This Civil Society in Bhutan employes youth to revamp villages
Feb 12, 2023
Rangtse [Bhutan], February 12 : Bhutan's youth depends on agricultural income to make the ends meet. In this scenario, a Civil Society Organization (CSO) is paying them money to maintain their villages, which is helping them economically and raising employment opportunities in the area, reported Bhutan Live.
The Organization for Youth Development (OYE) under Bhutan Jamchong Thuendrel Foundation (BJTF) is providing local youth with money for revamping their village. And most of these workers are school dropouts who stay in the village to help parents with farm work.
The close involvement of the project with the area's youth has benefited the village as a whole. Sangay Tenpa, the Tshogpa (representative) of Rangtse Chiwog, a village of Bhutan, says the project is benefiting them and the upkeep of the sacred site. "If the project continues for some time, our children can work for it on regular basis. This will help address the youth unemployment issue in our village to a certain extent."
The 20-year-old Sangay Lhendup who left school in 2019 and lost his father when he was 19 had to bear all responsibility of his family and has become a part of OYE. Earlier for three years, the youngster had to work in his cardamom fields after school. He said now apart from making income from the project, he is also able to learn masonry skills as well. He and his friends are also renovating an ancient trail from Rangtse village to Rangtse Nye on daily wage".
The organisation has not only allowed him to make money but also to involve himself in social work. The organisation is currently joined by 22 youngsters and they have already finished renovating another trail between the Haa-Samtse highway and a pilgrimage site.
The report by Bhutan Live quotes another young man engaged in the project Sangay Tshering, who said that "As we have this project in our village to work for, we need not have to go and find work in other places. We get to spend time with our family and we can even take care of them,".
The projects undertaken by the CSO do not end after maintaining the trail in Haa The CSO is going to construct a cafeteria, a hot stone bath facility and a farm produce sales counter. It is also planning to construct a homestay near the pilgrimage site. These will be handed over to the youth that is currently engaged in the project for sustainability.
The Executive Director of OYE, Nima Gyeltshen, said that his office had trained the participants in keeping records of their daily income. "And there are groups like this in other parts of the country. We will take them on a study tour of those places and give them the chance to learn their ways of running such facilities.
