January e-news

Needs Assessment Consultation on Women’s Leadership in Local Governance

BCMD organised a needs assessment consultation in Samtse dzongkhag to inform the development of a training manual for prospective women candidates in the forthcoming local government elections.

The consultation was conducted on 5th and 6th January and brought together a total of forty-five participants across two targeted sessions, designed to capture a broad range of perspectives. The morning session engaged male local government leaders, former leaders, and coordinators of informal community groups, while the afternoon session convened female local government leaders and members of informal community groups. In addition, a separate focus group discussion was held on 6th January with 14 Gewog Administrative Officers to incorporate administrative and institutional perspectives into the overall consultation process.

Discussions focused on three key thematic areas. Under the legal and policy framework, participants noted that although gender equality commitments exist, more robust practical measures are required, including financial and logistical campaign support, targeted capacity building, and potential policy reforms such as quotas and term limits. Structural and systemic barriers revealed ongoing challenges, including limited community and family support, unequal access to resources, and concerns related to safety and mobility. Socio-cultural norms were also identified as a major influence on women’s leadership, with entrenched gender roles, unequal household responsibilities, and male-dominated public spaces limiting women’s participation and visibility within communities.

Participants also identified critical skills and training needs for women leaders at various stages of leadership, before elections, during their term in office, and over the longer term. These included competencies in leadership and governance, public speaking, digital literacy, community engagement and facilitation, administrative and financial management, and mentoring to support sustained leadership.

The outcomes of this consultation will guide the development of the training manual. We express our sincere appreciation to UNDP for the support that made this consultation possible. 

Suja and Dzaw Conversation on Mindful Governance, Mindful Society

The second Druk Journal Conversation, following the 22nd edition themed “Mindful Governance, Mindful Society,” was held on 8 January 2026 at RRCO Hall, Gelephu. The discussion drew on insights from the featured articles, which included research and grounded perspectives on how mindfulness is understood and practised across different walks of life. The session was moderated by Dasho Kinley Dorji, Editor of The Druk Journal, and featured four speakers: Dr Joel and Michelle Levey (Founders, Wisdom at Work), Ven. Lungtaen Gyatso (President, College of Language and Cultural Studies, RUB), Tenzin Leewang (former Drangpon and Chief Administrator at the Bhutan Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre), and Siok Sian Pek-Dorji (Advisor, BCMD and Editorial Member, The Druk Journal), who shared key insights from their respective articles.

The conversation provided a platform for Pelsups to engage with mindfulness as both a philosophical foundation and a practical framework for governance, justice, economic development, and social life. Drawing from Buddhist thought, global practices, Bhutanese traditions, and contemporary policy challenges, the discussion examined how mindfulness can inform leadership, ethical decision-making, and people-centred development. Central themes included mindful prosperity, right livelihood, meditation and justice, governance planning, and the role of mindfulness in addressing social, technological, and environmental challenges, particularly in the context of Gelephu Mindfulness City.

Speakers emphasised that mindfulness, when grounded in ethics, compassion, and wisdom, can guide prosperity, governance, and leadership without causing harm. Mindful prosperity was presented as an approach that aligns economic activity with collective well-being, interdependence, and long-term social benefit. The discussion highlighted the risks of reducing mindfulness to productivity or stress management tools detached from ethical foundations.

Mindfulness was also explored as a practical discipline that cultivates awareness between stimulus and response, supporting thoughtful action in governance, justice, and everyday life. Bhutan’s tradition of Nangkha Nangdrik or mediation was highlighted as an example of mindful governance in practice, offering a relationship-preserving and people-centred alternative to adversarial legal processes. Participants further reflected on challenges related to urbanisation, technology and artificial intelligence risks, civic disengagement, youth livelihoods, and the need for stronger consultation and feedback mechanisms. Questions around measuring mindfulness and well-being led to discussions on complementing subjective experiences with objective indicators, building on Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness framework.

The discussion underscored the need to operationalise mindfulness across governance, education, justice, and economic development. Key recommendations included developing pilot frameworks to measure mindfulness using objective indicators, strengthening mediation and alternative dispute resolution systems within Gelephu Mindfulness City, and focusing on implementation and capacity building of existing laws. Participants called for articulating a Mindful Prosperity framework to guide investment and business practices, supporting youth-led and community-based enterprises, and integrating mindfulness education into school curricula. Strengthening consultation and feedback platforms, addressing emerging technology-related risks, promoting civic responsibility, and ensuring long-term, inclusive planning were seen as essential to sustaining mindful governance and a mindful society. Continued dialogue, public reporting, mentorship, and collaboration across government, civil society, business, and communities were emphasised as critical to translating mindful principles into lasting practice.

We thank the Bhutan Foundation for its support to the journal and the conversations that follow.

Needs Assessment Consultation on Women’s Leadership in Local Governance for Trongsa and Chhukha Dzongkhag 

BCMD conducted a two-day needs assessment consultation to inform the development of a training manual for aspiring women candidates in the forthcoming local government elections.

The consultations, held on 16th and 17th January, brought together male and female local government leaders, aspiring women leaders, and community representatives from Trongsa and Chhukha. Discussions were structured around three key themes: the policy and legal framework, structural and systems barriers, and socio-cultural norms influencing women’s participation in local governance.

1.1 Policy and Legal Framework

Participants acknowledged that existing policies and laws are formally gender neutral. Male leaders generally highlighted that laws treat women and men equally, viewing the main challenges as social attitudes and the readiness of women rather than shortcomings in the legal framework. From this perspective, policies were seen as adequate, with barriers arising primarily from women’s domestic responsibilities, limited confidence, and community attitudes.

In contrast, female leaders highlighted the gap between formal policy intent and lived reality. Women stressed that policies are not implemented in ways that accommodate their specific circumstances. Issues such as door-to-door campaigning requirements, lack of security provisions, mobility constraints, including limited driving skills, and the absence of childcare support during campaigns and consultations were foregrounded. Female participants also raised concerns about the lack of standardisation and enforcement of supportive measures, arguing that neutrality in policy design can perpetuate inequality when underlying conditions are unequal. This divergence suggests that male leaders are more likely to view policy sufficiency through a normative lens, while female leaders assess adequacy through an experiential and operational lens.

1.2 Structural and Systems Barriers

There was strong alignment between male and female consultations in identifying structural barriers as a major constraint to women’s participation. Both groups consistently highlighted the burden of household and caregiving responsibilities, limited spousal support, and the demanding nature of local government work, including ad hoc, irregular hours and late-night travel requirements during emergencies. Male leaders recognised that these constraints operate across locations and are systemic rather than isolated, indicating a growing awareness of structural gender inequalities.

In addition to domestic responsibilities, women emphasised the logistical and financial challenges of campaigning, particularly the lack of transport, limited access to vehicles, safety concerns, and insufficient financial resources. While male leaders acknowledged the need for spousal and community support, female leaders articulated the absence of concrete institutional mechanisms to offset these burdens, such as transport support, financial assistance, and targeted capacity building. Women also placed greater emphasis on the need for guidance, encouragement, and skills development in communication and public speaking, linking these needs to historically limited access to leadership opportunities rather than individual deficits.

1.3 Socio-cultural Norms

Socio-cultural norms emerged as a deeply entrenched and cross-cutting barrier in both consultations. Male leaders acknowledged that traditional perceptions of leadership as a male domain persist, leading to lower trust in women leaders and greater scrutiny of their performance. They recognised that these norms affect women’s willingness to come forward and their confidence in public roles.

Female leaders, however, articulated the impact of these norms in more personal and immediate terms. Women reported being perceived as less decisive, physically weaker, and less capable, particularly during elections. These external judgments were shown to translate into internalised self-doubt, reinforcing a cycle in which social bias constrains both opportunity and aspiration. Female participants also highlighted limited financial independence and weak family and community encouragement as critical socio-cultural constraints, dimensions that were less prominent in the male discussions. While both groups agreed on the importance of role models, women stressed the need for visible examples of ethical, hardworking, and accountable women leaders to actively counter prevailing stereotypes.

We express our sincere appreciation to UNDP for the support that made this consultation possible. 

Training of Trainers on MIL & Citizen Journalism to MDC coordinators

BCMD and DW Akademie, under the EU-funded Building Inclusive Democracy: Civil Society, Parliamentarians, Media, and Youth Strengthen Good Governance in Bhutan project, organised the TOT on MIL and Citizen Journalism for the third cohort. This edition included teachers and Media and Democracy Club (MDC) coordinators, as well as participants from new schools interested in establishing MDCs. A total of 15 participants from 11 schools from Samtse, Trongsa, and Trashigang joined the TOT training workshop. The TOT aimed to equip participants with skills to strengthen media literacy, citizen journalism, and democratic engagement in their schools.

Participants explored the concept of media, defining Media & MIL through the Media Biography exercise. They also engaged with the AACRA MIL framework (Access, Analyse, Create, Reflect, Act), discussed opportunities and risks associated with citizen journalism, and reflected on strategies to bring these learnings back to their schools to strengthen MDC activities.

One participant noted, “This workshop was really enriching. We usually talk about teaching routine topics, but this went beyond that. It was a great learning experience for me, and I will take these learnings back to my school children.” Another shared, “I learned what citizen journalism really is. I used to think it was easy, but through this session, I came to understand both the risks and opportunities, and how intricate it actually is. It helped me understand the whole process much better.”

On the final day, participants presented school-based action plans rooted in civic mindset, democratic values, and everyday responsibility.

Across schools and communities, participants proposed civic actions such as promoting responsible use of electricity and water, strengthening waste management through the 5Rs (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover) using social media platforms for awareness, protecting consent and ethical media practices, encouraging voting awareness, and advancing transparency, fairness, respect, and shared responsibility within schools.

“This training helped us see that civic action does not have to be big. Even small actions in schools, when done collectively, can make a real difference”, MDC Coordinator.

Through group presentations, reflection, and dialogue, participants demonstrated how Media and Democracy Clubs can become living spaces for civic education, ethical media practice, and youth participation.

BCMD, in collaboration with DW Akademie, remains committed to strengthening media literacy, democratic culture, and active citizenship across Bhutan under the EU-funded Building Inclusive Democracy project.

Training on Journalism

Sixteen journalists from five media houses participated in a five-day journalism training programme held in Paro from 26th to 30th January 2026. The programme was designed to strengthen professional competencies by reinforcing core journalism principles while introducing emerging practices related to artificial intelligence and multimedia reporting.

The training equipped participants with practical skills in news production, including the application of the inverted pyramid structure, source verification, interview techniques, photography, and multimedia storytelling. Reflecting on the relevance of the programme, one participant shared, “This five day training on journalism and AI was very insightful in the sense that we got to learn a lot of the basics of journalism itself, and to learn about the basics of AI in journalism, and in sync with multimedia, I think this was very timely, given that AI has very much become a part of our lives”.

In response to the evolving media landscape, the programme placed strong emphasis on the responsible use of AI in journalism, enabling participants to engage with new tools while critically upholding professional and ethical standards. The sessions also reinforced core areas such as news values, ethical frameworks, and public accountability, which were integrated throughout the training to strengthen quality journalism practices.

Participants further emphasised the practical applicability of the AI component of the training. As one participant noted, “This is my first time attending a workshop on AI conducted by BCMD. The workshop was insightful and applicable to our jobs. The interesting part about this workshop was learning about the CRAFT format. As a first-time learner of this format, I am confident it will significantly enhance how my colleagues and I leverage AI in our journalism”.

The training was organised by the BCMD in collaboration with DW Akademie and was facilitated by experienced trainers Kyle James and Thorsten Karg. It was implemented under the project titled Building Inclusive Democracy: Civil Society, Parliamentarians, Media and Youth Strengthen Good Governance in Bhutan, funded by the European Union and the BMZ.

GNH-Based Participatory Planning and Community Analysis Workshop

The five-day workshop on GNH-Based Participatory Planning and Community Analysis was held from 26th to 30th January with the participation of 41 local government leaders from Wangduephodrang Dzongkhag. The workshop aimed to strengthen gewog-level planning by promoting inclusive, evidence-based, and community-responsive development approaches.

Participants gained practical knowledge and skills in conducting meaningful public consultations and undertaking systematic community needs assessments to improve development planning processes at the gewog level. The sessions introduced a range of participatory tools designed to support more inclusive decision-making in order to ensure that local development priorities are informed by evidence and community needs.

The discussions highlighted the importance of coordinated planning, adaptive implementation, and community-driven solutions, while also recognising the need for clearer operational guidance and strengthened institutional linkages, particularly in light of limited capital grants and shared responsibilities. Furthermore, in view of the funding constraint realities, the participants also identified and acknowledged the need to prioritise the development interventions based on needs, urgency and resource availability. 

The workshop also highlighted the need for more structured prioritisation in planning. Participants noted that the tools introduced would help them better assess the urgency and importance of community needs and improve resource allocation. Several committed to applying these approaches in future planning cycles.

Participants reflected on the value of meaningful community engagement, recognising the need to move beyond leader-driven planning towards more participatory processes. The workshop concluded with strong commitments to apply these prioritisation tools in future planning cycles to ensure more strategic and inclusive planning practices.

One Tshogpa shared that development plans in many gewogs have traditionally been shaped primarily by local government leaders and extension officers. The workshop, however, reinforced the value of inclusive consultations and meaningful community engagement. 

We extend our sincere appreciation to the DDI South Asia and the Canada Fund for Local Initiative for their support in making this workshop possible.