Governance in the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar
Local Energy Efficiency Action Plan (LEEAP)
The GIZ project "Energy Efficient Building Refurbishment in Mongolia" (EEP) works with the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar (MUB) and other stakeholders on public investment management and energy efficiency in the building sector.
Governance in the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar
Many public buildings, such as hospitals, schools, kindergartens, libraries, and dormitories were built several decades ago when standards were much lower than today. Low building standards and a lack of maintenance over the years are the main reasons for the significant increase in heat loss, and subsequently high energy consumption.
On the one hand, studying or working in cold buildings with high heat loss has a negative impact on productivity, health and quality of life. On the other hand, it leads to a significant increase in energy consumption and operating costs, which places a strain on the budget and increases greenhouse gas emissions. For all those reasons it was important to improve the management of public investments, and introduce new standards to improve energy efficiency through better planning, budgeting, financing, implementation and monitoring of project activities. As part of the cooperation between MUB and GIZ, the focus of the governance advisory work was therefore on enriching the core system with institutional quality and principles of good governance.
Transparent criteria for the rating and selection of buildings for renovation measures have been developed, endorsed, and made public. A public investment guide has been developed and introduced to all relevant stakeholders. In addition, officials and staff were empowered through training and advisory services in order to support state organisations in creating an open, transparent, and people-centered environment.
The MUB has significantly improved the accessibility of services to meet the needs of its citizens. The efficiency of investments was increased, and the implemented policies deliver tangible results for the general public as well as specific target groups, such as the poor and vulnerable.
Why Energy Efficiency is also a Gender Topic
To fulfill the needs of different groups in society, public decision makers should ensure that studying and teaching is possible in a children friendly, safe, accessible and effective learning environment that provides comfortable air quality, cognitive & ecological education, hygiene, security and the oportunity to fulfill social needs.
If those needs are not considered children can for example, face the risk of falling ill due to low temperatures and unhealthy indoor air quality, traffic accidents due to missing safety measures and lacking behind their cohort fellows in learning, due to an unpleasant education environment. Taking care of sick children is still considered the task of a mother. As a consequence, it is mostly woman that suffer from lower economic posibilities if they have to take unpaid leave days, while caring for sick children and additionally spend money on medicine.
In parent and teacher monitoring groups the project supported these participants alongside the monitoring and construction process, to analyse their children’s school and kindergarten environment conditions and developed solutions to fulfill the mentioned needs. Thermo-technical retrofitting improved the learning environment by creating higher indoor temperatures and better accessibility, working sanitary facilities and in some cases could also provide new learning spaces. In addition, the moderated process of the renovation monitoring group allowed the groups to identify other measures that often could be implemented without high costs but helped to fulfill the above mentioned needs of the children. Negative effects of sick children were reduced significantly.
"The current planning is gender blind. Therefore, it needs to be changed." V. Danaasuren, Gender Expert and Consultant
GRB: Allocate Public Finds Where Citizens Need Them Most
For more information about the project please contact: XYZ
