About Somsook Boonyabancha

Somsook Boonyabancha is currently the Chairperson of Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, a regional network of communities, NGOs and professionals in Asia. She is former Director of the Community Organizations Development Institute, which managed a national community development fund and carried out a city community upgrading program on national scale in Thailand. An architect by training, she holds an honorary PhD in Architecture from Khonkhaen University. She also received special training on Housing and Urbanisation from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Denmark. Her whole life, she has been involved in collective housing and community development processes in which members of poor communities themselves are the key drivers.