Civil Society Grant Facility

Closing the gaps: Enhancing civic voice and participation to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities in Bhutan

Home > CSO Projects > CSO Grantees Phase II > Closing the gaps: Enhancing civic voice and participation to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities in Bhutan

Posted On: March 29th, 2022

Name of CSO Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy
Amount 1,274,940
Duration 10 Months
Dzongkhag Thimphu

Objectives of the project

  • To involve those who are marginalized or left out from expressing concerns and needs that significantly affect their lives through healthy public deliberations. Advocacy, in this context, aims to amplify the voices of ordinary, vulnerable people as well as political parties, and empower them to participate in public policy discussions & contribute to decision/making processes.
  • To contribute to the strengthening of people’s ability to articulate much needed feedback to the State to address the inequalities in society.
  • To enable vulnerable groups to share their needs and suggestions, and in doing so, enable the strengthening of healthy civic voice and participation. This will lead to laying the foundation for a stronger governance that involves civic participation in democratic processes.

Target groups/ final beneficiaries    

  • Women, youth, and vulnerable groups.

Estimated results

  • The event will contribute to the strengthening of healthy civic space for addressing and advocating to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities in Bhutan.
  • Empower the vulnerable & marginalized; contribute to building people’s ability to speak about their needs, make suggestions and influence policy discussions.
  • Provide a much-needed channel for participation in policy discussion (outside of government), leading to increased engagement of civil society/ ordinary citizens in consultations to influence decision-making governance processes.
  • Partners learn to collaborate on policy matters and contribute to modelling more inclusive governance processes.

Main activities

  • A public forum/ panel discussion on reducing inequalities and vulnerabilities
  • Two videos of panel discussions / TV programme
  • A publication on the forum with ideas captured in print
  • Two policy advocacy discussions on reducing inequalities and vulnerabilities held in 2 colleges with students and faculty.

CSO Grant