Tsirang High level advocacy

Her Majesty The Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador to visit Tsirang for High Level Advocacy and grace the inauguration of the first Community Service Center.

Joint Press Release

August 12, 2023

Her Majesty The Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, the Royal Patron of RENEW (Respect, Educate, Nurture and Empower Women) and the Goodwill Ambassador of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will visit Tsirang Dzongkhag to advocate and create awareness on women and girls empowerment, and their Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR). During the visit Her Majesty the Gyalyum will also grace the inauguration of RENEW Community Service Center (CSC) in Tsirang on the 13th August 2023. Her Majesty the Gyalyum will preside over an advocacy program for the communities of Tsirang dzongkhag on public health and social priorities and interact with the students and staff of Damphu Middle Secondary School and Damphu Central School including 26 children with disabilities. Officials from the Ministry of Education & Skills Development (MoESD), Ministry of Health (MOH), UNFPA, and RENEW will also be conducting interactive sessions with the students on SRHR, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). Her Majesty the Gyalyum will also visit the hospital and interact with the health staff and meet with the 38 multi sectoral task force members, community volunteers (CBSS) and local leaders. As per the UNFPA Country Office, Her Majesty the Gyalyum continues to champion for the rights of women and girls for more than 2 decades. The unwavering efforts of Her Majesty the Gyalyum continue to empower women and girls and bring positive transformation in the society’s attitudes and behaviors towards them.

Her Majesty has also been a catalyst for change by inspiring local leaders, service providers and community volunteers to take health and social priorities as an integral part of their work. The RENEW community service center is the first service center initiated by a Dzongkhag administration, achieving a significant milestone towards enhancing access to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) services in the community. The community service center is a result of the joint commitment made by all dzongkhag administrations during the High-Level Advocacy led by Her Majesty in 2016-2017 as the UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. “The establishment of the community service center is a result of our strong partnership with the Royal Government of Bhutan and RENEW towards addressing gender-based violence,” UNICEF Bhutan Representative Andrea James said. “The center is a commendable example of how communities can respond to gaps in available services and facilitate women and girls’ access to GBV services.” The construction of the CSC was completed in March this year with a total budget of Nu.4.01m from the Royal Government of Bhutan. The community service center is located next to Tsirang hospital in Damphu Throm. “It is essential to recognize the importance of empowering women, girls, and children to reach their full potential. This pioneering initiative showcases the successful collaboration between the Tsirang Dzongkhag Administration, civil society organizations, and development partners in addressing critical social issues. It is hoped that this model will serve as an inspiration for similar initiatives in other dzongkhags across Bhutan” said Tsirang Dzongdag, Sonam.

The center will serve as a safe space for young girls/children and other diverse genders. It will actively engage in delivering comprehensive sexuality education, prevention of violence and abuse, sexual and reproductive health and rights programs. The center will also provide livelihood skills training as a part of economic empowerment to women and girls. RENEW Executive Director Tshering Dolkar said “A service center in the community such as this is the need of the hour across all 20 dzongkhags. Several need assessment and analysis have been conducted to understand the situation with strong recommendations to address the social issues. The National Commission for Women and Children, UNFPA and UNICEF Bhutan provided technical support to ensure that the design and management of the safe spaces was responsive to survivor’s needs. It is important to gear up with more effective mechanisms to bring the services closer to the community for easy accessibility.” The High-Level Advocacy is jointly supported by the Tsirang Dzongkhag Administration, MOH, MOESD, UNFPA, UNICEF and RENEW.