AMW, to help increase women’s participation in governance and the policy decision-making process in Thailand. The program supports women-led partner organizations through networking and training. USAID provided training to AMW from 2013 to 2014. 

AMW uses “community scorecards” to keep track of efforts by local officials to promote open government. AMW also uses budget transparency tools to bring a systematic approach to its work. Its systems have helped improve its credibility as an organization and also its social advocacy work, including helping local groups apply for WDF grants.

“USAID Sapan helped us look at the long-term sustainability of our organization, paying close attention to organizational capacity, which is really significant for us,” said AMW coordinator Cha-bee-ah Yuphakard. “Many donors pay attention to supporting activities, but not to organizational capacity-building.”

AMW engages women on local governance issues through training and mentoring programs. Partners have been motivated and inspired to stay involved to help provide local leadership.

“The key lesson we’ve learned is that it’s important to blend together people with different thoughts on the issue of good governance,” said Phantayuth Tasrabiab, AMW adviser. “Even if people come from different mindsets, they can still be united in their approach to transparency and governance.”

By focusing on creating an internal organizational culture and structure that reflects the principles of good governance, AMW has earned the respect and trust of local government officials and communities.

Sapan is the Thai word for “bridge.” From June 2012 to December 2014, the women involved in the Sapan Program provided their own workshops for more than 1,000 participants and held public events reaching more than 8,000 women around the country on how they can promote good governance.

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