Tharchen, Founder and Executive DirectorTHARCHEN

FOUNDER / EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Tharchen began his career as an educator and became a school principal before leaving the civil service after more than 8 years educating children in rural Bhutan. He has a Master Degree in Education (Educational Administration and Management) from Naresuan University in Thailand.

He was elected to the National Council as a Member of Parliament representing the people of Trongsa dzongkhag from 2013-2018. Among his notable works has been his active role in initiating income and employment generating projects in very remote areas besides raising several important debates on local governance.

He served on the Public Accounts Committee. He also chaired the Good Governance Committee which made valuable input into the direction of the decentralization policy discussion as a result of a diagnostic study on local governments.

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SANGAY KHANDU

CO-FOUNDER / ASSOCIATE

Sangay has many years of multi-sectoral and multiple role experience across banking, human resource and information management,  international trade, policy-making and legislation, strategy, programme implementation and communication, consulting and volunteering. He has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Thailand and a Bachelor’s Degree from Sherubtse College in Bhutan.

As an MP for 10 years in the National Council, Sangay has led several committees and discussions in Parliament including an important attempt to bring in a Private Member’s Right to Information (RTI) Bill to help deepen accountability and improve public services in the country. A significant contribution was also in raising another significant policy push on ‘access to legal aid and right to legal counsel’ to strengthen access to justice in Parliament which resulted in the enactment of such provisions into legislation also the National Council passing a resolution calling the Government to act on making the necessary resources available to secure justice. In addition, a critical constituency work began in July 2010 with the initiation of discussion in parliament on uncompensated landowners who lands were acquired by the government for development of road and school years earlier. Following the debate, communication was re-opened, survey conducted and compensations made.

He continues to engage with youth empowerment initiatives and actively volunteers. He was last on the board of the Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy until 2021 which continues to do important work on media literacy, citizenship and policy dialogue. As a volunteer, he contributed actively during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns like making essential delivery runs in the community, maintaining communication and responding to inquiries from community members, and coordinating the deployment of volunteers. One of his active volunteer works is supporting an ongoing Bhutan’s bold effort at addressing risks from the growing free-roaming dog population in the country called the Nationwide Accelerated Dog Population Management and Rabies Control program (NADPM & RCP) as a core group member.

He also built partnerships with the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, UK and successfully organized Bhutan’s first ‘Biodemocracy conference‘ in July 2019. The partnership once again won a two-year the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Global Challenges Research Fund International Development Research Networking Scheme for the project Narratives for Sustaining Biodemocracy: Bhutan and Beyond aimed at putting out more stories from Bhutan.

He has also delivered (contributed to developing templates and checklist) training on Public Hearings to Members of the Parliament of Bhutan and also legislative research for the staff of the Parliament of Bhutan supported by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) amongst many others.

He also worked for the Royal Monetary Authority (Central Bank of Bhutan) and the Bhutan Power Corporation where he developed the company’s Human Resource Management System and helped implement a two-tiered performance management system (Performance Based Incentive System) successfully. He also was part of the team that developed the HR Manual and trained more than 400 employees. He also worked for the International Trade Centre (UNCTAD/WTO) as the National Project Coordinator for the EU-Bhutan Exports Capacity Development project that successfully established the Spices and Herbs Association of Bhutan, making important inputs into developing the handwoven textile sector including re-training weavers in natural dyes in association with the Handicrafts Association of Bhutan, and exploring potentials of Bhutanese bottled water and spices.

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JIGMI RINZIN (FCCA)

ASSOCIATE

Jigmi is a Managing Partner/CEO of JIGMI Audit & Financials Pvt. Ltd. and a member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK. He is also a member of Global Parliamentarians Forum on Evaluation (GPFE) and Evaluation Association of Bhutan (EAB), which are involved in the promotion of evaluation profession.

He was a civil servant for more than over 12 years with Royal Audit Authority and Anti-Corruption Commission, and was on government secondment for two years in Kuensel Corporation Ltd in 2002 and 2003. He was elected into Parliament in 2008 and re-elected for another term until 2018 as a Member of National Council. As an MP, Jigmi was on many important committees in Parliament besides chairing the Public Accounts Committee, and had lead several significant inquiries into the economy in the areas of mining and mineral development, agriculture development and public service delivery, besides attending as resource person to several national and international conferences on good governance, parliamentary studies and evaluation.

He is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA) from the UK and holds a B.Com (Honours) Degree from Delhi University.

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