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.

The President of the Centre for Bhutan Studies, Dasho Karma Ura, said that the recent GNH study should be studied as a whole since all the domains of GNH (e.g. Community vitality, Cultural resilience, and Psychological well-being) are inter-related. The findings provide data that can help government and civil society be more targeted in their activities.

“Evolution, not revolution is how we want to bring about change,” said the Secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission, Karma Tshiteem. He said the government was doing more than most governments in scrutinising policies to ensure that they are GNH sensitive. All policies try to balance material returns with overall well-being in terms of the spiritual, emotional, cultural needs of Bhutanese society.

The CBS president and lead researcher on GNH suggested that civil society organisations should organise themselves as a group to share views and provide feedback to government. This, he said, was a healthy way to provide alternative views.

The forum concluded that there is much that can be done to be include CSOs in developing GNH policies for Bhutan. There was also a need to study possibilities of government extending some of the activities to civil society organisations.

“For too long government has focused on the hard part of development – the infrastructure needs which require much more money but is in effect easier to implement,” said Karma Tsheetim.

“The soft areas, such as social development, cultural and community resilience and vitality need less monetary investment but are more important and difficult today.”

Much of the works of CSOs mirror the tenets of GNH. CSOs are involved in many of the “soft areas” of development -- ranging from youth development, to advocacy for people living with HIV and disability, domestic violence and recovering alcoholics, as well as those who work to address employment of youth, media and democracy literacy.  

The presentations were later followed by discussions on some pervasive issues like youth delinquency, mass media and the ways in which CSOs can foster GNH.

Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy organised the forum in consultation with other CSOs.