The 20th of September 2019 marked a century of Change for Children. The Save the Children office in Bhutan celebrated its 100 Years Anniversary Event at the YDF hall in Thimphu yesterday.
The event was graced by the Education Minister, Lyonpo JB Rai.
The Save the Children Bhutan office, in collaboration with their various implementing partners from the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) and the various Non-government Organisations (NGOs) have achieved real-time breakthroughs in child protection, children’s early development, and in building preparedness and resilience of school children from disasters and risks.
“It’s Save the Children’s 100th anniversary and it was founded in England just after World War I in response to mass starvation in Central Europe. So we have been working for 100 years around the world to entrench in convention and law protections for children. And I think we have done that globally around the world and we have done that here,” said Ned Olney, the Country Director for Save the Children, Nepal and Bhutan.
“In Bhutan, we started here 37 years ago and we have had such an amazing relationship and support from the RGoB. Working in some of the rural districts 37 years ago to build schools, irrigation and helping on education systems but we have evolved from that. More recently we have been working with the juvenile justice system and the Royal Bhutan Police. Just recently we have worked with the RGoB to launch the women and children’s helpline, 1098,”
The occasion also presented some commemorative events initiated by the staff of Save the Children Bhutan.
“To commemorate 100 years of Save the Children, the Bhutan Country Office with 18 staff have committed to putting in 100 hours of community service to celebrate our 100 years anniversary. To do that we have till now conducted about 6 events. Such as cleaning of the resting-area in Menchuna, labour contribution in Wangdue Phodrang dzong restoration work, and planting of 100 saplings in Kuenselphodrang. The next important contribution by the Save the Children Bhutan staff is creation of the Centenary Children’s Fund. This is going to be a very humble startup with a humble amount of Nu 100,000. It is meant to help children who are 18 years and younger and at a disadvantage in terms of accessing education. We are also planning to start activating the fund by December this year,” added Karma Dyenka, the Education Manager for Save the Children Bhutan.
Save the Children advocates for children issues and promote child rights. In Bhutan, they work in close collaboration with the RGoB to ensure that all children receive the benefit of the programmes and their rights well protected since 1982.
Yeshi Dorji
