Australia Awards South and West Asia

To mark International Women’s Day, we highlight the story of Kuenzang Choden, a Senior Human Resource Officer at Bhutan’s Royal Civil Service Commission and the current Chairperson of the Bhutan Australia Alumni Association. Her story aligns with this year’s International Women’s Day theme: ‘For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.’

Kuenzang completed her Master of Business from Queensland University of Technology in 2020 with the support of an Australia Awards Scholarship. She then returned home to Bhutan to lead the Human Resource Management Division of the Royal Civil Service Commission, which is the central personnel agency of the Bhutanese civil service. As a female leader at the Royal Civil Service Commission, Kuenzang plays an integral role in promoting good governance and contributing to civil service reforms, including gender mainstreaming efforts to build an inclusive, equitable and merit-based civil service.

With over a decade of Human Resources work experience, Kuenzang is motivated to enhance public service delivery through extensive workforce and succession planning, employee onboarding, and training and civil service wellbeing programs. Beyond the technical aspects, she says, “My basic role is to put a smile on everyone’s face and ensure that everyone that visits my office leaves satisfied and clear about their next steps.” She believes that a conducive working environment leads to efficient service delivery, and therefore focuses on creating a positive and supportive environment by fostering mentorship opportunities and open communication.

Kuenzang holidng her Civil Service Award for 10 years of dedicated service.

Kuenzang attributes her outlook and collaborative work approach to the knowledge and skills that she gained from her education in Australia, where she immersed herself in critical thinking, research, open discussions and networking opportunities.

She says, “My Australia Awards experience has made me more confident in my decisions and improved my ability to coach and mentor colleagues. Also, continued access to my university’s library and resources has been invaluable, providing me with resources to support me in my role.”

Kuenzang shares that one of the limitations she has faced in the civil service wasn’t related to external barriers but rather the feeling that she wasn’t being challenged enough. The work was meaningful, but she often craved more complex tasks and opportunities to push herself further. She believes in speaking her mind, and this trait has helped her overcome this limitation by giving her the confidence to voice her thoughts, seek bigger responsibilities and take initiative. She has consistently put herself forward for leadership roles and created opportunities for growth, believing that real growth comes from stepping outside one’s comfort zone. Guided by her father’s advice to always give her best effort, regardless of the reward, she continues to push herself to grow both personally and professionally.

As a woman, she values mentorship from her seniors, and pays this support forward by taking a keen interest in guiding younger female officers to fulfill their responsibilities and strive for leadership roles. Kuenzang finds it encouraging to see that, in the past few years, women have consistently constituted 50% of the civil service intake in the Professional and Management category. Additionally, representation of women among executives and specialists in the civil service has risen to 24%, compared to 14% in 2019. She believes that these positive signs of growing equal gender representation in the civil service can set a precedent for the corporate and private sector to follow.

The Royal Civil Service Commission’s recently launched Strategic Roadmap (2025–2035) identifies ‘Motivated civil servants’ as one of five strategic thrust areas, to be achieved through key interventions such as a strong civil service wellbeing program. This reiterates the importance of an equitable and inclusive workforce. Kuenzang is confident that key initiatives like the Civil Service Support Desk (which offers counselling services for both professional and personal concerns) and inclusive leadership training programs (which prepare women for leadership roles and decision-making), coupled with working arrangements for family welfare, will take the Bhutanese bureaucracy further in delivering innovative and efficient public services.

Kuenzang (second from left, back row) during one of the Bhutan Australia Alumni Association’s blood donation campaigns.

In support of an equitable civil service wellbeing program, Kuenzang refers to a well-known saying: “If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate an entire family.” Similarly, she says, “When you empower a woman, you empower a family, a community and a nation, creating a brighter and more equitable world for all times to come.”

Outside her professional role, Kuenzang serves as the Chairperson of the Bhutan Australia Alumni Association and leads this group in organising events to give back to the community. She is also an ardent advocate of Australian education and promotes Australia Awards Scholarships, exchange programs, and professional development opportunities available for alumni and prospective applicants, thereby contributing to strengthening the bilateral relationship between Australia and Bhutan.