Broadening hearts and minds: An insight into the latest FES Political Management Training sessions

D. Buyandelger: The training included inputs and lectures on the states of social democracy, the center-left political ideology, in the Asia-Pacific region. These inputs also touched on the political situations in the represented countries. Mongolia was among the countries that had had recent elections. India had an election around the same time as Mongolia. Not long after there were elections in Thailand and Vietnam. Other political developments also took place in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Inputs covered geopolitics, regional issues, and foreign policy. Each input was given by a professional from the field or industry. For example, a speaker from Malaysia spoke of regional trade and Malaysia’s semiconductor industry, while a former Minister of Disarmament of New Zealand spoke about how small nations can engage in global politics.

Participants also gave country reports, primarily about elections in 2024 or other specific political developments of the respective country. This allowed the participants to practice their public speaking skills.

The PMT also included other skill trainings, including management of political movements, fundraising, volunteer management, political platform development, negotiation, consensus formation, to name a few. All of which are very important skills that young and aspiring leaders in any political movement should have.

The way in which these trainings were delivered was also unique. Participants from different countries and diverse backgrounds were thrown into different teams. The teams were also shuffled around so that in every exercise a participant would have different teammates. This forced every participant to quickly adapt and put themselves in different shoes. This perhaps was another skill aspiring leaders should have: dealing with quick changes and different people.

D. Buyandelger: The training is aimed at young leaders from the broader Asia Pacific region. The participants this year came from 14 different countries: five in South Asia; five in South-East Asia; two in North-East Asia (Mongolia and South Korea); and Australia and New Zealand.

D. Buyandelger: I think one key takeaway for me was, the actual travel experience. When you are in Mongolia, you have your circle of colleagues, friends and family relations. But one key feature of this programme is that FES Philippines actually flies you out to different countries within the region. And Mongolians usually don’t venture out to South Asia or South-East Asia, not as frequently as to North-East Asia anyway.

That in itself, going out to see people, to see the places that you ordinarily won’t go to, and to look at how things are, how people think, how they work, and learn from them has been very valuable. And this can be accomplished not only by speaking to other participants. Taking a walk, speaking to the taxi driver or the shopkeeper yields unique perspectives and gives deep insights from the countries that you visit. And of course, I also had the chance to speak to each and every participant and learn about their countries, the condition of labour, women’s rights, how they struggled to achieve what they have and keep on fighting for more rights and protections. This is in addition to all the wonderful inputs.

Another key takeaway is the PMT alumni network. We now have a network of motivated and highly talented individuals. We stay in touch and share knowledge amongst ourselves. Recently, when the South Korean President Yoon declared a martial law overnight, the participant from South Korea was giving us real-time updates as the situation developed. The PMT alumni network has also become a valuable source for my work.

D. Buyandelger: Well, for PMT since it is an international training you need to have a very good command of English. And you must have an open mind, so that you’re taking in the other persons views and perspectives without filter. Be outgoing and give others the opportunity to learn from you.

Having solid background knowledge [on your own country] is also very important. Training organizers asked us to prepare country reports on elections, for example. This required knowledge on Mongolia’s political system, civics, the state of human rights, welfare, and history.

D. Buyandelger: The countries in the region are mostly developing countries. There were three developed countries. Since Mongolia is also a developing country you would think we may have many common issues. But unlike most, Mongolia together with Nepal were the only landlocked countries.

Vietnam also has similarities to Mongolia because they are a socialist country and we were one until three decades ago. When the participant from Vietnam was doing her country report on the elections of the National People’s Congress in Vietnam, I couldn’t help but compare it to the political system of pre-democratic Mongolia.  

During the input about Malaysia I learned how Malaysia is hedging the interests of the larger neighbours: China, Australia and the United States. This balancing act reminded me of Mongolia’s declared foreign policy priorities as stated in the Foreign Policy Conception, which also tries to hedge the interests of Mongolia’s larger neighbours and the so-called third neighbour countries [besides China and Russia].

D. Buyandelger: Well, that’s a very big question, but I think FES has a very positive role in Mongolian society. First in the context of the partnership between ISS and FES, we have been working together to organize a quarterly discussion since 2022, since the pandemic, which gives a platform for young experts and professionals in the field to discuss Mongolia’s geopolitics and geo-economics.

We also collaborated on books, booklets and other materials aimed at a broader public, at people who are not experts but are interested in these issues. I think it is particularly interesting that one book we published first in English we then following popular demand published in Mongolian.

Beyond our partnership, FES Mongolia has more programmes, they collaborate with the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions and there are projects on raising the political knowledge and education of the general public in Mongolia, on training for female politicians, and many others.

One key programme I would like to note is that year before I read that there was a training program for female members of the Mongolian armed services, who go on UN peacekeeping missions. It would be beneficial if FES can continue this very important programme. Peacekeeping is a key UN role through which Mongolia contributes to regional and global peace and security, and female personnel are vital when it comes to engaging with the public, especially with local women and children.

D. Buyandelger: Thank you Tsatska for inviting me today to speak to you. I hope that I was able to provide useful information for future applicants to PMT. And I’m always ready talk about international relations and geopolitics.