Ulaanbaatar 2013

Mongolia Compact Gender Summary Report: Best Practices And Lessons Learnedimplementation of the project and by working for MCA-Mongolia. This book contains a chapter onthe importance of public consultations for social and environmental impact assessment purposes, andon needs-based training for female and male herders that is mindful of the gendered division of laborof herders.8.5 Best Practices and Lessons LearnedStarting with the project design, cultural factors should be well considered and integrated, includingsocial and cultural constraints to women‟s participation due to their traditional household roles andthe gendered division of labor among herders. Training is a key example of where such considerationsare crucial. The peri-urban project trainings were for the most part carried out in the homes of herders,enabling strong participation of women and people with disabilities, as well as out of school childrenabove 16. However, once trainings were moved to sites such as aimag centers, women‟s participationdecreased due to their need to stay home and take care of household responsibilities, their traditionallower participation in external community activities, and transportation challenges as men were morelikely to take advantage of a motorcycle.Issues of women‟s low leadership among herder group leaders were not taken into considerationduring project design. Therefore, no substantial efforts were made from the outset to encouragewomen to assume herder leadership roles or to introduce this as important among the herders on thewhole. Once the herder groups were formed and leaders selected, doing so was no longer possiblemeaningfully.Promoting joint responsibilities within a household is crucial in a project like this, with strongimplications for both spouses and all household members. As such, the MCA-Mongolia co-signaturerequirement for leases was essential. It helped ensure that both spouses were in agreement on theproject participation requirements, including repayment of loans for investments. For instance, duringpublic awareness and outreach, there were several occasions of disagreement between spouses as towhether they should participate in the project. If there were no a co-signature requirement, we couldnot have been assured that both spouses are indeed in agreement and willing to take part.Capacity building carried out through the ESOC increased the awareness and understanding amonglocal officials of gender issues, and helped increase the likelihood of them being able to consider thedifferent needs of women and men. As the MCA-Mongolia work winds down, this is important froma sustainability perspective.In order to ensure that gender is operationalized, the PURP is a clear example that the capacity ofcontractors that are tasked with implementing the work is crucial.40Page 40 of 80