Strategies for capacity building in a low-resource setting: Stakeholders' voices.
Mongolian stakeholders say autism services grow when locals partner, advocate, and empower—use these three levers before you ship in outside programs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team talked with parents, teachers, doctors, and non-profit leaders across Mongolia.
They asked one open question: "How can we grow autism services here?"
The talks were recorded, typed out, and sorted into themes.
What they found
Three big levers came up again and again: partnership, advocacy, and empowerment.
People said services grow fastest when local groups link arms, speak up together, and give families real power.
How this fits with other research
Ahlborn et al. (2008) first warned that autism help must move beyond rich nations. Rana et al. (2024) now show Mongolian voices echoing that same call sixteen years later.
Viljoen et al. (2021) found most parent data still come from wealthy countries. The new study fills the gap by letting low-resource parents speak for themselves.
de la Cruz et al. (2025) give BCBA-level lobbying tools. Mongolia’s grassroots ask for advocacy lines up perfectly—practitioners can bring the technical playbook to the community chorus.
Why it matters
If you consult in rural, low-budget, or international spots, start by forming a local circle. Invite parents, teachers, and clinic staff. Run a short meeting where each person names one barrier and one strength. Write both on a shared board. This single act hits the three levers: partnership (meeting), advocacy (naming barriers), and empowerment (valuing local voices). Use the list to pick your first small project instead of importing an outside plan.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Prevalence of autism is increasing all around the globe, but there is still great inequity in accessing evidence-based interventions. Although the field of autism research has made great strides in identifying and establishing evidence-based interventions, dissemination and implementation of these interventions have been reported as inequitable. This inequity is especially highlighted in many low-resource settings, such as Mongolia. As a field, there is still much to be learned about what strategies are used by stakeholders in low-resource settings to build capacity and to mitigate the hardships. To gain a deeper understanding of strategies for capacity building within a low-resource setting, we conducted five focus groups with 30 Mongolian caregivers of children with autism and 15 individual interviews with various professionals who work in Mongolia. These stakeholders reported three main strategies, including (a) partnership, (b) advocacy, and (c) empowerment, which included several strategies and implications on capacity-building practices. Furthermore, the findings from this study may suggest important implications for future intervention research.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2024 · doi:10.1177/13623613221127077