Innovations in Democracy in Southeast Asia:
The Better Bangkok Project with Thai PBS

Citizens Foundation began its relationship with the Thai Public Broadcasting system in March 2019, with an interview for their program “Life Explorer,” just as the country was in the process of preparing for their first democratic elections after 5 years of military rule. The segment was well received, and a dialogue began about how to bring our civic engagement tools to the Thai capital.

Fast forward to April of 2022, with the Bangkok Governor’s election two months away; Thai PBS approached Citizens Foundation to set up our platform to engage and inform the constituents of the capital city about the upcoming elections, and the policies and candidates in play for their votes. The successful roll out of our participatory democracy tools paves the way for a continued use of our platform for the evaluation of the governance and policies of those that end up getting elected, as well as contributions from regular Bangkok denizens on to how to shape and improve those policies.

As of this now, our counterparts in Thailand write that they have grown their online engaged community significantly in the lead up to the election. Having conducted focus groups on the use of the platform so far, they will provide us with suggestions for specific UI modifications to improve ease of use in the Thai language, which we look forward to incorporating. We plan to evaluate and implement all their suggestions in the lead up to their launch of online outreach in conjunction with their current deliberative tv program, called Fung Weng Prateadthai (Listen Thailand), which will serve to build on the election forum’s success, and grow that online community for future participation and engagement with the voters of Bangkok.

Here is a link to a Thai PBS TV news segment about the project: https://program.thaipbs.or.th/watch/145653