The Loden Foundation

One of the main problems Bhutanese youth are facing is the lack of access to information and knowledge. Although young people have thirst for knowledge and keen interest to pursue further education and new undertakings, most communities do not still have any library or internet facilities. The lack of meaningful resources to occupy young people outside the school has resulted in many problems including drugs abuse and crimes.

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

~ Samuel Johnson

Loden's aim is to build or help build resource centres which can occupy the youth in educational, entrepreneurial, social and intellectual activities. 

The Loden Knowledge Base, located in the centre of Thimphu alongside our office, provides free walk-in library and internet services for educational purposes.

The Knowledge Base has currently a significant collection of literature on entrepreneurship and development. This resource is intended to help young people who participate in our entrepreneurship training programme and competition as well as the general public interested in these fields.

We have also started building an educational collection including university prospectuses and copies of IELTS textbook and CDs for those preparing English language exams. Each year, an increasing number of students graduate from schools but there are not enough places for higher education within Bhutan and information on higher education elsewhere and scholarships are hard to find. It is our plan to give these young people free access to information.

The Knowledge Base also has a large collection of digital copies of Buddhist and Himalayan literature, which are available for reference. Most of the original books are located in remote temples and thus inaccessible to students and researchers. Currently we have about 255 varieties of books. We will also keep a catalogue of useful websites.

The Loden Knowledge Base also hosts and organizes various training programmes, lectures, seminars and discussions, which help to enhance vocational skills or technical knowledge, or to promote an educational, literary and enlightened culture in the Bhutanese society at large.