Transforming Watershed Management: Kuenzang Dorji’s Journey of Learning and Empowerment

Kuenzang Dorji is a 32-year-old Tarayana volunteer who has generously been working with the Foundation to help maintain and provide training to the village people regarding their water source management. He has a diploma in electrical engineering and worked in Youth Development Fund on waste paper recycling. He later joined Six Sense Bhutan where he learned plumbing. When the pandemic hit, he went back to his village in Tshaluna, Thimphu, where he took care of their village water source, Barachhu Spring. He encountered the Tarayana team during that period.
Tarayana was then working on finding an effective and modern solution for the water source management of their already drying springs. Through Tarayana, he learned that the historical practices that had been practiced in his village were ineffective and gained a better and more professional understanding of water source management.

After this, he was actively involved with the Tarayana team in providing plumbing and water source management training to people across Bhutan. With the training he provided, community people no longer had to hire experts from out side, which often cost them a lot, making them independent and self-reliant.
In his village, people were not smartly utilizing the already drying springshed. It not only created the problem of water scarcity but was also creating conflicts among neighbors. There were similar problems across rural communities in Bhutan that solely relied on springsheds for their water source. The training he provided not only led to better management of the water sources but also brought about communal harmony. He said it makes him happy to see the orchards in Paro filled with ripe apples that grew with the water from the source they collectively took care of.
“I’d be happy to take on more projects if people approach me,” says Kuenzang. Currently, he takes on electrical and plumbing contracts and plans to go for further studies to study either electrical engineering or water management.