The Friends of Bhutan Association is supporting Khemdro in setting up five milk collection centres within a 15-minute walk of the farms. They are equipped with an electricity and water connection and electronic scales. Read more
On 30 September 2023, Mr Thinley Wangdi, chairman of the Khengrig Namsum Cooperative (KNC), visited the Friends of Bhutan Association in Vienna *. He reported on his work in the Cooperative, which he founded 9 years ago after having promised his father not to leave his ancestral home in remote Kheng Bardo and not to let the land fall fallow. Thinley quit his good job as an employee in the capital Thimphu and started the Cooperative with 16 young farmers.
Friends of Bhutan Austria, together with the Society-Switzerland-Bhutan and the German-Bhutan-Himalaya Society, supports the Bhutan Center for Media and Democracy to create awareness in the communities through parent and youth education on safe and responsible use of the digital space.
There are 13 youth centers in the country providing safe space catering to children’s and youth’s recreational and social needs outside of the school system. The project will benefit the youth center coordinators, parents, youth and children residing in the communities around the center through imparting digital media literacy.
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To address the exclusion of children with disabilities, the project of Ability Bhutan (ABS) trained 26 ECCD facilitators and 3 primary school teachers from Pemagatshel district to enrol and provide early intervention services to children with disabilities in their centres.
One of Bhutan’s challenges is ensuring that all children with special educational needs and disabilities receive appropriate education and social services. Poor awareness of current resources, negative attitudes, and negative cultural beliefs about disabilities still persist in communities. Besides, most parents/caregivers and community workers don’t realize the importance of early intervention and miss out on the golden opportunity to reduce the impact of disability.
After successfully completing his climate bike tour through Bhutan, Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk is on his way to the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, to raise awareness about the receding glaciers.
Jamyang will carry this message by bicycle all the way to Dubai, to the 28th World Climate Change Conference 2023 on November 30, 2023.
On March 5, 2023, Austria’s Ambassador, Mag.a Katharina Wieser, officially presented Mr. Karma Lotey with the Decree of Appointment as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Austria to Bhutan. Read more
On 8 November 2022, the Association of Friends of Bhutan, Austria and Tarayana Foundation in Bhutan signed a cooperation agreement. The City of Vienna awarded our association a grant of 29,000 Euros to enable 35 women mountain farmers from the Lhuentse district to purchase small motorized ploughs with the help of microcredits. Tarayana will implement the project, the goal of which is to enable the women, who currently practice only subsistence agriculture, to expand their agricultural productivity, thereby generating income and improving the livelihood of their families. Read more
As part of the project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of gender-based violence in Bhutan”, also a two-month tailoring course for women was financed (project partner RENEW; with funding from the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs/JugendEineWelt). The training should promote their economic independence and enable them to generate an independent income. During a project visit of our association in November we could convince ourselves of the newly gained skills of the 19 female participants and the only male participant of the course from Rinchengang. With great commitment, the women are now already making kiras, tegos and wanjus, the traditional clothing of women in Bhutan, as well as other products and are already receiving orders for sewing work.
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Together with the Swiss and the German-Himalayan Bhutan Societies we support the Bhutanese non-governmental organization Ability Bhutan Society. It trains facilitators in the Early Childhood and Development Centers (ECCD) in Trashi Yangtse, in the far northeast of Bhutan, in the early identification and early intervention for children with disabilities. 20 ECCD facilitators will be equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to take appropriate action for the support and inclusion of children and their families. Read more
For two years, the meeting, already planned for 2020, had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, from 14 to 18 September 2022, representatives from 13 European countries and Bhutan met at the invitation of the President of the Hungarian Friendship Society, Zoltan Valcsicsak, and his team. Austria was represented by Claudia Lisa, Christine A. Jantscher and Dr. Michael Raffling. Read more