Mission to Mongolia
APCD identified the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour as the focal point organization in Mongolia during the mission from 12-15 July 2005. The team met 16 organizations of persons with disabilities in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. There are 31 disabled people's organizations including 21 provincial organizations of persons with disabilities as well as 9 organizations in Ulaanbaatar. The Mongolian National Federation of Disabled People's Organization was established in 1997 by the initiative of 12 NGOs. The Government of Mongolia and the National Federation of Disabled People's Organizations translated the BMF and published it along with a Disabled Persons NGO Directory 2005. The mission team met Mr. Tserendash Ouynbaatar, General Director of the Lobby Center which is the focal point for the Disability Act. Thirty political party members are collaborating and reviewing the current Act on Disability. The Center is preparing to change the Disability Act into a Rights-Based Act.
Mongolia has a National Coordination Council on Disability consisting of the Ministry of Health, Education, Construction, Foreign Affairs, and Social Welfare and Labour along with 3 PWDs from the National Federation of Disabled People's Organizations.
The mission visited the Takhilt Rehabilitation Center, a hostel with a rehabilitation program run by a medical doctor who is also a PWD. This hostel provides 2-weeks training with approximately 500 PWDs trained annually. APCD also visited the National Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Center for the Disabled active in the area of community-based rehabilitation.
