If only we could just build a school, or renovate a toilet block, or feed some kids breakfast - that's the easy stuff, the quick fix and let's face it the kind of stuff that many donors want. It makes good pictures for the notice board and for a while it gets some of the kids back to school, or means that they are not as hungry while they learn - as long as the funding lasts at least.Education is Mongolia has some challenges that I had not come across in other contexts. Usually I am talking about how to get girls into school, but here in Mongolia families will send their girls to school and keep the boys home. I was told that historically, (and still today) a Mongolian family is one unit. There is no gender disparity, "we are one, we are united, we all are responsible to do what we can for the benefit of the family".
But then there are the same issues as else where, including: inclusive education - ensuring that children with disabilities are able to access education, and the disparity between a rural education (which receives little resources) and an urban education which is where all the best teachers, the highest wages and the best facilities are located.
Like many countries the government has a well stocked library of policies that enshrine in law the rights of all children to education. There are a plethora of acts, commitments, conventions and charters that guide education policy and processes. But where and when the children are - the reality can be a far cry from the rhetoric.
So together with other civil society partners and community members we will identify an existing education policy. We will work together to provide a renewed understanding of a citizens rights and they in turn will learn appropriate ways to demand these rights. Power brokers and decision makers will be encouraged to deliver on their responsibility - resulting in access to a quality education for all children.
It's never quite that easy is it? But if we don't change the system, if we don't build the capacity of local organisations to represent their communities, if we don't remind people that they have a right to life in all its fullness, if we don't encourage governments to fulfill their promises - then we don't stand a hope of making changes that will last.
Let me build a school or feed a child any day - it is just so much easier - and the photos are so cute!
