Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Secretariat of the State Great Khural, Civil Service Council, United Nations Development Programme, and Liberal Women's Brain Pool NGO co-organized the first forum of women public administration employees with the theme ‘Equal Opportunities – Common Outcomes’ at the Government Palace on March 7.

The forum held as part of the ‘Towards a Professional and Citizen-centered Civil Service in Mongolia’ project being implemented by UNDP and the Civil Service Council of Mongolia with support from the government of Canada focused on the assessment of institutional changes being made to ensure gender equality in civil service and the outcomes of the program being implemented specifically for women public administration employees.

In his opening speech, Speaker of the State Great Khural G.Zandanshatar underscored the Parliamentary Standing Committee on State Structure annually assesses the performance of the Civil Service Council, which is carrying out the civil service reform in the country. “The impact of the positive outcomes brought by change on the development of civil service is an important factor in the country's development. However, the change does not mean changing the person. It means changing the perspective, way of thinking, knowledge and skills,” said the Speaker, reaffirming his view that a major objective of this change will be achieved only when every civil servant works for the government and the people of Mongolia.

“Statistics show that since the State Great Khural passed the Law on Ensuring Gender Equality in 2011, the number of women civil servants especially those in leadership positions, has increased year by year. 62.59 percent of the country’s civil servants are women, which is higher than global average” Emphasizing that Mongolia’s achievement of ranking 69th, 10 positions better than the previous year, in the Global Gender Gap 2021 report suggests that women’s participation in decision making has improved with women acquiring leadership positions, the Speaker said regularly implementing capacity building programs for women public administration employees at all levels will allow the development of women future leaders, adding that it will be a key step in reducing gender inequality.

Further, Speaker G.Zandanshatar said the State Great Khural will never abandon its goals and policy of ensuring gender equality, increasing women’s participation in decision making, protecting women from violence and harassment, and providing economic empowerment and that changes will be made so that civil servants will have better ethics, discipline, and accountability, the right person will be appointed to the right role for the best results, and the government’s performance will be assessed by the public.

Deputy Speaker of the State Great Khural S.Odontuya, MP, chair of the steering committee of the ‘Towards a Professional and Citizen-centered Civil Service in Mongolia’ project D.Togtokhsuren, chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Policy M.Oyunchimeg, and Ambassador of Canada to Mongolia Catherine Ivkoff, delivered their remarks at the forum and UNDP Resident Representative in Mongolia, chair of the steering committee of the ‘Towards a Professional and Citizen-centered Civil Service in Mongolia’ Elaine Conkievich sent a video message to the meeting.

The forum was attended by around 400 public administration employees including representatives from the State Great Khural government ministries and agencies, and local governments.

During the first forum of women public administration employees, Minister of Labor and Social Protection A.Ariunzaya gave a presentation on ‘Women and employment’, Chair of the Civil Service Council B.Baatarzorig on ‘Equal opportunities-Civil service human resources policy’ and working group chair at National Committee on Gender Equality T.Enkhbayar on ‘Gender equality in public administration’.

Moreover, member of the Civil Service Council Ts.Amartugs, member of the National Human Rights Commission D.Sunjid, Director of the Parliamentary Research Institute at the Secretariat of the State Great Khural Ts.Tsogzolmaa, Rector of the National Academy of Governance Ch.Surenchimeg, and Ts.Bujidmaa from Liberal Women’s Brain Pool NGO gave information on whether there are regulations for work life balance, protection of public administration employees’ rights in workplace, and opportunities for career growth on the job, which was followed by a Q&A session. In their remarks, the forum participants highlighted the need to improve the legal framework and regularly implement capacity building programs for women public administration employees at all levels to increase women’s participation in decision making. Member of the Civil Service Council Ts.Amartugs delivered the forum’s closing speech.