Results around the world – Mongolia
Landlocked Mongolia has made significant progress since its shift to a market-based open economy in 1990. Half of Mongolia’s 3 million people live in or around Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. More than one in five Mongolians still struggles to live on less than US$1.25 per day, and the country ranks 92nd out of 188 countries in the UNDP’s 2016 Human Development Index.
Despite progress made over the last decade, there are persistent inequalities in social development and economic opportunities, particularly for women. In addition, Mongolia’s natural-resources-driven economic growth has a significant and unsustainable environmental footprint. Mongolia is also highly vulnerable to climate risks because of its geographic location, extreme weather and fragile ecosystems.
Canada’s development assistance in Mongolia is closely aligned with Mongolia’s development priorities, which focus on ensuring human development, improving economic competitiveness and decreasing rural-urban disparities. The goal of Canada’s assistance is to help the country meet its poverty reduction targets. Canada aims to do this by:
- advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls
- strengthening public service capacity
- fighting corruption, particularly in the management of natural resources
Key results
In 2017-2018, Canada contributed through advocacy and training activities to the election to political office of 99 women in Mongolia: seven to parliament and 92 to provincial legislatures. Beyond the increased capacity and number of elected women, Canadian assistance fostered an improved perception of women in Mongolian society and political structures.
Results of surveys and studies on corruption in Mongolia conducted by Canadian partners reached approximately 145,000 citizens and engaged over 5600 citizens, government officers, members of CSOs and the private sector. Canada also supported a group of Mongolian female politicians who are working across party lines to address corruption and promote transparency within Mongolian political parties.
In 2017-2018, Canada supported participants from Dornod Province who travelled to Yellowknife to learn from Canadian indigenous communities on how to address challenges and opportunities presented by the natural resources sector.
In 2017-2018, Canadian assistance strengthened stakeholder engagement in the natural resources sector by promoting inclusive and participatory consultation processes. Canada also provided training to staff from Mongolia’s Ministry of Mining on gender equality mainstreaming and assisted the Ministry in hosting Mongolia’s first workshop on the status of women in the extractive sector.