Tenzin Pelyoun

Name:

Profession: Co-Founder of Drokmo/Gender Activist

Location: Dharamshala

Tenzin Pelyoun is a Co-Founder of Drokmo, an organization set up to pursue gender justice in the Tibetan and Himalayan Communities, along with Tenzin Kalsang.

Pelyoun was born in Shillong, Meghalaya, and has pursued most of her education in Indian schools. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong and a Master’s degree in the same field but specialized in criminology and justice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Pelyoun was employed in National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) as a “National Fellow” under the auspices of the Rural Development Ministry of India, right after the completion of her post-graduation, worked at NRLM programme for three years. In the pursuit of her quest to serve the Tibetan Community, she left her job at NRLM and joined The Tibet Fund wherein she worked for two years before co-founding her own organization, Drokmo with support from The Tibet Fund.

Gender justice was one of the issues that Pelyoun and Co-Founder, Kalsang felt strongly about and wanted to work on. Pelyoun understands that although gender justice issue was and is still being treated like a non-issue in the Tibetan community but she is determined to take up the challenge with the belief that “fundamentally all of us are capable of empathizing and recognizing injustices and are common in our thoughts for hoping for a more egalitarian and just society for all.” Through Drokmo, she wants to help facilitate that learning and hence, took upon this journey with the hope that people will steer in the direction and support of justice and equality for all genders.