Fostering an Inclusive Environment for Local Disabled (FIELD) PROJECT

PROJECT LOCATION

Ulaanbaatar city and three aimags of Arkhangai, Uvurkhangai and Dundgovi

PROJECT GOAL

To enhance the ability of people with disabilities to enjoy equal access to social, economic and political opportunities as written into the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• To incorporate the language of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities into Mongolian national laws governing transportation, education, construction.
• To ensure disabled people can exercise their rights by strengthening organizational capacity of local DPOs and enhancing legal knowledge of DPOs, government officials, and representatives of the legal and medical communities.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Clearly defined/framed proposed changes to select laws and regulations
• Completed advocacy campaign to facilitate passage of targeted laws to improve quality of life for PWDs
• Completed awareness raising campaign on issues faced by PWDs and responsibilities of society for fostering integration
• DPOs and public institutions are better able to include PWDs in their programs/services
• PWDs have better access to key services in targeted aimags

PROJECT DURATION: 1 January, 09 - 31 December 2010

MAJOR ACTIVITIES:

The Disabled People Organizations (DPOs) and Mercy Corps will work together to recommend and advocate for changes to existing laws that govern the accessibility of buildings, transportation and education. These changes will be based on the language used in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which Mongolia is a signatory nation. The Convention was ratified on 30 March 2007 and is designed to "ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy human rights on an equal basis with others."

To complement the advocacy efforts focusing on changing the legislation, several types of training will be provided to various stakeholders: (1) legal knowledge training for local government officials, the legal community, medical staff, teachers, DPOs and members of rural CSO networks; (2) capacity building training on financial management, fundraising, human resource management, strategic planning, proposal writing, advocacy, and other organizational management topics for rural DPOs; (3) training on social model of disability for relevant stakeholders in rural communities.

In order to inform public policy that is directly impacting on services for people with disabilities ,  we will conduct a survey on current classification of disability. The survey report will be sent to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor, the Ministry of Health, the State Statistical Office, and the Social Insurance Office.

Following the trainings on legislation, Mercy Corps will announce calls for proposals from DPOs for small grants designed to facilitate their efforts to advocate for the rights of PWDs. The small projects aim to demonstrate practical approaches for the inclusion of people with disabilities into everyday life. Mercy Corps will provide training and capacity building for DPOs on proposal writing and grant management skills, and they ways of developing partnerships with government agencies, service institutions and communities.