Founded by Her Majesty the Queen Mother Sangay Choden Wangchuck, in 2004, RENEW (Respect, Educate, Nurture and Empower Women) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of women and children in Bhutan and promoting Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), with specific attention to the survivors of domestic violence (DV) and Sexual & Gender Based Violence (SGBV).
Through the aspirations of Gross National Happiness (GNH) the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) has committed to achieve gender equality for the Bhutanese people. The Constitution of 2008 ensures equal rights to all citizens, regardless of sex, and state policy stipulates the “enjoyment of life by all citizens”. The principles of the Bhutanese state policy include a commitment to the creation of a state free of discrimination, including measures to eliminate the discrimination and exploitation of women.
Our approach towards effective collaborations and sustainability is to keep focusing on how to address the current crop of socio-economic challenges faced by its actual or perceived domestic violence / gender-based violence (DV/GBV) future clients through a mix of preventive as well as curative measures.
Of the many preventive measures to address these primarily social ills affecting the victims of domestic violence and vulnerable groups, effective and timely awareness related measures will be vested the top priority where RENEW could focus in reducing the incidences of domestic violence in a family through awareness campaigns and advocacy activities in partnerships primarily with government agents at national and local levels, CSOs, international agencies and private stakeholders. In addition, RENEW will undertake steps to explore emerging and innovative approaches in information and communications technologies (ICT) applications to reduce incidences of DV and GBV in the country.
RENEW will continue to seek stronger collaborations with relevant government agencies and try to provide any service(s) that complement the public services and especially in those areas where the government agencies or any other private or non-government agencies were unable to reach.
We believe that going forward hand in hand with all our partners and stakeholders will not only improve the services that we jointly provide but also reach many more un-reached pockets of rural communities in the coming years. In addition, community-based support system (CBSS) and its interchangeable ties with Multi-sectoral task force (MSTF) is going to be one of the most crucial factors to minimize incidences of DV/GBV and sexual based violence in all parts of Bhutan. Such public-private partnerships need to be strengthened year after year for the common cause of achieving a violence-free and a happier society.