Democracy Beyond Elections: Participatory Policy Through Design Thinking
- Sustainable Development Goal :10 - Reduced Inequality
- Gender Equality Marker :Gender Transformative (GE3)
- Testing Country :Bhutan
- Testing Period :12 months
- Amount :$147,004
This innovative solution used a Design Thinking methodology to engage and encourage collaboration among groups of marginalized women, vulnerable youth and People with Disabilities (PWD) and policymakers to identify social protection issues and, as a result, develop practical policy solutions to positively impacting the Bhutanese people. This approach to the policy process is unique within the Bhutanese context, where historically, policy design has very much been a top-down, government, expert-driven and isolated approach. The proposed solution engaged women and other marginalized groups to promote a cross-sectoral collaboration allowing for an effective and inclusive impact on the policy process. This empowered women as their voices are directly incorporated into the policy process in a manner that has not occurred before. This testing project looked to achieve a more inclusive and participatory policy process that would lead to better-informed policies and programs that address real needs and issues.