The Bhutanese-Czech UNICEF partnership: “It's not only economic development, people's happiness is equally important”
Bhutan and Czechia are not two countries we would immediately link together. Yet, they share a 20-year history of collaboration, with Bhutan being UNICEF Czechia’s most consistently supported partner. Current aid focuses on 9,000 young Buddhist monks and nuns, ensuring their monastic schools meet all their needs.
UNICEF Bhutan representative Rushnan Murtaza and Lama Lopon Kinley Penjor of the Central Monastic Body visited Prague at the end of November. Radio Prague International spoke with them and Pavla Gomba, head of UNICEF Czechia, to explore why this unique Bhutanese–Czech partnership thrives and how support reaches the “land of happiness.”
Bhutan, a landlocked South Asian country at the foothills of the Himalayas, has a population of around 700,000. Despite the long distance to Czechia, Pavla Gomba explained how the partnership came about.
“We were encouraged by our headquarters in Geneva to visit the country once it opened to foreigners, because a lot of support was needed then. They thought that as we are also a small country, we could mobilise support easily, which turned out to be true. And we've been supporting programmes in Bhutan, mainly focusing on children and women, ever since. Of course we support other countries as well, but none as consistently as Bhutan.”
Bhutan’s policies are shaped by its unique philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). A democratic constitutional monarchy, it was the 4th King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who introduced GNH in the 1970s. The philosophy emphasizes that sustainable development should value well-being and happiness alongside economic progress. As Rushnan Murtaza put it:
“This is the only country that I have looked at, where it's not only about economic development, but people's happiness is equally important.”
A Bangladeshi national, Murtaza has been serving in Bhutan since April 2025, after previous UNICEF postings in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana.
Comprehensive care for children in monastic schools
The GNH philosophy also shapes how humanitarian aid and development support are delivered. Murtaza explained what this means in practice:
“There are principles within Gross National Happiness, and everything - every aid programme, project, or policy introduced in Bhutan - is filtered through them. Are we giving people free education and health care? Are we conserving our environment? Are we preserving our culture? And are we looking at mental health, well-being, community connectedness, and good governance?”
Meeting these principles first requires identifying where support is still needed, which is where UNICEF Czechia steps in. In predominantly Buddhist Bhutan, monastic schools are vital places of learning and care, especially for poor children and orphans. However, many of these schools lack basic resources and face shortages of clean water, adequate sanitation, and sufficient nutrition, often due to missing infrastructure or drying water sources.
To address these gaps, UNICEF has partnered with the Central Monastic Body. Their mutual goal is to strengthen access to safe drinking water and improve sanitation in monastic schools. This collaboration has already led to several successful projects, including the construction of new water systems and the identification of sustainable water sources.
But beyond infrastructure and in line with the GNH, the initiative also consulted children directly to ensure that support reflects all their needs. A comprehensive child-centred package was developed in consultation with children in three pilot schools, including a nunnery, across western, central, and eastern Bhutan. Children shared their ideas of what a child-friendly school should be and how it could help them achieve their hopes and dreams.
“Initially one would not think that they also need to play,” Murtaza commented. “They also want to play football, including the girls and the nuns. So that's where we really got them to discuss what they want and what their needs are. It was very beautiful that while there are many gaps – they're still struggling with their water system not always functioning, with sanitation etc. – they really stressed that ‘we want to play, we want to learn digital skills (how to use tablets etc.), we want to learn English.’ And that's what we are doing.”
Digital skills and English education also align with the priorities of Bhutan’s current King, Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, who promotes the digitalisation of Bhutan and international engagement.
Health and religion flow together like water and milk
Lama Lopon Kinley Penjor, project manager of the “Religion and Health” initiative at the Central Monastic Body, works directly on the ground delivering the above projects. He highlights that religion, health and policy have to work hand in hand. For Lama Penjor, the integration of health and religion is only natural:
“To have our physical body in a good condition, if we get sick, we go and see a doctor. So that is from the health perspective. And even in our culture, if we had some problem with our illness or other things, some go and seek for the religious perspective. So therefore, what I see is religion and health are both very important to help others. Religion and the health should be mixed like water and milk. If we mix water and milk together, we won't be able to identify which is water and which is milk. So similarly, health and religion are very, very important.”
In this way, water provision projects link directly to both children’s well-being and religious practices:
“So with the support of UNICEF, in monastery communities young monks and nuns have been receiving good water supply. And with modern technologies and water filtration we can make sure that they have safe drinking water.
“That water won't benefit only our young monks and nuns, but it benefits even the sentient beings, as well as in our tradition, we have to offer water to the gods and the goddesses.”
“That water won't benefit only our young monks and nuns, but it benefits even the sentient beings, as well as in our tradition, we have to offer water to the gods and the goddesses.
We have many temples and each and every temple has a statue of the Buddha or another god or goddess. So every morning, we have to offer water to the gods and goddesses, or the Buddha image. So even now, in the monastery institutions, we have been offering that clean water from the water filtration to the gods and goddesses.”
Cultural exchange and finding inspiration in Bhutan’s philosophy of happiness
Lama Penjor views his trip to Czechia, above all, as a gesture of gratitude for the support Czech donors - all of which are private individuals - have provided to projects in Bhutan. In 2024 alone, Czech donors contributed CZK 7 million. Despite it being his first visit to Europe, Lama Penjor felt welcome in Prague:
“Though it's my first time traveling to Europe, especially here in Czech Republic, I feel so warm, because all the people, they are very generous, very compassionate, very kind. So I feel like I am at home.”
“Especially here in the Czech Republic, I feel so warm, because all the people are very generous, very compassionate, very kind.”
The partnership inspires both sides. Gomba, who has travelled to Bhutan more than ten times, draws particular inspiration from Bhutan’s philosophy of happiness:
“On a personal level, especially the wisdom about happiness is very inspiring. So, for example, the Bhutanese believe that it's their own responsibility to be happy. So they don't expect the government or the king to take care of their happiness and provide everything. ¨
“A part of this happiness routine, I would say, is also good sleep, taking good care of the body, meditating and being compassionate, helping the others. And this is also what we, in a way, practice at UNICEF because we provide this opportunity to our Czech donors to be a part of this amazing story by showing compassion and solidarity.”
“On a personal level, especially the wisdom about happiness is very inspiring.”
UNICEF projects in Bhutan have already delivered tangible results. For instance, a programme addressing maternal mortality has achieved such lasting impact that it is no longer needed today. In fact, in 2023, Bhutan graduated from the UN list of least developed countries, becoming a lower-middle-income nation. Yet, as Gomba notes, important gaps remain:
“There are still some gaps, still some inequalities when it comes to access to clean water or education for child monks and nuns – so these are the areas where we want to go the last mile to make sure that every child has the same rights and same opportunities.”
Bhutan is on a trajectory of rapid development, but completing the last mile will require continued, strong support.
