Deaf Advocacy and Empowerment Mentor

We’re looking for a Deaf Advocacy and Empowerment Mentor  who can live and volunteer for 8 months in Bhutan.

• This assignment seeks to create empowering opportunities for deaf people by upskilling them in self, individual and systematic advocacy
• This assignment is seeking for a deaf person who can be a role model to the deaf community and be fluent in at least one sign language
• As a volunteer, you will support the local Deaf communities to identify skills and practices to become deaf role models within the Deaf community and more broadly in Bhutan

About the Partner Organisation 

Wangsel Institute for the Deaf was established in 2003. Currently there are 116 students aged between 5 to 30, and 47 staff members out of which 6 are Deaf adults. The institute delivers trilingual education in Bhutanese Sign Language (BhSL), English and Dzongkha, to students who are Deaf and hard of hearing from across Bhutan. Deaf people in Bhutan are continuously working to create more awareness in the communities and working towards producing role models for the deaf community. The goal in the near future is to gain membership of regional and international deaf networks through the establishment of a Deaf Club in Bhutan and ultimately the World Federation for the Deaf. This would offer a host of opportunities for technical and financial support for the deaf community in Bhutan. As they are visual learners, deaf role models are crucial for young deaf children to look up to and be supported in exploring their potential. With an Australian Volunteer, we hope that the deaf students and the Deaf adult community at large can build their capacities in deaf advocacy, awareness and particularly in leadership.

About the Australian Volunteers Program  

The Australian Volunteers Program is an Australian government-funded initiative. We support partner organisations across the Pacific, Asia, and Africa to achieve locally led change.  

Volunteers are supported throughout their volunteer journey, and we actively support and encourage people of all backgrounds and abilities to volunteer and aim to make the program as accessible and inclusive as possible. Find out more.