- Good morning Mr Evariste Kouassi-Komlan, you have been in Mongolia for more than a year now. What are your main wishes for the country in 2023?
- There has been significant progress in many areas in Mongolia. Mongolia has acceded to core human rights treaties and has set up institutional mechanism to meet its commitments under international norms and standards.
Mongolia joined the Global pledge to reaffirm its commitment to realizing child rights in the context of the 21st century and the new opportunities to link the Convention on the Rights of the Child to implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Remarkable progress has been made in decreasing child mortality, stunting, and malnutrition, as well as increasing access to water and sanitation, kindergarten and school coverage. The past years’ air pollution strategy and investment are also remarkable. However, there are still many works to be done in different areas on child related rights toward the achievement of the SDGs.
My wishes for the year 2023 are greater cohesion at all levels, stability in different institutions, and more resources to address child-related issues. We all love children and wish them a very happy new year in 2023.
- UNICEF executive board has approved the Mongolian new Country Programme, 2023-2027 in September last year. Can you explain the main shifts?
- Well, we are very pleased that our new Country Programme 2023-2027 went through a very smooth consultative process with involvement of all the constituencies of the Mongolian’s society. Thanks to the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs for leading the process and later endorsing the UNICEF country programme, which was presented to the UNICEF board on September 7, 2022.
Our ambition is to reach every child in all settings and situations. We have been in Mongolia already for more than 60 years, meaning our relation with the government is good, and many results have been achieved together with the government and many partners. UNICEF is still committed in the new Country Programme to continue working with the Government as the cooperation between Mongolia and UNICEF has been excellent. Lots of progress for children has been made over the decades. Nearly every child goes to school and has access to health care. The governors’ contracts with the cabinet include child specific performance indicators, and since 2018 the Government allocated budget for child protection services. In 2019, the Government fully funded Micronutrient powder for pregnant and lactating women, as well as children aged 0-6 months. In 2020, the Government has increased the Child Money Programme to rapidly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNICEF stands ready to continue supporting the Government in strengthening child sensitive and shock-responsive social protection systems, which is especially important in this time of the pandemic and its negative consequences. UNICEF works in the fields of Health, Nutrition, Education, Child protection, Water and sanitation, Climate change and Social policy. UNICEF use a multi-pronged approach to delivering results for children. These include Advocacy and communications, Community engagement, Social and behaviour change, Data, research, evaluation and knowledge management, Digital transformation, Innovation, Partnerships and engagement including private sector engagement, and System strengthening to leave no one behind.
However, there are many unfinished businesses and new emerging issues that demand our full attention. These are in relation to (1) child labour, (2) obesity on the raise, (3) quality education and online education, (4) water and sanitation in school and health care facilities, (5) child abuse online, (6) adolescent mental health, (7) air pollution, and (8) climate change. These are all issues that UNICEF is working on in the new country programme 2023-2027.
- Good morning Mr Evariste Kouassi-Komlan, you have been in Mongolia for more than a year now. What are your main wishes for the country in 2023?
- There has been significant progress in many areas in Mongolia. Mongolia has acceded to core human rights treaties and has set up institutional mechanism to meet its commitments under international norms and standards.
Mongolia joined the Global pledge to reaffirm its commitment to realizing child rights in the context of the 21st century and the new opportunities to link the Convention on the Rights of the Child to implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Remarkable progress has been made in decreasing child mortality, stunting, and malnutrition, as well as increasing access to water and sanitation, kindergarten and school coverage. The past years’ air pollution strategy and investment are also remarkable. However, there are still many works to be done in different areas on child related rights toward the achievement of the SDGs.
My wishes for the year 2023 are greater cohesion at all levels, stability in different institutions, and more resources to address child-related issues. We all love children and wish them a very happy new year in 2023.
- UNICEF executive board has approved the Mongolian new Country Programme, 2023-2027 in September last year. Can you explain the main shifts?
- Well, we are very pleased that our new Country Programme 2023-2027 went through a very smooth consultative process with involvement of all the constituencies of the Mongolian’s society. Thanks to the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs for leading the process and later endorsing the UNICEF country programme, which was presented to the UNICEF board on September 7, 2022.
Our ambition is to reach every child in all settings and situations. We have been in Mongolia already for more than 60 years, meaning our relation with the government is good, and many results have been achieved together with the government and many partners. UNICEF is still committed in the new Country Programme to continue working with the Government as the cooperation between Mongolia and UNICEF has been excellent. Lots of progress for children has been made over the decades. Nearly every child goes to school and has access to health care. The governors’ contracts with the cabinet include child specific performance indicators, and since 2018 the Government allocated budget for child protection services. In 2019, the Government fully funded Micronutrient powder for pregnant and lactating women, as well as children aged 0-6 months. In 2020, the Government has increased the Child Money Programme to rapidly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNICEF stands ready to continue supporting the Government in strengthening child sensitive and shock-responsive social protection systems, which is especially important in this time of the pandemic and its negative consequences. UNICEF works in the fields of Health, Nutrition, Education, Child protection, Water and sanitation, Climate change and Social policy. UNICEF use a multi-pronged approach to delivering results for children. These include Advocacy and communications, Community engagement, Social and behaviour change, Data, research, evaluation and knowledge management, Digital transformation, Innovation, Partnerships and engagement including private sector engagement, and System strengthening to leave no one behind.
However, there are many unfinished businesses and new emerging issues that demand our full attention. These are in relation to (1) child labour, (2) obesity on the raise, (3) quality education and online education, (4) water and sanitation in school and health care facilities, (5) child abuse online, (6) adolescent mental health, (7) air pollution, and (8) climate change. These are all issues that UNICEF is working on in the new country programme 2023-2027.
- One of the shifts that the country will operate is the expansion of Child protection programme. Can you elaborate more on this as Mongolia is facing an unprecedent child protection issue online and offline?
- When I went to the Sukhbaatar district ger area, I saw a little girl around 5 years old with a bump on her face from falling on the heat stove. Domestic injury is one of the leading causes of death among young children. In addition, we have seen the last report mentioning number of child jockeys falling off horses with injured and some fatalities as well. We have also seen children commit suicide as a result of online abuse. These are some of the issues that must be addressed.
That’s why our child protection program has been revamped to address above issues as well as the new emerging areas that need more attention including online safety and mental health. During the pandemic, children developed a strong attachment to screens, and there are many online predators who can inflict harm and pain to children.
We must protect children from all types of violence; otherwise children can face even bigger issues including mental health issues, suicide, crime, and the creation of more passive citizens rather than more active citizens.
- In addition to child protection shift, your vision is to work in all the provinces. What capacities and resources do you have?
- “Reach every child” approach is the main core of our interventions. Our strategy will focus on the following six main areas including:
1) System strengthening, 2) Evidence to promote child right issues, 3) Leveraging financial resources, 4) Building sustainable markets, 5) Empowering the community, 6) Delivery supplies.
Since 2021, we started working with many provinces, identifying the needs and where we can jointly contribute. My last trips were in Sukhbaatar and Khentii provinces where we discussed more about the integrated early childhood development, air pollution and climate change issues. With the technical assistance available in UNICEF and the ability to work at global standards and norms, we will be able to support most of the provinces and leverage domestic resources including private sector resources for better results for the children in Mongolia.
Some provinces have many resources, including financial resources, but we need to see if they have a system in place to address child protection issues and if they have sufficient data available as well. And, in cases of where they lack resources or have resources but are not reaching the appropriate scale, we will contribute to new ideas in terms of financing in order to make better use of resources. One of the strategies is to involve all stakeholders, particularly those in the province, who have the ability to do something new, to develop an innovative approach, and to create a market for their services.
For example, the government cannot invest in all kindergartens. As a result, we require some private sector or individual resources to establish a kindergarten. This will necessitate local financing, and commercial market. Going to scale need combining all strategies and efforts, and the community must also play a role.
The community in which all of these interventions are delivered must play a role in terms of contribution or strategies and plans they come up with to address any children's rights issues. The last one is more about supply. However, in areas where people do not have a lot of resources, do not have money, and the system is not working, UNICEF will intervene to provide some of the supply such as water, sanitation, and nutrition supplements to those families who are facing challenges in difficult situations.
To conclude, we need different approach and strategy for each province based on what they have already and what they need. We already began working in this manner in many provinces in 2022.
I also visited Erdenet and Dundgobi to promote and deliver the cooking, heating, and insulation product for Mongolian ger to some households. Based on our investment, the local government can scale up the initiative across the province and provide opportunities, further funding, and investments for more households to purchase this coal-free and energy efficient product for their homes. This is only one example. UNICEF can bring in affordable solutions with high impact, and local and national government can scale it up to reach every child.
- One of the shifts that the country will operate is the expansion of Child protection programme. Can you elaborate more on this as Mongolia is facing an unprecedent child protection issue online and offline?
- When I went to the Sukhbaatar district ger area, I saw a little girl around 5 years old with a bump on her face from falling on the heat stove. Domestic injury is one of the leading causes of death among young children. In addition, we have seen the last report mentioning number of child jockeys falling off horses with injured and some fatalities as well. We have also seen children commit suicide as a result of online abuse. These are some of the issues that must be addressed.
That’s why our child protection program has been revamped to address above issues as well as the new emerging areas that need more attention including online safety and mental health. During the pandemic, children developed a strong attachment to screens, and there are many online predators who can inflict harm and pain to children.
We must protect children from all types of violence; otherwise children can face even bigger issues including mental health issues, suicide, crime, and the creation of more passive citizens rather than more active citizens.
- In addition to child protection shift, your vision is to work in all the provinces. What capacities and resources do you have?
- “Reach every child” approach is the main core of our interventions. Our strategy will focus on the following six main areas including:
1) System strengthening, 2) Evidence to promote child right issues, 3) Leveraging financial resources, 4) Building sustainable markets, 5) Empowering the community, 6) Delivery supplies.
Since 2021, we started working with many provinces, identifying the needs and where we can jointly contribute. My last trips were in Sukhbaatar and Khentii provinces where we discussed more about the integrated early childhood development, air pollution and climate change issues. With the technical assistance available in UNICEF and the ability to work at global standards and norms, we will be able to support most of the provinces and leverage domestic resources including private sector resources for better results for the children in Mongolia.
Some provinces have many resources, including financial resources, but we need to see if they have a system in place to address child protection issues and if they have sufficient data available as well. And, in cases of where they lack resources or have resources but are not reaching the appropriate scale, we will contribute to new ideas in terms of financing in order to make better use of resources. One of the strategies is to involve all stakeholders, particularly those in the province, who have the ability to do something new, to develop an innovative approach, and to create a market for their services.
For example, the government cannot invest in all kindergartens. As a result, we require some private sector or individual resources to establish a kindergarten. This will necessitate local financing, and commercial market. Going to scale need combining all strategies and efforts, and the community must also play a role.
The community in which all of these interventions are delivered must play a role in terms of contribution or strategies and plans they come up with to address any children's rights issues. The last one is more about supply. However, in areas where people do not have a lot of resources, do not have money, and the system is not working, UNICEF will intervene to provide some of the supply such as water, sanitation, and nutrition supplements to those families who are facing challenges in difficult situations.
To conclude, we need different approach and strategy for each province based on what they have already and what they need. We already began working in this manner in many provinces in 2022.
I also visited Erdenet and Dundgobi to promote and deliver the cooking, heating, and insulation product for Mongolian ger to some households. Based on our investment, the local government can scale up the initiative across the province and provide opportunities, further funding, and investments for more households to purchase this coal-free and energy efficient product for their homes. This is only one example. UNICEF can bring in affordable solutions with high impact, and local and national government can scale it up to reach every child.
- Private sector plays an important role in your new strategy. Can you tell us more about how you will work with private sector?
- Private sector contributes significantly to our core global resources, and it is time to call for a large private sector involvement in addressing child rights issues in Mongolia. There are many ways that private sector contributes to our programme such as (a) innovation, expertise, and capabilities which businesses can bring through technologies, entrepreneurship, market-based solutions, distribution networks; (b) investment capacity, and managerial and operational expertise; (c) the private sector’s extensive networks and operations which provide distribution channels to inclusively reach value chain actors ranging from SMEs to retailers and consumers; (d) the private sector’s vast financial resources and expertise in market-based solutions that have the potential for achieving scale and sustainability in tackling systemic environmental challenges; (e) extended investment horizons based on asset lifespans, typically more than 20 years, that can provide the foundation for durable partnerships; (f) policy influence and the capability to deliver what in-country governments seek to achieve, such as improved service-delivery, resilience to climate change and human health gives businesses a strong, knowledgeable voice to inform policy that supports transparent, inclusive sustainable development; (e) philanthropy.
UNICEF will collaborate with the private sector on the following initiatives:
As an initiator: Creating new projects and initiatives that have real commercial potential for upscaling and for transformation at a global scale. That can involve technical assistance, granting or blended finance.
As a catalyzer (Broker): Fostering existing projects and initiatives (platforms) that have demonstrated potential to scale up, out and deep. Top up these projects to reach the scale expected.
As a facilitator: To support the conditions that can foster the creation of a forum, to bring together key parties, to reach into the public sector domain, build institutional capacity and leverage existing local networks. Policy and regulatory support, provision of seed capital and capacity building would be examples of facilitator roles.
- The municipality of UB has formally named a street under UNICEF. What is your plan for that street?
- This is a huge recognition of UNICEF’s work in Mongolia. Having a street in UNICEF name is a great honor to us. Our plan is to engage with all the institutions, organizations and private sector, working on the child right issues to make this street child friendly, where children can come and enjoy the street. We also plan to work with the local authority in this area to envision what they want the street to be in the coming year. Based on that, we can collaborate to define a children’s road so that children from all over Mongolia can visit. This is how a typical or child-friendly road will look like. And we want this street to be a place where children can feel joy and happiness while also interacting with other children. I would like to thank all the citizens in the area and the district Governor and the Municipality for this honor.
- What are your wishes for all the children in 2023?
- Well, we (UNICEF) are here for all the children in Mongolia. And we love all the children, and we wish them all a very good and better year in the coming year. So we want them to be happier, to have more joy, and to live in a more peaceful country.
- Private sector plays an important role in your new strategy. Can you tell us more about how you will work with private sector?
- Private sector contributes significantly to our core global resources, and it is time to call for a large private sector involvement in addressing child rights issues in Mongolia. There are many ways that private sector contributes to our programme such as (a) innovation, expertise, and capabilities which businesses can bring through technologies, entrepreneurship, market-based solutions, distribution networks; (b) investment capacity, and managerial and operational expertise; (c) the private sector’s extensive networks and operations which provide distribution channels to inclusively reach value chain actors ranging from SMEs to retailers and consumers; (d) the private sector’s vast financial resources and expertise in market-based solutions that have the potential for achieving scale and sustainability in tackling systemic environmental challenges; (e) extended investment horizons based on asset lifespans, typically more than 20 years, that can provide the foundation for durable partnerships; (f) policy influence and the capability to deliver what in-country governments seek to achieve, such as improved service-delivery, resilience to climate change and human health gives businesses a strong, knowledgeable voice to inform policy that supports transparent, inclusive sustainable development; (e) philanthropy.
UNICEF will collaborate with the private sector on the following initiatives:
As an initiator: Creating new projects and initiatives that have real commercial potential for upscaling and for transformation at a global scale. That can involve technical assistance, granting or blended finance.
As a catalyzer (Broker): Fostering existing projects and initiatives (platforms) that have demonstrated potential to scale up, out and deep. Top up these projects to reach the scale expected.
As a facilitator: To support the conditions that can foster the creation of a forum, to bring together key parties, to reach into the public sector domain, build institutional capacity and leverage existing local networks. Policy and regulatory support, provision of seed capital and capacity building would be examples of facilitator roles.
- The municipality of UB has formally named a street under UNICEF. What is your plan for that street?
- This is a huge recognition of UNICEF’s work in Mongolia. Having a street in UNICEF name is a great honor to us. Our plan is to engage with all the institutions, organizations and private sector, working on the child right issues to make this street child friendly, where children can come and enjoy the street. We also plan to work with the local authority in this area to envision what they want the street to be in the coming year. Based on that, we can collaborate to define a children’s road so that children from all over Mongolia can visit. This is how a typical or child-friendly road will look like. And we want this street to be a place where children can feel joy and happiness while also interacting with other children. I would like to thank all the citizens in the area and the district Governor and the Municipality for this honor.
- What are your wishes for all the children in 2023?
- Well, we (UNICEF) are here for all the children in Mongolia. And we love all the children, and we wish them all a very good and better year in the coming year. So we want them to be happier, to have more joy, and to live in a more peaceful country.
- Tell us about your homeland country Togo? One of my dream is to travel African country and to see wild animals in the nature.
- Most people profile Africa as a continent where you can see wild animals (lions, zebras, and giraffes…). And associated with that, the majority of people also portray the continent as what they see in the news (hunger, faming, Civil wars…). However, the continuation is full of good people, innovation, warm cultures, lot of natural resources, safety and prosperity. And each of the country is diverse.
My country Togo is a small country, with over 8,6 million people and with a coast over 50 km long, which provides great opportunity for all the countries in the middle of western Africa which do not have access to the sea. My country is known for its great beaches, among them being Aneho Beach and Lome Beach. Some of the beaches are home to white sands and it's easy to get privacy, have relaxed moment with swimwear and coconut drink few splash around the ocean.
So, we have one of the biggest sea port in West Africa that deliver good export to most of the country.
Togo is also a democratic country. The country relies heavily on agriculture and only a few on cattle breeding. There are also a lot of wild animals and comestible wild animals. Staple foods in Togolese cuisine include maize, rice, millet, cassava, yam, plantain and beans. Maize is the most commonly consumed food in the Togolese Republic. Fish is a significant source of protein. People in Togo tend to eat at home, because at home the best foods are usually made.
I'd spend the entire day talking about my country. But one thing I want to emphasize is that Africa and my country are full of very nice, well-educated people, as well as a very rich culture not only wild animal for safari, but rich and innovative and intelligent individual.
- Please share your story of starting a humanitarian work?
- Humanitarian intervention is not new to me. I have been involved in many responses and developed humanitarian training module that was successfully conducted reaching thousands of people. My first humanitarian assignment was during a civil war. We were providing water and sanitation to a small village at the time. We used to travel by canoe with all of our drilling equipment to ensure that water supply is available to every remote village where people fleeing the war were regrouped.
After the civil war humanitarian responses, I was deployed in North of Burkina, where there was a conflict with diverse ethnic’s groups. I spent time ensuring that the community had a better access to water and sanitation services and distributing food and medicines.
I joined UNICEF in Madagascar where I did a lot in humanitarian response. Madagascar experiences between 7-9 hurricanes yearly. The office needs to prepare and have an adequate emergency response preparedness plan with well prepositioned stocks. Acting fast and delivering assistance to the affected communities and population as early as possible was my priority. In addition of the prepositioning of supplies, we have developed a standby agreement with partners who can also response quickly once the emergency response is declared.
In 2010, I was in Haiti for my one of the biggest earthquake’s humanitarian response. We worked to ensure that affected families have better access to sanitation facilities in the capital city - the most challenging intervention that we had operated, because of the contexts and the conditions. Because there were many deaths as a result of the earthquake, many things were still unstable and we still have to deliver. It was a challenging and significant intervention that caused a lot of trauma.
I went back to Haiti in 2021 where more than 300 people were killed in an earthquake and many houses were destroyed.
So my life has been filled with both humanitarian and development works. But one of the lessons learnt is that as the world has progressed in many areas and aspects, including artificial intelligence and many innovation (5th Industrial revolution), responding to emergencies has not dramatically changed. When I looked at the 1946 humanitarian response and the 2021’s, they are quite similar. This is then a real appeal to all the organizations working in the Humanitarian response to work and innovate to respond to the Humanitarian in changing context.
- Tell us about your homeland country Togo? One of my dream is to travel African country and to see wild animals in the nature.
- Most people profile Africa as a continent where you can see wild animals (lions, zebras, and giraffes…). And associated with that, the majority of people also portray the continent as what they see in the news (hunger, faming, Civil wars…). However, the continuation is full of good people, innovation, warm cultures, lot of natural resources, safety and prosperity. And each of the country is diverse.
My country Togo is a small country, with over 8,6 million people and with a coast over 50 km long, which provides great opportunity for all the countries in the middle of western Africa which do not have access to the sea. My country is known for its great beaches, among them being Aneho Beach and Lome Beach. Some of the beaches are home to white sands and it's easy to get privacy, have relaxed moment with swimwear and coconut drink few splash around the ocean.
So, we have one of the biggest sea port in West Africa that deliver good export to most of the country.
Togo is also a democratic country. The country relies heavily on agriculture and only a few on cattle breeding. There are also a lot of wild animals and comestible wild animals. Staple foods in Togolese cuisine include maize, rice, millet, cassava, yam, plantain and beans. Maize is the most commonly consumed food in the Togolese Republic. Fish is a significant source of protein. People in Togo tend to eat at home, because at home the best foods are usually made.
I'd spend the entire day talking about my country. But one thing I want to emphasize is that Africa and my country are full of very nice, well-educated people, as well as a very rich culture not only wild animal for safari, but rich and innovative and intelligent individual.
- Please share your story of starting a humanitarian work?
- Humanitarian intervention is not new to me. I have been involved in many responses and developed humanitarian training module that was successfully conducted reaching thousands of people. My first humanitarian assignment was during a civil war. We were providing water and sanitation to a small village at the time. We used to travel by canoe with all of our drilling equipment to ensure that water supply is available to every remote village where people fleeing the war were regrouped.
After the civil war humanitarian responses, I was deployed in North of Burkina, where there was a conflict with diverse ethnic’s groups. I spent time ensuring that the community had a better access to water and sanitation services and distributing food and medicines.
I joined UNICEF in Madagascar where I did a lot in humanitarian response. Madagascar experiences between 7-9 hurricanes yearly. The office needs to prepare and have an adequate emergency response preparedness plan with well prepositioned stocks. Acting fast and delivering assistance to the affected communities and population as early as possible was my priority. In addition of the prepositioning of supplies, we have developed a standby agreement with partners who can also response quickly once the emergency response is declared.
In 2010, I was in Haiti for my one of the biggest earthquake’s humanitarian response. We worked to ensure that affected families have better access to sanitation facilities in the capital city - the most challenging intervention that we had operated, because of the contexts and the conditions. Because there were many deaths as a result of the earthquake, many things were still unstable and we still have to deliver. It was a challenging and significant intervention that caused a lot of trauma.
I went back to Haiti in 2021 where more than 300 people were killed in an earthquake and many houses were destroyed.
So my life has been filled with both humanitarian and development works. But one of the lessons learnt is that as the world has progressed in many areas and aspects, including artificial intelligence and many innovation (5th Industrial revolution), responding to emergencies has not dramatically changed. When I looked at the 1946 humanitarian response and the 2021’s, they are quite similar. This is then a real appeal to all the organizations working in the Humanitarian response to work and innovate to respond to the Humanitarian in changing context.
- What do you think, as a professional, about Mongolia's protection of children's rights and the work being done for them?
- I believe there are a lot of great works accomplished in the country. The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection is doing an excellent job in many areas, including strengthening legal framework in better protecting children. It is always challenging to deal with everything in one because as soon as you address one issue, another appears.
Similarly, when addressing children's protection offline, you need to address both abuse in the children's home and abuse in the whole society. Then online child protection issues emerge. You now need to consolidate your online and offline security and protections as which has created some challenges.
I'm very pleased that, thanks to the Government and to all our efforts, there has been significant progress in different fronts. There is still a long road ahead. Child Protection system needs to be strengthened at various levels, beginning with the households and these are the place where we should work more closely.
- I think you are familiar with the living conditions of children in other countries through your previous appointments. What are the Mongolians’ advantages and disadvantages of child rearing and living conditions?
- As I said before, I think Mongolia is very family-oriented which is a good. And, in comparison to many other countries, this family orientation ensures that Mongolian culture remains within the country, which is extremely valuable and beneficial in many ways that we collectively need to build on.
Apart from culture, we also need to be aware of the international laws and human rights treaties that the country has adhered to. And the fundamental question will be how do we match the culture, international law, and conventions that you have also ratified? How do we find the middle ground? How we translate that into the lives of Mongolian children?
- Children's education and behavior were greatly affected by two years of epidemic (and lockdown). Has UNICEF done a study on this?
- UNICEF study was conducted in education to analyze "How the Pandemic has impacted the learning of children" between 2021 and 2022. Prolonged school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused significant disruptions to education system over the last two years, affecting over 900,000 children.
The COVID-19 situation triggered the Government action to give a significant attention on digital transformation, which has become one of the key priorities of Government Vision 2050 agenda. This includes education sector, where UNICEF also played a lead role in developing online learning system and contents for pre-primary and general education sectors.
The development and dissemination of interactive and audio contents have aided learning continuity and hybrid learning after school and kindergarten reopening. The scale that we have seen in Mongolia call all of us to address the education system to bring children back on track. So that more children can attend school and receive a higher-quality education. And if you want to bring all children back into the education system, you will need to invest a lot of effort as well as financial investment in various areas.
- Thank you for your time.
- What do you think, as a professional, about Mongolia's protection of children's rights and the work being done for them?
- I believe there are a lot of great works accomplished in the country. The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection is doing an excellent job in many areas, including strengthening legal framework in better protecting children. It is always challenging to deal with everything in one because as soon as you address one issue, another appears.
Similarly, when addressing children's protection offline, you need to address both abuse in the children's home and abuse in the whole society. Then online child protection issues emerge. You now need to consolidate your online and offline security and protections as which has created some challenges.
I'm very pleased that, thanks to the Government and to all our efforts, there has been significant progress in different fronts. There is still a long road ahead. Child Protection system needs to be strengthened at various levels, beginning with the households and these are the place where we should work more closely.
- I think you are familiar with the living conditions of children in other countries through your previous appointments. What are the Mongolians’ advantages and disadvantages of child rearing and living conditions?
- As I said before, I think Mongolia is very family-oriented which is a good. And, in comparison to many other countries, this family orientation ensures that Mongolian culture remains within the country, which is extremely valuable and beneficial in many ways that we collectively need to build on.
Apart from culture, we also need to be aware of the international laws and human rights treaties that the country has adhered to. And the fundamental question will be how do we match the culture, international law, and conventions that you have also ratified? How do we find the middle ground? How we translate that into the lives of Mongolian children?
- Children's education and behavior were greatly affected by two years of epidemic (and lockdown). Has UNICEF done a study on this?
- UNICEF study was conducted in education to analyze "How the Pandemic has impacted the learning of children" between 2021 and 2022. Prolonged school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused significant disruptions to education system over the last two years, affecting over 900,000 children.
The COVID-19 situation triggered the Government action to give a significant attention on digital transformation, which has become one of the key priorities of Government Vision 2050 agenda. This includes education sector, where UNICEF also played a lead role in developing online learning system and contents for pre-primary and general education sectors.
The development and dissemination of interactive and audio contents have aided learning continuity and hybrid learning after school and kindergarten reopening. The scale that we have seen in Mongolia call all of us to address the education system to bring children back on track. So that more children can attend school and receive a higher-quality education. And if you want to bring all children back into the education system, you will need to invest a lot of effort as well as financial investment in various areas.
- Thank you for your time.