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We sat down with UNFPA Consultant to China and Nation Director for Mongolia Dr. Justine Coulson about UNFPA’s work and her go to to Mongolia.
Dr. Coulson has devoted her profession to worldwide improvement and gender equality. Earlier than becoming a member of UNFPA in 2016 as Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, she had labored in East and Southern Africa, Asia, and Latin America for over 10 years.
She holds a Ph.D. in Gender and Worldwide Growth from the College of Newcastle, UK and a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Research from the College of Liverpool, UK.
– May you inform us slightly bit about your self, your work, and about UNFPA?
– I’m the consultant for UNFPA in China and I’m additionally the nation director for UNFPA Mongolia. It signifies that while we’ve got a really robust group right here, primarily of Mongolian nationals with a global head of workplace, I stay in Beijing, and I present loads of strategic assist to the group.
UNFPA stands for the United Nations Inhabitants Fund, and we work particularly on sexual reproductive well being, and rights, which suggests working round girls’s well being, well-being, and rights. We additionally work with adolescent ladies, and on youth improvement, well being and well-being of younger folks in addition to having a give attention to inhabitants knowledge and serving to governments to have robust inhabitants knowledge to assist them plan their financial investments extra successfully.
– That is your first go to to Mongolia. What had been the primary aims of your go to? What’s your impression of our nation?
– I felt that it’s very troublesome to assist a rustic group while you’ve by no means been there. That is the very first time I’ve been to Mongolia and it’s a rustic that I’ve needed to return to for a very long time, so I’m happy that my job has allowed me to return right here. I’ve all the time recognized that Mongolia has a novel tradition and I needed to return and study extra about it, and concerning the work that we do right here.
I additionally needed to satisfy with our companions each in authorities and in our group organizations to take heed to the challenges that they’ve and to see what extra I believe we might be doing as UNFPA to assist the federal government and the companions in Mongolia. I’ve been struck by the openness of our authorities companions by way of participating with us and dealing with us on our areas of labor.
I’ve additionally seen some nice tasks which can be being delivered on the bottom for communities, significantly within the space of gender-based violence and supporting girls who’re survivors of gender-based violence.
The opposite factor that struck me was on my approach to Darkhan, we stopped off with a herder household and so they supplied me probably the most lovely meal after which I bought to journey their horse. It’s a rustic and tradition that has such a powerful sense of hospitality and I believe could be very open to guests and desires to welcome them very warmly. It was even lovely in winter within the snow. It’s such an enormous panorama and it has been unbelievable.
– How lengthy has UNFPA been working in Mongolia and what are your foremost areas of labor?
– We first began working in 1992 and the work we do could be summarized as specializing in 4 key areas. One among them is on sexual reproductive well being, which is especially working to enhance the standard of maternal healthcare for girls, and that is an space the place Mongolia has had an enormous achievement by way of lowering the variety of maternal deaths and offering actual, good high quality maternal well being care for girls who’re pregnant and having kids. The opposite space is working with younger folks on youth improvement and youth management, getting ready a era of younger folks for the longer term.
Taking a look at points of sexual reproductive well being, for instance, we do work on complete sexuality schooling. We assist colleges within the curriculum and creating the curriculum. Then we do work round gender equality, however I believe right here in Mongolia we’ve been very centered on working with the federal government and community-level companions to make sure a a lot stronger response for survivors of gender-based violence.
After I went to Darkhan, I bought a possibility to go to a One-Cease Service Heart, the place girls and their kids can come if it’s now not protected for them to be at house due to gender-based violence. There, they get sorted and are given psychological assist. They’ve someplace protected to begin rebuilding their households and we launched a type of girls’s financial empowerment factor to allow them to study new abilities to begin incomes revenue and it’s very spectacular.
Then the opposite piece we work on is round supporting the federal government by way of analysis and knowledge as a result of it’s vital once we are taking a look at investments in a rustic to advance socioeconomic improvement that’s based mostly on proof. Then we are able to discover out who’re the folks in most want and due to this fact lets us make investments extra in these areas so that everyone can profit from the socioeconomic improvement within the nation.
– Why does UNFPA work with youth?
– Younger individuals are the way forward for the nation, and it is best to need to put money into your era of younger folks. What investing means is an funding in schooling, well being, and well-being and for us that will imply, for instance, offering complete sexuality schooling and creating peer educators who can advise and information different younger folks on making the fitting selections. It means investing in abilities and making certain employment alternatives for younger folks sooner or later.
I additionally suppose investing in younger folks is to develop their sense of citizenship and a need to serve their communities, however on the similar time, younger folks even have rights of their sense. It’s not simply that they are the longer term, they’ve wants now.
Just lately, I met with some members of our UN Youth Advisory Panel, and so they had been speaking to me about among the challenges of rising up as an adolescent in Mongolia, particularly in city areas. That they had issues about their future, future jobs, and the challenges round coping with social media, and we had a really attention-grabbing dialog. That’s why we really feel investing each in ladies and boys is essential by way of each their rights and constructing the way forward for the nation.
– Inform us about ICPD (Worldwide Convention on Inhabitants and Growth) and what Mongolia’s commitments to it are?
– So, subsequent yr we might be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of ICPD.
In Cairo, in 1994, governments from everywhere in the world got here collectively for the very first Worldwide Convention on Inhabitants and Growth. From it got here out a Program of Motion that each one international locations adopted the place all of them agreed that reproductive well being was a proper. What it meant was recognizing that girls have the fitting to decide on whether or not to have kids, after they have kids, and what number of kids they’ve, and that was fairly revolutionary on the time.
One other side was recognizing when speaking about inhabitants, it’s not about numbers however about people, and considering via to make the perfect investments in social assist to make sure that everyone advantages in society and doesn’t enhance inequality however to develop collectively as a rustic.
This was the primary time that this had been agreed upon globally. Each 5 years, we get collectively to assessment progress and Mongolia has began writing its national-level report.
In November, Asia Pacific international locations will assessment everyone’s progress and international locations can have a possibility to share good practices and to study from each other.
In 2024, there might be a celebration of ICPD 30 the place we are able to see the place we’re as a world globally on delivering reproductive rights for everyone.
– What are probably the most memorable experiences of your go to?
– My most memorable go to goes to go to a herder household. They’d by no means met me earlier than and so they knew nothing about me and once I visited their ger, that they had laid on probably the most lovely meal that she had cooked all by herself. It was superb to me that she has this one pan, and he or she delivered this lovely meal and there was meat, after which she made this extremely layered bread and there was recent curd for the bread. She boiled down the curd with raisins and it was like a candy dessert. It was only a pretty expertise.
One other expertise was, I’d all the time assume that individuals who stay that life-style had been in all probability individuals who you already know haven’t had a possibility to be educated however she was explaining to me that she and her husband had been collectively for almost 50 years, and so they met at veterinarian school. They each skilled as veterinarian technicians after which selected this life-style, and so they had been residing with a cooperative the place each member within the cooperative supplied one thing, whether or not it was meat or honey from their hives or something. I simply discovered it such a tremendous approach to stay and the concept it was a alternative and that’s how they selected to stay, and simply that very heat hospitality introduced me pleasure and we had such a stunning afternoon. It turned an enormous reminiscence of my life.
– Lastly, what led you to turn into who you at the moment are and work within the route of the inhabitants improvement sector?
– I grew up within the UK within the Nineteen Seventies and at the moment we had loads of gender inequality in British society. After I went to secondary faculty, the women had been despatched to study stitching and the boys had been despatched to study carpentry and also you could not select. I assumed that was incorrect, I assumed that anyone must be allowed to decide on something.
From that time, I’ve all the time been and I’ve all the time believed very strongly in gender equality. I’ve all the time believed that chance must be open for everyone so no matter whether or not you’re male or feminine, even when you come from a poorer family, I believe ought to have simply as a lot alternative as people who come from a wealthier family.
After I grew up, it did not matter whether or not you had been wealthy or poor, when you studied laborious sufficient you bought the assist to go to college. Ever since then, I’ve actually believed in preventing towards social injustice and preventing for equality. Truthfully, though I’ve been working now for 28 years, I nonetheless rise up each morning and I really feel as passionate as I did once I was 24.
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