Abstract:
This research aimed 1) to study the level of civil society participation in the process of developing the Buriram Provincial Development Plan, 2) to compare the levels of participation among civil society groups in this process hased on demographie factors; and 31 to explore approaches to enhance participation in the formulation of the Buriram Provincial Development Plan. The sample group consisted of 370 civil society members in Buriram Provincial selected by using Krejcie and Morgan's sample size table and stratified random sampling. The research instruments were a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview, with a reliability coefficient of 0.86. Statistical analyses used in this study included percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test. and one-way ANOVA. The findings revealed that
1. The overall level of civil society participation in the process of developing the Buriram Provincial Development Plan was at a high level. When analyzed by specific aspects, it was found that benefit reception aspect, and evaluation aspect, were at a high level, while implementation aspect, and decision-making aspect were at a moderate level.
2. The comparison of civil society groups' participation levels, classified by demographic factors, showed statistically significant differences at the 0.05 level based on gender, age, marital status, education level, average monthly income, and type of civil society group.
3. The proposed approaches to enhance civil society participation in the development of the Buriram Provincial Development Plan included: 1) relevant agencies should actively involve representatives from civil society throughout the entire activity process, from initiation to completion; 2) meetings should be held to encourage brainstorming on strategic planning, budget discussions, and planning development, with implementation responsibilities remaining with the respective government agencies; 3) civil society representatives should be given the opportunity to participate in monitoring and evaluating projects and plans; and (4) public forums should be organized to allow all organizations to engage in meaningful discussions and exchanges of opinions.