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Media Sensitisation Workshop for GAOs

Ever wondered what happens in Bhutan’s rural areas? With media concentrated in the capital city and focussed on urban developments, news from remote areas rarely feature in Bhutan’s newspapers, radio and TV.

This may soon change as geogs are expected to share more information about development activities in their areas. The Department of Local Governance has made Geog Administrtative Officers ( GAOs) the task of being information focal persons to respond to requests for information and data.

48 geog administrative officers gathered in Thimphu from January 9-11^th to attend a media sensitisation workshop, and to learn how to share information from their geogs. T

This pilot is an initiative of the BCMD with support from the Department of Local Governance.“ If you learn to handle media – take a baby step - we want to start a discourse in rural development,” said Karma Galay, the Chief Programme Officer of the DLG. “There’s not much about the village level. We’re hoping that this training will help you do more village studies and to share the information. We also want to encourage peer learning through the forum that has been created for GAOs”.

The workshop is the second of its kind that Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy has conducted in partnership with the Department of Local Governance. 48 GAOs from Thimphu, Paro, Wangdiphodrang, Haa and Punakha attended the workshop.that was designed to give the GAOs the ability to engage online through their own gewog website and blogs.

The workshop’s main aim was to enable GAOs to share the information of their respective gewogs with the government, policy makers and citizens residing in different parts of the country. The GAOs are also expected to be the focal person for media relations upon their return in their gewogs

Dasho Kinley Dorji, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication opened the session by emphasising the vital role GAOs play in making democracy work at the village, community and geog level. “People sitting in Thimphu don’t think enough about the village and the geog. That’s where democracy really needs to work, (at the geog level) even now, even as we have elected leaders.”. He said “media is the force that creates shared consciousness amongst Bhutanese”, stressing the influence of media in shaping Bhutan’s new democracy. The big change in Bhutan today is that voices of the people need to go to government, to the bureaucracy and to the political leadership. That's very simplistically the role of the media. People have to learn to think and to engage in open discussion.

The workshop covered aspects of online engagement and included sessions on citizen journalism, art of interviewing, code of ethics and social media. Participants learnt about the need for fact checking and accuracy, and how to write news releases. Participants met editors from TV and pressto discuss the state of media in Bhutan and the constraints that Bhutanese media faced in getting access to information.

“ The senior officials are very open to the press but we face problems getting information from the bureaucracy,” said Rinzin Wangchuk, an editor with the Kuensel newspaper.

The final day of the workshop saw GAOs learn to engage on the pilot geog web page that BCMD has created. With this they are expected to post news, discussions and other information related to their gewog.

On Nov 16^th, 44 members of civil society organisations and members of the public discussed the role of civil society in translating the vision of GNH into action. The half day forum identified ways in which CSOs can contribute to the shaping of policies in Bhutan.

The result was an acknowledgement that civil society can do much to contribute to policies that aspire for the greater well-being and contentment of the people of Bhutan. The forum also concluded that the government can try to include more civil society voice and engagement in policy making and in the implementation of specific activities.

Gross National Happiness is a national goal of Bhutan but it has been concentrated largely within the confines of government.

This is the first ever forum for CSOs to focus on the vision of GNH. The forum saw a lively dialogue on what constitutes GNH, the challenges to GNH in a country like Bhutan, and identified ways in which the government can include more civil society members in the discussion and drafting of policies.

In celebration of the Royal Wedding, members of VAST, Happy Valley Street Theatre and the Projection Foundation organized the Beskop Tsechu, Bhutan’s first-ever film festival. For three days, residents of Thimphu were treated to free and open screenings of creative short films at the Thai Pavilion, DYS, and Lugar Theatre. Many of these films were directed and produced by young and aspiring Bhutanese filmmakers who had previously lacked a platform to share their artistic endeavors.

October 21^st, 2011- About 58 people consisting of members of parliament, broadcasters, representatives from the private sector, journalists, students and the public gathered to discuss an issue of vital interest to media development- the potential of broadcasting in Bhutan in a public forum on 21^st October at WWF conference hall.