The De-suung Skilling Programme is a Royal Project of the Kingdom of Bhutan, created to give the nation's Desuups high-quality, job-ready skills. To turn those skills into income, DSP named Learnio its online freelancing training provider. Across three batches in 2023 and 2024 we trained young Bhutanese in freelancing, web development, graphic design and app development. They are now earning in work and online.
De-suung, the Guardians of Peace, is one of Bhutan's most important Royal initiatives. Since 2011, tens of thousands of young Bhutanese have completed the value-based De-suung training built on volunteerism, integrity and service. In 2021 His Majesty The King launched the De-suung Skilling Programme to give these Desuups practical, high-quality skills for a fast-changing job market.
Bhutan's challenge is familiar to every small economy: a young, capable, English-speaking workforce, and a domestic labour market too narrow to absorb it. Digital skills alone were not enough. Graduates needed a way to reach paying clients, whether in Thimphu or on the global freelancing platforms, and the confidence to compete for that work.
DSP's answer was to bring in foreign talent and technology. For online freelancing, that partner was Learnio. Working from the De-suung training centres in Punakha, Trashigang and Mongar, we paired industry-grade digital training with a dedicated freelancing curriculum and live mentorship, so that trainees could start bidding for real work while they were still in class.
Of the Desuups DSP had trained in its ICT domain, 94.3 percent said they had learned useful skills, and 62 percent said those skills would help them find a job. De-suung Skilling Programme · ICT Domain Training Guide · 2023
The outcomes below are self-reported by graduates in Learnio's 2026 earning survey and follow-up records. Names are shortened for privacy. Every figure is real.
Now a React developer at a Bhutanese IT company.
Sixteen months into the role, on a monthly salary of around 350 USD. One of 52 graduates from a cohort that has earned 57,568 USD between them so far, in salaried work and on freelancing platforms.
Designing today for the Queen's Office in Thimphu.
A graphic designer six months into a fixed role earning about 310 USD a month, one of fifteen graduates from the surveyed Graphic Design batch now bringing in a regular income at home.
Working as a designer and holding the highest reported salary in the batch.
More than a year of steady employment on roughly 556 USD a month. Several batchmates followed similar paths into sales, marketing, ICT teaching and company roles across Bhutan, and a few abroad.
A graphic designer and video editor, earning at a desk and on the side.
About 450 USD a month from a fixed role, plus roughly 600 USD earned through freelancing. Proof that the two income streams the programme was built to unlock can run side by side.
An IT Officer at the De-suung Skilling Programme itself.
Twenty-four months of work at around 195 USD a month, topped up by online freelancing, for a cumulative 4,800 USD. A graduate who now helps run the very programme that trained him.
A graphic designer at OGOP, one of Bhutan's best-known brands.
Four months into a fixed role on about 310 USD a month. Batchmates have taken designer posts at the Queen's Project Office, in the armed forces, in football media and in their own small ventures.
Every Learnio engagement in Bhutan runs the same repeatable model. Trainees are assessed and prepared, learn a hard digital skill on campus with an international Learnio mentor and a local DSP mentor, then spend a dedicated month on freelancing: Fiverr, Upwork and PeoplePerHour profiles, gigs, cover letters and live bidding. A final follow-up phase keeps mentors online with graduates every weekday while they win their first jobs.
DSP prepares the launch and Learnio runs an assessment test to select candidates with the technical grounding to succeed, drawing on selection tests already used across Learnio's countries.
On-campus mentored learning in the chosen track, five and a half days a week, paired with self-paced coursework. An international Learnio mentor teaches alongside a local DSP mentor.
One month on the business of freelancing: winning Fiverr and Upwork profiles, gigs and cover letters, client communication, then a two-week sprint of applying for real jobs with mentors.
Daily online support, Monday to Friday, for three months. Mentors help graduates polish CVs and portfolios, negotiate rates and close deals, on freelance platforms and local job portals alike.
Success is tied to a KPI written into every contract: at least 30 percent of trainees get a job or earn 200 USD, locally or online, during or within three months of the training. Final payment depends on it.
The point was never how many people sat in a classroom. It was how many walked out earning, and how much. Two batches have been surveyed in detail: Graphic Design and Web Development.
Bhutan is one of 17 countries where Learnio runs this playbook. The engagement is designed around engagement: the graduates who work the self-paced material, show up in class and keep bidding are the ones who earn. That is the same pattern Learnio has seen from Albania to Zimbabwe, and it is what the follow-up phase is built to protect.
The De-suung Skilling Programme is a Royal Project of the Kingdom of Bhutan, publicly documented by DSP and the De-suung organisation. The links below take you to the primary sources, including DSP's own ICT domain guide, which names Learnio as its online freelancing training provider.