Prior to the arrival of the participants

● Careful selection of the communities which will host the IIFP participants.
Criteria include willingness of the community to host foreign students, safety and security at the location, access to emergency services, homestay feasibility, hygiene, local issues of interest for field studies, relationship with local leaders and officials, etc.
Surveys are conducted through local partners and through an exploratory mission by the Program Management Team.

● The identification of a competent and reliable IIFIP Field Coordinator (FC).
Criteria for selection include local notoriety, past successful experiences of managing and leading similar projects or programs, logistics and financial capacity, existing positive relationship with local partners, communities and officials, and a good knowledge of the context.

● Once the community is selected, and the Filed coordinator identified, the latter is charged with the following tasks:

1. 1. Informing local authorities and community leaders of the upcoming foreign students.
   2. Select, with the local community leaders, the most appropriate households for the students’ homestay.
      Criteria include safety, accessibility, no history of violence, good practice of hygiene. The survey includes also information on size of the family, presence of animal pets (re. allergies), household usual diet, etc. for future matching with hosted students.
   3. Once the results of the pre-departure questionnaire, filled by the participants, are available, the FC seeks the best matching student/household considering household profile and student’s particulars on allergies and diet preferences/restrictions, etc.
   4. Records and informs of facilities in the communities (Wi-Fi access, restaurants, grocery, laundry services, etc.)  

● The program also identifies a Field Academic Mentor (FAM), who provides guidance to the students, throughout their field studies, on the community context and on the specific issues they face.
Criteria include both academic qualification on the subjects and an excellent knowledge of the context (community and its issues).

● The FAM and/or FC then consult the community to identify challenges the community faces, and they would want the students to study while here. The result is communicated to the foreign university through the program team.

In Bangkok, the program team selects the participants’ accommodations while in Bangkok.
Criteria of selection of the accommodations include proximity with the Thammasat campus, easy access (including walking distance), safety [inspection is conducted by the team], courtesy of the staff, comfort of the rooms, and free Internet access.

The program team also prepares all logistics and transportation for all local travels and between Bangkok and the provincial city in question.

● Before the students’ departure, the IIFIP program team conducts an anonymous evaluation survey filled by the participants. The results are then analyzed to draw lessons and extract and develop good practices for the next IIFP.

● A brief report of these lessons learnt is shared with the university of origin of the participants.

it is critical that the IIFIP participants understand that the program contains a certain level of hardship: 

This may consist of the following:

• Limited comfort
  1. The program policy is to have students living in the same conditions as the average household of the community they integrate. This may include living in bamboo or wooden houses, sleeping on the floor [with a pillow, mat, and mosquito net], sometimes with limited privacy [ex. some families may have only one bedroom].
  2. The bathrooms are clean but very rudimentary [we will explain and show how to use them].
  3. Eating the local food — which is generally very appreciated by foreigners [“delicious and healthy”] BUT is very different than European food. It varies by the ethnic, but it often includes rice, egg, local vegetables, pork, chicken, ducks, fish, etc.). Sometimes insects (crickets, silk worms, caterpillars, etc.)
• Communications
  1. The program policy is “one student/per family”. This is to ensure a complete and successful immersion.
  2. Very few households can speak English, and, outside of the filed study hours, the interpreter will not be living with the students. The language barrier can be dreadful at first, but is quickly overcome by other means of communication (smiles, laughter, gestures, drawing, etc.)
  3. Pending on the community, you may or may not have a permanent Internet connection in your family’s home. There are other locations in the village for Internet connection though.

Here are a few pictures of the communities and living arrangements:

HOWEVER, there are several reasons why this field immersion program has always been successful, despite – or because? – of this hardship:

● After a few ill-at-ease hours or days, students adapt quickly to the local living conditions, and they always feel extremely proud of this experience out of their comfort zone [NB. No student has ever failed. Note that the program team is always here to provide proper and timely support whenever needed].

● This turns into a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which students are always keen to mention in their resume, even years after.

● Most importantly, the bond established between the student and his/her host family is such that the hardship is well compensated for by the joy of that rich cross-cultural exposure.

● The hardship is also superseded by the fun of the team field study activities, as well as other cultural activities organized by the community.

● Finally, to allow some rest from that living hardship, students are offered 3 to 4 days of break in the nearest provincial city (i.e. Chiang Mai city). Those interested can also enroll in some meditation courses during those days*.

 A few more information on the program:

• The field study and homestay will take place in an ethnic minority community (can be Karen, Shan, Hmong, Lahu, Akka, etc.) in remote areas of Chiang Mai province, or other chosen provinces of Thailand.
• The program grants the highest attention to security and safety.
  1. All districts visited have an emergency ward with equipped ambulances, with the capacity to stabilize patients for a transfer to higher level hospitals of reference. For Chang Mai city, note that the city hosts hospitals of international standards (ISO certified).
  2. The program team conducts thorough preliminary evaluations in all communities, regarding hygiene, sanitation, endemic diseases, pests, violence, insects, etc. and selects communities and households with the safest records. Students will also receive a detailed briefing on potential risks (if any) and on how to prevent these risks from occurring.
• All communities selected for the program are peaceful communities.

It is of paramount importance for the IIFIP program to reach a win-win between the students’ and the communities’ interests, including in the field studies. In other words, students develop their field research skills while studying subjects the community wants them to study.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of issues ethnic minority communities have expressed their willingness to have the students address [each team of 7-10 students will pick only one topic] in the past:

● Health issues:

1. 1. Lack of access to healthcare system due to stigma vis a vis the ethnic minorities or due to their stateless status.
   2. Develop traditional/herbal medicine, review the impact of traditional beliefs on health, etc.
   3. Malnutrition, diabetes, sugar addiction in the community, etc.

● Water issues:

1. 1. Water shortage,
   2. Pesticide contamination of the village water streams,
   3. Technology for water filtration for the village, etc.
   4. Village sanitation, rubbish collection.

● Gender:

1. • In one of the program-selected communities, the village chief is a woman; an exceptional situation in a traditionally patriarchal setting (what can we learned from it?)

● Marginalized populations:

• • Disable people, elderlies, drug addicts, etc.

● Environmental issues:

• • Impact of the too many unregulated elephant “sanctuaries”, or of mass tourism, on the environment and the local culture

● Legal issues:

• • Statelessness land ownership, access to education, health care and social services to ethnic minorities, etc.

● Sustainability

• 1. Challenges of the traditional livelihood of the ethnic minorities
  2. Challenge of elephant-raising communities, and the declining tourism business (due to tourists’ better awareness of elephant’s suffering).
  3. Dependency on pesticides.

We will send you a confidential questionnaire in which we will ask you to inform us about possible health issues or risk you may have (e.g. allergies, chronic diseases, special medicines, etc.) This is to better cater to your needs.

• You will also be asked to specify if you have some special diet (halal, kosher, vegetarian, etc.). This is for us to try to arrange the matching– as much as we possibly can — between the student and his/her hosting family. HOWEVER, please, note that, in the traditional setting of the ethnic minorities, it may not be possible to satisfy all specific diets. Note that students are always given the choice to eat in their hosting families or outside. Meals are at students’ costs [NB. average cost of a meal varies between 2 and 4 Euros]