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VSO - Sharing Skills, Changing Lives

Facts & Figures Population: 2.6 million Capital city: Ulaanbaatar GDP per capita: $2,056 HDI ranking: 116 out of 177 countries * Life expectancy: 63

* The UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) measures a country's achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.

Country background

VSO Mongolia volunteers work in the areas of health, secure livelihoods and education. In 1990, 70 years of Soviet-style communism were abandoned and while some households have benefited from more liberal policies on private trade, one-third of Mongolia’s population lives below the poverty line and unemployment is more than 50% in some towns. Many people have suffered from the sudden withdrawal of state support, particularly subsidies to the health and education systems.

The Mongolian education sector faces issues such as a high dropout rate amongst disadvantaged children, limited access to education for children with disabilities, low quality education, inadequate teacher training and a shortage of teachers in rural areas due to low salary and a lack of professional support. The VSO Mongolia education programme aims to improve the quality of teaching and increase the access of disadvantaged children to education by sending volunteers to work with the Ministry of Education and teacher training colleges on improving basic education methodology. Work is also going into raising awareness of the need for inclusive education and improving the special needs education skills of teachers.

VSO Mongolia has been involved in the health field since 1998. Volunteers have worked in nurse training institutions and hospitals training nurses. A new nursing curriculum, which volunteers helped to develop, is being implemented to varying degrees at the pre-service level. However the training provided is very theoretical and there are few opportunities for nurses to continue practical on the job development once they have qualified. As the government is focusing its resources on the large national hospitals in cities, VSO volunteers are concentrating on developing training for practising nurses in rural and outlying urban areas. Volunteer health managers are also training and supporting their Mongolian peers to develop health management and administration systems at regional and district levels.

Economic activity in Mongolia has traditionally been based on herding and agriculture. But a succession of 'dzud', or droughts and harsh winters, has led to the death of an estimated 1.4 million livestock since 1999. Over-grazing, illegal logging and lack of state regulation have further damaged the environment on which herders and farmers depend. Among the poorest are those living in ger (traditional tent) communities on the outskirts of towns. These communities suffer from high rates of unemployment and have little access to livestock. Secure Livelihoods is VSO Mongolia’s newest area of work.

Volunteer business advisers and management specialists are working in employment offices and training institutes to provide support to small businesses and groups of herders, helping them to improved the marketability of products, strengthen basic business skills and promote community-based tourism. Volunteers are also placed with job centres and training providers that are developing employment, income generation and vocational training opportunities for poorer communities.

Since its inception in 2003, VSO Mongolia’s national volunteering programme has encouraged stronger partnerships and collaboration with local volunteering organisations by highlighting the benefits of using national volunteers to meet other development goals and as a means of promoting civic participation, social solidarity and individual development. VSO is placing international volunteers with national partners across various sectors (including Education, Health and Secure Livelihoods) to build their capacity in strategic planning, volunteer training and management, communications and project management. VSO is also working with local volunteer-involving organisations to strengthen understanding about what volunteering means and encourage increasing support and contributions from government, local business, donors and local communities.