The Tambol Administrative Organization (TAO) was established in Thailand many years ago as a significant part of the decentralization and development of public participation in Thailand. However, despite the fact that the TAO is a local administrative body that has the closest link to people, people in the community and even some local public authorities still do not understand the TAO’s roles and functions and therefore underestimate its importance. The lack of understanding of the TAO results in slow development and weakness of the TAO itself and less efficient cooperation between the TAO, local people and local authorities. In the long run, it would have negative effect on the development of public participation in Thailand.

The publication has main objectives:

1.To publish general information about the Tambol Administrative Organization (TAO) in Thailand for distributing to general public and youth nationwide

2.To increase public understanding and awareness about importance, roles and regulations of the TAO

Note: The manual is published in Thai.