August eNews 2022
Inclusive Community Development Planning
Ensuing the public consultations held in the month of July, the local government office bearers from eight Gewogs of Thimphu and Paro Dzongkhags presented their co-developed community development plans at the Gallery walk on 25th August, Thimphu.
A member of the parliament Tshering Chhoden stated that the local leaders showcased heightened awareness in inclusive planning that addresses social issues such as youth unemployment and women empowerment while not forgoing the infrastructural development plans.
Additionally, the Governance Advisor of UNDP, Mr. Kaiser Rana shared that this was a “good participatory approach” while CSOA Member Secretariat acknowledged the “effective evidence-based planning.”
The Gallery walk was attended by representatives from key government agencies including committee chairpersons of the National Assembly, planning officers from various ministries, members of Civil Society Organisations, media houses, and donor agencies.
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The event culminated in awarding the best community development plan graced by the Director of the Department of Local Governance (DLG) to Wangchang Gewog of Paro and Mewang Gewog of Thimphu.
We thank our funders The Asia Foundation and Bhutan Foundation.
Accrediting Active Youth Voice
“Before joining the YI camp, I assumed that solutions to help strike a balance between development and conservation would be easy to find, however over the course of 5 days, I came to realise its complexities and the challenges when formulating holistic plans.” shared Sonam Tshogyel, a student of the College of Natural Resources.
The Youth Initiative 2022 Summer Camp, brought together 30 youths from diverse backgrounds to deliberate and provide views on “How to balance economic development and environmental conservation?” Members brainstormed constructive suggestions to help balance development with conservation in the area of urbanisation, food production and industrialisation.
Tshering Dendup, a student of JSW Law School, expressed that it is refreshing to meet like-minded people who care about community issues, and also shared his plans on researching more on green finance once college resumes.
The consolidated responses (solutions) from this camp will be shared on a digital platform that will go live in the coming month to encourage more responses and discussion on the issue.
We thank UNDP Bhutan for funding this project.
Actualising Child Participation
“This guide has useful tools that can also be used by teachers to assess the situation of the children’s participation in schools and provide solutions to existing issues in schools.” shared Ms Kusum, an English teacher from Yangchenphug Higher Secondary School during the review meeting.
14 relevant stakeholders working closely with youth, children and local government reviewed “Actualising Child Participation Toolkit.” The Department of Youth and Sports who earlier conducted sensitisation and capacity building workshops on Child Friendly Local Government, shared that the tools used in the guide will help in collecting insights on youth participation, local government’s role in strengthening consultation and engagement in the community.
The draft guide will soon be piloted in the coming month.
The project is supported by UNICEF Bhutan.
A Room to Sing, Play and Share
Celebrating the International Youth Day 2022, BCMD hosted its first Open Mic night in 2022. The light hearted event welcomed performances alongside story sharing sessions from singers, poets, writers, bloggers, vloggers, and a beatboxer.
Deki Tshomo, an audience member, shared that the open-mic was inspiring and different in a way that it provided room to engage and listen to people from different walks of life.
Ongoing:
Design Thinking workshop
BCMD, in partnership with Bhutan-Canada Foundation, RENEW and Phensem is organising a workshop to review policy through Design Thinking Process. The workshop will bring together policy makers and individuals from vulnerable groups to deliberate on social protection issues through the Design Thinking Process.
The outcome of the workshop will be to co-design suggestions and recommendations for incorporation into national policies and programmes.
The workshop is funded by the Fund for Innovation and Transformation.