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This article illCUl‘pol‘lZlCS material
previouslypublished in One Countiy. the quarterly newsletter offlie Bahá’í'
International Community: 10:4 (Janum'y—Marc'lz 1999).
PROFILE‘MONGOLIAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER
1 n the summer of 1993, the Mongolian Ministry of Education granted permission for several Bahá’ís to create an organization devoted to providing education in social and economic development. Inspired by a holistic View of social progress, the organizers believed that the path to rural well-being begins with the individual, upon whose enthusiasm, expertise, and commitment the future of any development project ultimately rests. Not content with providing only material expertise, the organizers hoped to integrate material, intellectual, social, and spiritual education, with the aim of helping participants develop their latent capacities for service to the family, the community, and society. The project was dubbed the Mongolian Development Center (MDC).
Eight students enrolled in the Center’s first courses of commercial English and basic economic theory. By November 1993 the MDC had assumed status as a subdepartment of the Mongolian Technological University, and less than one month later the Chamber of Commerce and Industry officially recognized the
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A seminar on vegetable production in
~ » 1,, Erdenbulgan, sponsored by the Mngolian Development Center.
Center to students upon successful completion of both the commercial English course and the introductory economics course. Tuition fees and subsequent sponsorship by a Swiss corporation enabled the Center to maintain itself and expand into other areas of social and economic development.
Since its inception, the Center has gradually modified and expanded its range of activities. Its participation in the First International Symposium on the Development of Appropriate Technology resulted in public recognition of the Center’s achievements in the area of agriculture, and it began an agricultural project in the district of Baganuur. MDC also became actively involved in the promotion of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, which enhanced and strengthened its relationships with the government and with NGO officials. In 1995, the Center collaborated with UNICEF to sponsor a conference for all Mongolian NGOs focusing on the rights of children. On 11 June 1998, MDC was registered as an NGO by the Ministry of Justice, and in 1999 it achieved tax-free status.
By April 2000, the Mongolian Development Center’s activities were focused on three main areas: child development, capacity building and community development, and character development. The Center’s child development initiative involves various exhibitions, competitions, lectures, and teacher training—all related to the rights of children. A community gardening project in Erdenbulgan, Hovsgol Province, and the Integral Human Development project (which involves a demonstration garden plot at
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Charity School in Darkhan Province as well as tree planting on the school grounds and Charity School itselD fall under the heading of capacity building and community development. F inally, in connection to character development (or moral education), the MDC has translated a curriculum on character development previously developed by the Badi Foundation in Macau and teachers have been trained in it, allowing for the incorporation of the curriculum into six kindergartens in four provinces during 2000.
One of the Mongolian Development Center’s main initiatives has been the establishment of projects aimed at stimulating the production of vegetables. A very strong rural culture of herding animals exists throughout Mongolia, and greens are generally absent from the traditional diet. As a result, health specialists see signs of vitamin deficiencies and growth stunting. A child nutrition survey conducted by UNICEF in 1992—1993 documented a growing problem of malnutrition among children. In particular, deficiencies in vitamins A and D were identified as the main causes of several widespread health problems.
These circumstances make the changes taking place especially encouraging. The coordinator of the Poverty Alleviation Study Center reports, for example, that between 1990 and 1996, the
, 1
Children in a pumpkin patch in an area Q/‘Mongolia where, until [993, vegetables were not generally grown 01' consumed.
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number of families in Ulaanbaatar growing vegetables increased from 850 to 21,000.
Contributing to this change, the MDC has initiated a number of agricultural development projects in different districts of the country. The first was a systematic training program in a small district called Gachuurt, begun in August 1993, that introduced appropriate agricultural technology to allow people to improve the nutritional value of their diets by growing fruits and vegetables. A pilot gardening project in the Erdenbulgan region and a demonstration garden established on the grounds of MDC’s Charity School in Darkhan Province have also been successful in this regard.
The Erdenbulgan vegetable project was initiated in 1996 by a small group of Bahá’ís with the help of a small loan and the donation of seeds. It has provided an opportunity for local people to grow a greater variety of vegetables, thus improving their nutrition and supplementing their income through the sale of excess seedlings. The Erdenbulgan project’s success is reflected in the words of one participant, sixteen-year—old Amartuvishin, who says, “I now like vegetables very much. Vegetables are very important for good health, because they contain many vitamins and other nutrients.” Amraa, as he is known, is engaged in learning as much as he can about the process of preparing, growing, and cooking vegetables.
But even more important than its nutritional benefits, the project provides an avenue for participants to learn about—and put into practice—sound principles related to their own social and economic development. Families have joined together in groups to maintain their gardens, and their consultation and reflection on their actions have increased their capacity for collective action. As Davaadulam, a teacher in Erdenbulgan and a member of the local Bahá’í community, says, “Many people such as the elderly, children and youth have been involved in this project. The project has helped people to learn how to consult together, to work in harmony and to be united with one goal.”
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F or the 361/152 '1' c‘omnmnity Of Erdenbu/gan,flesh salads have become a 1 regular [real at : gatherings.
While the projects are small (only four families in Erdenbulgan and sixteen families in Darkhan are involved in this ongoing process of learning based on study, action, and reflection on action), they are having a positive impact on their communities. The participants’ improved decision-making skills, which contribute to the creation of unity of vision and action within the group, have attracted the attention of the wider community and of government organizations. To help sustain the proj ect and to share what has been learned through it with other groups, the MDC conducts training programs for farm workers and seminars for the public.
Maitar Tsend, the director of the Mongolian Horticultural Society, an independent NGO which has also launched its own campaign to encourage small—scale vegetable gardening, has noticed how the Erdenbulgan project has educated and empowered local people, who, during the Communist period, were prohibited from having gardens because they were considered private initiatives. “The whole Erdenbulgan population is much encouraged by the successful implementation of the project. And this is very important because it reflects a deep psychological change that is going on,” he says.
Charity School, another MDC-sponsored project, is located six hours by train from Ulaanbaatar and has an enrollment of three hundred students, one hundred of whom are disabled, poor, or orphaned. The project began in 1996 and has received funding from the Australian Agency of International Development at the
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Australian Embassy in Beijing. Moral education classes are offered as well as courses on nutrition and agriculture. As part of an effort to promote moral education, the school has opened a “Child Rights and Virtues Resource Room.” A demonstration garden is situated on the school grounds, and a tree—planting proj ect has been initiated in an effort to beautify the property. The local government has taken note of the progress being made by the sixteen families and the student group from the school that are involved in the various educational programs and gardening projects. Twenty students from Beijing have also toured the project, in a Visit facilitated by the Australian Ambassador. Charity School has networked with a number of NGOs, including the Red Cross of Mongolia, Peace Winds Japan in Mongolia, World Vision, Oyuntulhkuur Fund, Youth Union, and the Mongolian Association of World Peace, to enlist support for orphaned children and the Child Rights and Virtues Resource Room. Charity School is also used as a site for training programs conducted by MDC; the first courses on gardening and the social enterprise program were offered there in April 1999.
MDC’s achievements in social and economic development and its decentralized operations run by provincial proj ect facilitators—recognized by both government officials and NGOs—are known to the public as a result of television and radio news broadcasts. By making education the centerpiece of their development plan, the organizers of the Mongolian Development Center hope that the people it serves will be able to sustain and direct their own process of change, and by building relationships with likeminded organizations, government, and the public, MDC hopes to stimulate dialogue about the nature of development, education, and social progress.
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