Women’s Leadership Program Cohort 8
Posted: 25 July 2022
Newsletter 7
“We Love Australia” Australia Awards Alumni Networking Event and Certificate Hand-out Ceremony:
The Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) Cohort 8 participants have officially graduated from the Program. In eight months, the participants participated in a multitude of essential skill-building seminars, networking events, lunch forums, community development projects, and more. The WLP participants attended an Australia Awards alumni networking event and graduation certificate hand-out ceremony on the 26th of May. The event was widely attended by representatives of the Embassy of Australia, The Mongolia-Australia Chamber of Commerce, Mongolia Australia Society Mozzies, Australia Awards – Mongolia (AAM), Zorig Foundation, Australia Awards Alumni, and WLP Alumni. The participants had the opportunity to network with the representatives and alumni, which further improve their personal and professional connections with the Australian community. Everyone enjoyed the evening while immersing in artistic performances, celebrating the graduation of the WLP Cohort 8 participants, and solidifying the Australia Awards alumni connection.
“It was an amazing experience to connect with inspiring women and men from different backgrounds and professions. It helped me to see challenges from different perspectives and approach the problems with curiosity.” – WLP Cohort 8 Graduate, Gerelmaa Baatarchuluun
Community Development Projects Achievements:
The community development projects complement participants’ overall learning experience by providing them with an opportunity to practice their newly acquired leadership skills. Participants were divided into four teams based on their interests – The projects’ achievements were:
MeForMyself, aimed to improve the mental health care/awareness of “Technical and Vocational Education and Training” (TVET) students, enhance sexual education and reproductive knowledge and help TVET students express their feelings. The team decorated/refurbished “MeForMyself” room for students to discuss their mental health with psychologists, organized multiple seminars related to mental health, reproductive knowledge, and career guidance, and promoted adolescent mental health awareness. The project has directly benefited 313 people (113 females and 200 males) and the students’ parents and teachers.
A*Read, aimed to promote literacy, language, and socio-communication skills of children with disabilities through free adapted digital literature websites translated, adapted, and edited 34 interactive adapted books from English to Mongolian and had all illustrations elaborately drawn by an illustrator. The team also worked on customizing the Autism and Exceptional Children’s Academy’s (AECA) website to ensure that families with children with developmental disabilities could access the adapted literature and its instructions. Additionally, they printed 500 copies of the interactive adapted books for special schools and families with children not attending school.
Checkmate, aimed to create a sustainable community area and establish meeting points for building relationships between users and bridge generations by building outdoor chess boards in 4 locations – National Amusement park, National Park, 65th Secondary school, and the Tuv province. The team members have worked on manufacturing chess pieces, getting land permissions from the locations, and promoting the project on social media.
Tsag Uguy, aimed to empower teenage schoolgirls and local women of the 34th khoroo of Songinokhairkhan district of Ulaanbaatar. As part of the project, the team members furnished and equipped a community development center for use by the target population. Fifty project beneficiaries will use the laundry and shower services at no cost for a year. Aside from raising awareness through news articles and video content on social media, the team worked on fundraising and organizing seminars for students and has directly benefited 868 individuals.