Thimphu, 15 September 2022: From meaningfully engaging citizens including 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 (NCB) and UNDP. The NC Chairperson, Lyonpo Tashi Dorji and UNDP Bhutan Resident Representative Azusa Kubota launched the platform today at the Royal University of Bhutan coinciding with the International Day of Democracy and Asia-Pacific Regional Launch of UNDP’s Human Development Report 2022, attended by the Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Ms. Kanni Wignaraja

 “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. 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,” said NC Chair Lyonpo Tashi Dorji.

UNDP supported the Tend-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.

“UNDP is humbled to be a steady, long-term, and trusted partner of the Parliament of Bhutan. The Ten-Drel initiative is one of our many joint collaborations and fruits of our longstanding partnership. It builds on the digital Youth Conversations platform that NCB 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,” said UNDP Bhutan Resident Representative Azusa Kubota.

You can access the Ten-Drel digital engagement platform here: https://www.citizenengagement.bt

Media Contact:

Mr Thinley Wangchuk, Chief Information and Media Officer and Officiating Director, National Council Secretariat, Email: twangchuk@nationalcouncil.parl.bt  

Ms. Dechen Wangmo, Communications Analyst, UNDP Bhutan, Email: dechen.wangmo@undp.org