The Bhutanese Leading the way.
An online platform called Ten-Drel has been launched to enhance citizen engagement in decision making. The local digital platform aims to link citizens with the Parliament.
From meaningfully engaging citizens including the youth in policy and law-making to aggregation of bold, innovative ideas from the public, the Ten-Drel platform will serve a space for vibrant public discourse, debate, and discussion.
The goal is place citizens’ voices at the center of public decision making, critical for building a greater trust between citizens and the government. The locally developed platform is a joint initiative of the National Council of Bhutan (NC) and UNDP.
Meanwhile, the NC Chairperson, Tashi Dorji, said that governments become more citizen-centric when citizens voices drive policy decisions. This is exactly what the Ten-Drel platform seeks to facilitate.
“It will allow the Parliament and the government to seek public input on policy issues, legislative initiatives, draft laws and issues related to implementation of existing laws, among others, at any time,” he said.
He further said that public views, perspectives and analysis will inform parliamentary agenda and debates. Ten-Drel will also enable the Parliament to conduct public education on key national issues
UNDP Bhutan Resident Representative, Azusa Kubota, during the launch said that UNDP is humbled to be a steady, long-term, and trusted partner of the Parliament of Bhutan. The Ten-Drel initiative is one of the many joint collaboration projects between Bhutan and UNDP, and fruits of a longstanding partnership.
Kubota said, “It builds on the digital youth conversations platform that NC and UNDP piloted together. These platforms are focused on leveraging digital technology to build societal consensus and citizen engagement in the transformational changes required for Bhutan to successfully navigate current and future risks and challenges and thrive in the 21st century.”
UNDP supported the Ten-Drel platform as part of its regional initiative focused on piloting participatory mechanisms to promote innovative ways of linking people with the parliaments and foster two-way communication with citizens. It will help in systematically reaching out to and crowdsourcing ideas and solutions from young people and supporting marginalized groups to proactively involve in parliamentary agenda setting and policy alternatives.
