Enabling Environment for Social Accountability in ... - SASANet

Annex 2. Social Accountability and Local Governance: Women for
Social Progress-Uvorkhangai 61
THE UVORKHANGAI “FRANCHISE” OF WOMEN FOR SOCIAL PROGRESS
In 1997, five years after the NGO Women for Social Progress was first established in Ulaanbaatar, a local
branch of WSP was set up in the central province (aimag) of Uvorkhangai. Although the WSP-UV is not
registered separately with the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, this local chapter of the WSP might
be better described as a franchise rather than a branch in that it is “independent in most of its funding,
activities (and) projects” (WSP-UV 2003). Although both organizations focus on governance issues, the
mission of WSP-UV is to work specifically with impoverished rural households, community-based
structures, and family units to: 1) improve their capacities to lobby local government on issues concerning
local development; 2) strengthen local self-government and good governance through networking among
local NGOs, government, and business; 3) support the development of micro- and small-scale enterprises
in the province; and 4) promote the position and role of women in local development. 62
According to the founder of WSP-UV, the main goal of the organization is to encourage citizen
participation in local development, in decision-making processes in local government, and in monitoring
government actions to establish democracy at the local level. For nearly a decade, the WSP-UV has
educated local citizens about their political, social, and economic rights and promoted communication
among local government, citizens, and the business community, while serving as a “watchdog” to ensure
that public officials are accountable to the community (WSP-UV 2003:11-14). This broad mission has led
WSP-UV to become involved in various local governance issues, including budget analysis and
monitoring through a small pilot project financed by the World Bank.
Until 2001, the WSP-UV’s staff included its coordinator and a handful of volunteers. The organization
now has three permanent staff members and nearly 50 volunteers, operating in every soum within the
aimag. 63 All of the staff have a high level of research skills and experience. As the founder of WSP-UV,
the coordinator’s unique professional background have provided the organization with critical human as
well as social capital. Trained as a lawyer at the University of Irkutsk (Russia) with a master’s degree
from Mongolian National University, 64 she was a criminal prosecutor (1987–90) and then worked for the
provincial khural (1990–92) before becoming a legal consultant to the Governor of Uvorkhangai (1992–
97). Her experiences in local government provide not only insights into its operations but also important
contacts both in the aimag and in Ulaanbaatar. Given her frequent challenges of and confrontations with
local government officials, it is difficult, however, to conclude that her previous role in local government
has constrained her individual capacity or that of WSP-UV for civic engagement and social accountability
(Finding WSP 1).
61 Research for this case study was conducted primarily by Linda Beck, Professor of Political Science, University of Maine-
Farmington.
62 Despite occasional references to the promotion and participation of women, the coordinator of WSP-UV stated during an
interview in April 2005 that the organization does not have a “gender agenda; WSP is just about women working towards social
progress.” In fact, she noted that they consider the absence of male staff members to be a weakness that they are attempting to
rectify.
63 WSP-UV is currently looking to hire a fourth staff member to replace one who recently joined the staff of the Training in
Advocacy for NGOs (TAN) project of Mercy Corps. In the past, WSP-UV has also benefited from the assistance of three
Voluntary Services Overseas volunteers (VSO-UK).
64 Appropriately, her master’s thesis was on the improvement of the laws governing local khurals (councils).