Building Friendships Face to Face, Beyond Smartphone Screens
From Initiative to Project, and From Project to Reality
Since 2020, Save the Children has been implementing the “Entrepreneurship-Focused Socio-Emotional Skills for the Most Vulnerable Youth in Rural Mongolia” project across Khovd, Zavkhan, Uvurkhangai, Gobisumber, and Sukhbaatar provinces. As part of the initiative, ESEL training sessions have been successfully held in Shiveegobi soum of Gobisumber province. The graduates of this training program have launched a total of 12 small business projects (Subgrants). Here’s a success story from one of them: the “Fun Day” project.
There’s So Much I Learned from the ESEL Training
My name is O.Enkhbayar, and I’m 18 years old. I’m currently a first-year student at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology. In the spring of 2022, I participated in the ESEL training as part of the “Entrepreneurship-Focused Socio-Emotional Skills for the Most Vulnerable Youth in Rural Mongolia” project.
This training helped me develop valuable skills in time management, financial accounting, report writing, and teamwork. I also had the chance to make many new friends, some of whom are now part of the “Fun Day” project team. We feel fortunate to be among those who have turned our dreams and ideas into real projects by writing proposals and bringing them to life.
Through the ESEL training, our team gained essential skills and knowledge in communication, innovation, and understanding others. In recent years, smartphones have become a constant presence in the lives of young people, making face-to-face interaction with friends and family less common. With this in mind, we decided to create a space where students could spend their free time productively engaging with family and friends outside of class, playing intellectual and sports games, and fostering genuine, face-to-face relationships among our students.
Turning Our Ideas and Initiatives into Reality
We started by identifying our own needs. Personally, I enjoy playing table tennis, but there was no place for children in our soum to play the game. So we conducted a needs assessment survey among all the students in the soum. Out of 420 students surveyed, 75% reported spending their free time on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. This excessive screen time has led to a noticeable decline in their ability to think freely and independently, as many become addicted to the online world. This issue is common in small soums like ours.
Children in our community often spend too much time online because there are no suitable spaces or extracurricular activities for them to engage in during their free time. To address this, we came up with the idea for the “Fun Day” project to change the situation, starting with ourselves.
Through this project, we’ve been able to offer optional services to all students in our soum. We promoted physical health through fun games, strengthened social bonds, encouraged productive use of free time with family and friends, and created an environment where both intellectual and sports activities can be enjoyed. Children who come to use the space can choose from three types of activities: 1) Art, including 4D dance; 2) Sports, such as table tennis, darts, and table football 3) Intellectual Development, including chess, checkers, IQ games, and board games.
Instilling Healthy Habits in Families and Children
Our project offers numerous benefits. By visiting our service center, families and friends can enjoy a warm, welcoming atmosphere and create lasting memories. Students can visit during holidays to participate in a variety of competitions and activities. This provides them with the opportunity to spend their free time productively while developing healthy habits. Through these games, participants not only improve their teamwork skills but also build strong relationships and cultivate a sense of responsibility.
In our soum, there is a place where people play table tennis and billiards, but it is often associated with drinking and smoking, creating an unhealthy environment for children.
In contrast, our “Fun Day” center stands out from the competition in many ways. We provide a clean, safe, and eco-friendly space that is free from harmful habits for both families and students.
We offer up-to-date, high-quality equipment tailored to the age and needs of our clients. In collaboration with local and provincial teachers, we regularly organize activities such as table tennis training for local children and youth, family competitions, and recreational events. We also host successful table tennis and darts competitions at both the soum and school levels.
The Next Phase of the “Fun Day” Project
The original team behind the “Fun Day” subgrant project was made up of high school students. In the summer of 2023, they selected younger students from the ESEL class who shared their aspirations. Upon their graduation, the high school students passed the project on to them, ensuring its continuation and expansion to reach an even wider audience.
We are happy that we are able to turn our ideas into reality and create new opportunities for learning and growth together. On behalf of all the children in our soum, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the team at Save the Children for making this opportunity possible.