About TCRD
The Tarayana Centre for Research and Development (TCRD) was established on June 10th, 2015, to honor the 60th Birth Anniversary of the Founder and President of the Tarayana Foundation, Her Majesty Queen Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck.
The main objective of TCRD is to serve as Tarayana Foundation’s think tank in addition to taking up action-research that is grounded in people’s lived realities and inform key development debates and policy dialogues. This will be pursued through research, documentation, monitoring, and evaluation of the Tarayana Foundation’s many interventions in the field with most remote and vulnerable communities in Bhutan.
The center will focus on practical implementation of interventions incorporating citizen and transdisciplinary research on themes and topics relevant to enhance social development in the country. It will also serve as a meeting place for researchers looking to understand local cultural and indigenous knowledge and traditions that influence decision making.
TCRD will compliment the Tarayana Foundation in realizing its vision of a happy and prosperous Bhutan by working towards three research themes:
1. Adapting to Climate Change and building Climate Resilience
Conduct research focused on sustainable, low-carbon green technologies such as solar dryers, eco-friendly farming, improved stoves and green and renewable construction materials. Document traditional and cultural means and methods of protecting and conserving the environment in efforts to incorporate relevant traditional resilience building methodologies.
2. Enhancing Livelihoods
Undertake initiatives to find sustainable solutions, document and share the knowledge and experiences generated through the Foundation’s support to micro-credit, savings schemes, self-help groups, skills training, and entrepreneurship promotion such as community shops, dairy farming, artisanal craft shops and eco-friendly farming. Monitor and evaluate the extent to which people's livelihoods have improved by collecting and comparing quantitative and qualitative baseline data, ongoing assessments of the interventions and the end of the interventions reports.
Support Rural Youth and Women
Conduct action-research to gain a deeper understanding of socio-cultural trends such as rural-urban migration, loss of culture, increased time pressures, and rapid changes in community well-being and vitality. Strive to document socio-economic dynamics to find solutions that support the most vulnerable groups, particularly women and youth in terms of early child care development centers, development of women's leadership skills and education.
Keep up to date on our research.
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