Empowerment improvement of the scavenger's identity in Thailand

The objectives of this study were to analyze the scavenger's identity, identify means of constructing empowerment for Solid Waste Management (SWM) and design steps of the empowerment for an experiment on suitable model implementation. To accomplish the first objective, a content analysis, specialists' consultation and non-participatory observation were conducted. Subsequently, an analysis of a survey on a focus group and in-depth semi-structured interviews based on scavengers and stakeholders' voices was conducted to reveal possibilities to identify means that could be synthesized and access possible means of empowerment steps. The results of the study show that former researchers variously identified the scavengers' identity to suit multi-dimensional perspectives. The resistance and uninterest in them reflected their role as a low status in society that strongly took the economic boundary but lightly took other boundaries into consideration. The overall image of perspectives in the past caused unsolvable solutions. Meanwhile, the reengineering of the scavengers' system by applying a sectional approach based on a holistic approach could reveal significant factors which enabled to fit the scavengers into a proper place of the SWM. Needless to say, this means could construct possible steps of empowerment; it was also synthesized for the improvement of the scavenger's identity. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.