On 17 February 2025, Dasho Kinzang Wangdi, our counterpart and local representative of the Association of Friends of Bhutan Austria, handed over working equipment, sewing machines and weaving seets worth 5,000 euros to the Bhutanese CSO Draktsho. The donation was provided by the VIC Women’s Group in Vienna. It will benefit girls and young women at the Draktsho centre in Trashigang in eastern Bhutan. Read more
Support for income-generating initiatives
A Heat Pump Dryer for the Khengrig Namsum Cooperative (KNC)
On 16 February 2024, a fire destroyed the Cooperative’s processing plant and reduced the building including all machinery to rubble and ashes during the night. KNC lost several drying and packaging machines as well as its entire stock of turmeric powder in just one day. During our visit in March 2024, we could see for ourselves the extent of the devastation. In cooperation with our sister association Bhutan Network we wanted to help KNC to resume their work.
With the help of additional donations Bhutan Network and Friends of Bhutan Austria could hand over 6,096 Euros to KNC for a much needed heat pump dryer .
Visit of the Project “Mini-Motor-Ploughs for Women Mountain Farmers”
Successful project completion
The project targeted female mountain farmers in the districts of Lhuentse and Trashigang in Bhutan, most of whom have to manage the work in the fields on their own. The aim of the project was to enable 35 economically disadvantaged female mountain farmers, who only practise subsistence farming, to increase their agricultural productivity and thus their income opportunities by mechanising the extremely costly and labour-intensive cultivation of their fields and terraces through access to microloans.
With the financial support of the City of Vienna and with the help of Tarayana Foundation/Tarayana Microfinance, all 35 women mountain farmers were equipped with mini-power-tillers. The joint effort has fundamentally changed the lives of the beneficiaries and enabled a significant step towards sustainable livelihoods and prosperity.
Khemdro Dairy: Fresh Milk – At a Fair Price
Support for the construction and installation of five milk collection centres in the Phobjikha Valley
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
Khengrig Namsum Cooperative (KNC)
A successful agricultural cooperative in Zhemgang, central part of southern Bhutan
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.