MMF's primary mission is to encourage and strengthen indigenous leaders and local organisations who are working towards improving the quality of life of minority people in Northern Thailand .
Our Leadership Capacity Building Project (LCB), supported primarily by Tearfund UK ( www.tearfund.org ), works in the Mekong Sub-region (Northern Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and southern China), creating networks between like-minded people and projects and assisting these groups to carry out development work in their communities.
The term "capacity building" is found in almost every document relating to community development. But what does it really mean? For the Mekong Minority Foundation, it means that our projects do not attempt to solve all of a community's problems. Instead, the LCB project teaches organisations and individuals the skills they need to solve their problems themselves.
Many local pastors, staff members, community leaders and other individuals have the desire and the vision to make their communities better places in which to live. Through leadership courses, the facilitation of exposure trips, exchange meetings, training sessions and workshops, the LCB project gives these talented, dedicated individuals the opportunity to develop the skills they need to make their visions a reality. As well as working intensively with individuals , the LCB Project works with existing partner organisations, helping them to improve their ability to carry out missions.
By building the capacity of local people, and enabling them to do the work themselves, MMF multiplies many times over its power to facilitate economic, social and spiritual growth among minority peoples in the Mekong sub-region.