SOCIEUX+ initiates cooperation on disability-inclusive social protection in Mongolia

SOCIEUX+ and the General Authority for Development of persons with disabilities (GADPWD) of Mongolia have started a cooperation on disability-inclusive social protection. 

The Action’s – a very first cooperation of SOCIEUX+ with Mongolian institutions – specific objective is to support the General Authority for Development of Persons with Disabilities in the formulation of a medium-term action plan in favour of persons with disabilities and their families.

The first on-site mission, held from November 17th to 27th, 2022, engaged the Partner into peer-to-peer exchanges aiming to outline a comparative analysis of EU Member States (EUMS) and Mongolian disability-related policies, systems and practices for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in social protection schemes.

The analysis is anchored in the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and therefore grounded in a human rights-based approach. Experts and the Partner favoured the participation to the exchanges of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to comply with the “leave no one behind” and “nothing without us” principles. They jointly looked into EU’s commitment to implement the CRPD, such as in the case of the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 or the EU Accessibility Act. Other EU good practices from Finland and Spain formed part of the discussion as well.

SOCIEUX+ has mobilized two experts, Hisayo Katsui, Associate Professor in Disability Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki; and Federico Martire, expert in disability-inclusive international cooperation with the European Disability Forum.

The experts visited Ulaanbaatar as well as Darkhan-Uul and Orkhon provinces and exchanged information and experiences both with governmental institutions and with Civil Society, such as the National Statistics Office, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Center, an association of parents of children with disabilities, local small business, district-level organisations and UNICEF Mongolia, among others. The experts met as well with representatives from the EU Delegation, stressing the importance to continue the EU support to disability-inclusive development in Mongolia.

A final workshop, attended by Mr. Zulpkhar Sarkhad, Deputy Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Mongolia with the presence of Mr. Marco Ferri, Deputy Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation, served to present the preliminary findings of the comparative analysis on the legislative and policy area related with disability-inclusive social protection. A second workshop involved 20 organizations of persons with disabilities as well as the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, during which the same set of preliminary findings has been shared.

The cooperation between SOCIEUX+ and the GADPWD will continue with two more activities in the coming months:

• An on-line training for GADPWD staff focusing on disability-inclusive social protection principles, the human rights-based approach, monitoring and evaluation of policies and schemes, and EU best practices and examples with regards to raising awareness and changing attitudes toward persons with disabilities.
• A final on-site activity will conclude this technical cooperation contributing to the development of a set of Guidelines helping the Partner to build a methodology for the elaboration of a medium-term action plan for persons with disabilities and their families in the field of social protection.