To empower women and girls in Bhutan, especially the victims and survivors of domestic violence, RENEW is now focusing on remote communities to provide their services.
In line with this, a high-level district meeting for the Multi-Sectorial Task Force (MSTF) and community based support system was held in Gelegphu. The Theme was “reaching out together, Empowering Communities”.
During the meeting, Yeshey Dorji, the Assistant Resident Representative of the UNFPA Country Office in Bhutan urged the participants to enroll religious figures to advocate social issues in their community.
“We think they are the most effective change-makers.”
Dr. Meenakshi Rai, the Outreach Director of RENEW said the meeting was initiated under the command of Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Sangay Choden Wangchuck who is the founder and President of RENEW.
RENEW has been carrying out the advocacy on HIV/AIDS and other related diseases in the communities along with MSTF. And the Community Based Support System has been creating awareness on domestic and gender based violence.
“The very remote communities where it takes about three four days to walk to, are the places that we are now targeting,” said Dr. Meenakshi.
The members presented the progress of their services in communities and expressed the challenges. They also discussed to ways and solutions to work together. Members from Chhukha, Dagana, Samdrup Jongkhar, Samtse, Sarpang and Tsirang attended the meeting. Similar meetings are scheduled to take place in Thimphu.
