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16 June 2022
People for Peace: Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold
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Press Release
31 May 2022
Хувьсан өөрчлөгдөж буй чиг хандлага: НҮБ-ын стратегийн түншлэлээр дамжуулан Монгол Улсын тогтвортой хөгжлийг хангахад хувийн хэвшлийн үүрэг, оролцоо
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Speech
30 May 2022
Opening remarks by Tapan Mishra, UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia at the “Climate Change and City” NDC Forum Erdenet City, May 30, 2022
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The Sustainable Development Goals in Mongolia
The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the earth’s environment and climate, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity. These are the goals the UN is working on in Mongolia:
Story
12 January 2022
2021 Year in Review: 10 Highlights from the UN Mongolia
2021 has been a year like no other. The devastating COVID-19 pandemic threatened the hard-won development gains of Mongolia. We have been challenged in all possible ways. But we rose up and stood firmly together to address the unprecedented challenges. The United Nations team in Mongolia, would like to highlight 10 milestones of this year that we are proud to have achieved together along with the Government of Mongolia and our dedicated partners to support the Mongolian people.
1. Joint UN support to COVID-19 Vaccination and Prevention and Management
Mongolia has done an outstanding job in the vaccination of its population. Today, over 90 per cent of the target population has been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 while almost 50 per cent has received the 3rd dose. The UN Mongolia provided the much-needed support in the curb of the COVID-19 pandemic through multi-pronged responses by:
Procurement and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility and funding from Japan and the USA
Expansion of the cold chain capacity and building a new central vaccine storage facility at the National Centre for Communicable Diseases in Mongolia
Effective support and coordination of the national vaccination campaign, training of front-line healthcare workers and provision of much-needed medical supplies, as well as improved public health communication
2. Supporting Mongolia in the transition to remote and e-learning for the school children
A joint UN Mongolia programme addressed the immediate needs of providing e-learning, enhancing e-content development of core curriculum subjects including health education, and improving education policy in Mongolia, adapted to remote and online learning when the country closed all levels of schools due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Development of Interactive online learning content, available in ethnic minority languages and accessible for children with disabilities
Development of offline learning contents and distribution of equipment to remote herder family children and underprivileged children
3. UN Mongolia’s collective support in the response and recovery from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
UN Mongolia’s support wasn’t limited to the health responses only. UN entities in Mongolia collectively supported the Government of Mongolia in the recovery from the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 by:
supporting the return of more than 1100 vulnerable Mongolians who were stranded abroad and over 60,000 stranded internally due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions.
assisting the Government in re-opening the borders to function under the “new reality” of COVID-19
training frontline social workers in providing social services to the most vulnerable groups of the society through innovative digital platforms
providing support to disrupted value chains including the cashmere and dairy sectors to provide income opportunities for herders and women amidst the pandemic
conducting several COVID-19 socio-economic impact studies on target populations
delivering food and non-food assistance to over 2,500 vulnerable households in ger areas affected by COVID-19 restrictions
4. UN’s contribution to the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals in Mongolia
Mongolia made a renewed commitment to accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the first-ever High-level National Forum on the SDGs on 4th October 2021.
The National Targets and Indicators for the SDGs were elaborated
Reinvigorated the National Council for Sustainable development
Established the Multistakeholder Council for Sustainable Development by the Sub-Committee of the Parliament
5. Comprehensive Common Country Analysis paves the way for the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Mongolia
As a precursor to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2023-2027, UN Mongolia Country Team developed a comprehensive Common Country Analysis with the engagement of all stakeholders including the highest levels of the Government, and extensive consultation with all partners such as development partners, civil society, academia, and private sector.
CCA is a comprehensive analysis of the national development landscape and SDG priorities and gaps based on the principles to leave no one behind, human rights-based approach, gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The UNSDCF will emphasize “development cooperation” with the Government and partners rather than “development assistance”
6. Mongolia’s commitments and participation in the UN Food Systems Summit
Mongolia renewed its commitment to make the national food system safer, stronger, and more sustainable at the first-ever high-level National Food System Dialogue. More than 500 policymakers, farmers, youth, civil society groups, food producers, academics, and other stakeholders from all over the country participated in a series of 12 dialogues nationwide.
The National Food Systems Dialogue prioritized:
access to safe and nutritious food and promotion of sustainable consumption
advance equitable livelihoods and value distribution
nature-positive production
7. Mongolia pioneered in defending Human Rights Defenders in the region
The Parliament of Mongolia adopted the Law on the Legal Status of the Human Rights Defenders in April 2021, making it the first country in Asia to provide a framework of protection for people who speak out on human rights concerns and violations.
UN Mongolia collectively supported the Government of Mongolia and the CSOs in taking steps to improve their human rights situation and to fulfil their human rights obligations.
8. Visit of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against women to Mongolia
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women paid a visit to Mongolia and advised to accelerate the translation of laws on violence against women into reality in Mongolia. Her preliminary findings conclude:
Mongolia has set a legal framework to tackle gender-based violence through laws on domestic violence, trafficking in people, gender equality, and witness and victim protection, etc.
Mongolia must ensure effective implementation of these laws throughout the country.
9. The new Labour Law represents significant improvement of legal framework governing employment relations and conditions of work.
In 2021, the Parliament of Mongolia has approved the new revised version of labour law extending its coverage, better aligning with international labour standards, orienting towards market economy and regulating newly emerging labour relations such as working from distance and in rosters. The new labour law requires employers to create a working environment that does not tolerate harassment, violence, and sexual harassment.
The UN has provided a wide range of support, including technical advice to align the law in line with international labour standards and best practices, a tripartite dialogue between government, workers and employers, and the promotion of promoted fundamental principles and rights at work, as well as strengthening the capacity of government officials and relevant stakeholders.
10. The celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Mongolia’s membership in the UN
2021 marked the historical milestone of the 60th anniversary of Mongolia’s membership to the United Nations, becoming the 101st member in 1961. To celebrate this special occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the United Nations Country Team in Mongolia jointly launched the “UN Week” campaign in October 2021 to promote the significance of this historical event to the Mongolian public.
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Story
02 February 2021
SCHOOL IN THE STEPPES: In rural Mongolia, keeping kids learning while at home
“I have 20 students in my class, and 13 of them are from herder families,” said Byamba, the fifth-grade teacher in a Tsagaannuur soum, Khuvsgul province of Mongolia, located more than 1000 km from the capital.
This is a vast country, where nomadic herders are scattered through steppes and mountains, grazing their animals. Many herder children attend remote boarding schools.
When COVID-19 hit Mongolia in January 2020, all schools nationwide were closed, sending 900,000 children into remote learning. Classes were broadcast on the national TV channels on topics such as Mongolian language, mathematics, and science. Different channels were geared to different age groups. Later, the classes were also made available online.
But it was harder for some kids to keep up than others.
“It’s not easy for herder children to keep up the tele-lessons while they are away from school,” says Byamba, the teacher. She explains that many herder children travel long distances with their family and livestock during the harsh winter.
Schools reopened in September 2020, only to close again two months later when there was a local outbreak. As the months wore on, more and more students were falling behind in their classes.
While solar panels or small generators are increasingly being used by herding families to produce electricity, they are not a reliable source of power. Power outages meant no tele-lessons. For some such families, internet access is a luxury.
No opportunities for some children
There were other shortcomings to the tele-lessons for some families. A recent study led by UNICEF revealed that five per cent of the children and parents surveyed had no TV or electronic device to access the lessons; sixteen per cent of the children did not attend the TV lessons even when they had devices to use. Among those most lacking access were children from low-income herder families whose parents were working and could not oversee their schooling.
Other complaints emerged: teaching on TV is one-way, and the contents are not interesting for young learners. In addition, the lessons weren’t meeting the needs of children with special needs or from ethnic minorities.
To address these concerns, the United Nations worked with the Ministry of Education and Science to improve online educational resources with more interactive and accessible models.
A joint project by UNICEF, UNFPA, and UNESCO addressed the immediate needs of providing e-learning, enhancing e-content development of core curriculum subjects including health education, and improving education policy in Mongolia, adapted to remote and online learning.
UNICEF’s helped create high-quality e-learning contents and introduce technologies for e-learning. As a result, pre-primary and primary school children now have access to e-lessons with animated cartoons that double as a problem-solving activity. After the lessons, children can take quizzes or do other interactive work.
“Most children in the countryside weren’t watching the lessons on TV but were using smartphones and other electronic devices,” says Alex Heikens, UNICEF representative in Mongolia. “That makes quite a difference in the way you present the content.”
Playing while learning
“My son has a form of autism, and it wasn’t easy for him to follow the TV lessons,” says T. Odtsetseg mother of a third-grader. “However, the lessons on the e-learning platform make it a lot easier for him to understand the subjects and work independently.”
Another mother echoes that sentiment. “My son gets excited when I call him to take his online lessons,” says B. Uyanga, mother of a 4-year-old preschooler. “He particularly liked the activity where we made paper planes. Pre-school children feel they are playing while learning.”
Educators are on board as well. “My students are more interested in the new content,” says one teacher, Ms. Javzandolgor.
The joint UN project has already created 86 of the planned 104 lessons and made them publicly available on the econtent.edu.mn. The rest of the lessons are to be completed soon. Since its launch on 25 November, the lessons have gotten over 100,000 pageviews.
UNICEF is now working to make the educational contents even more widely available. The content developers are working to create audio lessons, and families who do not have devices to listen will also be given radios.
The project also sought to make the remote learning accessible to children with disabilities and children from ethnic minorities to receive the lesson in their mother tongue. Kazakh and Tuva children are now able to receive lessons in their ethnic languages, while all contents are supported with sign language. Meanwhile, UNESCO is working with the Mongolian authorities to harness the potential of ICT to ensure equitable and inclusive learning opportunities for all.
Beyond the pandemic
“Our aim is to make sure that no one is left out,” says Kaori Ishikawa, Head of Office of the UNFPA in Mongolia, which also supports health and sexuality education through the e-learning platform.
“The United Nations is supporting Mongolia in its fight against COVID-19,” says Tapan Mishra, UN Resident Coordinator for Mongolia. “This initiative could serve as a catalyst to new innovations in the education sector in Mongolia—during the pandemic and beyond.”
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Story
23 March 2021
Celebrating Women’s Leadership in Mongolia
Uyanga is an entrepreneur and a mother to three young children. She is the force behind 'Made with Mother’s Heart', the company behind the “UR.mine” brand. The brand, which is a play on words that could be interpreted as “my child” in Mongolian or “you are mine” in English, produces empowering statement clothes for children.
Uyanga started her venture in 2017 with as little as MNT 500,000 (USD 175) in capital and an infant to care for. She admits that being a mompreneur has been no easy feat, especially as her three kids are all younger than 4 years. Juggling breastfeeding and working full-time was particularly difficult, and she would even have to bring her babies on trips to local and international markets to buy raw materials. Uyanga reflects that motherhood slows down her career growth, but she prefers to think of her children as her inspiration to succeed.
“Caring for my children is not a reason to set aside my business or to give up on my dreams,” Uyanga said.
“Rather, my children are the reason why I have been so motivated and energized to succeed. Children are indeed invaluable teachers. They teach us patience. They help us to be more attentive to the needs of others, and to better communicate with those around us. The way I see it, this is what makes women even more powerful, even in running a business.”
Now, almost four years and two more children later, her business is thriving despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, and she even has plans for expansion in 2021. This is in part due to the fact that Made with Mother’s Heart was quickly able to adapt during the pandemic. With the demand for her primary products declining during the lockdown, Uyanga turned her eyes instead to produce what was needed instead – face masks. She also adjusted her production plans; she continued producing clothes for infants as babies are still being born every day, but she decided to stop producing clothes for young children as they have been staying at home due to kindergarten and school closures.
Beyond pursuing profit to help support her family, Uyanga also makes sure to give back, especially by helping uplift mothers and grandmothers in her community. Made with Mother’s Heart employs grandmothers in their production like. These grandmothers are able to craft products like leather and felt baby shoes in their own homes, which gives them the opportunity to earn for themselves while taking care of their grandchildren. During the lockdown, Uyanga also collaborated with the Goolingo Business Group to organize a training for over 500 fellow mothers on how to start their own small businesses. As a result, 5 participants so far have launched their own businesses using what they have learned from the training.
When asked about her plans for the future, Uyanga shared that she hopes to not only expand her company at a national scale, but she is also working on exporting a proudly Mongolian brand produced with materials that are 100% locally sourced.
Watch Uyanga's full intervew at MNB Family
Delgertsetseg has always dreamed of becoming a police officer. Her father worked in the police force for 32 years up until his retirement, and ever since she was a child, she knew she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her personal hero. She finally achieved her dreams in the autumn of 2008. She graduated from Ikh Zasag University’s Law School, and she took a short course at the Police Academy, which led to her landing a job at the Bayanzurkh District Police Department, despite some early setbacks that came with raising children that were still too young.
Today, Delgertsetseg is a police lieutenant in charge of domestic violence cases in the 2nd Division of the Bayanzurkh District Police Department, where her husband also works as an investigator. She shared that one of the things that worries her these days is the domestic violence situation in the country. She believes that husbands and wives need to communicate better to better understand each other and avoid conflicts that could escalate into violence. She also noticed how alcoholism has been a major trigger to the high rate of domestic violence. For example, in one night, an average of 10 perpetrators of domestic violence who commit their offences while drunk is held at the detention center.
When Mongolia recorded its first cases of community transmission in November 2020, the government imposed a strict lockdown that was enforced by mobilizing the entire police force and other civil servants. Delgertsetseg was put in charge of 67 civil servants on continuous patrol, and many of these civil servants remarked how they could not believe how hard police work was, even though many of them were glad to help out during this difficult time. All these responsibilities come on top of her regular duty to work on domestic violence cases, which has spiked throughout the pandemic.
Delgertsetseg has made sacrifices for her job, including losing precious quality time with her family and risking her own health to keep the country safe during the pandemic. With both her and her husband working especially hard during this time, often from early in the morning until late in the evening, they also had to rely on the help of their eldest daughter who kept the house in order and looked after their younger child. However, the couple truly believes that their family can overcome any difficulties if their relationship is kept grounded on mutual understanding and respect. Even with their busy schedules, the couple would always do their best not to miss special occasions, or at the very least, they would go out of their way to show their affection. Delgertsetseg believes that it is this philosophy and commitment shared between her and her husband that cultivates a warm and supportive environment for their family, and she also believes that such efforts could generally reduce domestic violence in the country.
Still, Delgertsetseg has been told many times by her loved ones to shift careers and find something easier to do. But she is not willing to give up on her lifelong dream; she loves her job, and she values her ability to keep survivors of domestic violence safe from further harm.
Watch Delgertsetseg's full intervew at MNB Family
When Odonchimeg started her journey to become a social worker, she admittedly did not really know what that meant. All she knew was that social workers help people, and that is something she wants to do. Today, Odonchimeg has been serving as a social worker at the Chingeltei District of Ulaanbaatar for the last 14 years, and every day, she works tirelessly to help the many vulnerable people living in very difficult conditions in her community, including the elderly living alone, people with disabilities, and survivors of gender-based violence (GBV).
Odonchimeg often spends long hours roaming her community and visiting the homes of people that she knows are struggling to evaluate their conditions and to refer them to agencies that provide the help that they need. She shares that one of the people she looks out for is a man struggling with a mental disorder. Every time she passes by his house, she makes sure to check for smoke coming from his chimney or a light seen through his window. She is always happy to see these small signs because they let her know that he is fine. On days when the chimney is still or the window is dark, she worries and stops by his home to see if he is doing well.
Odonchimeg also pays special attention to the issue of domestic violence in her community, tackling it from both the side of the survivor and the perpetrator. She acknowledges that over the years, people have become more aware and less tolerant of domestic violence, which has led to an improvement of GBV detection and an increase in the number of survivors to seek help. However, there is still a knowledge gap among the public regarding the relevant laws that protect their right to live free of violence, and she knows that social workers and other officials like her at the grassroots level need to act quickly to prevent and respond to GBV. This was especially critical during the COVID-19 lockdowns, as they observed a clear increase in the number of domestic violence-related calls and reports. Aside from providing social services to survivors seeking help, Odonchimeg has also been proactive in working with perpetrators of violence. She has initiated trainings and organized support groups to help alcoholics who perpetrate domestic violence to reform their attitudes and behaviors. She admits that it has been a daunting task, but she has already seen some positive results.
A fierce passion to help others has always fueled Odonchimeg’s work, but this same vigor sometimes led to difficulties in her personal life. Particularly during her first few years as a social worker, she struggled with handling difficult cases because her empathic nature led to her internalizing the hardships of her clients. She could not stop thinking about their problems and she would spend many sleepless nights in turmoil over their situations. These days, Odonchimeg has gotten better at balancing staying compassionate in dealing with her clients but still placing some emotional distance between her and her cases to protect her own mental health. However, she continues to work tirelessly, sometimes working overnight or throughout weekends. As a result, she has not been able to spend enough quality time with her children, but she always tries to make up for it by spending as much as her free time with them as possible.
Even with all these challenges, Odonchimeg feels that it is an honor for her to be a social worker and to help people change their lives for the better.
Wath Odonchimeg's full intervewT at MNB Family
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In celebration of Women’s Month, UNFPA Mongolia in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the MNB Family Network is shining the light on stories of excellence, resilience and leadership of everyday women in Mongolia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The stories were first published on the UNFPA Mongolia's website
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Story
18 June 2021
Beyond the Pandemic: Transforming Food Systems in Mongolia
Op-ed jointly by UN Resident Coordinator Tapan Mishra and FAO Representative in Mongolia Vinod Ahuja
Food is more than just what we eat. It is the foundation of our culture, our economy, and our relationship with the natural world. The way in which we produce, process and consume food, which experts call ‘food systems’, touches every aspect of human life. When they function well, food systems deliver food security and nutrition so we can grow and be active and healthy. When our food systems fail, the resulting disorder threatens our education, health, and economy, as well as human rights, peace and security, affecting those who are already marginalized and most vulnerable.
What do we mean by “food systems”? The term encompasses every person and every process involved in growing, raising or making food, right through to consumption and what we do with our waste – from farmers and herders to processors to supermarket cashiers; from flour mills to refrigerated trucks and neighbourhood composting facilities[1]. Hundreds of thousands of Mongolians earn their livings from the food systems. In 2020, agriculture alone accounted for 24 per cent of jobs and about 12 per cent of the gross value added produced in Mongolia.
The stress put on food systems by the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the fragility of the systems and the interconnectedness of challenges and their impacts on people, the planet, and prosperity. For many – especially those who were already struggling before the pandemic – the food system disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to job losses, hunger and malnutrition. The FAO survey estimated that 72 per cent of households in Mongolia had to compromise on food during the COVID-19 crisis.
While COVID-19 may have catalysed food and nutrition insecurity for many more people, it is not the underlying cause of the challenges. Food systems were already inequitable in Mongolia even before COVID-19. 28.4 per cent of the population lived in poverty in 2018 and nearly one in four Mongolians experienced moderate or severe food insecurity[2]. At the same time, the number of people who are obese or who suffer from food-related diseases has been increasing; 55 per cent of Mongolians are overweight, and 20 per cent are obese. At 32 per cent, Mongolia has the second-highest levels of premature mortality among low middle-income countries[3]. At the same time, we continue to waste a significant portion of the food; food waste accounts for 36 per cent of solid waste in Ulaanbaatar city in summer[4].
Climate change is massively interfering with food systems, increasing the frequency and severity of dzuds, droughts, floods, and windstorms. For example, Mongolia experienced one of the most severe dzuds in 2021, leading to a large-scale livestock loss of 1.5 million animals. Yet, the current food systems are also part of the problem. The agriculture sector alone contributes 49 per cent of all greenhouse gases in Mongolia.
On 16 October 2019, World Food Day, the United Nations Secretary-General announced his intention to convene a Food Systems Summit in 2021. This decision was based on increasing recognition that transforming food systems must be central in the countries efforts to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For example, food systems and nutrition patterns were identified in the 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report as a key entry point to accelerate the worldwide transition to a more sustainable trajectory[5]. Moreover, in the Ministerial Declaration of the 2018 High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development[6], the UN member states called upon all stakeholders to adopt a sustainable food systems approach.
If Mongolia is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the remaining time, its food systems must change. We need to rapidly rethink how we produce, process, market and consume our food, and dispose of our waste. We should turn the COVID-19 crisis into the opportunity to rebalance and transform the food systems in Mongolia making them more inclusive, sustainable and resilient.
Mongolia has a significant potential to transition to sustainable food systems, that is already underway. This would require technological innovation, strategic use of economic incentives, cohesive and participatory governance, and behavioural changes. Sustainable intensification of agriculture and strengthening agriculture value chains can help to promote the export of value-added agricultural products and reduce dependence on the import of food to meet food demand for a growing population and sustain rural jobs. Policy and institutional coherence are essential to address the linkages across food systems, climate change and natural resource management. Recognizing these trends and challenges, the Government of Mongolia approved a national program ‘Healthy Food-Healthy Mongolian’ in 2019 that aims to provide citizens with healthy and safe foods. Sustainable food systems approaches have been also mainstreamed in the national development policies, including Mongolia’s Vision-2050 for Sustainable Development and mid-term development programmes.
It is also commendable that stakeholders in every sector are beginning to take actions and change their behaviours in support of sustainable food systems. Government and other stakeholders are increasingly aware that food systems are one of the most powerful links between humans and the planet. They want to see a shift in these patterns in the way that enhances inclusive economic growth while safeguarding environment. This has been demonstrated by the strong convening role of the Government of Mongolia in organizing regional and private sector food systems dialogues and the active participation of multiple stakeholders in independent dialogues with youth and civil society.
The National Food Systems Dialogue in Mongolia on 6-8 July 2021 will provide an unprecedented opportunity to capitalize on this growing movement and craft a catalytic moment for public mobilization and actionable commitments to accelerate the progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Evidence, ideas, and commitments gained at the National Food Systems Dialogue in Mongolia will not only contribute to the Global Food Systems Summit to be convened by the UN Secretary-General in September 2021 but, most importantly, they will help Mongolia itself to unleash new actions and innovative solutions and strategies to transform the national food systems and leverage the shifts to deliver progress across all Sustainable Development Goals.
[1] Why Food Systems Matter https://summitdialogues.org/overview/dialogues-and-the-food-systems-summit/why-food-systems-matter/
[2] FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2020. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020. Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9692en
[3] Second Joint Mission of the United Nations Interagency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, Mongolia, 5-9 September 2016. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017 (WHO/NMH/NMA/17.50). Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
[4] ADB, Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar Community Food Waste Recycling Project https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/project-documents/51102/51102-001-pam-en.pdf
[5] Independent Group of Scientists appointed by the Secretary-General, Global Sustainable Development Report 2019: The Future is Now – Science for Achieving Sustainable Development, (United Nations, New York, 2019). https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/24797GSDR_report_2019.pdf
[6] Ministerial declaration of the 2018 high-level political forum on sustainable development, convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, on the theme “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies” https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/HLS/2018/1&Lang=E
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16 June 2022
People for Peace: Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold
Every day, United Nations peacekeepers work to protect hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in the world’s most fragile political and security situations. Civilian and uniformed personnel in peacekeeping missions support ceasefires, prevent and respond to violence, investigate human rights violations and abuses, and help build peace, recovery, and development in many conflict-affected countries. As Mongolia marks its 20 years of UN peacekeeping deployment by hosting an international conference on women in peacekeeping from 16th to 18th June 2022, we spoke to the country’s first woman General who is also a former Blue helmet.
Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold from Mongolia currently heads the Military Training and Education Department of the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces. In 2010, she was deployed to the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) and to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in 2013. She also worked as a Peacekeeping Affairs Officer within UN Peacekeeping’s Current Military Operations Service (CMOS) in New York after her peacekeeping deployments. Then-Colonel Ganbold was conferred the rank of Brigadier General on Mongolian Military Day (celebrated on March 18th), making her the country’s first female general.
“When I was a teenager, most people of my generation could not fully enjoy the freedom of choosing their own career paths. Instead, we were guided by our parents. Following that tradition, I chose the military school as my mother advised me to. Luckily,r when I graduated from high school, the Military University of Mongolia started recruiting female cadets for the first time.
An aspiration for young women
In 2010, I was deployed as the first Mongolian female staff officer to MINURCAT. Fast forward to March 2022, when I became my country’s first female general; I was proud of myself, but I was also feeling anxious. I knew this was bigger than me. It was an aspiration for thousands of uniformed female personnel in my country. I find it very valuable that young women can be inspired by my promotion and believe that they can achieve the same thing I did.
In a male-dominated environment, women (peacekeepers) help reduce and prevent friction and conflict and bring positive approaches to effectively address the needs of the communities, especially for women and girls during or after conflicts.
Women’s presence should no longer need to be justified
However, in my early deployments, I observed that Mongolia’s female peacekeepers faced various barriers preventing them from fully developing their potential as peacekeepers. For example, one of the significant problems experienced by female peacekeepers, especially in the military contingents, was that they were seldom allowed by their contingent leadership to leave the base to interact with the locals. Having access to the host communities is particularly important in principle, but in practice, it was very much restricted to inspiring, assisting, and engaging with the women in the peacekeeping compound. Therefore, it is important to allow more opportunities for female peacekeepers to perform the tasks that men do.
History shows us that there have been female warriors since ancient times, and there are women currently serving in conflict zones. However, men still outnumber women in the armed forces, and women are still too often confined to supportive roles rather than combat roles. This traditional gender roles attribution prevents women from being promoted and blocks them from advancing in careers and rank in the security sector.
Women’s presence should no longer need to be justified in peace operations.”
This story was first published on the UN Peacekeeping blog
Note of the editor: Mongolia currently deploys up to 890 uniformed personnel to UN peace operations, among which women make up 21.43% of their individual military officers and 7.77% of troops, in line with its commitment toward the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
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07 March 2022
A Sustainable Feminist Recovery
As the world moves ahead to mark International Women’s Day, the clock on women’s rights is moving backwards. All of us are paying the price.
The cascading crises of recent years have highlighted how women’s leadership is more crucial than ever.
Women have heroically confronted the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors, nurses, and public health and social care workers.
But at the same time, women and girls have been the first to lose out on jobs or schooling, taking on more unpaid care work, and facing skyrocketing levels of domestic and cyber abuse and child marriage.
The pandemic has highlighted even more starkly an age-old truth: the roots of patriarchy run deep. We still live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture.
As a result, in good times or bad, women are more likely to fall into poverty. Their healthcare is sacrificed and their education and opportunities are curtailed.
And in countries enduring conflict — as we see from Ethiopia to Afghanistan to Ukraine -- women and girls are the most vulnerable but also the most compelling voices for peace.
As we look to the future, a sustainable and equal recovery for all is only possible if it is a feminist recovery — one that puts progress for girls and women at its centre.
We need economic progress through targeted investments in women’s education, employment, training and decent work. Women should be first in line for the 400 million jobs we are called to create by 2030.
We need social progress through investments in social protection systems and the care economy. Such investments yield huge dividends, creating green, sustainable jobs, while supporting members of our societies that need assistance, including children, older people and the sick.
We need financial progress, to reform a morally bankrupt global financial system, so all countries can invest in a woman-centred economic recovery. This includes debt relief and fairer tax systems that channel some of the massive pockets of wealth around the world to those who need it most.
We need urgent, transformative climate action, to reverse the reckless increase in emissions and gender inequalities that have left women and girls disproportionately vulnerable. Developed countries must urgently deliver on their commitments on finance and technical support for a just transition from fossil fuels. The successful, stable economies of the future will be green, gender-inclusive and sustainable.
We need more women in leadership in government and business, including finance ministers and CEOs, developing and implementing green and socially progressive policies that benefit all their people.
We know, for example, that having more women in parliaments is linked with stronger climate commitments and higher levels of investment in healthcare and education.
We need political progress through targeted measures that ensure women’s equal leadership and representation at all levels of political decision-making, through bold gender quotas.
Gender inequality is essentially a question of power. Uprooting centuries of patriarchy demands that power is equally shared across every institution, at every level.
At the United Nations, we have achieved — for the first time in the organization’s history — gender parity in senior management at headquarters and around the world. This has dramatically improved our ability to better reflect and represent the communities we serve.
Every step of the way, we can take inspiration from women and girls pushing for progress in every sphere and every corner of our globe.
Young women climate campaigners are leading global efforts to pressure governments to live up to their commitments.
Women’s rights activists are bravely demanding equality and justice, and building more peaceful societies as peacekeepers, peacemakers and humanitarians in some of the world’s trouble zones and beyond.
In societies where women’s rights movements are vibrant, democracies are stronger.
When the world invests in expanding opportunities for women and girls, all of humanity wins.
As a matter of justice, equality, morality and plain common sense, we need to turn the clock forward on women’s rights.
We need a sustainable, feminist recovery centred around — and driven by — women and girls.
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Story
07 March 2022
Ten impacting works of the UN on promoting gender equality and women empowerment in Mongolia
UN Mongolia leads the collective fight against gender-based and domestic violence (GBV) - horrendous crimes against women and girls in Mongolia. UNFPA led the advocacy on ending GBV in Mongolia on multi-pronged approaches, including the creation of a strong and enabling legislative and policy environment backed by real-time evidence and data that brought this pressing issue to the public discourse. These joint efforts contributed to a decrease in the reported domestic violence (DV) cases by 32 per cent from 2016 to 2019. However, the current COVID 19 threatened to reverse this achievement. Total 17 One-Stop Service Centers (OSSCs) and 14 shelters for survivors of GBV are operating throughout the country and providing safe accommodations as well as health, psychological, legal, counselling and protection services. Cumulatively, these OSSCs and shelters served 17,957 clients, and 5,136 cases were handled by multi-disciplinary teams since its establishment. More about UNFPA Mongolia.
UNFPA has also led the UN’s support in strengthening national capacity to address maternal health and family planning, as well as sexual and reproductive health education in Mongolia. Thanks to the ground-breaking telemedicine project that significantly contributed to reducing maternal deaths, Mongolia became one of the only nine countries in the world to achieve the MDG 5 target. UN Mongolia together with partners collectively advocated the Government to increase the state funding for contraceptives for the vulnerable women and girls, resulting in allocation of annual MNT 1.8 billion since 2019, which has greatly increased the availability of family planning services. Since 2016, UNFPA has been working on enhancing the capacity of midwives in accordance with the international standard. Mongolia’s secondary schools offer comprehensive sexuality education as a compulsory part of the curricula. WHO’s working on mobilising resources for women’s health and resulted in increased funding of over MNT 1 billion in last 2 years. These funds were dedicated to improve quality of safe essential maternal health services for reproductive age women including disabled women across the country. WHO also leads the promotion of universal health coverage and health equity across the nation. Women are at the forefront of this initiative to address health issues prevalent within their own communities. Specific health campaigns such as “Breast Cancer” resulted in wider awareness raising of the growing cancer prevalence, resulting in early detection and prevention among the target population. More about WHO work in Mongolia UN Mongolia is collectively supporting Mongolia in the elimination of all forms of violence and harassment at the workplace including gender-based violence in public and private sector. Mongolian Parliament approved the revised version of Labour Law in July 2021, effective from January 1, 2022, highlighted the zero tolerance to violence and harassment including sexual harassment at work. ILO is leading in the prevalence study on violence and harassment at work, covering 4,000 employees in private and public sectors in 2021-2022. The study findings will pave the way for the Government of Mongolia to improve the national legislation further and take appropriate measures backed by evidence-based data. ILO is also calling on the government, workers and employers to join the force to stop violence and harassment in the world of work by ratifying the ILO Convention 190 concerning violence and harassment. Learn more about ILO work
IOM – the UN’s agency for migration works to advocate for equal rights in employment and mobility, combatting discriminatory migration practices and addressing risks and vulnerabilities of the gender relations of migration. Through IOM’s assistance, as of today, more than 23,000 female Mongolian migrants received assistance that was tailored to their needs and situations, including psychosocial support, employment-related support to marginalized migrants, documentation support, business management and skill development. Around 155 victims of trafficking were repatriated from abroad and over 600 victims of trafficking received direct and reintegration assistance. IOM has also helped over 4000 Mongolian women abroad to return home safely and successfully reintegrate in Mongolia. Learn more about IOM work UN Volunteers support UN Mongolia in multiple fronts, including invaluable support in the building capacity of women and girls, as well as of communities in the pursuit of gender equality. Meet Ms. Clemence Gallopin from Switzerland, who gave her time and heart to the vulnerable women and girls in Mongolia, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Mongolia saw a surge in the GBV cases. She provided remote services guidelines for One-Stop-Service Centres that assisted survivors of gender-based violence during lockdowns and periods of restricted movement. Read more about Clemence’s story: Women are highly educated and present in all sectors, however, not yet sufficiently at the decision-making level. Here comes the UNDP’s wide-ranging engagement in the capacity building of the women politicians and women interested in politics and strengthening their support networks. UNDP works to strengthen the legal environment for women’s representation at the decision-making level as well as the supporting mechanisms for women to overcome structural and other factors for pursuing a career in public leadership. More and more women are empowered in the civil service leadership with UNDP’s support. UNDP plays a vital role in creating more gender-responsive budgeting and gender-responsive financing in the private sector. Learn more about UNDP’s work in Mongolia UN works on the ground to empower rural women to be economically active and contribute to the socio-economic development of Mongolia. One example is the “ger” kitchen initiative – a novel local value chain approach in employment opportunity and food security. FAO’s initiative mobilized 120 women in six soums of Selenge, Hovd, Huvsgul and Dornod to establish small dairy processing unit with capacity of 500 litres of milk processing per day. The products were provided to schools and kindergarten for mid-day meal, so that children benefit from healthy diet while at school. Learn more about FAO work in Mongolia UN-Habitat empowers female community leaders in the building of flood resilience in the communities of the urban suburbs in Mongolia. More than 130 women-led the community groups of 1176 members to address the adaptive capacities of the communities. Also 5933 community members with 64 per cent female representation were trained in community leadership, community action planning, community monitoring, disaster preparedness and climate change resilience building at community level. Learn more about this initiative by UN-Habitat UNICEF Mongolia’s work ranges far and wide in defending children’s rights in all forms. Its pilot initiative on reducing air pollution in Mongolia has brought a significant impact on women and their well-being. Distribution of CHIP (Cooking, heating and insulation products) packages to over 1000 households since 2019 replacing coal-fired stoves and insulating their gers has brought thermal comfort, reduced waste, and improved health for household members. Thanks to the CHIP packages, women could save up to 40 minutes a day for making fire and heating the house: this gave them more time to play with their children or cultivating their interests. More about UNICEF in Mongolia
UNFPA has also led the UN’s support in strengthening national capacity to address maternal health and family planning, as well as sexual and reproductive health education in Mongolia. Thanks to the ground-breaking telemedicine project that significantly contributed to reducing maternal deaths, Mongolia became one of the only nine countries in the world to achieve the MDG 5 target. UN Mongolia together with partners collectively advocated the Government to increase the state funding for contraceptives for the vulnerable women and girls, resulting in allocation of annual MNT 1.8 billion since 2019, which has greatly increased the availability of family planning services. Since 2016, UNFPA has been working on enhancing the capacity of midwives in accordance with the international standard. Mongolia’s secondary schools offer comprehensive sexuality education as a compulsory part of the curricula. WHO’s working on mobilising resources for women’s health and resulted in increased funding of over MNT 1 billion in last 2 years. These funds were dedicated to improve quality of safe essential maternal health services for reproductive age women including disabled women across the country. WHO also leads the promotion of universal health coverage and health equity across the nation. Women are at the forefront of this initiative to address health issues prevalent within their own communities. Specific health campaigns such as “Breast Cancer” resulted in wider awareness raising of the growing cancer prevalence, resulting in early detection and prevention among the target population. More about WHO work in Mongolia UN Mongolia is collectively supporting Mongolia in the elimination of all forms of violence and harassment at the workplace including gender-based violence in public and private sector. Mongolian Parliament approved the revised version of Labour Law in July 2021, effective from January 1, 2022, highlighted the zero tolerance to violence and harassment including sexual harassment at work. ILO is leading in the prevalence study on violence and harassment at work, covering 4,000 employees in private and public sectors in 2021-2022. The study findings will pave the way for the Government of Mongolia to improve the national legislation further and take appropriate measures backed by evidence-based data. ILO is also calling on the government, workers and employers to join the force to stop violence and harassment in the world of work by ratifying the ILO Convention 190 concerning violence and harassment. Learn more about ILO work
IOM – the UN’s agency for migration works to advocate for equal rights in employment and mobility, combatting discriminatory migration practices and addressing risks and vulnerabilities of the gender relations of migration. Through IOM’s assistance, as of today, more than 23,000 female Mongolian migrants received assistance that was tailored to their needs and situations, including psychosocial support, employment-related support to marginalized migrants, documentation support, business management and skill development. Around 155 victims of trafficking were repatriated from abroad and over 600 victims of trafficking received direct and reintegration assistance. IOM has also helped over 4000 Mongolian women abroad to return home safely and successfully reintegrate in Mongolia. Learn more about IOM work UN Volunteers support UN Mongolia in multiple fronts, including invaluable support in the building capacity of women and girls, as well as of communities in the pursuit of gender equality. Meet Ms. Clemence Gallopin from Switzerland, who gave her time and heart to the vulnerable women and girls in Mongolia, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Mongolia saw a surge in the GBV cases. She provided remote services guidelines for One-Stop-Service Centres that assisted survivors of gender-based violence during lockdowns and periods of restricted movement. Read more about Clemence’s story: Women are highly educated and present in all sectors, however, not yet sufficiently at the decision-making level. Here comes the UNDP’s wide-ranging engagement in the capacity building of the women politicians and women interested in politics and strengthening their support networks. UNDP works to strengthen the legal environment for women’s representation at the decision-making level as well as the supporting mechanisms for women to overcome structural and other factors for pursuing a career in public leadership. More and more women are empowered in the civil service leadership with UNDP’s support. UNDP plays a vital role in creating more gender-responsive budgeting and gender-responsive financing in the private sector. Learn more about UNDP’s work in Mongolia UN works on the ground to empower rural women to be economically active and contribute to the socio-economic development of Mongolia. One example is the “ger” kitchen initiative – a novel local value chain approach in employment opportunity and food security. FAO’s initiative mobilized 120 women in six soums of Selenge, Hovd, Huvsgul and Dornod to establish small dairy processing unit with capacity of 500 litres of milk processing per day. The products were provided to schools and kindergarten for mid-day meal, so that children benefit from healthy diet while at school. Learn more about FAO work in Mongolia UN-Habitat empowers female community leaders in the building of flood resilience in the communities of the urban suburbs in Mongolia. More than 130 women-led the community groups of 1176 members to address the adaptive capacities of the communities. Also 5933 community members with 64 per cent female representation were trained in community leadership, community action planning, community monitoring, disaster preparedness and climate change resilience building at community level. Learn more about this initiative by UN-Habitat UNICEF Mongolia’s work ranges far and wide in defending children’s rights in all forms. Its pilot initiative on reducing air pollution in Mongolia has brought a significant impact on women and their well-being. Distribution of CHIP (Cooking, heating and insulation products) packages to over 1000 households since 2019 replacing coal-fired stoves and insulating their gers has brought thermal comfort, reduced waste, and improved health for household members. Thanks to the CHIP packages, women could save up to 40 minutes a day for making fire and heating the house: this gave them more time to play with their children or cultivating their interests. More about UNICEF in Mongolia
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Story
23 February 2022
Building herders’ resilience to shocks through social insurance scheme
“I’ve been herding for 15 years. However, these years were not recorded as employment and I hadn’t paid any social insurance towards a pension fund,” said sixty-years old Mr. Budarakh Avildolda from soum (provincial lower administrative unit), Tsengel soum, Bayan-Ulgii province. “Now I am not eligible to an old-age pension at my retirement.”
Herding is accounted as informal and self-employment, thus herders are expected to contribute voluntarily to social insurance schemes in Mongolia. However, the majority of Mongolian herders (almost 85 per cent), who make up the third of the entire population, missed out on the benefits of social insurance in the case of Mr. Buldarakh.
Most of such low rate is due to a lack of knowledge of herders about social insurance and its benefits.
UN’s joint programme on extending social protection to herders sees that enrolling herders in the social insurance scheme is a way to prevent herders from further vulnerabilities to poverty and climate-related shocks. Therefore, the programme sees the importance of informing the herders about the benefits of social and health insurance schemes.
Training social insurance officers and peer-to-peer learning
One of the conventional and effective ways to reach out to the herders, who live scattered in remote areas relies on the social insurance officers.
During his mission to introduce and advocate herders for voluntary social insurance in the summer of 2021, Mr. Altanbek, social insurance officer of Tsengel soum, Bayan-Ulgii province explained Mr. Buldarakh the opportunity that he could retroactively contribute to the social insurance, which was allowed by an amendment to social insurance law in 2017, effective until the end of 2021.
The benefits of social insurance are not limited to the old-age pension only. In Mongolia, the voluntary social insurance scheme benefits include invalidity pension, survivor’s benefit, a benefit for temporary loss of the work ability, maternity benefit, funeral grant, work ability restoration allowances, and rehabilitation payments.
Herders are more vulnerable to climate-driven shocks such as dzud (severe winter that causes the death of animals), floods, and dust storms. Such circumstances put them at risk of occupational injuries in the field.
Mr. Batsaikhan Dovoo, a herder from Ider soum, Zavkhan province received compensation for his injuries in his leg and shoulder when he fell off a camel while herding his flocks. This was possible thanks to his wife, Amarbayasgalan Niisuren, who learned more about the benefits of social insurance from the peer-to-peer learning offered through the UN’s joint programme. Although they had been enrolled in voluntary social insurance for 17 years, they didn’t know about other benefits like compensation for injuries which resulted in temporary loss of his work ability.
Infusing information and knowledge about the benefits of social and health insurance wasn’t enough to get more herders to get voluntarily covered. Some herders simply lack the cash to pay the insurance premium.
Exploring non-conventional ways to increase social insurance coverage among herders
The programme tested other innovative approaches to increase herders’ coverage, especially of the vulnerable herders, in the social and health insurance. Herders’ self-organisations like cooperatives and pasture-user groups were instrumental in this pilot action.
Herders with fewer animals and a lack of cash and income to cover their insurance premium benefited from the joint efforts by their cooperatives. Herders would pay non-cash payments such as livestock and raw materials as insurance premiums to the cooperatives.
Ms. Byambatseren Sengejav, a chairwoman of the local herders’ cooperative “Khatan Ider” in Ider soum, Zavkhan province was trained as a local advocate for introducing the benefits of social insurance to the cooperative members and herders in her soum.
“Because it was more one-on-one interactive discussions, herders were more engaged,” said Byambatseren, who enthusiastically advocated to increase coverage of social insurance, which would come to their “rescue” in times of unprecedented crisis.
Supporting herders’ entrepreneurship skills and skills to generate more income would be an effective way to support herders’ resilience and prosperity. As such, the UN’s joint programme successfully explored “Herders’ Programme” with extensive content to provide knowledge on livestock production including dairy, hide and skin, meat processing as well as life skills such as sexual and reproductive health rights and prevention from gender-based violence.
Strengthening national capacity in shock-responsive social protection
Two-years of joint efforts by four UN agencies in the period of 2020-2021, including ILO as a lead, and UNFPA, UNICEF and FAO, have collectively contributed to the increase the social and health insurance coverage by five per cent among herders at the national level according to the General Authority for Social Insurance. However, at the five target soums in Zavkhan province, the UN joint programme saw an increase of social and health coverage by 10 per cent among the herders.
This has demonstrated that such achievement can be done through a partnership – not only among the UN agencies, but also with national and local government, private sector, trade unions, and other stakeholders including herders themselves.
With exemplary results and evidence from pilot activities, proving that innovative and rigorous efforts could potentially increase national coverage of herders in the social protection scheme, the joint program further advocates for mainstreaming shock-responsiveness into the national social protection system.
UN Mongolia’s joint programme “Extending Social Protection to Herders with Enhanced Shock Responsiveness” is one of the first joint efforts by UN entities in the country collectively addressing pressing issues in Mongolia’s social protection system. It aimed to offer evidence-based solutions to the most strategic and transformative policy challenges in the national social protection system. This joint programme was funded by the Joint SDG Fund – UN’s inter-agency, pooled mechanism for integrated policy support and strategic financing.
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Written by Soyolmaa Dolgor, UN RCO Communications and Advocacy Officer with the support of Ms Javkhlan Bold-Erdene, a communications consultant from ILO Mongolia.
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Story
07 February 2022
Quality education paves the way for children with disabilities to thrive
A neatly-dressed boy with dark glasses was translating into English for a dozen children sitting around a table. His name is Sunduijav Delegdulam, a 14-year-old with a congenital visual impairment. He began learning English on his own at the age of seven and now he is fluent in English. Now he is helping his siblings and friends who also have a loss of vision.
Going to school
His life began in complete darkness. Although he has never seen his mother, not the sunlight, he is trying to shine a light into his life. D.Sunduijav, like other visually impaired children, entered the specialized school No 116 for children with special needs when he started school. His parents, N. Delegdulam and Kh. Munguntsetseg, checked in to all eye clinics in town to get his son to have a vision. Knowing that not much they can do about it, they decided to focus on their son’s education and prospects.
When Sunduijav first went to school, he realized that other children were using Cyrillic and reading. He was upset and angry with his parents for not being able to learn Cyrillic. However, by the time he was in the third grade, he began to understand his difference from others and the challenges he was facing.
Knowing that the Cyrillic alphabet is for people who can see and read, Sunduijav understood that he needed to learn the braille alphabet with the aid of a computer. Ever since then, he started learning computers, which opened up a world of opportunities for him.
Seeing the potential of their son, who is a bright young man with a big learning aptitude, Delegdulam and Munguntsetseg enrolled their son at the “King’s Kids” private school in Ulaanbaatar when he was in the 5th grade.
This was the first time that D.Sunduijav started schooling with ordinary children. “Because I have been learning English at English language training centres, I was accepted to the “King’s Kids”, said Sunduijav.
His enrolment in the ordinary school has been a new experience for everyone. His class teacher Ms. Kh.Zaya said that it was her first experience teaching a visually impaired student. “Sunduijav was able to do many things on his own, like going to the classroom or bathroom alone, and finding his desk,” said Ms Kh. Zaya.
She added that they felt sorry for him in the beginning and didn’t know how to explain the lessons to him. But when she saw that he was learning as well as anyone else, she stopped feeling sorry for him. Sunduijav was coping well in his new school. Whenever the teacher instructs everyone to open the books and turn to a certain page, Sunduijav can easily find the pages of his book on his computer screen just like everyone else.
Lack of teachers’ aides although demand is high
In 2019, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science decreed children with disabilities are to enrol in secondary schools. As of 2020, 5,986 children with special needs enrolled in schools in Mongolia. 1771 of them enrolled in special schools and 385 are attending in the Lifelong Learning Centers. The remaining 3857 are enrolled in ordinary secondary schools, according to B. Gereltuya, a senior specialist of the Special Needs Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Science.
There are six special education schools nationwide. All are located in Ulaanbaatar. She stressed that children with special needs living in rural areas attend ordinary schools. However, according to Ms B.Gereltuya, there are not enough teachers’ aides to help children with developmental disabilities in secondary schools due to a lack of funding. The allocation of variable costs related to the school enrolment of children with disabilities is supposed to be three times higher compared to the normal children. Schools shall provide additional incentives for the teachers who work with children with disabilities. Unfortunately, these laws and regulations are not implemented in reality, only to remain on paper.
Focusing on your strengths, not the challenges
Later on, Kh. Munguntsetseg decided to enrol her son on a public school to help his son improve his skills in mathematics. Several school administrators refused his enrolment as they didn’t have the capacity to teach children with disabilities.
“But didn’t give up,” said Munguntsetseg. As a result of the persistent effort of their parents, Sunduijav started studying in Ulaanbaatar’s secondary school No 11 last September. “I couldn't follow my son's learning because I didn't know Braille. So, I taught him typing. This helped me to check his learning when he uses computers for his lessons.”
In the same fashion, she expected teachers in the ordinary school would help her son to learn. Sunduijav learned special applications to scan books. Visually impaired children tend to lag in mathematics because math problems and formulas cannot be easily expressed in audio. But Sunduijav’s parents sought additional help from a private tutor in math.
“Children with special needs can succeed if they first find out their strengths and develop their unique abilities, but not focusing on their challenges. Every child has a right to equal education,” said Munguntsetseg.
Children with visual impairment tend to develop a stronger sense of hearing and other cognitive senses. For Sunduijav, he started learning piano and composing his music.
Equal access to education should start from kindergarten
There are many shortcomings when children with disabilities are attending regular schools as this is a new phenomenon. For children with visual impairment, the main learning method is to listen and understand the audio lessons. However, attending a school that has advanced training curricula in math and physics, Sunduijav faced yet another challenge as these subjects require more illustrations than verbal explanations. Textbooks are not available in braille. However, Sunduijav found many helpful online resources helpful.
Social inclusion is another issue for children with special needs as some of their peers lack understanding about differently-abled children. “My classmates treat me differently. Some pity on me, or some try to help when it’s not needed,” said Sunduijav. “I would usually approach and initiate a conversation with my friends.”
T. Uyanga, D. Sunduijav's class teacher, said: “If we want to ensure equal access to education for children with special needs, we need to start it from kindergarten from an early age.” This will help other children to understand special needs and help them in a friendly way.
Leave no one behind
Leaving no one behind is at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The SDG 10 sets out to reduce inequalities and SDG 4 is to support quality education. These two goals are most relevant to people with special needs. Mongolia’s National Voluntary Report on SDGs implementation highlighted that the children of herders and low-income families and children with special needs lack equal access to education.
It is said that there are about 11,000 children with special needs in our country. It’s worth noting that enrollment of children with disabilities in regular schools is progress towards achieving the goal of sustainable development and it’s an important step to ensure every child has access to quality education, thus no one is left behind.
"Lessons that are not usually taught in special schools were taught in ordinary schools. The special schools’ curriculum lags behind the ordinary schools,” said Sunduijav. He doubts that children with disabilities would receive quality education and good job prospects unless they are provided with equal opportunities to learn and thrive.
Therefore, activists and scientists advocate for equal access to education for children with disabilities.
M. Sod-Erdem, a friend of Sunduijav, also wants to study in a regular secondary school like him and get a good education. “I want to go to regular school, but I don't have a laptop. I could continue going to the special school for children with disabilities as I am used to it. However, we are worried if we are not starting from the same educational level as everyone else has,” said Sod-Erdem.
Sod-Erdem is truly proud of his friend's diligence and perseverance. D. Sunduijav, who aims to become an accomplished ICT engineer in the future, cheers his friend up: “Don’t be discouraged that you can’t achieve anything because you lost your vision. We have a lot to learn and create.”
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This story was written by Ch. Bolortuya and first published in Mongolian on "Unuudur" newspaper (https://bit.ly/3ouaBW5). Ch. Bolortuya attended the training on the SDGs, offered by the UN Mongolia in cooperation with the Media Council of Mongolia. Attending the training, she explored the SDGs further and was dedicated to raising awareness on inclusive education for children with disabilities in Mongolia.
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Press Release
31 May 2022
Хувьсан өөрчлөгдөж буй чиг хандлага: НҮБ-ын стратегийн түншлэлээр дамжуулан Монгол Улсын тогтвортой хөгжлийг хангахад хувийн хэвшлийн үүрэг, оролцоо
Энэхүү уулзалтын зорилго нь Монгол Улсын Тогтвортой хөгжлийн зорилгуудыг хэрэгжүүлэхэд дэмжлэг үзүүлэх зорилгоор НҮБ-ын Тогтвортой хөгжлийн хамтын ажиллагааны хүрээ (UNSDCF), Үндэсний санхүүжилтийн нэгдсэн тогтолцоо (INFF) болон Нөөцийг дайчлах, түншлэлийн стратеги (RMPS) зэрэг стратегийн олон талт түншлэлийн хүрээнд мэдлэг, туршлага, технологи, санхүүгийн нөөцийг дайчлан тогтвортой хөгжлийн төлөөх хувийн хэвшлийн түншлэл, оролцоог нэмэгдүүлэхэд оршиж байна.
Хувийн хэвшлийн байгууллагууд НҮБ-ын үйл ажиллагааг зөвхөн нийгмийн хариуцлагыг хэрэгжүүлэх, НҮБ-ын төслүүдийг санхүүжүүлэх хэмээн хардаг бол уг ойлголтын зөрүүг арилгах буюу хувийн хэвшил нь өөрсдийн бизнесийн загварууд, техникийн болон бусад хэрэгцээт туршлагыг тогтвортой хөгжлийн зорилтуудтай мөн уялдуулах талаар ярилцав.
Монголын Бизнесийн Зөвлөлийн гишүүд болон Нэгдсэн Үндэстний Байгууллага нь Ногоон хөгжил, Ногоон бизнес, Ногоон санхүүжилтийн боломжууд (сэргээгдэх эрчим хүч, эрчим хүчний хэмнэлт, дижиталчлал гэх мэт) чиглэлээр хамтран ажиллах арга боломжийг судалж хувийн хэвшлийн мэдлэг, боловсролыг дээшлүүлэх зорилго тавилаа. Бид мөн хүүхдэд ээлтэй бизнесийн арга барилыг бий болгох талаар хамтран ажиллахаар төлөвлөж байна.
Эхний хэлэлцүүлэг Хүний хөгжил, сайн сайхан байдал сэдвийн хүрээнд зохион байгуулагдсан бөгөөд НҮБ-ын Тогтвортой хөгжлийн хамтын ажиллагааны хүрээнд 2027 онд хүрсэн байх Стратегийн зорилт нэг буюу хот, хөдөөгийн иргэд, ялангуяа нэн эмзэг буюу хөгжлөөс орхигдох эрсдэл бүхий хүн амын бүлгүүд өөрсдийн нөөц боломжийг бүрэн дүүрэн, эрх тэгш ашиглаж, хүний эрхэд суурилсан, хүртээмжтэй, жендэрийн мэдрэмжтэй цочролд тэсвэртэй, эрүүл мэнд болон хоол, шим тэжээл, боловсрол, нийгмийн хамгаалал болон бусад үйлчилгээг ижил тэгш хүртэх боломжийг бий болгох асуудлаар ярилцлаа.
Хэлэлцүүлгийг Монголын Бизнесийн Зөвлөлийн Удирдах зөвлөлийн дарга Ц.Түмэнцогт удирдан чиглүүлж, хэлэлцүүлэгт НҮБ-ын Монгол дахь Хүүхдийн сангийн дэд суурин төлөөлөгч Аяако Кайно, НҮБ-ын Монгол дахь Хүн амын сангийн суурин төлөөлөгч Доктор Халид Шарифи, Мобиком Корпорацийн Гүйцэтгэх захирал Кожи Курушима, Олон улсын шилжилт хөдөлгөөний байгууллагын хөтөлбөрийн менежер Виктор Лутенко, Оюу Толгой Компанийн орон нутаг, олон нийт хариуцсан ахлах менежер О.Цэрэннадмид нар оролцов.
Хоёр дахь хэлэлцүүлэг Ногоон, хүртээмжтэй, тогтвортой өсөлт сэдвийн дор зохион байгуулагдаж НҮБ-ын Тогтвортой хөгжлийн хамтын ажиллагааны хүрээнд 2027 он гэхэд хүрсэн байх Стратегийн зорилт Хоёр буюу Монгол Улсын эдийн засгийг илүү төрөлжсөн, шинэлэг, үр бүтээмжтэй, хүртээмжтэй, “ногоон” болж, бүс нутгийн тэнцвэртэй хөгжлийг хангасан, ялангуяа залуус, эмэгтэйчүүдийн зохистой амьжиргааг тэтгэх, ХХI зууны эрэлт хэрэгцээтэй ур чадварыг хөгжүүлэх, нүүрсхүчлийн хий бага ялгаруулах хөгжлийг дэмжих чиглэлээр хэлэлцүүлэг өрнөлөө.
Хэлэлцүүлгийг Монгол дахь НҮБ-ын Суурин зохицуулагч Тапан Мишра удирдан чиглүүлж, хэлэлцүүлэгт Олон улсын хөдөлмөрийн байгууллагын ахлах мэргэжилтэн, Байгаль орчин ба зохистой хөдөлмөрийн асуудал хариуцсан Ази Номхон Далайн бүсийн зохицуулагч Кристина Мартинекс, Хаан Банкны Дэд захирал Б.Эрдэнэдэлгэр, НҮБ-ын Хүнс, хөдөө аж ахуйн байгууллагын Монгол дахь Шадар суурин төлөөлөгч Г.Нямжаргал, НҮБ-ын Аж үйлдвэр хөгжлийн байгууллагын Төслийн зохицуулагч Г.Мөнх-Болор, НҮБ-ын Хөгжлийн хөтөлбөрийн Эдийн засагч Яасин Жанжуа нар оролцлоо.
Хэлэлцүүлэгт оролцсон НҮБ болон түүний харьяа байгууллагууд түүнчлэн хувийн хэвшлийн төлөөлөл нь дээрх зорилтуудыг хэрхэн хангаж ажиллаж буй, мөн дээрх заасан чиглэлүүдээр олон улсад, бүсийн хэмжээнд болон Монгол улсад хувийн хэвшилтэй хэрхэн хамтарч ажиллаж байгаа талаар туршлагаасаа хуваалцав. Түүнчлэн, НҮБ-тай хамтран ажилласнаар хувийн хэвшилд санхүүжилтийн ямар боломжууд гарч ирэх, ялангуяа Ногоон хөгжлийн сантай хамтран ажиллах боломжийн талаар ярилцлаа.
Хуралдааны төгсгөлд Тогтвортой хөгжлийн зорилтыг хэрэгжүүлэх өдөрлөгт Хувийн хэвшил хэрхэн оролцох боломжтой талаар НҮБ-ын Монгол дахь Суурин зохицуулагчийн газрын Мэдээлэл харилцааны мэргэжилтэн Д.Соёлмаа танилцуулга хийв.
Хуралдааны талаар нэмэлт мэдээлэл авах бол + 976-94118245, +976-94111220 эсвэл info@bcmongolia.org, soyolmaa.dolgor@un.org хаягаар холбогдоно уу.
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Press Release
27 May 2022
UN Resident Coordinator meeting with the Ulaanbaatar City Mayor
The UN Resident Coordinator had the opportunity to introduce the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Mongolia to be implemented from 2023 to 2027. This strategic document was signed by the Government of Mongolia and the United Nations in Mongolia on 20 May.
Mr. Tapan Mishra reiterated that the UN system will continue to cooperate with the Ulaanbaatar city government to support urban development to make the capital city of Mongolia more sustainable, inclusive, and people-friendly.
Ulaanbaatar City has prepared the SDGs indicators and targets in the context of the Capital City, in partnership with the UNDP and adopted it by the UB city representative khural.
Mr. Mishra applauded the tremendous efforts undertaken for the localization of the SDGs.
Mayor D. Sumiyabazar highlighted key achievements in the city’s sustainable, green, and inclusive development. He stressed the importance of making Ulaanbaatar more friendly for people with disabilities and offered to cooperate with the UN to support SME development to create more income-generating opportunities for city residents.
The parties agreed to cooperate on organizing an SDG promotion event to raise awareness and call for further public action on the SDGs.
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Press Release
20 May 2022
The Government of Mongolia and the United Nations jointly commit to Mongolia’s sustainable development cooperation over the next 5 years
The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Mongolia 2023-2027 is closely aligned with the national development agenda articulated in Vision 2050, Mongolia’s long-term development policy and UN development system reforms. By mutually committing to the UNSDCF, the Government of Mongolia and the UN agree to work together for Mongolia to advance in sustainable development as a prosperous country characterized by an inclusive, resilient, healthy, and safe environment, and a cohesive society based on the rule of law and human rights.
The UN Country Team, in extensive and multiple consultations with all relevant stakeholders, formulated its vision and three strategic priorities committed to human development and well-being; green, inclusive and sustainable growth; and people-centred governance, the rule of law, and human rights.
At the signing ceremony, Minister B. Battsetseg underscored the importance of the new framework to accelerate the implementation of national development policies, implement national initiatives, and contribute to joint efforts for sustainable development being made by the international community.
“Mongolia is proud to have partnered with the UN system for over 60 years, and long-standing cooperation has been making a valuable contribution to national socio-economic development,” she added.
Minister B. Javkhlan highlighted the importance of the joint commitment to address the socio-economic and environmental challenges identified in this strategic document to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The cooperation framework is being signed at a pivotal and challenging time, as the world—including Mongolia—grapples with the aftermath of the pandemic, and with less than eight years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as stressed by UN Resident Coordinator Tapan Mishra during the signing ceremony.
“The humongous task at hand cannot be accomplished without joint implementation by the government and strong support from all stakeholders,” said Tapan Mishra.
The new cooperation framework will accelerate the SDGs in Mongolia through the UN system’s collective offer from 23 entities in Mongolia, resident and non-resident.
The UN’s “leave no one behind” approach and human rights-based principles are central to implementing the UNSDCF. Guided by the UNSDCF as an overarching document, the UN entities in Mongolia will develop their country programmes to bring the vision and strategic priorities outlined in the cooperation framework to fruition.
In partnership with the government, development partners, private sector, civil society, and others, the UN system in Mongolia will work to achieve these goals through technical assistance, capacity building, innovative pilot initiatives, policy advice, catalysing development finance, social mobilisation, and more.
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Media contacts:
J. Altantuya, Press Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tel: 88086680
Email: altantuya.j@mfa.gov.mn
D. Soyolmaa, Communications and Advocacy Officer, UN Resident Coordinator Office in Mongolia
Tel: 94111220
Email: soyolmaa.dolgor@un.org
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Press Release
23 March 2022
Multi-stakeholder Council for Sustainable Development of Mongolia launched
The main objective of MCSD is to support the country in fulfilling its commitments to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In his opening remarks, the Speaker of the Great Khural of Mongolia, Mr G.Zandanshatar emphasized that implementation of the SDGs can’t be achieved alone by the Government, therefore he stressed the importance of participation of all relevant stakeholders including the public, private sector, civil society and the donor community. He further stressed the greater need for better coordination and coherence between all stakeholders to achieve the common goal – the sustainable development of Mongolia.
The first meeting of the MCSD was attended by the members of the Sub-Committee on the SDGs of the Great Khural, representatives from the UN systems, international development partners, private sector and academia, who comprise of the MCSD.
The MCSD will support the SDG sub-committee of the State Great Khural in its role to:
monitor and analyse the implementation of SDGs
promote decision-making that supports sustainable development
ensure effective coordination between the government, development partners, private sector and other key stakeholders in their efforts to implement and achieve the SDGs
provide the Government with recommendations on the planning, financing, implementation and monitoring of SDGs
increase awareness of SDGs issues
United Nations Resident Coordinator, Tapan Mishra congratulated the Parliament of Mongolia for its leadership in bringing the importance of the implementation of the SDGs on the policy-making level and acknowledged the “essential role of national parliaments through their enactment of legislation and adoption of budgets, and their role in ensuring accountability for the effective implementation of our commitments” as highlighted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
He further expressed that UN Mongolia stands ready to join forces with all stakeholders in the acceleration of the SDGs in the remaining years till 2030.
Please refer to the full remarks by the UN Resident Coordinator here.
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Press Release
21 February 2022
A national workshop on exploring policy options to support Mongolia build better and achieve sustainable development
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) in Mongolia, and the Ministry of Economy and Development (MED) just kicked off a two-day national workshop on “Building forward better: Securing inclusive, resilient and green development in Mongolia”, to be held virtually on 21-22 February 2022.
Vice-Minister for Economy and Development, Mr Narantsogt Sanjaa highlighted in his opening remarks that the Government of Mongolia has just recently adopted its New Revival Policy that will lead Mongolia on the sustainable recovery from the enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Mongolia’s economy.
He stressed that the macroeconomic models and tools discussed at the workshop will be instrumental for the policy directions to improve the basic infrastructure and stimulate the economy, as set out in the New Revival Policy.
The discussion focused on key policy areas such as Mongolia’s medium-term policy planning, major development opportunities and challenges, and the socio-economic and environmental implications of policy options to build forward better.
UN Resident Coordinator Tapan Mishra underscored the timeliness and importance of this national workshop that came at a crucial time when the Government of Mongolia is leading their important New Revival policy.
“We welcome the Prime Minister’s recent decision to reopen the country for business, inviting investors as well as tourists to this beautiful country with tremendous economic potential,” said Tapan Mishra.
Especially in the face of the ongoing challenges that all countries encounter, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic recession, and climate change, there is an urgent need for better policy coherence and integrated measures to build forward better and fulfil sustainable development goals across all three dimensions: economic, social and environmental.
At the workshop, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, Mrs Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana emphasized the importance of having a longer-term perspective to the recovery plan that will ensure leaving no one behind, building stronger national resilience and preparedness to future crises and focusing on sustainability by a firm commitment to net-zero emission to ensure sustainable and inclusive development.
As a result of this national workshop, participants discussed policy scenarios simulated using a macroeconomic model that is based on the region-wide ESCAP macroeconomic model but tailored to Mongolia’s context and their socio-economic and environmental implications and possible incorporate in the national policy planning process. The national workshop will be followed by the technical seminar for the Ministry of Economy and Development of Mongolia to build its forecasting and policy planning capacity.
For further information, please visit the following website:
https://www.unescap.org/events/2022/national-workshop-mongolia-building-forward-better
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