Mongolian Women Candidates Visit USAID

Washington, D.C.- A delegation of Mongolian women running for local office in that country visited the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on January 15.  The delegation learned about the agency’s mission in Mongolia and shared some of their experiences gained from a 20-day U.S. tour where the group is gaining first-hand knowledge of politics, campaigns and leadership.

The group of 12 women representing Mongolia’s Democratic Women’s Union met with Virginia legislators, the lieutenant governor and attorney general as well as county officials in Maryland and Virginia. Other Washington, D.C. stops include the National Geographic Society, the Heritage Foundation and U.S. Congress. The group also spent a day studying leadership and elections at Arlington, Virginia’s Leadership Institute.

Most of the women are running for positions as city representatives in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaator. A few are seeking seats in parliament in the upcoming June 8 election. Mongolia requires 30 percent of its candidates to be women.

The trip is sponsored in part through a joint agreement between the Democratic Women’s Association and the National Federation of Republican Women.

For more information about USAID and its projects in Mongolia, visit www.usaid.gov

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.

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