08/10/2025
The Workshop on GNH-Based Participatory Planning and Community Analysis began yesterday with 37 Local government leaders from the 12 gewogs of Tsirang Dzongkhag. The workshop opened with a deep reflection on Bhutan’s local governance system and the realities of decentralisation in practice.
While decentralisation has empowered local governments to plan and prioritise development in their communities, participants highlighed several ongoing challenges that hinder its effectiveness., These include unclear agenda setting, poor documentation, citizen fatigue from frequent meetings, and limited capacity to support meaningful participatory planning. They also observed that many citizens continue to view governance as a government function alone, rather than a shared, collective and collaborative responsibility.
“It is difficult to get community participation during chiwog zomdu meetings. Many people attend only if there are direct benefits for them,” shared one participant, highlighting the ongoing need for civic awareness and awareness, and trust-building at the grassroots level.
Participants explored the planning and communication flow across the Dzongkhag, Gewog and Chiwog levels. As per the Local Development Planning Manual 2021, activities approved at the gewog level must be submitted to the Dzongkhag for information, while activities requiring higher budgets or support from central agencies are forwarded to the Dzongkhag as formal proposals derived from consultations with the community through the chiwog zomdu. Many participants conceded that these linkages were not fully understood before.
The session clarified roles, responsibilities, and the procedural flow in the local planning and prioritisation processes and structures, particularly the roles of the Agenda Finalisation Committee, which is responsible for reviewing and categorising agendas by constituency and subject, and also visited the Protocol for Local Government Proceedings (publication of the Department of Local Governance and Disaster Management) to understand the roles of the relevant LG actors and functions therein.
The first day concluded with the introduction of the first GNH-Based participatory tool, Social Mapping, where participants created visual maps of their villages, gaining a bird’s-eye view of their communities. These maps illustrated social infrastructure such as schools, roads, water sources, houses, and health facilities, alongside the relationships between these physical features and people’s everyday lives. The exercise helped participants visualise social services, living standards, and access disparities, enabling them to identify key areas for improvement and inclusion.
The second day introduced the tools on economic analysis followed by the remaining seven tools under the four pillars of GNH. The workshop will culminate in a Community Development Plan, developed through a process of co-creating community plans that involve participatory approaches and prioritisation that reflect the holistic wellbeing of the community.
The workshop will end on 13th October and is supported by the Bhutan Foundation
