The Loden Foundation

What we do

The primary objective of the Loden Foundation isto promote education and learning in Bhutan and thereby fosters an educational,literary and intellectual culture in Bhutan. It aims to help Bhutanese youthobtain education and learning at the preschool, school and post-school stagesand to cultivate an enlightened ethos in the Bhutanese society at large.

It also promotes Bhutanese culture and traditionin other parts of the world and undertakes other charitable activities whichcontribute to the welfare of the public. Our main projects today are LodenEntrepreneurship Programme, Loden EarlyLearning Centre, Loden Knowledge Base and Loden Scholarship Scheme.

The Country

Bhutan map showing Loden activities

The Loden Foundation has its focus on Bhutan although itis our hope to expand our activities to other parts of the Himalayan region inthe future. Wedged between India and China, Bhutan is a country roughly thesize of Switzerland (38,394 sq kms) with about 690,000 people. With over 72.5%under forest cover and its Buddhist culture still intact, Bhutan is currently seenas an attractive tourist destination.

Bhutan had its first motor road, regularschool and hospital only over about fifty years ago. TV and internet has cometo Bhutan officially only in 1999 and democracy was introduced in 2008. Today,Bhutan is going through dramatic cultural, social, economic and politicalchanges.

With the spread of secular education and theonslaught of globalization, materialism is growing. Traditional subsistencefarming is slowly being replaced by a new consumerist lifestyle.

The Need and Our Work

Although school education has reached allcorners of the country, about 15 out of every 100 children are still left outbecause their families cannot afford to buy uniforms or stationeries. The LodenScholarship Scheme was launched with the aimof easing such financial burden.

Outside the two main cities, there are nodaycare or early learning centres for children below six. This puts childrenfrom rural at disadvantage. The Loden Early Learning Centre is a programme to give rural Population pyramid of Bhutan

children equal opportunitiesin childhood development and early learning.

Each year many thousands of youth are churnedout of schools but places for higher education are limited. The civil service,which was the main employers so far, is now saturated. Beside, private sectoris a fledgling and youth unemployment is rising. The LodenEntrepreneurship Programme was establishedin order to help young Bhutanese become self-starters in business.

The country is also moving from an oral pastdirectly to an audio-visual era bypassing the literary stage. There is muchneed for a better literary culture. Further, information on higher education,entrepreneurship or vocational training is rare. The LodenKnowledge Base hopes to minimize this gap by providing a walk-in resource centre and byorganizing various vocational and educational programmes.

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