Finding Courage to Stand with Bangkok’s Homeless

EI Fellow, Anond Kulthanmanusorn is a health policy researcher from Thailand, grounded in academia and committed to primary health care reform. During COVID 19, his health research work took him beyond research papers and into the streets of Bangkok, where he met people experiencing homelessness and the NGOs supporting them. The encounter stirred something deep within him, but he hesitated: he knew research and policy; not how to design a social enterprise that could sustainably provide services and support for one of the most marginalized groups in the city. 

Anond Kulthanmanusorn (2023, Thailand) and his team interacting with a person experiencing homelessness

EI became a turning point. Through conversations with other EI Fellows, site visits and equity frameworks, health equity shifted from abstract theory to lived reality. Watching peers turn their ideas into practice helped him imagine a different future for himself. Within a community of people launching social innovations, social entrepreneurship no longer felt like a risky detour but as a genuine pathway to advance equity. 

After completing the EI induction year, Anond made his choice. He founded Sookaphawa Roadside, a social enterprise working alongside people experiencing homelessness in Bangkok, bringing together systems thinking, research and deep community engagement. 

Anond Kulthanmanusorn (2023, Thailand) doing a consultation with a person experiencing homelessness

A recently awarded Community Building Fund (CBF) project will enable Anond and his team to deepen outreach, strengthen peer support, test new inclusive services and build stronger evidence to advocate for people living on the streets. 

“Before I did not even know what a social enterprise was,” he reflects. “But once I learned that people were doing things like this, it gave me the courage to seriously commit fully to Sookaphawa Roadside.” 

This story is part of the Equity Initiative’s 10-year anniversary, celebrating a decade of leadership, collaboration, and impact across Southeast Asia and China.