Student Leaders Champions Community Plans

Promoting Young People’s Engagement in Local Governance Processes 

When students and teacher coordinators from four Media and Democracy Clubs in Samtse, together with the Gups, Mangmi and Tshogpa of their gewogs, came together over six days this April, they were invited to sit with a question that is not often asked in their communities. Why do young people remain largely outside the local decisions that shape their everyday lives, and what would it take to bring them in? Through guided reflection and a series of participatory exercises grounded in Bhutan’s democratic and decentralisation framework, they began to answer it together. 

At the centre of the workshop was an exercise we call the Bza-zam Bridge. Working in mixed groups, students and Gewog leaders drew a bridge between young people and Local Government, naming what holds it up and what weakens it. What surfaced on both sides was reflective rather than defensive. By the close of the workshop, each school and gewog group had produced a Joint Action Plan grounded in the issues that matter most in their community. Samtse Primary School is addressing bullying inside the school. Sang-ngagchoeling Lower Secondary School is working on the safety of students living in rented rooms. Dorokha Central School is opening new platforms for student participation, and Peljorling Higher Secondary School is forming a youth committee at gewog level.

In May, the students presented those plans to the Dasho Dzongda, Dzongkhag officials, sector heads and their own Local Government leaders. They presented with a steadiness that surprised even those who had walked with them through the workshop. Peljorling proposed a three-step plan to form youth committees at gewog level. Dorokha asked that Zomdues be held on weekends and that invitations to students be put in writing. Sang-ngagchoeling, whose students had since the workshop already attended a Gewog Tshogde, proposed a multi-stakeholder Advisory Council with bi-annual meetings. Samtse Primary School committed to meet their Gup by the first week of June with an action plan on bullying. 

In his keynote, the Dasho Dzongda told the room that "Youth National Service should not be just symbolic participation, but a civic participation in local governance," a framing that quietly disrupts the tokenism that students have lived with for years. The session closed with concrete commitments. The Sangngachoeling Gup committed to involving youth in every Gewog consultation and planning process going forward. The Tashichoeling Gewog Administrative Officer committed to dispatching official letters to schools inviting students to attend Gewog Tshogde meetings, and to sharing Gewog information through social media so that young people can follow what their leaders are deciding. The Election Officer raised the question of how school calendars and election cycles could be better aligned so that young people are not structurally excluded from democratic participation. At one point in the session, a student from Dorokha Central School spoke about an earlier Zomdue meeting she had attended, where she had hesitated to speak because of low awareness, lack of confidence, and fear of being mocked by the public. She added, simply, that this had begun to change. 

Annual Exchange Between Civil Society Organisationsand Members of the Media and Democracy Clubs

During a virtual orientation in April, a student from Sherubtse College in eastern Bhutan raised a question that none of us had quite expected. A local shopkeeper near her campus was reportedly selling outdated goods, and she wanted to know whether reporting the issue as a citizen journalist might cost the shopkeeper her licence, and her livelihood. Should she respond first as a journalist, the student asked, or first as a citizen? It was a small, careful question, but it carried within it the heart of what this work is about. 

Over April and May 2026, three hundred students from ten Media and Democracy Clubs across three regional clusters of Bhutan, namely Trongsa, Trashigang, and Samtse, came together in two phases of virtual exchange. In the first phase, students explored the principles of citizen journalism and ethical storytelling, and were asked to describe their communities in a single word. The words they offered were both proud and concerned. Peaceful, united, beautiful, and yet marked by issues that none of them felt able to ignore. 

The second phase brought students together with ten civil society organisations and three senior journalist mentors. Each school presented community stories it had begun to investigate. Taktse Central School documented seasonal water scarcity in their village, where women and girls carry water in jerry-cans through the winter months. Sakteng Lower Secondary School, from one of Bhutan’s most remote communities, told the story of children whose nomadic parents are away in highland pastures for six to eight months of the year, leaving them with grandparents or alone. Dorokha Central School raised the absence of public toilets in community gathering spaces. Peljorling Higher Secondary School reported on crop damage by elephants and wild boars affecting farmers near forest edges. Civil society practitioners and journalists offered mentorship grounded in their own field experience, helping students refine the stories, verify their sources, and consider how a single well-told story can open a wider conversation. 

Across the two phases, students identified issues spanning five thematic areas: infrastructure and safety, public health and water, environment and waste, education and child wellbeing, and human-wildlife conflict. They also came to recognise, with the help of their mentors, that responsible storytelling requires patience, verification, and the careful weighing of public interest against possible harm. The strongest stories from each school will be brought to a national exchange in Thimphu later in the year, where students will present their refined work to a wider audience. 

For the student from Sherubtse College, the question she raised in April has not gone away. She and her peers are continuing to think through what their responsibility looks like when their own community comes into the frame. 

When club coordinators and students from the Media and Democracy Clubs in Samtse attended the workshop on “ Promoting young people’s participation in community development,” they were invited to reflect on a rarely asked question: why do young people remain largely absent from local governance processes that shape their lives? Through carefully designed participatory exercises,  students examined barriers including their self constructed fears such as fear of authority, uncertainty about  their right to participate, and the lack of safe spaces for young people to participate in and express their views without judgement. 

The workshop organised from 05 to 07 February 2026, was informed by extensive pre-planning and contextual analysis to ensure that the programme was relevant, practical, and responsible to local realities and the participants' profiles. Grounded in Bhutan’s democratic and decentralisation framework, the initiative positioned youth not as passive beneficiaries, but as informed citizens, analysts of their lived realities, and critical partners and collaborators in the governance processes that influence, define and shape development in their communities. While there are robust institutional mechanisms established to promote citizen participation in policy and decision-making processes, meaningful engagement, particularly by young people, remains limited or worse, almost absent in practice. The participants, specifically the youth, described their experiences, and reflected on the reality of adult-dominated community spaces, lack of awareness of their own role in the decision making processes as well as the governance structures and high power distance in social dynamics that the youth find intimidating. Cultural norms that largely honour age and hierarchy, limited awareness of participation platforms, low confidence, and poor communication channels were some of the issues that the participants identified and acknowledged as factors continuing to marginalise youth voices. Many had never been informed of their right to attend community meetings, raise concerns, or contribute to discussions, reinforcing a deeply internalised belief that civic life was reserved for adults and those elected to positions of power and authority.

Hands-on activities such as  community safety mapping and public service assessments, enabled  youth to analyse risks, access and inclusiveness within their communities, while also proposing realistic, context-specific solutions. Reflective group exercises further helped participants recognised their limited influence in decision-,aking across home, school and community settings, while identifying pathways for change through dialogue, skills building, and shared responsibility.  The young in the group exhibited their awareness about their surroundings as they went on to identify issues, from unsafe public spaces such as shops selling alcohol near schools, poorly lit pathways, and inadequately maintained infrastructure that posed risks to children and young people. Furthermore, they also proposed practical and context specific solutions such as installing street lights, clearer regulation and monitoring to ensure safe community spaces, community awareness initiatives, and collaboration with local authorities to redesign unsafe spaces. 

Building on this, participants also assessed public service delivery, examining access to health facilities, recreational spaces, libraries, footpaths, and sports facilities. While some services were perceived as accessible, participants identified systemic gaps related to quality, safety, inclusiveness, and lack of regular maintenance. Barriers faced by young people, particularly those with disabilities and from remote or economically disadvantaged backgrounds were evident. Youth recommendations emphasised equitable access, inclusive design, improved maintenance, and strengthened accountability mechanisms.

Alongside their outward analyses, young people were guided to reflect on their own experiences of participation within homes, schools, and communities. Using a cobweb analysis exercise, participants highlighted persistently low levels of influence in decision making, driven by fear of authority, limited opportunities/ platforms for engagement and participation, and adult perceptions of youth as inexperienced. Many shared feeling unheard in classrooms, excluded from household decisions, and absent from community forums. At the same time, the exercise helped youth identify pathways for change, such as creating safe spaces for dialogue, strengthening communication skills, and gradual expansion of roles and shared responsibility. This reflective process deepened self-awareness and collective motivation, reinforcing the understanding that participation is a skill that can be learned, practised, and progressively strengthened.

As the initiative progressed, a visible shift in confidence emerged among participants. Young people who were initially reluctant to speak began articulating their views with clarity and conviction, recognising that participation was not a privilege granted by adults, but a right exercised through knowledge and collective action. This transformational shift underscored the importance of institutional and adult support in sustaining youth engagement beyond individual confidence building.

Investing in youth participation is not only a democratic responsibility, but a strategic investment in building child-friendly governance systems at both local and national levels that are more responsive, inclusive, and sustainable. This is the first step of the initiative to promote child participation in governance processes, and the next phase of the initiative will involve training local government leaders on the importance of actively engaging young people and incorporating their perspectives into local development planning, ensuring that plans are truly inclusive. Following this, local leaders and youth will come together in a collaborative and consultative process to deliberate, shape, and agree on local plans that are responsive to the needs of children and young people.