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Following the recent launch of the research “Trade union transformation in the digital economy: the case of the Federation of Mongolian Education and Science Unions (FMESU)”, the Mongolian education union started embarking in activities to implement the three-year project “Trade union transformation and the digital economy”.

Based on the recommendations of the research, FMESU redesigned the union`s strategic planning for the following areas: organisational development, professional development of members, communication, and member participation. It received financial support from Education International and the Education International Asia-pacific (EIAP) office, as well as from the German foundation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

“Strategy Development” training

With the help of FES, FMESU organised on 26 August a “Strategy Development” training for FMESU leaders.

Opinions and recommendations of participants were collected, presented at the meeting of the union executive committee, and inserted in plans for the future development policy through the transformation of the union.

FMESU developed a training module for its grassroots members in a need-based, concise, engaging manner through personal and professional development, with a “positive mind” approach, and conducted a three-step training.

“Education-Leadership-Solidarity” training

The “Education-Leadership-Solidarity” training aiming to activate young teachers and increase union membership was conducted twice for two days, on 22-23 August and then on 24 -25 August. The training involved 70 young teachers from all education sectors. The training modules covered history, policy, and union activities for young members, as well as the significance of unionising, the advantages of becoming a member and organising.

“Young Leaders” training

FMESU also held a three-day “Young Leaders” training to activate young members, prepare union trainers, train young leaders to be the next generation of industrial leaders, motivate leaders to change the union, learn and share good practices and spread union activities.

The training was conducted on 21-23 September and involved 35 young active members from all education sectors.

The training modules focused on personal and professional development, again through a ”positive mind”, leadership qualities, leadership styles, decision-making, advocacy, campaigning, and efficient messaging. The initiator of the Wave of Positive Thinking project, N. Enkhbaatar, as well as the trainer of the project, B. Tomor-Ochir, the head of the Department of Foreign Relations and Cooperation of Mongolian University Science and Technology Doctor/ Ph.D. T. Uuganbayar, the chief coordinator of the "For All Education" coalition, D. Tungalag, JTF participant and Doctor of Education T. Ankhbayar, and JTF participant, B. Egiimaa, were all key invitees and speakers at this training.

“Dissemination and Advocacy” training

The “Dissemination and Advocacy” training aiming to make information about FMESU and its activities available to the public or non-members will be conducted on 10 October 2022.

FMESU should be concerned about and achieve the followings:

• Implement a bottom-up approach to brainstorm and determine functions and operations that need to be digitalized
• Train human resources with necessary digital skills and identify the needs of the members through surveys, especially the primary committee supervisors
• Make a structural change, at least in the record-keeping apparatus, to ensure the sustainability of the digital platform.
• Find a digital solution or a platform that simultaneously enables membership registration, two-way communication, regular surveying, complaining and feedback, reporting and budget transparency, capacity-building training modules, and disseminating timely news and information.

Research “Trade union transformation in the digital economy: the case of the FMESU”

Launched in June, the research “Trade union transformation in the digital economy: the case of the Federation of Mongolian Education and Science Unions (FMESU)” highlights the challenges the union faces related to the impact of the digital transition.

It looks into strategic areas for the union transformation and how and why the use of technologies could add value to union’s organising and outreach efforts in the future.