Project Citizenship

In response to the gap in education about a citizen’s role in a democracy, the Bhutan Foundation in partnership with BCMD started Project Mikhung (Project Citizenship) in 2019 with a goal to nurture a culture of democratic school governance where there is active participation from all school community members, including students, parents, teachers, staff, and community residents.

Project Mikhung (Project Citizenship) is a three-year citizenship engagement project aimed at using the “whole school” approach that combines faculty, parents, students, and community members in a full-scale, community-based program to develop news literacy and build community participation and active citizenship within a democracy.

Although Bhutan peacefully transitioned into a democracy a little over ten years ago, the cultural shift from monarchy to democratic constitutional monarchy requires strategic interventions if a healthy democracy is to succeed long-term. The Bhutan Foundation, in partnership with the Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy (BCMD), recognizes the need to aid that transition through programs focused on education and good governance in order to proactively cultivate a civic-minded population—one that is prepared to take on the immense responsibility that comes with building, sustaining, and truly taking ownership of one’s own government and in engaging in Bhutan’s democratic change.

Bhutan’s 12th five-year-plan places impetus on the decentralization of planning and development with 50 percent of the development budget expected to shift to the dzongkhags (district) and gewog (block) levels. The underlying premise is that when citizens take responsibility for community development activities, development becomes more sustainable. Such a move towards decentralization also makes good governance imperative. Defined as a system of management reflective of values of responsibility, accountability, fairness, and transparency, good governance becomes foundational to active citizen engagement and a democratic form of government.

The Need for Creating Awareness of Active Citizenship

More than half of Bhutan’s population is under 25, making schools vital for preparing young people for active citizenship and democracy. However, education on democracy, citizenship, and media literacy remains limited, with media studies offered only in select schools and democracy taught mainly from a historical perspective. Teachers and program coordinators also lack adequate training, resulting in fragmented citizenship initiatives. This knowledge gap extends beyond students to parents, teachers, and the wider adult population.

Proactive Citizenship in Democracy Beginning in Schools

Project Mikhung (Project Citizenship), launched in 2019 by the Bhutan Foundation and BCMD, aims to promote democratic school governance through active participation of students, parents, teachers, staff, and local communities. The project integrates principles of responsibility, accountability, fairness, and transparency into school practices and encourages community involvement in development planning. It began in Paro with Shaba Higher Secondary School and Drukgyel Central School, alongside a control school for evaluating project outcomes.

Project Democracy is a three-year citizenship engagement project to develop news literacy and build community participation and active citizenship. After taking part in Project Democracy training, 94.1% of the participants agreed that youth should talk about politics

Youths took part in media literacy and good citizen training

Students took part in research on citizen participation and democratic culture

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Joined first community training

Participated in four town hall meetings

Did you Know?

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan was enacted in 2008.

The Parliament of Bhutan has 72 members.

The National Council has 25 members while the National Assembly has 47 members.

Our Partners

The Bhutan Center for Media and Democracy (BCMD) was founded in the transition period that followed the proclamation of democracy in Bhutan in 2008 and is Bhutan’s first registered civil society organization. The transition to democracy was ushered in by the simultaneous proliferation of media. It was in the wake of this dual development that BCMD was established to encourage a higher standard for media in Bhutan that would also promote a culture of democracy through media education and professional support to those in the media sector. BCMD is working on cross-cutting issues concerning Bhutan’s youth, environment, society, education, and governance.

Photos from the Field

How You Can Help

In order to engage civil society in a discourse, BCMD has placed a special focus on the youth of Bhutan through their Media Lab program. BCMD and the Bhutan Foundation have worked together on good governance advocacy, completing briefings to parliament to help lawmakers understand the role of media and the relationship between media and democracy. In addition, BCMD and the Foundation have worked together on media literacy and civic engagement education workshops.