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.