Ya Prage Salawin Learning Center

Ya Prage Salawin is a learning center located in Sop Moei, Mae Hong Son Province, which provides education both formally, through instruction, and informally, through group discussion sessions in Pagageryor (Karen language). Life skills training includes natural system management, production systems based on ecological culture, economic systems based on community support, social and cultural systems/traditional rituals, holistic health systems (body + mind) and language systems. The center provides a major opportunity to refresh the knowledge of wisdom, “prior knowledge” that exists in traditional life, and to link it with “modern knowledge”. The training is provided by the Department of Innovation and Higher Education which is interested in research on knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer processes based on problems the local population has to deal with. By collaborating with the private sector (households) they create opportunities for local entrepreneurs to learn how to improve their production and how to promote and sell local products.