Contribution to the Legal Sector Programme 2014 - 2018



Contract partner: GNHC / RGoB - Gross National Happiness Commission - Royal Government of Bhutan Country: Bhutan Funding amount: € 2.429.639,00 Project start: 01.12.2014 End: 30.04.2019

Short Description:

Overall goal


The Legal Sector Programme is a joint programme of the Austrian Development Cooperation and the Swiss Development Cooperation.


The overall goal is to enhance access to an independent, competent and fair justice system in Bhutan through improving physical access to courts in two districts and through developing the capacities of human resources of main stakeholders in the legal sector: the Supreme Court of Bhutan, the Royal Institute of Law and the Bhutan National Legal Institute. In addition the programme will enhance the awareness and the capacity of local civil society organisations to better understand and address the legal needs of vulnerable groups. In order to complement ongoing initiatives to build up a sound legal aid system in Bhutan the establishment of a legal clinic at Royal Institute of Law will also be supported.


The main results will be:

• two district courts in Punakha and Wangduephodrang are constructed and functional

• 13 judiciary staff and lawyers have finished their Master’s studies.

• 400 legal staff have participated in specialised legal trainings relevant to existing capacity needs

• at least 16 civil society organisations have received legal training in areas relevant to their mandate and are able to support their target groups

• a legal clinic is established at Royal Institute of Law

• the Supreme Court Bhutan, the Federal Administrative Court in Switzerland, the Royal Institute of Law and an Austrian Law Faculty entertain continuing institutional partnerships.


The main beneficiaries are the populations of Punakha (26,541 people) and Wangduephodrang (35,628 people), staff of Judiciary, staff of CSOs as well as vulnerable groups of the Bhutanese society such as senior citizens orphans, youth, differently abled persons, and victims of domestic violence.


The contribution is in line with the Austria-Bhutan Country Strategy 2014 – 2018 and the 11th Five Year Plan of the Government of Bhutan.

project number 2586-00/2015
source of funding OEZA
sector Staatsführung & Zivilgesellschaft, allgemein
tied 0
modality Project-type interventions
marker Gender: 1, Democracy: 2, Poverty: 1
  • Policy marker: are used to identify, assess and facilitate the monitoring of activities in support of policy objectives concerning gender equality, aid to environment, participatory development/good governance, trade development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Activities targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions include the identification of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and desertification.
    • 1= policy is a significant objective of the activity
    • 2= policy is the principal objective of the activity
  • Donor/ source of funding: The ADA is not only implementing projects and programmes of the Austrian Development Cooperation , but also projects funded from other sources and donors such as
    • AKF - Foreign Disaster Fund of the Austrian federal government
    • BMLFUW - Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
    • EU - Funds of the European Commission
    • Others - various other donors are listed in ADA’s annual business report.
  • Type of Aid – Aid modalities: classifies transfers from the donor to the first recipient of funds such as budget support, core contributions and pooled programmes and funds to CSOs and multilateral organisations, project-type interventions, experts and other technical assistance, scholarships and student costs in donor countries, debt relief, administrative costs and other in-donor expenditures.
  • Purpose/ sector code: classifies the specific area of the recipient’s economic or social structure, funded by a bilateral contribution.
  • Tied/Untied: Untied aid is defined as loans and grants whose proceeds are fully and freely available to finance procurement from all OECD countries and substantially all developing countries. Transactions are considered tied unless the donor has, at the time of the aid offer, clearly specified a range of countries eligible for procurement which meets the tests for “untied” aid.
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