Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places. Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Mercy Corps in Mongolia

15 YEARS OF PROGRESS

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places. Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Outline

Who is Mercy Corps Our history in Mongolia Selected results Our future plans

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places. Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Mercy Corps Global

40+ Countries

4,000 staff

Commitment to participatory development

Increasingly complex humanitarian response and development

challenges

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places. Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Approach

In our work, Mercy Corps Leverages the critical linkages between the public sector, private sector and civil society to support the creation of secure, productive and just communities

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places. Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Mongolia 1999-2015

22 Projects 7 donors: USDA, USAID, SDC,

British Embassy, World Bank, ADB, and the Adventurists

Rural economic development and access to finance

Environmental management Good governance and

decentralization Rural focus 20 aimags and

223 soums

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Loan Guarantee Mechanism

Results: Access to Finance Xac Bank Mercy Corps founded Goviin Ekhel MFI in 1999 to provide access to credit in 6 Gobi

aimags Merged with the UNDP MFI X.A.C. and converted to an independent commercial bank

in 2000 Provided a full array of banking services to micro and small businesses, consumers,

cooperatives and nomadic herders traditionally excluded from such services Mercy Corps served on the board until 2007 and continues as a shareholder

2004-2015 130,000 business owners participated in

fee-based training; 3,400 loans backed; 10-15% increase in income in first year.

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Participatory Local Planning:

Results: Good Governance

Social Inclusion and Accessibility for People with Disabilities Capacity building for local DPOs groups Public awareness campaigns on exclusion and accessibility Monitoring of local government and service providers to ensure accessibility Advocacy to secure physical accessibility of public spaces through new building

codes and to ensure implementation of educational and social welfare accessibility standards

Training to local government on their legal responsibilities to the disability community

Advocacy and activism to ensure accessible elections and polling placed

223 Soums have developed participatory local development plans Soum Master Plans (SMPs)

Participatory methodology developed locally and focused on building facilitation and decision-making skills

SMPs are being aligned with LDFs, SME funds and other block grants to promote transparent and effective spending at the local level

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Planning a business in Arhangai

Raising public awareness in Ulaanbaatar

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Livestock Early Warning System

Results: Environmental Management

Combines forage data and weather analysis through PHYGROW Tracks precipitation, day and night temperature Shows a variety of key forage information including: current forage

availability, 60-day forecast of forage availability and deviation from long-term norms

Presents risk analysis for drought and dzud Available on-line in Mongolian and English http://www.mongolialews.net/ Mercy Corps is partnering with LEWS, MNDI and Keio University to create

sms based information system to make LEWS data accessible to soum level administrators and herders

http://www.mongolialews.net/

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Livestock Early Warning System

Results: Environmental Management

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

What new impact will we achieve?

1. Resilient Pastoralism in the face of climate change, rapid urbanization and the need to modernize the food system

2. Strengthened systems that support rural entrepreneurship and business development

3. Continued improvement in local government capacity to plan, adapt and change under current socio-economic challenges

4. Improved understanding of environmental health and food safety for rural and urban Mongolians

5. New focus on migration, urbanization and youth employment

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

What will change or stay the same?

1. Continued focus on rural economic development and the institutional changes needed for strong growth in the non-mining economy

2. A new focus on systems analysis and setting systemic level objectives to address constraints faced by individual actors

3. Increased effort to form Shared Value partnerships with the private sector

4. Continued drive to strengthen the capacity of Mongolian partners to create local, innovative and impact oriented solutions; and a new initiative to evaluate the potential for forming a local develop entity

Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places. Saving and improving lives in the worlds toughest places.

Mercy Corps Mongolia 15 YEARS OF PROGRESS

Jennifer Bielman

Country Director

jbielman@mn.mercycorps.org