My Gakidh Village

An Empowerment and Employment approach

To address the high youth unemployment rate that continues to straddle aspiring Bhutanese youth, Bhutan youth development fund (YDF) vigorously promotes skills development through training establishments like the Nazhoen Pelri Souvenir Centre, holistic community development projects like My Gakidh Village, and short term skills training in vocational trades and entrepreneurship.

My Gakidh Village is a joint initiative of Bhutan Youth Development Fund, Aide et Action International  the first of its kind in Bhutan with the overall goal to curb rural-urban youth migration by providing sustainable livelihood skills and opportunities to unemployed youth within their own communities.

Within its first three years of the project duration, hundreds of youth across more than 20 villages in Toep Gewog, Punakha will participate in equitable, sustainable socio-economic development through community empowerment, employment and income generation opportunities.

The project focuses on three main areas, which are:

1. Creating community-based eco-tourism and environmental conservation projects
2. Reviving traditional arts and crafts through livelihood initiatives
3. Providing IT literacy and livelihood skills development programs to 150 community youth.

With additional funding and technical support from the GEF Small Grants Programme of UNDP and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Bhutan, My Gakidh Village is developing and scaling ecotourism and environmental conservation projects alongside the livelihood initiatives for youth. These in turn will incentivize environmental conservation by empowering these rural communities to protect their forests and biodiversity for their own long-term livelihoods, especially through ecotourism and the sale of their crafts products to tourists. The communities will value preserving their natural environment and ecosystems because they see the economic benefits through ecotourism and become conscious of the need to sustain natural resources for the future.