I have really enjoyed getting to know the two ex pats and all of the Mongolian here at CHF Mongolia as I have worked with them for three months. We enjoyed some good times last night but my camera does not want to transfer any of the pictures this morning so maybe later.
My trip here in Mongolia has been cut short by about three days in order for me to make a meeting in Ghana on Monday morning. There have been some scheduling problems for some of the CHF staff from Washington who were planning on attending the meeting so I am leaving in about two hours for Ghana for about four days.
CHF has been working there for a few years with the Gates Foundation so it will be an interesting meeting. Maybe my camera will be happy when it is in warm weather. Today it is snowing here in Mongolia......I wonder if it is snowing in Ghana????Just kidding....It is supposed to be 33 degree Celsius.
More about winding down in Mongolia when my camera is in a better mood.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Development Solutions Board Meeting
The Board of Directors of Development Solutions enjoyed a productive meeting on Thursday with the able guidance of Serjmaa, the new CEO of this non-profit organization. It was a two hour meeting and all items on the agenda were approved including The Business Plan presented to the Board by the Chair person of that committee. In the two pictures below you see Serjmaa and her staff on the left and four of the five Board members on the right. This was a special meeting for this new Board. The CHF staff have been working and planning for years for this spin off to the local Mongolian NGO and it finally happened.
Serjmaa and Bagana, the Program Director, have been working their way up the ladder of Development Solutions for about five years and now have the responsibility of supervising over 70 staff members located in 11 Branch offices in different parts of the country and the responsibility of a half million dollar budget, thanks to CHF, the US Dept.of Agriculture and USAID. Serjmaa, in addition to her other responsibilities as a CEO, had been working for two months with different Board members and Committee Chair persons in preparation for this meeting. It all paid off as everything was approved that was on the agenda and the meeting went smoothly.
You see here a picture of Serjmaa and Bagana congratulating one another after the meeting and then a picture of me congratulating them on a job well done.
Now all they have to do is keep 49 Business Advisers trained and being effective as they help micro and small businesses located in many parts of Mongolia become successful, during a global recession. Also in the process they will be shifting the focus of the Business Advisers to Agricultural clients now that funding is shifting from USAID to USAG.
They are very capable and committed staff and have a great support team working with them as they take on this challenging task. They also have the very competent, caring and committed staff of CHF Mongolia to help guide them through any rough spots they might encounter in this transition.
Serjmaa and Bagana, the Program Director, have been working their way up the ladder of Development Solutions for about five years and now have the responsibility of supervising over 70 staff members located in 11 Branch offices in different parts of the country and the responsibility of a half million dollar budget, thanks to CHF, the US Dept.of Agriculture and USAID. Serjmaa, in addition to her other responsibilities as a CEO, had been working for two months with different Board members and Committee Chair persons in preparation for this meeting. It all paid off as everything was approved that was on the agenda and the meeting went smoothly.
You see here a picture of Serjmaa and Bagana congratulating one another after the meeting and then a picture of me congratulating them on a job well done.
Now all they have to do is keep 49 Business Advisers trained and being effective as they help micro and small businesses located in many parts of Mongolia become successful, during a global recession. Also in the process they will be shifting the focus of the Business Advisers to Agricultural clients now that funding is shifting from USAID to USAG.They are very capable and committed staff and have a great support team working with them as they take on this challenging task. They also have the very competent, caring and committed staff of CHF Mongolia to help guide them through any rough spots they might encounter in this transition.
Monday, March 16, 2009
A View From Zaysan Tolgov
This weekend, I went up to the top of Russian Hill, as some call it. A small mountain just to the South of the city that has a large monument built by Russians before they left town called Zaysan Tolgov Memorial. It provides a great view of the city and the surrounding suburbs or Ger Communities, as they are referred to here in Ulaanbaatar. There is also a view of the railroad running down by the river.
The Mongolians think of America as their third neighbor. They have Russia to the West and North and they have China to the East and South. They still refer to America as their third neighbor and the language people prefer to learn by far is the English language.
Many countries continue to contribute to the growth and development of Mongolia and America is only one of many. I find it interesting that America through its Millenium Challenge program, created by Bush, is doing several things including health care assistance, vocational training and Perri-urban land entitlement programs. The largest part of the grant however is to upgrade the Trans Siberian Railroad. This is the major connection between Russia and China. Mongolia is rich in mineral resources and the only way you can really move things like coal, uranium, copper, gold and other minerals is with the use of the railroad.
Mongolia is very financially dependent on its mineral resources to underwrite its budget. However, it does not have the capital to develop the mines required to extract these minerals so they contract with companies from other countries like Russia to do this work. International Development work sure takes some interesting twists and turns.
Here are two snapshots of the city from Zaysan Tolgoy. The city of one and a half million people sits in a valley along side a small river and the railroad. The city extends upon to the hills in nearly every direction with uncontrolled suburban sprawl with no sewers or city water up in those areas.
I wanted to take the train back to China but it is a four day trip on a very slow train.
Friday, I was invited by a leader of a weekend program on Corporate Governance for Executives of larger Mongolian companies. I spoke for a short time about different aspects of working with a Board of Directors. One of the other guest speakers was a gentleman from Russia who was an expert on Corporate Governance. It was a good program. I have these fellows cards and thought maybe I should send them to Obama. Maybe he could hire this Russian and this Mongolian to go teach a course on Responsible Corporate Governance to our friends on Wall Street.
The Mongolians think of America as their third neighbor. They have Russia to the West and North and they have China to the East and South. They still refer to America as their third neighbor and the language people prefer to learn by far is the English language.
Many countries continue to contribute to the growth and development of Mongolia and America is only one of many. I find it interesting that America through its Millenium Challenge program, created by Bush, is doing several things including health care assistance, vocational training and Perri-urban land entitlement programs. The largest part of the grant however is to upgrade the Trans Siberian Railroad. This is the major connection between Russia and China. Mongolia is rich in mineral resources and the only way you can really move things like coal, uranium, copper, gold and other minerals is with the use of the railroad.
Mongolia is very financially dependent on its mineral resources to underwrite its budget. However, it does not have the capital to develop the mines required to extract these minerals so they contract with companies from other countries like Russia to do this work. International Development work sure takes some interesting twists and turns.
Here are two snapshots of the city from Zaysan Tolgoy. The city of one and a half million people sits in a valley along side a small river and the railroad. The city extends upon to the hills in nearly every direction with uncontrolled suburban sprawl with no sewers or city water up in those areas.
I wanted to take the train back to China but it is a four day trip on a very slow train.
Friday, I was invited by a leader of a weekend program on Corporate Governance for Executives of larger Mongolian companies. I spoke for a short time about different aspects of working with a Board of Directors. One of the other guest speakers was a gentleman from Russia who was an expert on Corporate Governance. It was a good program. I have these fellows cards and thought maybe I should send them to Obama. Maybe he could hire this Russian and this Mongolian to go teach a course on Responsible Corporate Governance to our friends on Wall Street.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
International Women's Day- March 8th
The United Nations established International Women's Day as an international holiday in its first Charter. Russia began the recognition in 1920. It is highly celebrated in many countries and especially those that have at one time or the other been a part of the Soviet Union. Everyplace I have gone for the last few days, they have been selling roses. The fellows in the CHF office here on the 6th floor and the fellows in the Development Solutions office on the third floor each had special celebrations for the women with whom they worked and I am sure the celebration were even more extravagant in their homes.
When Russia was dominant in Mongolia, it required 40% of the parliament to be women and now there is less than half of that number. When Russia was in charge their was universal education and literacy was higher then it is at this time. No one is wanting the Russians to return but one of the two major parties in Mongolia is MPRP, the communist party. It was the party when Russia pulled out but there is now another party the Democratic Union Party that gives the MPRP a run for their money at each election to see who can get the most members in the parliament, the Khural.
There has been almost no new infrastructure built in the cities since the Russians left. Most of the old 5 and 9 story apartment building built by the Russians are still occupied and are the primary living quarters of a vast majority of the city residents. There are a lot of new conventionally financed apartment structures being built but I have no idea how most Mongolians will be able to afford to move into them with the income structure here in Mongolia, where a waitress might make an equivalent to 150 dollars a month and I repeat, a month and teachers two to three times that amount.
But it was fun celebrating with the staff on International Women's Day.
Some of the fellows on the 6th floor had been preparing in secret for the Women's Day celebration at the end of the work day on Friday. A couple of them had asked me if I wanted to share in the event on Friday, so I tossed in my 8,500 Tugrugs, or about US $7.00 or less. CHF does not have funds for the parties. These are financed by staff contributions. There was cake, wine, candy and a rose for each one of the ladies. The guys suggested all of us men wear white shirts and black trousers, the uniform of the waiters in Mongolia. One picture shows us toasting the women and the other picture, if you will click on it and make it full page size, will show you how much fun they had with the party. The festivities lasted for only an hours and there was very little drinking but an enormous amount of laughter.
Development Solutions, the new NGO that has its offices on the third floor, pulled together a special celebration on Women's Day in their office with a little glass of wine and flowers at about 7 on Friday evening, then the fellows in that office took all of the ladies out to dinner. The pictures are of Serjmaa, the new CEO of Development Solutions and some of her Administrative and Finance Department staff.
The CHF team on the 6th floor enjoyed cake, and a beautiful cake it was, for desert at lunch in the accounting office as part of their Women's Day celebration. When the cake feast luncheon was over, I caught a picture of Oyunbayar Tserendorj, one of CHF's accountants going over some numbers with Jennifer Quellette, who has come out from Washington CHF office to do a final report on the Ger Initiative program.
When Russia was dominant in Mongolia, it required 40% of the parliament to be women and now there is less than half of that number. When Russia was in charge their was universal education and literacy was higher then it is at this time. No one is wanting the Russians to return but one of the two major parties in Mongolia is MPRP, the communist party. It was the party when Russia pulled out but there is now another party the Democratic Union Party that gives the MPRP a run for their money at each election to see who can get the most members in the parliament, the Khural.
There has been almost no new infrastructure built in the cities since the Russians left. Most of the old 5 and 9 story apartment building built by the Russians are still occupied and are the primary living quarters of a vast majority of the city residents. There are a lot of new conventionally financed apartment structures being built but I have no idea how most Mongolians will be able to afford to move into them with the income structure here in Mongolia, where a waitress might make an equivalent to 150 dollars a month and I repeat, a month and teachers two to three times that amount.
But it was fun celebrating with the staff on International Women's Day.
Some of the fellows on the 6th floor had been preparing in secret for the Women's Day celebration at the end of the work day on Friday. A couple of them had asked me if I wanted to share in the event on Friday, so I tossed in my 8,500 Tugrugs, or about US $7.00 or less. CHF does not have funds for the parties. These are financed by staff contributions. There was cake, wine, candy and a rose for each one of the ladies. The guys suggested all of us men wear white shirts and black trousers, the uniform of the waiters in Mongolia. One picture shows us toasting the women and the other picture, if you will click on it and make it full page size, will show you how much fun they had with the party. The festivities lasted for only an hours and there was very little drinking but an enormous amount of laughter.
Development Solutions, the new NGO that has its offices on the third floor, pulled together a special celebration on Women's Day in their office with a little glass of wine and flowers at about 7 on Friday evening, then the fellows in that office took all of the ladies out to dinner. The pictures are of Serjmaa, the new CEO of Development Solutions and some of her Administrative and Finance Department staff.
The CHF team on the 6th floor enjoyed cake, and a beautiful cake it was, for desert at lunch in the accounting office as part of their Women's Day celebration. When the cake feast luncheon was over, I caught a picture of Oyunbayar Tserendorj, one of CHF's accountants going over some numbers with Jennifer Quellette, who has come out from Washington CHF office to do a final report on the Ger Initiative program.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Planning Ahead In Mongolia
One of the impressive characteristics about CHF is its ability to plan ahead. I am enjoying working on an exciting transition here as this new Non Profit evolves and becomes a reality. One must understand, however, this has been in the planning stage for five years with a lot of thought and work going into this transition during the past five years.
CHF started in Mongolia about six years ago with a two year contract. It has now been working here for six years and is getting ready to begin a new two year Grant Program from the U.S. Dept of Agriculture. It is an interesting story how the Dept of Agriculture got into this and even a more interesting story on how CHF ever got started in Mongolia in the first place but those stories will have to wait. CHF has been able to stretch a two year contract into an eight year contract by planning ahead.
I heard the Ambassador from the U.S. talk the other day about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) here in Mongolia. One of its four components of 25 million dollars has to do with developing Vocational Schools here in Mongolia. Knowing CHF is involved in Vocational schools in Haiti, I mentioned it to Glenn and Brian. They in turn handed me a 73 page report prepared by CHF in preparation of applying for funding for the Vocational School program here in Mongolia, when MCC releases its notice to accept applications for funding. It is this kind of planning ahead that keeps CHF serving and growing.
You might ask what the pictures of the uncompleted buildings have to do with Planning ahead? They are pictures of how to do it if you don't plan ahead. The one picture of the half moon building, if it is ever completed will be a truly unique building but will it ever be finished is the question. The construction cost due to its design, the energy cost, the maintenance cost for this building will be enormous and the market for office space has already been overbuilt. The other pictures of building that are half constructed is a common sight almost anyplace you look in the city. There is no way the market that is very soft will be able to absorb all of this space with tenants.
It is great to be involved with a project, even as a short termer, where years of planning ahead make the work delightful rather than frightful.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tsagaan Sar
Happy New Year! Today all of the stores are closed and there is very little traffic on Peace avenue. Everyone is at home celebrating Tsagaan Sar. This is the last day of the last month of winter called white moon or white month. It is one of the two big holidays here in Mongolia and the office is closed for three days to celebrate. It is kind of like Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years all rolled into one celebration.
During the past couple of weeks, the ladies here in the office have been talking about all of the house cleaning and preparation they have been doing. The home has to be extremely clean and the celebration is primarily centered around Mongolian food and lots of it with some presents for everyone. I was lucky enough to be invited to two traditional Mongolian homes for Tsagaan Sar.
The top picture is a picture of Batbaatar Gurbazar and his mother. She was the oldest member of the family and only about ten to fifteen years younger then I am, so the celebration centered around her home and she sat at the head of the table.
Then there is the picture of part of the family gathered there in the home where Batbaatar and his siblings were raised. Tsagaan Sar is a celebration of the beginning of the new year with a major focus around honoring the oldest member of the family. Genghis Khaan started the tradition, when he went to visit his mother and pay her respect and honor.
In a lower picture you see another table that is set in the same way. It is the picture at the home of the mother of another CHF employee, Tuul Tuvshinbayar. Then lower down in the blog is a picture of Tuul's husband and son and a picture of her husband slicing the sheep.
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The picture of the little girl by herself is a picture of Alice, one of Glenn's three children. Glenn and his family and Brian and his wife were present at Tuul's mother's home for the celebration. Alice is wearing her Deel, the name of the traditional Mongolian dress. Usually on the street, except for folk more from the country side, people wear western dress but on Tsagaan Sar, many people were dressed in beautiful and brightly colored traditional Mongolian clothing. There is also the picture of Batbaatar's older brother and his daughter.
The Mongolian Tsagaan Sar is a terrific holiday and a great way to celebrate the New Year. There are many traditions that revolve around the celebration. I know only a few of the traditions and those only partially but I could fill the page just with the ones I know a little bit about. It is always a rich experience to be in a different culture and experience the very meaningful traditions that have been around for hundreds of years. If that is not enough to be grateful for, there is the fact that winter is officially over and it was warmer today, just for the occasion of the beginning of spring. I wonder how they say Hallelujah in Mongolian?
During the past couple of weeks, the ladies here in the office have been talking about all of the house cleaning and preparation they have been doing. The home has to be extremely clean and the celebration is primarily centered around Mongolian food and lots of it with some presents for everyone. I was lucky enough to be invited to two traditional Mongolian homes for Tsagaan Sar.
The top picture is a picture of Batbaatar Gurbazar and his mother. She was the oldest member of the family and only about ten to fifteen years younger then I am, so the celebration centered around her home and she sat at the head of the table.
Then there is the picture of part of the family gathered there in the home where Batbaatar and his siblings were raised. Tsagaan Sar is a celebration of the beginning of the new year with a major focus around honoring the oldest member of the family. Genghis Khaan started the tradition, when he went to visit his mother and pay her respect and honor.
In a lower picture you see another table that is set in the same way. It is the picture at the home of the mother of another CHF employee, Tuul Tuvshinbayar. Then lower down in the blog is a picture of Tuul's husband and son and a picture of her husband slicing the sheep.
/>
The picture of the little girl by herself is a picture of Alice, one of Glenn's three children. Glenn and his family and Brian and his wife were present at Tuul's mother's home for the celebration. Alice is wearing her Deel, the name of the traditional Mongolian dress. Usually on the street, except for folk more from the country side, people wear western dress but on Tsagaan Sar, many people were dressed in beautiful and brightly colored traditional Mongolian clothing. There is also the picture of Batbaatar's older brother and his daughter.
The Mongolian Tsagaan Sar is a terrific holiday and a great way to celebrate the New Year. There are many traditions that revolve around the celebration. I know only a few of the traditions and those only partially but I could fill the page just with the ones I know a little bit about. It is always a rich experience to be in a different culture and experience the very meaningful traditions that have been around for hundreds of years. If that is not enough to be grateful for, there is the fact that winter is officially over and it was warmer today, just for the occasion of the beginning of spring. I wonder how they say Hallelujah in Mongolian?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way
Coming out of California, where Pedestrians are always right, it is interesting to be in a country where just the opposite is true. Here in Mongolia Pedestrians have no rights. There are very few traffic lights and the ones that do exist are not given much attention. The good thing about this is that there are also no rules against Jaywalking. If you walk up to Peace Avenue, a major street with three heavily traveled lanes of traffic going both ways and you want to cross the street...Fine....Go For It. There will be other people Jaywalking and maybe you can trudge and dodge across with two or three other brave (or stupid) souls. If you get hit by a car, just remember that you might have to pay for the dent you cause in their fender.
This picture was taken on a side street on a Sunday afternoon, when there was not much traffic. One might ask if I was standing there waiting for a large dog to come along so I could pet it or maybe trying to explain to someone how high the snow gets in the Sierras for using snowshoes and making snow angels. Actually, I was signaling for a cab. You just put your hand out a little ways from your waist and cabs come a running. It is not like New York, where you have to wildly wave your hand above your head and whistle as loud as you can to get a taxi. Now there is a difference between Mongolia and New York in that here, anyone can be a taxi. There are a few cabs with meters but the vast majority are just guys or gals driving a car and they charge you about a 400 Tugrigs a Kilometer, roughly a dollar a mile.
Another difference between Mongolian and New York cabs is that the Mongolia cab drivers are usually in a good mood. It is not unusual for a cab driver here to be singing a simple song to himself as he drives through intense and demanding traffic snarls.
Since there are basically no street signs or house numbers (and there is no mail service)then you normally cannot give the driver an address so you just have to know where you are going and know three words....Cigeeree is straight, Zuun is left, and Baruun is right and there you go. It works every time....so far.
This picture was taken on a side street on a Sunday afternoon, when there was not much traffic. One might ask if I was standing there waiting for a large dog to come along so I could pet it or maybe trying to explain to someone how high the snow gets in the Sierras for using snowshoes and making snow angels. Actually, I was signaling for a cab. You just put your hand out a little ways from your waist and cabs come a running. It is not like New York, where you have to wildly wave your hand above your head and whistle as loud as you can to get a taxi. Now there is a difference between Mongolia and New York in that here, anyone can be a taxi. There are a few cabs with meters but the vast majority are just guys or gals driving a car and they charge you about a 400 Tugrigs a Kilometer, roughly a dollar a mile.Another difference between Mongolian and New York cabs is that the Mongolia cab drivers are usually in a good mood. It is not unusual for a cab driver here to be singing a simple song to himself as he drives through intense and demanding traffic snarls.
Since there are basically no street signs or house numbers (and there is no mail service)then you normally cannot give the driver an address so you just have to know where you are going and know three words....Cigeeree is straight, Zuun is left, and Baruun is right and there you go. It works every time....so far.
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