Thoughts From Mongolia II

Mongolia is a country which is in great transition and the changes are leading to a real sense of optimism. From 1920 until 1990, the country was under the Soviet thumb. Life was very predictable for most people and generally their needs were met. Even though democracy was absent and being part of the Communist Party was essential to future advancement, there was no homelessness, hunger was limited, people had jobs and everyone knew what to expect.

In the early ‘90s when the USSR ceased to exist, life became unpredictable and it was very difficult for older people and people with disabilities to plan out their lives or know what to expect. The social safety net was withdrawn and life was uncertain. I was talking with a woman today who was telling me how hard it was for many people. Political and social freedoms were a tremendous goal but if you did not know what to do with your freedom and you did not have food on the table life was scary. People now have a real degree of freedom, and with it comes homelessness, poverty, alcoholism and other social issues that we also see in the United States.

Eventually it seemed things started to settle down and Mongolia began to develop its market economy and take care of people as best as it could. New dollars started to come into the country from international organizations such as the World Bank and the IMF, and investment started to grow. Mongolia’s mining interests became a very attractive investment. The major mineral operations are tin, copper, gold, uranium and other metals.

Mongolia is one of the few countries where there are many more animals than people. More than 43 million cows, sheep, goats, camels and horses are in this country with only about two million people. There is a large export industry—mainly to China—of hides from the animals and other leather products. Cashmere is a major export and cashmere products from Mongolia go around the world.

I have really enjoyed talking with NGO leaders, an economist, grassroots folks, a woman who ran for the Parliament, the executive director of a major foundation and others. What is energizing to me is the excitement that people feel for the future of this country. Ex-patriots are beginning to move back to Mongolia to catch some of the “glitter” of being part of the future. There is a sense of optimism that the country is progressing. People want to be part of the train rather than being left at the station.

Even though the weather in the winter is absolutely brutal and tonight they are predicting a sand storm that has closed down the parliament and all public buildings, people are feeling positive about the future. Locals tell me the months of June-August are stunningly beautiful where all of the fields are blooming with wildflowers, and thousands of miles of brown terrain turn green. The lakes and mountains are majestic. These three months of magic apparently make up for nine months of winter.

In some of the countries I have visited, especially Africa, people are striving to get educated and go to universities and colleges for their degrees, but when they graduate where are the jobs? Here in Mongolia, despite the worldwide recession, there seem to be jobs being created, and investment is growing. Reading the English language newspapers during the past few days, the country is not lacking in investment opportunities.

Education is a very high value for families here. One woman who has five kids was telling me that whatever it takes, “even if we have to sell our house and rent an apartment, we will be sending our children to college.” People who have some money send their kids to England, Germany, and the U.S., or sometimes to Australia for higher education. The government provides scholarship monies for students to get bachelor’s and master’s degrees abroad if they agree to spend five years working in Mongolia. One of the largest foundations in the country has a scholarship program to pay for people to attend schools abroad. I have already talked with them about potentially developing a partnership with Regis University (in Denver) to bring people to the U.S. for educational training in leading and managing NGOs. By the way, the literacy rate in this country is almost 95 percent, making it one of the highest in the world.

Even though Mongolia is a young democracy less than 20 years old, the government is open to distension and oversight and is actually beginning to involve NGOs in the political role in this country. The environmental organizations recently signed an agreement with the Ministry to involve them in governmental activities impacting land use, mining, conservation and environmental issues. Organizations may question and lobby the government without any retribution.

In some countries such as Ethiopia, and I believe India, the government has been so threatened by the civil society organizations that they have actually passed legislation that disallows NGOs from questioning or lobbying against government policy. This is clearly an effort to limit the impact these organizations have on human rights issues. This is not the case in Mongolia. There is open media with newspapers and television stations and people are not intimidated or scared to question the government policies. The interesting thing to me is that Mongolia is a fragile country completely surrounded by Russia and China. Perhaps there is a statement here that is reflective of a sense of confidence on the part of this small country that says, “We are going to be the beacon of democracy in a sea of political constriction.”

Don’t get me wrong by thinking that this country is in great economic, social or political shape and I will be talking about these issues in future blogs. However, it does appear to me (after being here only a few days) that the foundation exists to establish a democratic country. People I have spoken with who are intimately involved and ordinarily critical of both the government and corporate interests are optimistic that things seem to be moving in the right direction.