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Loden Foundation (བློ་ལྡེན་གཞི་ཚོགས་) is a registered Civil Society Organization (CSO) in Bhutan under the Civil Society Authority (CSOA), promoting education, social entrepreneurship, and Bhutan's culture and traditions since 1999.
History and beginnings
The Loden Foundation was founded on 24 May 1999 by the Bhutanese scholar Lopen Karma Phuntsho who came to study as a graduate student at Balliol College in 1997. He met Mr. Robert Miles, the head porter of the college during his course of studies and Mr. Miles offered to sponsor the school education of a young child in need. Mr. Miles extended the support because he did not finish school education in his youth due to financial circumstances. Karma found a bright girl from a low-income family in rural Bhutan for Mr. Miles to support.
Following this example, many friends of Karma showed interest to support education of children in Bhutan. Meanwhile, Karma's former school headmistress and acclaimed Bhutanese writer Kunzang Choden who was living in central Bhutan, joined him to identify children in need and distribute funds. On 24 May 2000, Karma formalized the process by founding the Loden Foundation with the help of some friends but the organization was constituted in Bhutan in 2003. On 12 March 2010, Loden became one of the first organizations in Bhutan to register as a Civil Society Organization under the Civil Society Organizations Act of Bhutan, 2007, under the leadership of the Civil Society Organizations Authority.
Today, the main office is based in Thimphu and run by a team of 11 employees in the management team and three early learning centre facilitators headed by the President, Mr Sangay Tshering with advisory support from the governing Board of Trustees.
Loden and its logo
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Tibetan/Bhutanese word Loden (བློ་ལྡན Wyliee: blo ldan) means "possessing intelligence". It is an epithet of the learned and wise. It is one of the names of the Buddha of Wisdom, of Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to the Himalayan region and a term for Bodhisattva, an altruistic being who seeks enlightenment for the whole world.
The Loden logo symbolized giving knowledge and wisdom. It is a Himalayan book in the rectangular poti format. The book in open hand symbolizes the gift of knowledge, which, the Buddha said, is the best gift.
The Loden motto is ཆོས་བདག་མེད་ཀུན་ལ་ཐོབ་ཐང་ཡོད། (chos bdag med kun la thob thang yod), a Buddhist proverb that knowledge/truth is without an owner and everyone is entitled to it.
Loden Foundation Programmes
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The Loden Foundation’s core programme areas are as follows:
Loden Education Programme:
In 1999, Loden’s founder and President, Lopen Karma Phuntsho, facilitated a small donation from the United Kingdom to ensure a child living in rural Bhutan completes her education. Fast Forward to today she is a history teacher, a mother and takes care of her younger siblings. Today, Loden Education Initiatives has supported over 202 children through its child sponsorship, programme, and 58 youth to undergo undergraduate courses within and outside Bhutan. A total of 89 youth scholarships have been awarded since 2012. In addition, 650+ children below five years old attended early childhood care and development (ECCD) at three Loden Early Learning centers across Bhutan.
Loden Entrepreneurship Programme:
Since 2008, Loden has been helping young people find meaningful jobs after their education through entrepreneurship education and funding. Loden has trained over 5,600 aspiring entrepreneurs, and funded over 275 businesses in 19 Dzongkhags in Bhutan, of which 92 are led by women. Loden also focuses on empowering students in colleges and technical training institutes in Bhutan to explore and learn about entrepreneurship through the Loden SEED (Student Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship Development) programme.
Loden Culture Programme:
Bhutan is going through tremendous change, and its traditional way of life is disappearing fast. Loden has been at the forefront of documenting and studying Bhutan’s cultural heritage. With the dual aim of preserving Bhutan’s cultural knowledge and promoting Bhutan’s cultural heritage across generations and borders, Loden’s culture programme currently has three components: written heritage, oral traditions, and arts and architecture. Since its inception, the program has recorded 3,267 hours of oral history, digitized approximately 4.5 million pages of written heritage, and documented over 150,000 artifacts.