Projects

Situation of Bhutanese Youth in Bhutan

Bhutan is a small Himalayan Kingdom between China and India. In mid 2004, the AYRC was approached by the Youth Development Fund in Bhutan to become their external partner for a project studying the characteristics of Bhutanese young people.

As a developing nation, Bhutan has not had a youth policy before, and is seeking to gather the background information on which to build one. Social change has also brought many new challenges that parallel those faced by young people and their communities in other countries. As the research brief explained, many programs in Bhutan are targeted at young people (particularly with aid money), but the Government and local agencies are now seeking some baseline data and some local indicators with which to evaluate these programs and make informed decisions.

Bhutanese counterparts worked alongside AYRC staff throughout the 18-month project. The first fieldwork visit to Bhutan occurred in November 2004 at which project staff met the Project Steering committee and their Bhutanese counterparts, and conducted consultations with key stakeholders in Thimpu, the national capital. In 2005, AYRC staff trained a group of Bhutanese young people to conduct research with their peers, which they then did in six languages across the country. The AYRC research team also conducted focus group interviews with selected groups, and visited young people and their families in the more remote villages. During the team's final visit in November 2005, the project findings were presented to a forum of 28 stakeholders and recommendations were workshopped by community leaders.

The final report was approved by the relevant Ministries in Bhutan and published.

Contact: Ani Wierenga and Helen Stokes

Contact: yrc-info@unimelb.edu.au