How Social Infrastructures of Care and Solidarity Cope with the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Reflection from Community Networks of the Baan Mankong Programme in Thailand

Urban Farm DB summary

Community networks associated with Thailand's Baan Mankong collective housing credit programme, supported by the Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI), were examined through online surveys, focus group discussions, and case studies to understand how low-income urban citizens, highly vulnerable to COVID-19, coped with the pandemic. CODI placed a 3-month moratorium on Baan Mankong loan repayments and released an urgent $4.5 million COVID-19 relief fund nationwide; 228 initiatives proposed by urban poor networks received approximately $2.2 million and were implemented between April and September 2020, mobilizing community kitchens, community-run shops, community gardens, income-generation activities, and online and offline community markets through diverse collective management mechanisms. The article argues that the social infrastructures of care and solidarity embedded in the Baan Mankong community networks were crucial to coping with COVID-19 and form the basis for long-term rehabilitation and further development of low-income communities in Thailand.