Local “Engineers” Paving the Road to the World

The success of a subgrant project depends on many factors, but the advice and support of individuals who understand the specific needs of the locality are crucial. The local team members of the “Entrepreneurship-Focused Socio-Emotional Skills for the Most Vulnerable Youth in Rural Mongolia” project, responsible for monitoring, and evaluation, are precisely those individuals.

Students from the target soums complete the “Entrepreneurship-Based Personal Skills Development” (ESEL) training, form teams, develop project proposals, and participate in pitch competitions. The selected teams receive funding to implement their business ideas. Monitoring, and evaluation focal points oversee the entire implementation process at three key stages: the beginning, middle, and end of the project.

They also regularly provide guidance to project teams on how to report their results and what areas to focus on moving forward to achieve their goals.

P.Ganchimeg is a medical doctor and the head of the Shiveegobi soum Health Center in Gobisumber province. When the project Soum Level Counsel (SLC) was first established, she was serving as the governor of Shiveegobi soum. Later, she was appointed as the head of the project SLC.

She said, “When I took on this responsible position, the first and most important proposal I made was to collaborate on the project. After being appointed head of the project’s SLC, I presented the idea to the Soum Khural. I believed that this project must be implemented effectively, as it would significantly benefit the future of our children. I saw it as a pathway for the children of Shiveegobi Soum to connect with the world.”

P.Ganchimeg stepped down as the governor of Shiveegobi soum in 2023. With the new Governor taking on the role of head of the project SLC, she gladly accepted the position of monitoring, and the evaluation focal point, as it allowed her to witness the results of her efforts.

 

P.Ganchimeg is now applying her knowledge and skills gained through training and her experience as head of the project SLC to work successfully within the project. She provides valuable information and advice to the teachers and students of subgrant-selected project teams before they begin implementing their projects. She also assists in developing accurate progress and final reports, ensuring the teams stay on track and work sustainably while remaining aligned with the project’s main objectives.

“We received funding and faced real challenges when we started our activities,” said E.Bayasgalan, the operations manager of the “Wifi Zone” project team. “We converted a school corridor into a Wi-Fi zone within our existing budget. However, the average time children spent in the school environment and outside of school hours was only 1-2 hours.

The monthly service fee was set at 5,000 MNT, which seemed high given the limited time children used the internet. Since lowering the price wasn’t an option, we approached the soum’s monitoring and evaluation focal point, P. Ganchimeg, for advice. She helped us find a reasonable solution to the problem.

With an average of 25 students per class, all of whom were interested in accessing the internet at an affordable price, we met with the teachers and proposed unlimited internet access for the entire class for 20,000 MNT per month. They supported the idea, and we are grateful that we were able to implement our project smoothly.”

To date, a total of 16 subgrant projects have been successfully implemented in Shiveegobi soum. P. Ganchimeg emphasized, “I am a doctor with a duty to reach every household in my soum and help everyone. At the same time, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with this project, which has allowed me to listen to the wishes of every local child, build their capacity, and pursue my goals with passion. It has also taught me the value of collaboration working together, listening to others, learning from them, and most importantly, identifying and solving problems, either individually or as a team.

The success of the subgrant projects selected from our soum can be attributed to the cooperation and dedication of the project’s SLC members, the efforts of many individuals, including school administration, trainer facilitators, business coaches, local project coordinators, and the passion and enthusiasm of the children and youth implementing the projects. All of these efforts came together to achieve great results.”

Our conversation ended with her heartfelt blessing: “May the dreams and hopes of every child endure for a lifetime.”