Gantuya Sainkhuu
Promoting activism through women’s empowerment, Gantuya is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Saikhuu Iveel San (SIS), an NGO named after her father who was one of the initiators and promoters of democracy in Mongolia in the 1990’ies. Today, through her organisation, Gantuya is promoting activism and women’s leadership by providing leadership training to women at grassroot level in Mongolia. She believes active and responsible citizens are a strong foundation for a healthy democracy.
Prior to establishing Sainkhuu Iveel San, Gantuya worked mostly with international development organisations in Mongolia dedicating her efforts, skills, knowledge and experience to the well-being of the people and the country.
Based on her experience on activism, she wrote a book “IrGun” which became a best-seller in Mongolia in 2014. Since then, it has become one of her passions to write books to enlighten others, help women and girls to find themselves and their mission in life and become leaders in their area of interest. She also published in Mongolia the international best-selling book “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” by Dr. Joe Dispenza in 2020.
Gantuya holds a MBA in Business Administration from the Hague University in the Netherlands and a Diploma of Public Administration from the Governance Academy of Management in Mongolia.
Her interests are reading books on history, politics, philosophy and leadership and she is passionate about learning folk music, long songs, and Mongolian Biyelgee dancing.
Speaker's corner
I had the great opportunity to participate in the European Union Visitor’s Programme (EUVP) back in 2005. Since I was a young person eager to learn, explore and establish networks, I enjoyed fully meeting leaders from different sectors, getting a better understanding of the various institutions in the EU and how the EU operates, and not least grasping ideas of what good governance and good leadership really consist in.
Thanks to the EUVP visit, I was able to design and implement successful development projects and I was able to implement best practices, and to improve the network relating to my work. I found the EUVP a great opportunity for self-reflection, a basis from which to learn best practices, meet people of different backgrounds and get good ideas of how local good governance could be developed and implemented.
Overall, I found the EUVP participation to be valuable and very informative and it definitely left me with a wonderful impression about Europe, its culture, its people and its governance.
The visit really had a quite positive impact on my career. Given that I worked in international development organizations at the time, implementing projects and programmes, working with people of different backgrounds really helped me to have an open mind, learn from others, find myself, and build relationships between the countries.
I believe each and every citizen is the ambassador of their own country. During my EUVP visit, I successfully represented my country in Europe and back in Mongolia I successfully promoted Europe. My education, skills, understanding of life, my journey in life, everything is closely connected to Europe and these all contributed to shaping my attitude, character, leadership, and ethics throughout my career advancements.
Later on, in 2011 when I co-founded the prominent NGO Sainkhuu Iveel San (SIS) which I did in order to concentrate my efforts on development of local good governance in my country, I could also draw on elements acquired from my EUVP experience.
Currently, I am working at the local government authority in one of the remote provinces in Mongolia. It is part of my passion to be able to contribute to the development of remote regions and rural people.
However, today’s primary challenge is to save our planet Earth, protect the mother nature and live in good harmony by learning from our ancient wisdoms, way of life, respecting each other and understand that we all are in same boat. The reason I want to underline this is because of the vast natural resources Mongolia have, yet we are far from being optimal as what concerns good governance. Natural resources are being exploited all the while our nature is left unprotected. I recognize this is not only a problem for Mongolia this is indeed an integral part of the world’s problem. We are all living on one planet.
I wish multinational corporations, developed countries and, not least, experts would draw their attention not only on their own countries and regions but enlarge their horizon to other countries where their expertise and involvement is dearly needed.
I have had many wonderful achievements in my career. My entire career has been an ascending progress and from each step I took, I learned new skills, knowledge and acquired new experience.
Among a tangible achievement to make mention of was when I as a social activist fought successfully for improving labour rights and social justice in my country. Having been unfairly dismissed from my job for complaining about discrimination of Mongolian workers in the multinational mining corporation where I was employed, I filed a court case for unfair treatment of national and international workers. I won the case at all three levels of the court in Mongolia during the years 2012-2014. In 2014, the Supreme Court finally ruled that the termination of my employment was unlawful and unjust.
In 2014, I authored the best-selling book “Irgun” for calling active citizens to true democracy. I also successfully published in Mongolia the international best-seller “Breaking the Habit of being Yourself” by Dr. Joe Dispenza in 2020. Although these all made me well known in my country, my heart lies on environmental justice: Mongolia is now facing great challenges to protect Mother Nature. We would need to find a good balance for a sustainable development and continue to strive to develop good governance on a local basis.
Through my NGO, Sainkhuu Iveel San, I have empowered more than 1,200 local women in good governance and local leadership since 2015. It is a matter of time before the leadership seed that I planted in these women are to blossom, but there are signs that it has already started to bear fruit: during the local election in 2020 about 10 women ran for the elections and raised their voices. These great efforts could materialize no less than thanks to the support of the Embassy of Lithuania and the Women’s Democratic Network.
Always follow your heart. It is a wonderful journey to contribute to changing and shaping your community positively. You learn and grow equally in the process and you give back to your communities which can be very satisfying.
Above all, change starts with you so do not forget to make the journey within yourself as well. Always believe in the good of people and have positive hopes for the future of the world. I know it can be hard especially in societies riddled with corruption, societies suffering from underdevelopment and poverty, but striving to become a better human being and work to change your community for the better really pays off in the end. I wish you all the best of everything and peace.
This interview took place on February 2023.
The opinions expressed by the EUVP distinguished Alumna on the Wall of Fame do not necessarily reflect the official EU position.