Thailand’s Annual International Training Course (AITC)

Believing that global challenges are best addressed by a concerted effort, Thailand has, therefore, been promoted sustainable development through fostering South-South cooperation and global partnership. It is in this spirit of constructive collaboration that we have offered training fellowships and postgraduate scholarships to developing partners across the world.

             Today, in addition to fellowships and scholarships offered as part of bilateral and triangular development cooperation projects, TICA offers over 700 training fellowships and 70 postgraduate scholarships for government officials from developing countries around the world through Annual International Training Course (AITC) and Thailand International Postgraduate Programme (TIPP).

             Annual International Training Course (AITC) was initiated in 1991 as a framework in providing short-term training for developing partners. Today, the AITC remains one of TICA’s flagship programmes. It offers not only a training experience, but also a platform in exchanging ideas and establishing professional network among participants from across the world.

             Aiming at sharing Thailand’s best practices and experience to the world, the AITC training courses and the TIPP scholarships focus on development topics of our expertise which can be categorized under five themes namely; Food Security, Climate Change, Public Health,  other topics related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and “Sufficiency Economy Philosophy” or SEP which Thailand is proud to introduce as the highlighted theme. SEP has been added with an aim to offer an insight into our home-grown development approach which is the key factor that keeps Thailand on a steady growth path towards sustainable development in many areas.

             Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) was introduced in 1974 by His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.  SEP is an approach for sustainable development which espouses moderation, reasonableness and prudence as development framework based on knowledge and virtue. The Philosophy attaches great importance to human development at all levels and emphasizes the need to strengthen community’s capacity to ensure a balanced way of life and resilience, with full respect for the environment.

             SEP shares ultimate common principles and objectives with SDGs, seeking to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality as a means to achieve sustainable development, and strike the right mindset towards the balance among three dimensions of sustainable development.

             The concept of SEP aligns with many goals and targets across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, some of the more prominent applications of the SEP in our sustainable development endeavor include poverty eradication, food security, sustainable economic growth, sustainable industrialization and sustainable consumption and production. As an approach and mindset framework, SEP can be applied with all 17 SDGs and therefore could support and complement the successful implementation and realization of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

             Over the recent years, Thailand has been able to share with international community the application of SEP, our home-grown approach to sustainable development.  A number of bilateral and trilateral “SEP for SDGs” partnership programmes has been fostered especially with developing countries. In addition to the said schemes, TICA is now offering a number of training fellowships and scholarships on the SEP.

             “Ending Hunger” is very fundamental to global development progress. Through decades-long effort in eliminating hunger and malnutrition, Thailand has successfully reduced its number of hungry and malnourished people by 75% and the figure is still falling. The progress earned Thailand an award from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for outstanding contributions to global food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture.

             Apart from economic growth and technological advancement, the home-grown development approach introduced by His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej known as “New Theory of Agriculture” which is a sustainable farming practice based on the philosophy of sufficiency economy (SEP) also plays a crucial role. The SEP through the New Theory is being implemented in more than 40,000 farming villages across Thailand.  Not only has the theory helped Thailand driven down hunger at home, it has also made the country a crucial actor in ensuring global food security, earning its reputation as “Kitchen of the World”.

             As the world leading producer and exporter of food and agricultural produces, it is our passion to showcase our success stories and lessons learned in order to promote food security for all.

             Climate Change is one of the most serious and pressing global challenges with momentous consequences if left unattended. To tackle this issue, a concerted effort is utmost important as all countries, large and small, have a shared responsibility and a role to play.

             Thailand strives to become a low-carbon society and to achieve an environmental-sound economy. Guided by the “Sufficiency Economy Philosophy” (SEP), we opted for a development model that seeks a balance between economic prosperity and building resilience in all areas including environment. From forest conservation and rehabilitation to renewable energy and sustainable agricultural practice, a number of SEP led projects has guided the Thai people in managing our natural environment in the way that boosts resilience and adaptive capacity to adverse impacts of climate change and natural disasters while focusing on local communities.

             The AITC courses under the theme “Climate Change” are part of our commitment to work with the international community to address the challenge of climate change.

             Health is a very important component for economic and social development, national security, regional and global stability. In the post 2015 context, health has been increasingly recognized as a key contributor in development as good health is one of the fundamental building block of society and sustainable development.  Thailand’s development foundation lies on improved quality and inclusive healthcare targeting all sectors of the society, including the promotion of primary health care, community health care system and health protection from diseases.

The AITC courses under the theme “Public Health” offer training experience on current and future health challenges, such as Antimicrobial Resistance treatments, HIV/AIDs, Universal Health Coverage, One Health and Community Health Management, as Thailand aim to contribute to global effort in achieving Goal 3 as well as other health-related targets of the SDGs.

             In 2015, countries have adopted Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs, a set of visions of how we would like the world to be in 2030. Each goal is designed to address specific challenges that by nature have no boundaries. Therefore, in order to realize them all, everyone needs to do their parts. We believe that all goals can be achieved through development cooperation, be it a government or private, or capacity building or human resources development.

             Through the Annual International Training Course and Thailand International Postgraduate Programme, TICA believes that we are doing our part to deliver Thailand’s contribution to a sustainable future.

For more information, please contact;

Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA)

Government Complex, Building B (South Zone), 8th Floor

Chaengwattana Road, Bangkok 10210, Thailand

Tel +66 (0) 2203 5000

Email: tica@mfa.mail.go.th, aitc@mfa.mfa.go.th

www.tica-thaigov.mfa.go.th