Author: Sai Than Lwin
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Thesis no.DP-25-02
Year: 2025
Academic Program: Development Planning Management and Innovation (DPMI)
Type: Thesis (M. Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2025
Examination Committee: Thi Phuoc Lai Nguyen (Chairperson); Vilas Nitivattananon, Mohana Sundaram Shrestha Shanmugam (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: As global water stress intensifies due to climate change, urbanization, and unsustainable usage, improving water governance through community engagement has become increasingly critical. Despite international commitments like SDG 6, many regions, particularly in Southeast Asia, struggle to implement participatory, inclusive approaches to water management. This study investigates how water literacy, which comprises of knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and citizen science interact to support rural water governance. Anchored in socio-ecological systems theory and Ostrom’s collective action framework, a mixed-methods approach was employed in Thailand’s Wang Mi subdistrict. Quantitative data from 228 respondents were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), complemented by 27 qualitative interviews. Results demonstrate that while water knowledge and attitudes shape practices, it is practice-based engagement that varies with access to water source impacting water governance, and can be improved by meaningful citizen science participation. These participatory pathways, in turn, significantly influence self-governance and institutional collaboration. However, water literacy alone was insufficient to drive governance outcomes without active community involvement. The study concludes by recommending locally adapted water literacy programs, support for grassroots citizen science, and integration of decentralized and inclusive self-governance mechanisms. Findings offer transferable insights for other developing regions seeking to foster resilient, community-led water governance under resource constraints.
Scholarship Donor(s): AIT Scholarship
Note: A thesis submitted in patial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Development Planning Management and Innovation
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