Source: Sustainable Development and Gender Centre, Involvement of women in politics, 2006

Currently, at the implementation level, female members of People’s Representative Khurals of aimags, the capital city, soums and districts cover 24.6 per cent of all representatives of local Khurals. This indicates that the political interests and activities of rural women are relatively high, and that there are many famous, reputable and competent women. On the other hand, it shows that the participation of women in the law making and policy formulation levels is weak, and their involvement is higher at the implementation level, only.

Employment:

18. Compared to women in other countries, women in our country seem to be fully exercising their right to freedom; however, some women may get under abuse and hidden pressure. According to several studies conducted by NGOs, it was determined that sexual harassment does exist at work places. For instance, according to survey results that covered 6 chosen universities, 42 per cent of the participants were affected at some point by sexual harassment, 75-80.2 per cent acknowledged the existence of sexual harassment and 26.5 per cent told that they were victims of sexual harassment. However, no regulations on sexual harassment at a work place are available and perpetuators can escape the penalty.

19. 51.2 per cent of the Mongolian population is women. A Statistics Yearbook published by the National Statistical Committee reported that a total number of employed persons reached to 1024.1 thousands. The number demonstrated a 5.8 per cent increase if compared to 2005 data and a 1.4 increase compared to 2006 data.

In 1990, 51.1 per cent of people employed in sectors other than agricultural sector are women. In 2000, it decreased to 50.4 per cent but went up to 53.9 per cent in 2006. Compared to previous years, a certain progress was observed in the employment status of women. For instance, in 2007, the number of women employed in sector other than agricultural sectorwas reached to 519.9 thousands. It is 6.3 per cent higher than similardata in 2005 and 0.4per cent higher than 2006 data.

55.2 per cent of the registered unemployed are women. An unemployment rate of women is always higher by 0.4 points. It illustrates that men have more chance to get a job. 54.7 per cent of persons received unemployment allowance was women.

In 2007, employment promotion offices involved 22.8 thousand people in 852 short-termvocational training centres. 59.8 per cent of them was women and 52.6 per cent of them got a jobafter training. By types of training, 20431 persons or 90.0per cent of trained people attended thetraining for obtaining a new occupation. 3.3 per cent or 754 people were retrained. 6.9 per cent or1581 persons attended skills development courses. 52.6 per cent or 11991 trained persons got ajob after training.

In 2006, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour and State Professional Inspection Agency conducted the “State Labor Inspections on Women” in all sector entities operating in 21 provinces and 9 districts. The purpose of the inspections was to inspect labor relations, occupational safety conditions, health and social protection, measures to support employment of women, the implementation of law packages on social insurance; to eliminate any violations; and to establish an integrated database on women’s employment.

Inspections took place in economic entities and organizations that employ mostly women, and over 500 women at aimag levels, and no less than 30 women at soum levels. Participants filled out a questionnaire developed on 12 main issues of possible discrimination against women at work place.

The inspected economic entities and organizations employed 117.7 thousand women in total. Of these women, 1.1 per cent worked in the energy sector, 1.8 per cent in the mining sector, 35.6 per cent in the agricultural sector, 6 per cent in the construction, 4.8 per cent in the food industry, and 4.7 per cent in the road and transportation sector. These statistics show that women work in all economic sectors as men do. From these data, we can conclude that women have the same opportunities to obtain education and skills as men do.

During the inspection process, over 8 complaints on labor relations of women were resolved, and 28.2 million MNT were given to the women as compensation. Compensations were of the following categories:

3.6 million MNT issued to 27 women as overtime payment;

615.5 thousand MNT were issued to 11 women as vacation compensation;

296.0 thousand MNT to five women who were not paid labor wages;

360.0 thousand to MNT one woman who temporarily lost employment abilities;

155.0 thousand MNT to one woman who was not paid dismissal compensation;

85.0 thousand MNT to one woman whose an industrial accident form was not approved.

The state policy on informal employment approved by the Parliament in 2006 has been implemented. The main goal of the policy is to provide public services to workers in informal sectors; to transfer informal sector to formal sector through legal, labor and social protection provisions; to ensure economic growth, and to protect the rights of people working in informal sector.

This policy has three phases of implementation. The first phase took place between 2005 and 2007; the second phase is carried out between 2008 and 2011, and the third phase will be undertaken between 2012 and 2015. The implementation strategy is related to the macroeconomic policy and aims at refining a legal environment and social protection system. In addition, the strategy is coordinated with the employment support policies. The cooperation among informal and formal sectors is expected for growing through public discussions and participation.

20. There is difference in salaries of men and women, depending on the employment sector, job position and profession. The average salary of men is slightly higher than that of women. However, women work more hours than men. The salary amount does not depend on the level of education. The national average salary of men is higher by 10,000 MNT than women’s. In addition to entering the workforce and earning salaries, women spend more hours on raising children, taking care of the ill and the elderly, and preparing meals.

Table 2: Per cent age of employed women by sectors

Sector	2002-2003	2006
Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry	46.3	47.1
Mining and Quarrying	26.6	36.0
Manufacturing	54.6	54.5
Electricity, Gas, and Water supply	28.8	45.6
Construction	26.0	44.3
Whole sale and retail trade	56.1	59.8
Hotel and Restaurant	66.4	66.8
Transport, Storage and Communication	26.0	37.4
Financial Intermediation	52.5	59.7
Real estate, Renting and Business Activities	41.0	50.1
Public administration	33.3	44.2
Education	68.0	67.2
Health and Social work	77.3	68.5
Other community, Social activities	50.1	48.5
Private Households with Employed person	46.0	52.0
International organization	34.5	53.6
Total	48.0	51.3

The difference of employment between industrial sectors and professions indicates that the representation of women in higher paid sectors are insignificant.

Participation of women at the leadership and decision-making levels are low. This becomes one of the reasons of the differing salary amounts between men and women. For instance, in 2006, 68 per cent of those working in the educational sectors were women. Women covered 94 per cent of primary school teachers, 71 per cent of secondary school teachers and 64 per cent of high-school teachers. 60 per cent of vocational school teachers, and 52 per cent of university professors were women. However, the majority of school directors were men.

According to the National Statistical Committee, the study with simple random sampling to identify average salary of employees as of 4th quarter of 2007 covered 172.9 thousand employees of 1035 economic entities and organizations, including 840 rural and 195 urban companies. 50.1 per cent of participants or 86.6 thousand were women. The average salary of participating entities were 205.9 thousand MNT as of the 4th quarter of 2007. This showed an increase of 49.5 per cent or 68.2 thousand MNT compared with the fourth quarter of 2006.

As of the fourth quarter of 2007, the average monthly salary of these companies increased 2.1 times compared with the fourth quarter of 2005, whereas the inflation rate increased 1.2 times. The average monthly salary growth exceeded the inflation rate. The average salary of employees indicates the average monthly salary of men as of the fourth quarter of 2007 was 219.6 thousand MNT which was higher by 14.3 per cent or 27.4 thousand MNT than the women’s average monthly salary. If the average salary is classfied by gender and profession, men earn relatively higher salaries than women in all fields except for administrative assistant positions.

The average monthly salary of employees is categorized by economic sectors as follows:

financial brokering sector - 412.2 thousand MNT;

public administration, defense and social insurance sectors - 258.0 thousand MNT;

mining industry sector - 238.7 thousand MNT;

educational sector - 219.6 thousand MNT;

and health and social welfare sector - 206.7 thousand MNT.

These average salaries are above the state average salaries. However, the average salary of employees working in other sectors remain low. According to the average monthly salary of employees categorized by liability type of the economic entities, the salaries of employees working at state-owned industrial companies and public organizations are relatively higher than the state average salary (average salary of state owned industrial companies - 231.2 thousand tugrigs and public organizations - 225.8 thousand tugrigs).

In the recent years, the Government has been implementing particular policies and measures on salaries and wages. For instance, the minimum salary of contract workers was re-set at 642.85 MNT/an hour and/or 108,000 MNT /a month, according to Governmental Resolution No. 350 of 2007.

The salaries of civil servahts were increased 2.3 times during 2007-2008. This has had a positive impact on the salary growth of women working in educational, health, social welfare and insurance sectors.

In the recent years, the government has been implementing particular policies and measures on salaries and wages. For instance, the minimum level of contract workers was re-set at 642.85 tugrigs/hour and/or 108000 tugrigs/month, according to Governmental Resolution No. 350 of 2007.

The salaries of state workers was increased 2.3 times during 2007-2008. This had positive contribution on the salary growth of women working in educational, health, social welfare and insurance sectors.

21. With the financial support from the International Labor Organization, the National Statistical Committee conducted a survey on “School-to-work transition”. According to this survey, women face particular obstacles at the labor market even though they have high level of education. They search for work just like men. If women somehow lost their jobs, they do remain jobless for a relatively long period. They mostly find low paid jobs for a second chance.

Employment of many mothers directly depends on whether their kids go to child care instiutions or preschool. Especially, families with low income do not have possibilities to hire nannies, therefore such mothers have limited opportunities to work. However, the number of children going to kindergartens has increased during the recent years compared to the socialist period. This is shown in the table below.

Table 3. Number of children attending kindergartens, Mongolia , 1990, 1995, 2000, 2006-2007

		1990	1995	2000	2006-2007
Number of children	Day nursery	21600	4000	1900	4400
Kindergarten	97200	64100	79300	94700

Source: NSC, Mongolian Statistical Yearbook/ 1999, 2003, 2006

22. In our country, migration related issues are regulated by the Civil Code, the Law on Resolving Application and Request Submitted by Citizens to Government Organizations and Officials, the Law on Citizenship, the Law on Statistics, Law on Archives, and Law for Mongolian Citizens Travelling or Immigrating to Foreign Country. A main policy document on population development and movement is the State Policy on Population Development of Mongolia”which was enacted by the Parliament, April 23, 2004. The Policy aims at implementing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on Eliminating all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Declaration of Social Progress and Development, the Millennium Development Goals, the World Declaration on Education for All, decisions passed from the World Conference on Women, Action for Equality, Development and Peace (Nairobi), the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna), the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo), the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen) and the World Conference on Women (Beijing), the Constitution of Mongolia and other laws passed in conformity with it, international and national goals on human rights and development.

In the recent past, citizens that moved to urban areas were not registered with the civil registry office and faced difficulties in receiving social services. According to the study, citizens that moved to urban areas get registered only 1-2 years after moving. In accordance with Resolution No. 46 of 2000 of the People’s Representative Khural of the CapitalCity, the people who moved to urban areas paid service fees. This may have been one of the reasons why citizens avoided registrations and had no resident status in administrative units where they moved in. This setback caused negative consequences on the population census. Therefore, the abovementioned resolution was cancelled, eliminating the service fees charged for registeration. At the same time, state inspections to check an availavilty and validity of civil documents took place and irregulaities and drawbacks were fixed.

As outcomes of the abovementioned measures, the registration of the population has been improving. During the recent years, the rural-to-urban migration has considerably stabilized. However, the issues of those who moved to Ulaanbaatar during the previous years in large numbers are still not resolved. Migrated people live in areas not permitted for residency, so they are not allowed to get a land use permit. According to the study report on the socio-economic conditions of migrated people and their access to and need of health aid and services, 30.7 per cent of respondents mentioned that they did not have a land use permit because they settled down on someone’s land; 28.8 per cent had no specific address to settle down; 17.3 per cent settled down on a land without a permit; 19.2 per cent did not know how to get registered. These answers indicate that the number of households to settle down has exceeded the plan for urban development, which affect their registration due to unavailability of land permits.

Therefore, a Civil registration inspection was carried out in 2008 with regard to the parliamentary elections. This inspection was an attept to register all households and citizens.

Moreover, a project “Reducing the socio-economic vulnerability status of artisanal miners and those moving to urban areas” has been implementing since 2006 with the financial support from the Japanese Government Fund for Human Security and the UN Population Fund. Within the framework of this project, a number of aimags with heavy rural-to-urban migration were selected to implement the following measures:

improve the civil registration procedures;

raise public awareness on this subject matter;

provide consultation to those who are planning to move to urban areas,; and

Help migrants to integrate into communities where they are move in.

Also, with the support from the UN Population Fund, a study has been conducted on the current status, consequences and tendencies of in-country migrations. Based on the findings of the study, the development of concrete programmes and plans for protecting the rights of new settlers is underway.

Health

23. The maternal mortality rate in Mongolia has been steadily decreasing during the last 5 years. The 2nd National Programme on Reproductive Health was successfully implemented between 2002 and 2006. The 3rd National Programme on Reproductive Health to be implemented between 2007 and 2011 was approved by Government Resolution No. 52 of 2007 and is currently being implemented. The main goal of this programme is to support sustainable population growth and achieve the Millennium Development Goals through equal, accessible, quality and guaranteed health and social assistance while respecting reproductive rights and free choice, and improving reproductive health.

Within the scope of its third goal of National Programme on Reproductive Health to provide complete, equal and accessible reproductive health assistance and services to target groups, the programme has planned to implement the following activities that are beneficial to service users:

Revise and refine, re-formulate and implement the national standards and guidelines on health assistance and services;

Introduce a one-spot service on reproductive health within central hospitals of aimags and districts, and ensure their normal operations;

Create conditions to ensure that emergency medical assistance is provided promptly to mothers and infants who live in remote areas with no access to a medical care

Ensure that maternity waiting homes and units have safe, not-dangerous blood banks readily available at all times for an emergency use during a delivery process;

Furnish maternity waiting homes in central hospitals of aimags and soums with necessary equipments to make them comfortable for mothers and their families; and improve the quality of services;

With the help of local government organizations, NGOs and local people, establish model mobile teams, which will provide reproductive health services from the capital city to aimags, from aimags to soums, and from soums to bags; and deliver specialized medical assistance and services once in a quarter

Increase the supplies of contraception and provide medical assistance for individuals and couples in case of unwanted pregnancy or pregnancy with possible risks to life;

Ensure that new standards on “comprehensive assistance and services during abortion” are strictly followed at all levels; and, improve the quality of services and counseling;

Include training components on youth-friendly services into specialized training programmes for professionals;

Employ medical doctors (at least 600) at general education schools depending on the number of students (this action will be carried out in phases);

Revise, analyze and evaluate the current situation of health education provided at general education schools

Pursuant to the abovementioned Programme the services on reproductive health should be transparent, accessible and prompt to the public. Thus, in this Programme, differentiating services for rural and urban women are not considered important. Training, awareness and advocacy activities targeted at the public take important place in policies and directions.

24. Since 1987, Mongolia has been implementing measures to combat and prevent HIV infection, at the governmental policy level. The Law on AIDS Prevention was passed in 1993, and revised in 2004. The Government also adopted the National Programme on Combating and Preventing HIV/AIDS in line with the Millennium Development Goals.

As at August 7, 2008, there were 43 instances of HIV/AIDS infections, of which 88.3 per cent have been diagnosed in the past 3 years. Eight infected people died. 11 of the HIV positive cases were women and 3 of them were deceased.

Three HIV positive pregnant women delivered babies. Two of them were prevented from spreading their infections to the babies and their children are growing up healthy and free of HIV infection. The third woman delivered without any medical control, so it is too early to say if the infant got infected.

These mothers and children are provided with PMTCT (Prevention monitor to child transmition) treatments and services according to the standards approved by the World Health Organization. When infected mothers deliver, their babies are given drugs within 24 hours of birth. Also, the Ministry of Health together with the Global Foundation to Fight AIDS and Tuberculosis provide the babies born of infected mothers with milk and drugs free of charge for 1 year. Also, last year, 15 children of 15 infected mothers were given Korean vitamins for children. HIV positive people and their families receive treatments and social services for free of charge with help and support provided from the Ministry of Health, the Global Foundation and other respective organizations.

With the support of UNIFPA and Global Foundation on HIV/AIDS and Tuberculoses and other international and domestic NGOs, training and awareness raising activities dedicated for women and children have been conducted in a regular basis. Particularly, adolescent reproductive health centers and hot lines operate in every aimag and Ulaanbaatar districts. They run reproductive health education programs for secondary school pupils and school dropout children

The Standing Committee on the Social Policy, Education, Culture and Science under the Parliament is going to organize the sixth conference “Financing the health development goals of the Millennium Development Goals”. The conference will be organized jointly with the UNIFPA and the Asian Forum of Parlamentarians on Population and Development, September 23-24, 2008, and will be attended by female parlamentarians and ministers of Asian Pacific countries. A National committee was established for conference preparations. 70 female parlamentarians and ministers from 25 countries of Asian Pacific and Central Asian regions will attend the Conference. Participants will discuss issues on reducing child mortality, improving the maternal health and reducing infections of HIV/AIDS and malaria. They will also discuss issues on improving resources, funds and financial planning required for implementing the MDG, strengthening the national organizational capabilities, and developing and implementing a sustainable financial management to implement a comprehensive policy on the national development based on MDG.

Rural women

25. Almost half of our population resides in rural areas mainly managing livestock husbandry in a traditional nomadic way. Rural areas are underdeveloped in terms of electricity, infrastructure and communications, lack access to information technology and quality services in health, education and social sectors. Profits gained from agricultural industry are insignificant. This industry has high risks, such as natural disasters, drought and harsh winters. The rural economic environment is quite different than that of the city. Such a difference between urban and rural developments is also affecting the gender inequality. We should also mention environmental and climatic impacts. Therefore, rural development and gender equality issues should be considered in connection with these factors and conditions.

Mongolia has been persistently implementing a policy on opening its economy to the world, and transiting into market economy. Subsequently, the economic institutions have changed significantly. Although, some positive economic tendencies have been observed, the poverty level has not decreased and mainly affects women, in particular, those with many children and female household heads.

The National Statistical Committee has been conducting periodic studies on living standards. For instance, the results of study on Household Income, Expenditure and Living standards (2002-2003) show that 36.1 per cent of the Mongolian population lives in poverty. The 2006 study shows that the poverty level decreased to 32.2 per cent, which is 3.9 points lower compared to 2004.

Table 4. Main poverty indicators: State average, urban and rural areas ( per cent age)

Residence/ Region	Poverty level	Poverty depth	Severity of poverty
2002-2003	2006	2002-2003	2006	2002-2003	2006
State average	36.1	32.2	11.0	10.1	4.7	4.5
Urban areas	30.3	27.9	9.2	8.6	4.0	3.8
Rural areas	43.4	37.0	13.2	11.9	5.6	5.3

41.6 per cent of poor families are households led by women. The per centage of female household heads is higher in rural areas, and their load of duties and responsibilities is relatively elevated.

The participation of women in the agricultural industry, especially, livestock husbandry, has been rapidly increasing. They carry out doubled duties such as producing household consumption products, processing animal products, expanding household farms, cleaning homes, raising kids, taking them to schools, and taking care of other family members. With the support from the UNDP, the National Statistical Committee carried out a survey in 2000 on the use of time management. Survey results showed that rural women spend 1.6 times more time on household chores than urban women, and 2.7 times more than rural men. This is one of the reasons why rural women fall behind in terms of information and development.

The main factor that affects social development and gender equality is the quality of and access to social services. Due to a lack of access to health, education and cultural services, numerous issues of social nature have been emerging one after another. One of these issues is a migration. The migration is an important tool to support economic and social development, and to eliminate the developmental gap between rural and urban areas. However, in our country, rural-to-urban migration over concentrated in Ulaanbaatar drastically reduces populations in rural areas, and weakens opportunities to operate production and service businesses in aimags and soums. The independent status of rural economic and social services is undermined. This leads to increased developmental gap between rural and urban areas. The access and quality of health services have also been affecting this situation. The health wellbeing of people is considerably different in urban and rural areas. The rural population has more health problems due to lack of preventative health services, training and awareness raising activities, and services to change unhealthy behavior in remote areas. For instance, the number of people with chronic diseases increases the farther it gets from the centre. According to study, 28 per cent of aimag centre residents, 30.8 per cent of soum centre residents, and 31.2 per cent of the rural population have some kind of chronic disease. These statistics on disease prevalence are unquestionably related to people’s knowledge on health, and the quality of health services provided to rural population.

Trades and services based on private sector have been expanding; however, there have been several instances of the food safety hazards breaking a guarantee of human health and life. Low income, remote location, and a complicated system on product delivery and selections are main causes of consumption of cheap, low quality and expired food which leads health problems.

Moreover, it has become a common practice to consume water, which does not meet hygienic requirements. Most of the residents living in the Gobi and steppe regions drink water, which is not suitable for consumption, containing salt and components of heavy metals in some areas. During the last 70 years, over 300 small lakes and rivers have dried up, and underground water resources and water level are decreased due to global warming, lack of forest resources, deterioration of vegetation coverage, and negative impacts of human operations. These unfavorable natural occurrences negatively impact drinking water supplies of rural populations. According to study conducted by professional organizations, 20 per cent of people that live in aimags of the Gobi regions consume water that contains high amount of minerals, and 68.2 per cent drink water with low amount of iodine and fluoride. The majority or 63.7 per cent of rural households use non-filtered water including rain water, snow and river waters.

Rural education services are not steady and have flaws. Pursuant to the Constitution, every citizen of Mongolia is entitled to receive general secondary education free of-charge. The State covers dormitory fees and school textbooks based on specific needs of rural schools and pupils’ learning needs. Moreover, the Government supports its citizens in obtaining education by providing financial aid, grants and loans to the children of financially incapable herder families, who are interested in pursuing post-secondary education. As a result, the per centage of rural children, including girls, is high and stable at all educational levels. However, on the other hand, boys still tend to drop out of school due to their family living conditions and a necessity to work in order to sustain their livelihoods. This phenomena increase gender inequality in the education services. This is the main reason for an inflated per centage of women attending secondary and high schools, colleges and universities.

The gap between educational levels of urban and rural populations still exists, which is also related to the abovementioned facts. According to the 2000 Census statistics, women cover 51.0 per cent of the national population who possess university education, 63.1 per cent of those who have technical/vocational diploma, and 55.1 per cent of those who obtained secondary school education. people living and working in rural areas cover only 10.1 per cent of those who possess university education, 26.5 per cent of those who have technical/vocational diploma, 23.3 per cent of those who obtained secondary school education, 51.8 per cent of those without any education and 65.5 per cent of the illiterate. The number of parents wishing to take their kids to schools at aimag centres has been increased because the quality of instruction is better and learning resources are more bigger schools than in small soum schools. Consequently, rural families are facing economic difficulties of moving to the aimag centre from soums, and splitting their families.

Natural disasters that occurred during the recent years have been harshly affecting the lives of rural families. A large number of herders who lost their livestock during drought and harsh winters have been moving to the urban settlements. Their educational levels and professions do not meet the labour market requirements, so they remain unemployed, engage in illegal activities, or fall below poverty line, which lead their children to drop out of schools. Moreover, children of families that moved to the city from rural areas increase the load of schools in ger districts, affect the quality of and access to education. This leads to differences in quality of education at schools in city center and ger districts.

A major part of social services directed at the population covers social welfare measures. The Law on Social Welfare states that the eligibility to be covered by social welfare pensions and care should be equal to all citizens without any discrimination including residence (rural or urban) and gender.

Pursuant to the Social Insurance Law, the salary amount determines the range of social insurance fees and prospective pension amount. Therefore, prospective pension amounts may be subject to gender inequality. This is due to the fact that men earn 1.3 times higher than women. Moreover, if the retirement age of women continues to be lower and the significant gap between retirement ages of men and women continues to exist, the pension amount payable to retired women will decrease significantly (through the system of Personal Account of Pension Premiums), which may further create inequality between citizens. Therefore, it has become an important task to increase income level of men and women by encouraging employment and improving their professional qualifications and business skills.

There is an opportunity to use achievements in the information and communication sector for improving employment services, especially, business skills, knowledge and information on operating livestock husbandry and other productions and services. It is essential to pay special attention towards training rural population and women in using new technologies, and providing communication networks to herder families.

Pursuant to Article 4 of the Lawon Allocation of Landto MongolianCitizens forOwnership approved by the Parliament in 2002, land was allocated to citizens for the purpose of family needs. However, the amendment passed on May 22, 2008 stipulates that every citizen has a right to own land.

The Government of Mongolia approved the School Lunch Programme by its Order No.194 of 2006. The Procedure for the implementation of the Programme was released by Joint Order No.379/341 of the Minister of Health and Minister of Education, Science and Culture. Pursuant to this Joint Order, a shack with cost of 300 MNT was provided for 1-2 grade pupils in 2005-2006 school years and for 1-4 grade pupils in 2006-2007. Order No.45 of January, 2008, the cost for a snack has been increased to 400 MNT. School Lunch Programme has decreased sick leaves and truancy and increased a motivation to learn. In addition, the Programme has provided more job openings and support for family.

A life expectancy was 65.9 in 2006. This was 69.4 for women and 62.6 for men.

Based on the review of experience and lessons learned to provide accessible, equal, and quality health assistance and services in the past years and trends of the development of the country, the Health Sector Master Plan was developed. The Master Plan defines the development trends, concepts and strategies for the incoming 10 years.

The Government has undertaken measures to improve the access to drinking water for herdsmen and irrigation for grasslands.

In order to improve irrigation for grasslands 17.2 billion MNT were allocated from the state budget and foreign financial assistance and loans for repairing 1692 wells in 2005-2007. The budget covered the expenses totaling 11.8 billion MNT on building 1250 new wells in 2004-2007.

In remote regions and unused grasslands, 29 water points were excavated in 2005, 180 points in 2006 and 1041 points in 2007.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture organized contests “Hand Wells” in 2005 and 2007 in order to improve irrigation of grasslands. The contests covered all soums, baghs and herdsmen. The Ministry spent 28 million MNT for awarding 8 soums, 24 baghs and 40 individuals. As result of the contests,520 hand wells were created and 500,000 livestock were supplied with water.

Vulnerable groups of women

26. An actions aimed to increase the population and promote economic growth of families is one of the important issues in field of social welfare implemented by the government of Mongolia.

Aming to support children development, also increase of the investment for children’s future several action programmes such as “New born infant”, “Newly married couples”, “Child’s moneyt” were implemented throught the fund for the development of Mongolia to provide disrtibution of social wealth effciently among the population. These action programmes became a significant measures to increase and provide the stabilization of birth and increase of family income.

Also poor and extreme poor, pregnant and mothers with infants who receive contribution of amount MNT 20.000 for the period of 12 month was changed by allowing them the same amount to all newborn mothers disregard of family livelyhood. As also the contribution to holders of medal of “Honor of Motherhood I, II” of amount MNT 100.000, 50.000 once a year was changed. Accordingly, from January 1, 2007 these contributions are allowed to all holders disregard of their ages.

Every child born after January 1, 2006 receive contribution of amount MNT 100.000, also contribution of amount MNT 20,000 allowed to all mothers in 5th month of their pregnancy disregard of their livelihood level. These contributions became a sagnificant contribution to decrease the mature loss and provide with the siutable conditions of normal and safe growth the children. Over 45-50 thousand women are involved in this contribution programme each year.

The scope of the contribution programme of “Child money” started in 2005 was expanded, acordingly from July 1, 2006 every child under age 0-18 disregard of their livelyhood level began receiving their montly contribution. In year 2007, amount of MNT 33.4 billion were delivered to 938.9 thousand children as the child’s money. Compared with the information in 2006 the number of children involved in programme was increased by 64.4 thousand which equals to 7.4 per cent and the amount of the contribution increased by 26.5 per cent which equals to MNT 6,8 billion.

Amount of contribution for children under age 0-18 delivered from the fund for development of Mongolia is established each year depending on the increase of income tax rate imposed on some products. Currently, MNT of amount 100.000 is distributed to each child quartely and in 2007 total 938.9 thousand children have received in total MNT 90.7 billion.

In 2007 the number of families led by women became 72.1 thousand wich is decreased by 0,1 per cent and lower by 91 persons compare to year 2006. 50,9 per cent of all women led their family which is 36,7 thousand women are having 3 children; 37.4 per cent which is 27.0 thousand have 3-5 chuldren; 11.7 per cent which is 8.4 thousand have 6 and more children.

The government of Mongolia has implementing certain actions focused to disadvantaged and indigent. For instance: Several amendments were provided in social welfare laws. People with disabilites lost 50-70 per cent of their work capacity , incapable persons lost their feeders, full orphans, twin children and children with disabilities are allowed to receive social contribution, assistance, and other social services is reflected positevly to the life of these people.

Although older people and people with disabilies who always require care are one of the are the groups that need care and assiatance from the government, hovewer, it was researched that in order to be involved for the assistance the requirement of poor and extreme poor criteria was the main abstacle. Termination of these requirements increased oppotunity for older people and people with disabilties for support and assistance.

Aiming to promote the livelihood of groups in risk of poverty amendments in some types of conditional cash assistance were provided in social welfare law. For example: Criteria “ extreme poor” for mothers led family under age 45 having 4 children of age 16 and fathers aged 50 is eliminated. Also mothers/fathers feeding three and more children under age14, people under 18-24 got fully orphan before their 18 and families who deserved loss of home because of sudden accidents are allowed to receive assistance once a year in accordance with the resolution approved by the government of Mongolia.

Amendments provided in law on land privatization to citizens of Mongolia approved in 2002 become an important action to promote the livelihood of citizen allowing them aquire immovable property. The law prescribed that the land to be privatized to families, hovewer, an amendment enabled citizen to right of land possesion.

To increase the family income throught the way of creating more employment opportunities the Fund to support the employment and Programme office to support family livelihood are implementing certain actions such as releasing low interest rate loans. Hovewer, this actions can not be accesible for poor and indigent people who have no colletoral to involve in loan. 38.3 per cent of total loaner from micro financial development fund of Programme office to support family livelihood are female. As the result of the survey conducted among loaners on random selection basis over 10 per cent have bought lifestocks and aproximately 13 per cent have aquired private real estate. Also over 10 per cent aquired real estate for the purpose of service and production. From all this its obvious to see that micro financing action has an sagnificant contribution to improve citizens family livelihood.

27. The State has had social welfare and population policies in order to promote a population growth. Citizens are provided with opportunities and conditions for having a happy life and decent work. The State grants mothers with many children by providing them allowance and iincentives. Young families are supported. Special attention is given for mothers and infants. All these measures create a favorable environment for population growth. The newly formed Government has included many new ideas for promoting the population growth in its Action Plans. For instance, law amendments proposing that a third child in a family will get the allowance of 300,000 MNT.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG)-based Comprehensive National Development Strategy inituated by the Mongolian President and approved by the Parliament has defined the following concept on family and population development. This concepts reads that a population growth policy should aim at bringing up citizens who are creative, responsible for their life,motivated to learn and develop their skills and talents, dedicated to protect the environment and keep their cultural heritage. For guarantying this growth, family should be intact; and safe and secure environment should be created for child development.

Under Objective One of the Strategy the following activities are proposed:

Implement a comprehensive policy for creating a family environment where people can have a happy life;

Make a family into a place where cultural heritage is kept and developed;

Constantly implement the measures to improve a livelihood of poor and vulnerable families through “ a family development plan” designed with participation of family members

Under Objective Three of the Strategy the following activities are proposed:

State supports families and parents to bring up their children healthy, educated and with good moral qualities;

Increase an annual population growth rate encouraging more births;

Protect mothers health beginning from first months of pregnancy;

Diagnose and monitor a growth of a fetus;

Develop and implement national standards on free supplies for infants up to one year old with supplementary food;

Keep the sum of child care allowance not less than average salary amount; and pay social and health insurance of pregnant and nursing mothers;

Update salary, social and health insurance systems for mother/father with 4 or more children under 18 years old;

Implement a policy to provide a family with 4 or more children under 18 years old with a discounted apartment;

Under Objective Four of the Strategy, the following activities are proposed:

Guarantee the child up to six years old with the opportunities to grow in the family or environment equivalent to a family;

State pays special attention to provide preschool education;

Breastfeed the child;

Monitor health of the child up to six in a regular basis;

Provide children up to six years old in poor families with discounted food adequate for their growth;

Take policy measures to promote the responsibilities of parents and organizations providing health, education and social welfare services in bringing up the child who is healthy, and well developed emotionally and intellectually and who recognize Mongolian language and culture;

28. By the end of 2007, Mongolian population reached 2635.2 thousands. The growth rate was higher by 1.4 per cent if compared to 2006. 28.9 per cent of total population was children under 14. The elderly over 60 covered 6.1 per cent of total population. 55.8 per cent of population over 60 and 65.7 per cent of the elderly people over 80 were female. In 2007, 18.6 thousands elderly people lived alone with 2.7 per cent increase if compared with a previous year. 12.2 thousands were women over 55.

The number of disabled people was reached 71.9 thousands with an increase of 1.2 per cent or by 855 persons if compared to 2006. Women comprise of 45.9 per cent of disabled persons. 80.6 per cent of the disabled were of employment age. Several measures have been taken place for supporting disabled and elder women including social welfare services

For instance, the following services are entitled:

By the Social Welfare Law for the Disabled, one time discount on the transportation fee for a disabled person who are a permanent resident of remote rural community and who are assigned by a Medical Committee of specialised doctors to get treatment and diagnoses in the capital city clinics;

Letters and greeting cards, newspapers written in Braille and a package under 10 kilograms, and equipments for and sent by a blind person can be transported without a fee within the country;

Persons who fully lost vision are entitled a one-time 75 per cent discount on transportation when a health agency assign the person for treatment and care in sanatorium with limited vision, hearing, or speech abilities if the children come from provinces to a special school in the city. Also, their accompanying person gets this discount too.

The child of the disabled person can get a one-time 50 per cent discount for summer camp voucher;

The Government allocates the resources to provide housing for blind, deaf, dumb, and dwarf persons fully lost their employment capabilities in the budget of a year;

One time monetary coverage per year for housing and fuel costs to extremely poor families with a disabled person whose occupational capacity is completely lost.

Full compensation for the first time payment of orthopaedic equipment or wheelchair purchased locally for disabled persons who do not receive pensions or allowances from the Social Welfare Fund; and 50 per cent compensation – for the second time;

The cost of kindergarten services for one child under 4 years old of a family living below the poverty line if the family has a person with an occupational disability;

Discount on the phone bill of a blind person from a poor family with no other members who are able to work.

Under Objective Two of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) - based Comprehensive National Development Strategy, the following activities are proposed:

Carry out a family- centered and human- rights based comprehensive policy to support vulnerable groups of population;

Expand prevention, protection, referral and development social services which meet needs of most vulnerable groups;

Reflect the changes in population demographics and aging when social policy programmes and development projects are planned;

Create a favorable environment for involving disabled persons in social life and protecting their rights.

The National Workshop on Gender Responsive Social Protection –Health Security the Eldely was conducted under the following justifications:

There is a growing need for gender-sensitive policies and programs for the elderly;

Domestic NGOs in this field are in demand for support;

Exchanging information on social protection for women;

Next 20 years, age demographics of population will be altered;

Share best practices on gender and aging problems in other countries in the region;

As an outcome of the Forum, a National Strategy on Aging has been developed.