Every voice must be heard for a vibrant democracy. In line with this, the Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy (BCMD) launched a toolkit. It is to help the government involve every citizen in the decision-making process. The toolkit is a kind of survey that will help authorities learn about issues and identify approaches to address them.
“The toolkit covers those who are inactive in decision making such as elders, youth and persons with disabilities. If we take their issues and voices into consideration and plan accordingly then we would achieve GNH even at the local level,” said Jamyang Lhamo, former Tshogpa from Thimphu.
“According to the toolkit we have to do a community mapping. Through this mapping, we will be able to know about every issue in a place and come up with plans to address the problems,” said Lemo, gewog administrative officer, Kawang Gewog, Thimphu.
The tool will also avoid duplication of plans.
Chencho Lhamu (PhD), the Executive Director of BCMD said, “We are in communication with the Department of Local Governance and GNHC. We learned that they are in the process of reviewing the planning manual for gewogs. So our workshop is a supplement to the government’s efforts. This is not to replace the planning process it is just to supplement and strengthen planning processes at the local level.”
It will be used in Paro and Thimphu for now.
Namgay Wangchuk, Paro
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
