Month: December 2017

Editorial: Coordination, Collaboration, Consolidation, and the Fourth C (Civil Society)

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 The theme for this issue of The Druk Journal, “civil society”, is a critical element of democratic governance. It is an active sphere where civil society organisations (CSOs), non-government organisations (NGOs), and groups work in areas of common interest. This could include areas where the government’s impact is limited...

Civil Society is Important – But Not a Magic Bullet

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Introduction Towards the end of the 1990s, the Administrator of UNDP decided to establish a “civil society advisory committee” with members representing the global civil society community. This was a wise and timely decision, considering how important civil society organisations (CSOs) had become in the field of development cooperation....

Civil Society: Change, Challenge, and Chance

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 The Change Bhutan has been going through a tremendous transition in all aspects of life. I have often been reiterating that, in the gap of half a century, the country has moved economically from subsistence farming to a consummerist market economy, socially from a totally rural country to a...

The Pros and Cons of the Traditional Self-help Mechanism: A Story from Shari Gewog, Paro

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Traditional Self-help Mechanism Traditional agrarian Bhutanese society relied on locally available self-help mechanisms to address various societal challenges. There were none of the registered civil society organisations (CSOs) which exist today. People relied on naturally formed systems that were based on local needs at the grassroots level in the...

Emergence of Civil Society in Bhutan

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Given that civil society is generally understood as the total space outside the domain of the government and private sectors in which civilians act collectively to pursue common interests, there is no denying that civil society in Bhutan existed long before we even knew what civil society actually meant....

Birth of the National Youth Association of Bhutan (NYAB) – the First Non-governmental Initiative

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 An Interview with Dasho Paljor J. Dorji, one of the pioneers of NYAB The Druk Journal: How did the idea of starting the first non-governmental organisation, the National Youth Association of Bhutan (NYAB), come about? Dasho Paljor J. Dorji: We felt that the growing number of youth coming out...

Nurturing Civil Society – Building Legitimacy, Ensuring Relevance

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Introduction The government of Bhutan has initiated a process to review the civil society organisation (CSO) rules and regulations, nearly eight years after the establishment of a formal registration system for CSOs. This is expected to provide a much-needed analysis of the direction and impact of civil society in...

Civil Society – Why it Matters

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Civil society refers to the web of interpersonal connections that includes community engagement, volunteer work, social support networks, and groups of people who get together to help each other and benefit society. These connections can be completely informal, encompassing people in the village helping out those who are sick,...

Bhutan, Civil Society, and the EU

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Why Does the EU Want to Support Civil Society? During the visit to Bhutan of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with countries of South Asia (DSAS) in May this year, we were delighted to help launch the EU’s Programme in support of civil society in Bhutan. This initiative...

Civil Society Organisations in Switzerland

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 HELVETAS Swiss Inter-cooperation and civil society A Few General Considerations What is civil society? It is not easy to define as the term is rather vague and there is no clear definition. Basically it is a large space between the State and private households. This means that civil society...

A Way Forward: What’s Civil Society Got To Do With It?

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 The role of civil society is not isolated from the role of politics. Politics defines the kind of society each nation cultivates. If we agree that nations around the world see democracy as the most desirable among the different forms of government known to man, then, should the conversation...

Civil Society Should Shift Focus on Human Capital as Democratic Spaces Shrink

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 While the term civil society originated in ancient Rome and Greece – it is more or less a direct translation from Cicero’s “societas civilas” and Aristotle’s “koinōnia politikē”. As times changed, the term began to be used differently. In Europe, “civil society” came to refer to civil government and...

Bhutanese Need to Write Compelling Proposals: An Interview With Dr Bruce Bunting, Founder and President of Bhutan Foundation

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 The Druk Journal: What are the areas that international donors are interested in? Dr Bruce Bunting: I am not really clued into international donors these days, but I feel in the US support for good governance, growth of democracy, support for cultural institutions in particular the arts, support for...

Skills-based Symbiosis: How Mutually Beneficial Civil Society-Private Sector Partnership Delivers Capacity Building

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Summary Public, private, and civil society organisations form three separate sectors. When the sectors are bridged, many opportunities can be found. In this article, we focus on one such opportunity – making the most of the contributions individual corporate executives may make through cross-sector partnerships. A “Skills-based symbiosis” (SBS)...

Large-scale Innovative Fund Raising for Greater Impact and Sustainability of CSOs

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 Introduction Sustainable financing is one of the major challenges faced by many civil society organisations (CSO), particularly in developing countries where the need for CSO engagement is even greater. Although civil society vis-a-vis community participation is not a new concept in Bhutan, the prevailing western notion of non-governmental organisation...

Resource Mobilisation for Civil Society Organisations in Bhutan

Winter Edition , December 4th, 2017 By Saroj Nepal Over the centuries, Bhutanese living in remote mountaintop hamlets had to find a way to survive. They were compelled to cooperate and coexist with each other because rugged geography and underdevelopment made survival difficult. If it were not for the cooperation among villagers, it would not...