Back to business

After almost a week off for Naadam, everyone was back in the office today ready to get back to work. As our MCC Resident Country Director Robert Reid reminded us in the staff meeting this morning, there are 3 years and 2 months left to complete the Compact. Just a few updates on recent project activities: The Peri-Urban Project is almost finished with its field verification process, only two soums left. After the process is completed and the project receives a 'no objection' from MCC, the PIU will be able to begin project implementation. The Vocational Education and Training Project has finalized a list of vocational facilities that will be renovated. The Health Project signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education and Science and will be developing a new curriculum for health education in the country. The Health PIU has also finalized a list of hospitals that will be receiving new mammography machines. The Energy and Environment Project signed an MOU with the UN Development Programme last week to subsidize energy efficient homes in UB and will be signing MOUs with the Minister of Minerals and Energy and Khan Bank in the near future to collaborate on providing subsidies for energy efficient products.

Happy Naadam!

MCA-Mongolia will be off for three days next week for the Naadam national holiday. If you're in Mongolia, hope your Naadam is filled with lots of khuushuur and good times!

Health Project grants award ceremony

Yesterday, the Health Project awarded approximately $860,000 in small grants to 93 award winners. The grants ceremony was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and MC'ed by famous Mongolian radio host Ravdan. The Mongolian minister of health and the U.S. ambassador both presented the awards to some of the winners, along with representatives from MCA and MCC. Two award winners addressed the audience -- a representative from a hospital who praised the transparency of the grants process and the timeliness of the project in addressing serious health issues in Mongolia related to Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries and a representative from the Mongolia Education Alliance, an NGO that will use its grant to implement an interactive seat belt awareness campaign that will involve the participation of school children. In total, the Health Project will be awarding $3 million in small grants.

MCA briefs U.S. ambassador on quarterly progress

Ulaanbaatar (www.mca.mn) – United States Ambassador to Mongolia Jonathan Addleton visited MCA headquarters this morning to receive his quarterly briefing on the activities of MCA’s Project Implementation Units (PIUs) from March 2010 to this month. MCC Director Resident Country Director Robert Reid, MCA CEO S.Bayarbaatar, PIU directors, and other key members of MCC/MCA leadership and staff attended the meeting. Ambassador Addleton opened the meeting by remarking on the importance of the quarterly briefings on keeping him informed about the progress of MCA projects and stressing the importance of taking full advantage of the summer months to implement project activities. The project directors then presented brief summaries of their projects’ major activities since March.

The Peri-Urban Project presented its progress on herder group selection for the leasing of peri-urban pasture lands and selection and assessment of hundreds of land plots to be leased to these herder groups. The project also mentioned its successful efforts in implementing public awareness campaigns including a partnership with Education TV to inform the public about the project’s efforts. The Property Rights Project presented its key activities in improving land registration and registering ger area residences in Ulaanbaatar and its wider aim of reforming Mongolia’s property registration process. The Vocational Education and Training Project’s main activities included the completion of a nationwide labor market study, the identification of 15 vocational schools that will receive equipment upgrades, and the establishment of three centers of excellence for the construction, mining, and health sectors. The Health Project summarized its key activities which included the planning and hosting of an international conference on Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries that took place in April. The Road Project discussed its progress on selecting contractors and beginning the pre-construction activities on the 176.4 km road from Choir to Sanshand and road and bridge construction in Ulaanbaatar. The Energy and Environment Project discussed its work with engineers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in testing energy-efficient stoves and insulation for gers and small houses for eventual distribution to residents. The Communication Team mentioned its efforts to publicize MCA activities through activities including a radio drama broadcast on national public radio, articles published in Mongolian newspapers, and the release of MCA’s 2009 annual report.

Ambassador Addleton also discussed with the project directors some of the challenges that have risen this quarter including the Peri-Urban Project’s additional fieldwork, currently underway, to ensure their project’s compliance with a World Bank resettlement policy. The ambassador expressed his optimism about the work of MCA in future project implementation and his willingness to help the organization achieve its goals in various capacities.


MCC Resident Country Director Robert Reid and Ambassador Addleton.


Ambassador Addleton speaking with MCA CEO S.Bayarbaatar.

Field visit with TVET Project in Dornod aimag

Tushig and I returned from a successful trip to Dornod aimag on Wednesday night. Dornod was a nice change of pace from the hectic-ness of UB. It had one of the flattest landscapes I've ever seen, and the sun rose at around 4 a.m. We went to observe and document a lottery process that MCA's Vocational Education and Training Project (TVET) was implementing at two of the vocational schools in Choibalsan for admitting students for the 2010-2011 school year. Basically, MCA's TVET project, which has a budget of over $40 million, is aimed at increasing employment and income among unemployed and marginally employed Mongolians by modernizing the country's Vocational Education and Training system. The lottery admissions process ensures that MCA is able to evaluate the true impact of the project on the vocational schools and students' lives. Having an admissions process that is based on randomized selection of students gets rid of selection bias (for example, selection of students based on GPA, test scores, etc.) and ensures that when MCA measures the impact of its project on individual students, it will be measuring impact based on the success of the project and not on the schools' selection criteria. The lottery process also allows for a fairer and more transparent admissions process because there is no evidence that someone with a high GPA in high school will be a better vocational student than someone with a lower GPA. Although the lottery process itself was a bit tedious, it really was proof of how serious MCA/MCC is about ensuring transparency in all of its projects. MCC has a very interesting approach to monitoring and evaluation and heavily emphasizes this component in its compacts.

We were able to visit the two schools and talk to students, instructors, and administrators. It was very apparent that these schools could do a lot with the grants and training that the MCA TVET project will provide. Both schools were in need of some serious repairs and new, modern equipment. But it was also very apparent that there are some very dedicated teachers and an abundance of talent and potential in the student bodies of the two schools.

Some pictures from our trip:


A student at the Vocational Training Institute of Dornod.


The delicious results of a cooking class' final exam at Dornod Phased Technical School.


Audience members anxiously awaiting the results of the lottery at Dornod Phased Technical School.


A student in the cooking program in the middle of her final.


A mother whose daughter won admission into the construction program of the Vocational Training Institute of Dornod.


Our colleagues Richard and Jackie from Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) explaining the lottery process.

New week...

In a few hours, PR specialist Tushig and I are leaving for Dornod, an aimag in eastern Mongolia, with some colleagues from the Vocational Education and Training Project for a few days. The project will be holding their first lottery for spots in the vocational school in Dornod. We're going to document the process and talk to some of the students who are/will be benefiting from the vocational training offered at this school. This will be my first trip out of UB so I'm looking forward to seeing a different part of this huge country. Some other things going on this week:

-Property Rights will be holding a regional workshop for land officers.
-The Peri-urban PIU (Project Implementation Unit) has two teams currently in the field outside of Darkhan, and they have so far visited roughly 150 land plots to determine their suitability for leasing. The PIU will also be holding a procurement workshop on Tuesday.
-The Energy and Environment Project is continuing their stove testing with the engineers from the Lawrence Berkeley Natl. Lab.
-MCC will be briefing the U.S. ambassador next week on the progress of all the projects in the past few months.
-And you may have heard...there's also a little event called the World Cup that's going on right now.


Will be back with updates on our trip to Dornod!

On the road...

MCA's Communications Officer, Baika, just came back from a field trip to the Road Project and took some great pictures I thought I'd share. The road will connect the Russian border in the north at Altanbulag to the Chinese border in the south at Zamiin Uud. MCC is funding a 176 km section of the road from Choir to Sainshand. Construction of this section recently began.



The road before paving begins.



The Road Project deputy director and director observing the progress.



Local residents being informed of the project.

Happy Monday

Another weekend in UB flew by, and it was back to work early this morning. A few new faces at our weekly Monday meeting -- two consultants from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California and Josh, a fellow intern who just arrived from Boston a few days ago. The two consultants are here working with MCA's Energy and Environment Project (EEP) on testing energy-efficient stoves -- part of EEP's efforts to increase the use of energy-efficient products in homes. Josh will be working on increasing the number of bids for project procurements and also lending a hand to the EEP team. We also have two more interns from the U.S. coming this week, so there will be plenty of Americans running around the office this summer.

Other events:

-The Property Rights project implementation unit (PIU) held a land administration workshop last week and had some appearances in local media including a local newspaper and an appearance on Education TV.
-The Vocational Education and Training PIU will be releasing the results of a big labor market study this week.
-The Health PIU will be holding a procurement workshop for bidders this week and are planning a grants awards ceremony for later this month.
-The North-South Road PIU just returned from an important field visit last week where they met with several governors and the project contractor.
-The Public Affairs team is planning an Open Door Day for July, inviting public relations specialists and journalists to come and learn more about MCA projects.

Some food for thought, an article about the widespread death of livestock (nearly a fifth of the country's) in Mongolia this winter, an issue that is costing many herders their livelihoods.

Summer in Mongolia

Hi friends,

My name is Emilie and this summer, I am interning at MCA-Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar with the Public Relations team. I will be documenting my experiences at MCA along with updating you on MCC/MCA projects and events on this new blog. As a graduate student studying International Development, this internship is an exciting opportunity for me to experience firsthand how development is being implemented in Mongolia through MCC and its collaboration with the Government of Mongolia. Through field visits, I will get the chance to observe the progress of MCA's major projects and their success stories such as the North-South Road Project and the Peri-Urban Project. The Public Relations department will also be active this summer and is planning various workshops and events in the next few months. I welcome you to follow my summer experiences as I attempt to make sense of this vast and dynamic country and the work of MCA in reducing poverty through economic development. If you have a blog about development, Mongolia, or any other relevant subject, please let me know and I will link to it.

More posts and pictures to come...