The purpose of this research was to undertake an investigation of the learning process for self-reliance developed by the Center for Developing the Quality of Life of the Disadvantaged Female Youth, Buddhakasetra Foundation, Chiangmai. This paper has four principal aims : first to investigate the learning process for self-reliance in terms of economic, social and cultural matters

second, to investigate the characteristics of the learning process of self-reliance providing five characteristics, namely lively learning, active learning, cooperative learning, holistic learning, and self-directed learning

third, to investigate the teaching and learning process leading to self-reliance

and lastly, to follow up the results of the implementation or the application of the learning process for self-reliance in the community. The research was carried out qualitatively. Two sets of research instruments were used for data collection. The first instrument was an in-depth unstructured interview. The second instrument was participatory observation. The data obtained was categorized accordingly to the purposes of the research. The findings were as follows: 1. General Background : The center was sited within the area of the Buddhakasetra Foundation, Chiangmai, Thailand. It was founded in 2535 B.E. (1992 A.D.) by Phra Chaiyot Chaiyaso in order to develop the quality of life of the disadvantaged female youth to prevent them from being sexually abused, and youth labour exploited in the work place, to encourage them to participate in the development of their own community, and to give them vocational skills so that can earn a living while attending school. The learning activity in the center was divided into morning and afternoon sessions. The morning session focused on academic subjects according to the curriculum given by Governments Office of Informal Education that two different subjects were offered in each level, lower and upper secondary, in a semester. The afternoon session consisted of a diversity of vocational studies for each individual youth. The youth lived as a family and was closely monitored by the residential teachers. 2. Learning Process for Self-reliance : Diversity of learning activies was generally applied for all levels in terms of project work according to the youths interest. All courses were taught relatedly based on the collaborative/ cooperative approach, concerned with daily life, self-governance, democracy needed for developing future life, and participating in activities in society. 3. Learning Characteristics for Self-reliance : The youth were encouraged to learn through a variety of activities emphasizing on critical thinking, life skill development in order to improve them physically, emotionally, socially, and to stimulate their learning ability. All the activities provided five characteristics of self-reliance, namely lively learning, active learning, cooperative learning, holistic learning and self-directed learning. 4. Instructional Process for Self-reliance : Related or mutual activities e.g. academic, vocational, socio-cultural/moral activities, enabled the female youth to learn through five characteristics of the learning process (as mentioned in 3). 5. Follow Up : All learning experiences gained could actually be applied onto communities economically, and socio-culturally, directly/ indirectly to sustain individual life. Interestingly, the females claimed to get more academic knowledge from the contents of the curriculum. Textbook insufficiency was a great barrier for reaching their educational goal. However, the center was still recognized as a helpful place for developing the quality of life of the female youth.