Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report

Project Number: 31241-01 31 January 2007

MONGOLIA: Capacity Building in Agriculture (Financed by the Special Fund)

Prepared by Agrarwirtschaftliche Beratung Gottingen GmbH (ABG) Oberdorf 30, 37136 Landolfshausen, Germany

For Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Mongolia

This consultant’s report does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB or the Government concerned, and ADB and the Government cannot be held liable for its contents.

Capacity Building in Agriculture ------Project Completion Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PROJECT SYNOPSIS...... 3 1.1 OBJECTIVES ...... 3 1.2 OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES...... 3 2. SUMMARY...... 6

3. PROGRESS SINCE PROJECT START...... 7 3.1 INTRODUCTION ...... 7 3.2 COOPERATIVE TRAINING COMPONENT ...... 7 Output 1: Training programmes and materials are developed...... 7 Output 2: Staff at the Co-operative Training Centre, including 60 trainers and business consultants and 20 auditors and accountants, are trained...... 9 Output 3: The facilities of the training center in Ulaanbaatar are improved and provincial co-operative training centers in the capitals of the four western provinces are set-up...... 16 3.3 PASTURE MANAGEMENT COMPONENT ...... 19 Output 4: Current winter and summer pasture uses are identified, information on the use of wells and data on inoperative wells are collected...... 19 Output 5: Feasibility analysis regarding the design and establishment of local grazing associations, district pasture co-management units and provincial pasture co-management committees able to advise the governor on formulating land management plans are made...... 25 Output 6: Land management plans for selected areas are made...... 29 Output 7: Chosen herder groups are trained in new pasture management and the sustainable use of wells, provincial and district staff involved in land management have been trained...... 35 3.4 COOPERATION WITH COUNTERPARTS ON THE NATIONAL LEVEL ...... 40 3.5 COOPERATION WITH COUNTERPARTS ON THE LOCAL LEVEL...... 41 3.6 COOPERATION WITH ASDP AND OTHER PROJECTS...... 42 4. PROJECT COORDINATION ...... 44 4.1 MANAGEMENT BY CONTRACTOR...... 44 4.2 MANAGEMENT BY CONTRACTING AUTHORITY...... 44 4.3 MONITORING AND EVALUATION BY MOFA...... 45 4.4 PROJECT MID-TERM REVIEW BY ADB ...... 46 5. SUSTAINABILITY...... 46 5.1 SUSTAINABILITY OF COOPERATIVE TRAINING CENTRES...... 46 Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Centre: ...... 46 Provincial Cooperative Training and Information Centres...... 53 5.2 SUSTAINABILITY OF THE PASTURE MANAGEMENT COMPONENT ...... 53 6. ANNEXES ...... 556 ANNEX 1. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF “COOPERATIVE TRAINERS AND BUSINESS CONSULTANTS TRAINING”..... 56 ANNEX 2. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF “COOPERATIVE ACCOUNTANTS AND AUDITORS” TRAINING...... 58 ANNEX 3. MAP OF HERDERS GROUP BOUNDARIES...... 59 ANNEX 4. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF “NATIONAL PASTURELAND SEMINAR” ...... 60

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1. PROJECT SYNOPSIS

1.1 Objectives The objectives of the TA component on co-operative training are to train co-operative advisory staff who will then provide assistance to co-operatives on how to improve their activities, and to improve the institutional set-up for providing increased advice to co- operatives.

The objectives of the TA component on sustainable pasture management are to support the implementation of the 1995 Land Law and to test pilot alternative approaches for improving grazing patterns based on pasture co-management arrangements between government staff and herder groups.

1.2 Outputs and activities Output 1: Training programs and materials are developed z develop a training program and materials for the training of co-operative trainers and business consultants z develop a training program and materials for the training of co-operative auditors and accountants

Output 2: Staff at the Co-operative Training Centre, including 60 trainers and business consultants and 20 auditors and accountants, are trained z select trainees from Ulaanbaatar z assist in selecting trainees participating in the training of co-operative trainers and business consultants, auditors and accountants, who will then work as co-operative trainers and business consultants for co-operatives in the four western provinces under the ASDP component on co-operative development z in the first year (2002), conduct a 20-day training course for about 20 trainees from Ulaanbaatar and 20 trainees from the four western provinces z in the second year (2003), conduct a 20-day training course for another 20 trainees from the four western provinces z set up a work program for the domestic Trainer of Co-operative Trainers and Business Consultants z provide follow-up assistance to the trained co-operative trainers and business consultants as required

Output 3: The facilities of the training center in Ulaanbaatar are improved and provincial co- operative training centers in the capitals of the four western provinces are set-up z assist the training center in Ulaanbaatar to find a new location z refurbish or, if needed, design a new business plan for the training center in Ulaanbaatar, including a service package offering a clear and realistic income forecast z design and implement a training campaign for the training center in Ulaanbaatar z make the training center running and achieve an increase in self-financing z advise the management of the training center on all management topics z identify a sustainable organizational structure for the training centers in the provinces, including a service package and practical income generating z elaborate business plans for the training centers in the provinces z define and purchase the equipment needed for the training centers in the provinces

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z select and train management staff and trainers z design and implement training campaigns for the training centers z assist in the overall strategy and the day-to-day management of the training centers z create links between the national and the regional training centers

Output 4: Current winter and summer pasture uses are identified, information on the use of wells and data on inoperative wells are collected. z assess the available information on existing land resources, land uses, and the allocation of land rights in pasture areas in the four western provinces, including (a) current winter, spring, soummer and autumn pasture uses, (b) the use of wells and data on dysfunctional wells, (c) the allocation of possession rights to winter camps and pasture land (and possibly also to small plots under the Green Revolution Program, in connection with the ASDP component of the Green Revolution Program), and the issuance of contracts and certificates z assess additional information gathering needs to ensure a sufficient inventory

Output 5: Feasibility analysis regarding the design and establishment of local grazing associations, district pasture co-management units and provincial pasture co- management committees able to advise the governor on formulating land management plans is made z assist the respective district and provincial governments in putting together the available information on existing land resources, land uses and the allocation of land rights in pasture areas z assist the respective district and provincial governments in gathering additional information, as required z increase the participation of affected groups such as herders (or Green Revolution Program participants) in Land Law policy making and implementation on the provincial and district levels, explore the feasibility of setting up (a) local grazing associations consisting of representatives of herders using particular pasture areas and wells; (b) district pasture co-management units consisting of district staff involved in land management and land user representatives, tasked with assisting the district governor in formulating land management plans and resolving land disputes; and (c) provincial pasture co-management units consisting of provincial staff involved in land management and land user representatives, tasked with assisting the provincial governor in formulating land management plans and resolving land disputes z in selected areas, assist in setting up (a) local grazing associations, (b) district pasture co-management units, and (c) provincial pasture co-management units; provide advice, as necessary

Output 6: Land management plans for selected areas are made. z plan an information campaign, including the publication of information through newspapers and radio broadcasts (in connection with the ASDP component on Rural Communication Links), the distribution of materials by provincial and district staff, and meetings of trained officials with local herders z assist in drafting implementation rules for the provincial and district levels in line with the Land Law and other national regulations z advise district and provincial governments on designing and implementing land management plans

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Output 7: Chosen herder groups are trained in new pasture management and the sustainable use of wells, provincial and district staff involved in land management have been trained. z prepare training materials, and conduct training for responsible staff on the provincial and district levels on steps needed to implement the Land Law regarding pasture land, and dispute resolution methods. z prepare training material, and organize training for herder groups, who use particular pasture areas and wells, on Land Law and land rights issues. z in collaboration with provincial, district, and PIU staff, conduct training for herder groups who use particular pasture areas and wells, on land law and land rights issues.

Project Starting date: 23.1.2002

Project Duration: 60 months

Project Funding: 750.000 USD, Grant from Asian Development Bank for TA

Project Target regions: the 4 Western Aimags (Zavkhan, Gobi-Altai, Uvs and Khovd) and Ulaanbaatar

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2. SUMMARY

In January 2002 the ADB-funded TA project “Capacity Building in Agriculture" has started, the implementation has been finalized in January 2007. It aims to promote cooperative development and pasture management in the four Western provinces of Mongolia i.e. Zavkhan, Khovd, Gobi-Altai and Uvs Aimags, which are characterized by a high incidence of poverty, in order to strengthen rural organizations in the respective areas. The TA program is complemented by a loan program "Agricultural Sector Development Program (ASDP)” to promote economic development in the same Western provinces.

The project national counterpart on the Mongolian side was Mr. Nergui, Head of the Policy Implementation and Coordination Department in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

The TA successfully provided capacity building in the areas of cooperative training and sustainable pasture management as a prerequisite for the successful implementation of the cooperative development and the well rehabilitation activities of the ASDP program. Under the TA cooperative component training programs and materials were developed and 52 trainers and consultants as well as 28 auditors and accountants were trained. They are now available to provide advice to On the job training for auditors in a rural co- cooperatives in the ASDP project Aimags on operative how to improve their business activities and their management performance. The trainers and consultants have already provided training to about 7.000 cooperative members and consulted many cooperatives, which obtained loans from the ASDP. The auditors however have not yet been utilized under ASDP. The TA improved facilities of the Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Center and of two Regional Cooperative Training Centers in Zavkhan and Hovd Aimag. The RCTC in Uvs and Gobi Altai Aimag have not been equipped, due to changes in ADB management and linked with that contractual and management difficulties appeared.

Under the TA pasture management component a comprehensive set of data on pasture uses, use of wells and herders’ groups in 8 pilot Soums was collected. 27 wells were identified and have been rehabilitated under the ASDP. About 80 herders’ groups with 600 households were identified and trained in pasture and well management. In 16 cases they were assisted in concluding long term land use agreements with the Soum governors. In 8 Soums working groups were established and trained, which gradually take over the tasks of Soum pasture co-management units. They advise the Soum governor on formulating land management plans and on supporting further herders’ groups.

Due to unresolved contractual difficulties entailing financial constraints in the project operational budget and changes occurred in the internal administration of ADB in 2005 project progress since then was less progressive than expected. The contract between the Contracting Authorities and the Consultant was partly fixed in Euro. Due to the Euro / US Dollar exchange rate development since 2001 the Euro was for ADB much more expensive to buy then in the beginning of the project. In spite of the possibility to buy Euro future contracts, ADB deducted the additional costs to buy Euro from the existing contract. Budget lines like local transport and office management were in the middle of the project suddenly cut by 60 per cent. All efforts of the Consultants i) to convince ADB to finance

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Euro / US Dollar fluctuation from sources outside of the contract or ii) to reduce such budget lines which are not essential for running the project ended without success.

The responsible project manager in ADB changed during lifetime of the project five times, invoices and documents send to ADB have been lost twice and have been all re-done by the Consultants.

The mid-term review was very late during project lifetime and quiet confusing. After the mid-term review the ADB project manager has been replaced.

However, most outputs had already been achieved or were nearing accomplishment before project progress was slowed-down by problems described above.

Nevertheless, more inputs were still needed to enable Provincial Cooperative Training Centers to contribute more substantially to the ASDP implementation. The work on designing and implementing land management plans suffered from running out transport budgets based on the 60 per cent reduction. The same applies to the analysis of lessons learnt, to the development of replicable models and to their dissemination within the ASDP project region through workshops, brochures and a newspaper.

3. PROGRESS SINCE PROJECT START

3.1 Introduction

In line with the given outputs the project can be divided into two components: The Cooperative Training Component (Outputs 1 to 3) and the Pasture Management Component (Outputs 4 to 7). In this final report project progress will be presented along these 2 components and the corresponding outputs.

3.2 Cooperative Training Component

Output 1: Training programmes and materials are developed.

The international expert commissioned to develop the training programmes and materials, Dr. Axel Wolz, carried out his mission in Mongolia from 24 February until 24 March 2002. With the help of the national trainers relevant material and background information for both planned training courses (i.e. Training of Cooperative Trainers and Business Consultants as well as Cooperative Accounting and Auditing) were elaborated. A comprehensive manual was drafted. During the actual implementation of the training course this manual was further elaborated and completed by the corresponding international and local experts and a final manual produced in English and Mongolian language which comprises the following parts:

• Structure and Setting up of Cooperatives • Secondary Cooperatives

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• Business Planning for Cooperatives • Information Notes on International Accounting • Assessment of Business Plans of Cooperatives • Cooperative Consulting and Business Planning • Organization and Management of Regional Cooperative Support Centres • Training of Trainers (Conceptual Issues) • Methods for Cooperative Training

With respect to the course “Co-operative Auditing and Accounting”, teaching material in Mongolian language, which is referring to business companies in general has been elaborated especially tailored to the situation of Mongolian co-operatives. A copy of a draft English manual was produced and has been further adapted during the corresponding training course.

Besides fulfilling their regular tasks, the international expert for training material development and the national expert had been invited by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to join the discussion at Parliament on 7 March 2002 about the revision of the Cooperative Law. Two draft laws had been prepared during the months before once it had been realized that the existing Law from 1998 did not meet all requirements. The major issues, which have had to be revised, referred to co-operative auditing and the role of savings and credit co-operatives. The international expert had been invited to give his comments in which he stressed the need for proper external audit in order to make cooperatives viable business entities in the future; an issue which was supported by the training courses. The discussion concluded that the MPs and the co-operative federations would set up a working group and finalize a joint draft supposed to be discussed by Parliament during the Autumn Session, i.e. by early October 2002.

Regarding the accounting and auditing training manual substantial revisions have been done during the second training course in 2003 to reflect above all changes in the Cooperative Law.

The Training Manual for Co-operative Auditors in Mongolia finally comprised 108 pages and dealt with the following topics:

1. Basic Characteristics of Co-operative 2. Accounting Standards 3. Auditing Principles 4. Specifics of Co-operative Auditing 5. Execution of Audit 6. Practical Exercises for Audit Implementation 7. Financial Statement Analysis 8. Training of Accountants and Auditors 9. Results of Practical Training in Zavhan Aimag 10. Proposal for Founding of Co-operative audit Association 11. Development of Business Plan

The two manuals have been submitted to the ADB and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. They are available both in soft & hard version, in English as well as in Mongolian, from the project office and from MNCTIC. About 900 copies have been distributed to the participants of the training courses and other interested individuals.

The importance of audit is proven by the crash of credit and saving co-operatives in 2007, which might have been avoided if proper audit system (as developed and recommended) would have been implemented by the project.

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Output 2: Staff at the Co-operative Training Centre, including 60 trainers and business consultants and 20 auditors and accountants, are trained.

The TA project organized two types of cooperative training courses: Training for “Cooperative Trainers and Business Consultants” and training for “Cooperative Auditors and Accountants” in 2002-2003. a) Training for Cooperative Trainers and Business Consultants

The training courses for Cooperative Trainers and Business Consultants consisted of two phases of theoretical instruction with a period of practical field work in between to allow the participants to apply their newly acquired knowledge in their own Aimags and work situations and enable the trainer to assess the performance of each cooperative trainer and to provide individualized coaching.

The first phase of the training Courses "Training for Cooperative Trainers and Business Consultants" took place from 22 April to 03 May 2002 in Ulaanbaatar. It was organised and implemented by the International Short-Term Cooperative Expert Carl E. Krug in collaboration with the Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Centre (MCTIC). Through a selection procedure conducted jointly with the MCTIC and approved by ADB a total of 32 participants were chosen. 18 participants came from the project regions (Zavhan Aimag, Uvs, Gobi-Altai and Hovd) and 14 from Ulaanbaatar. All 32 participants successfully completed the first phase of the training. The training course imparted knowledge and skills in five main areas: Introduction into the definition and structure of cooperatives; The secondary cooperative; The Business Plan of the cooperative; Assessment of business plans and of cooperatives. (The detailed programme of the training course is enclosed in the manual).

The second phase of the training course was successfully implemented during 15-22 August 2002 by the project international expert Carl. E. Krug with assistance of local experts Mrs. Baigalmaa and Mrs. Enkhtuya. 28 of the participants of the first phase were able to participate also in the second phase. The main subjects of the second training course were: Evaluation of the practical field work assignments of the participants; Role and management of Coordination Centres and of cooperative trainers and consultants in the Aimags and Training of Trainers. Participants of the seminar organized by the project

Field visit of local expert to Western Aimags In-between the two parts of the training course the local expert Ms. Enkhtuya undertook a follow-up visit to the four western Aimags. The results of the visits can be summarised as follows: • nearly all participants were met, the progress with regard to the field work assignments was discussed and advice was provided where necessary, • the trainees had already started to conduct training and consultation activities for primary and secondary cooperatives as well as for the Aimag and Soum administrations in their Aimags, • the trainees were finalizing work on their individual field work assignments, which in most cases comprised a Business Plan for a primary or second level cooperative, • the PIUs in the Aimags were contacted and the relationships between them and the cooperative associations were strengthened.

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Evaluation of practical field work assignments of participants All participants of the training course actually implemented their fieldwork assignments. This work was supported by the visits of the national expert to the participants in the western Aimags, during which the progress made with regard to the field work assignments was checked and advice was given (see above). This allowed to assess the performance of each participant and to provide individualized coaching. It also enabled to immediately test the applicability of the training contents in the practice and to make adjustments if necessary.

Final examination From the beginning of the training the participants were aware that the certificates of the training were to be given after a final examination. This examination comprised three items: • The elaboration of a field work assignment (in general a business plan for a cooperative), • the presentation of a training session • and a written test (duration one hour).

Evaluation by participants As the last activity of the training course the participants had the opportunity to evaluate the course on the basis of a prepared evaluation questionnaire. 27 participants returned the questionnaires which were analyzed and summarized by the national short-term experts. The main features of the training course were evaluated by the overwhelming majority of participants with either very good or good: contents (very good 58%, good 42%), training methods (59%, 41%), training materials (55%, 45%), international expert (69%, 30%), national experts (54%, 46%).

At the end of the training course a manual with about 125 pages of training material was available in English and in Mongolian.

In line with the project activity schedule a second training course for Cooperative Business Consultants and Trainers has been organised in 2003. The course followed a similar scheme as applied in 2002 with a total of 20 training days split into two parts. The first training sessions which spread over 2 weeks took place from 24 March to 04 April 03 and the second from 27 June to 04 July 03. Following one of the comments on the previous training course to improve the selection of participants a different approach was applied. Potential candidates were approached through the regional branches of the National Cooperative Associations in the western Aimags. Also the PIUs were invited to present participants for the training. The national training expert then visited the western Aimags and selected the participants. The PMU Director and the officer in charge of cooperative development in the ASDP project team were invited to the training course for a discussion with the participants on the issues of co-operative development.

The organization of the training course was again undertaken jointly by the TA project manager and the Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Center (MCTIC), which is jointly run by the seven National Cooperative Federations. In the western Aimags a total of 22 persons applied for the training and were interviewed. From among them 19 persons were selected by the local training assistant in accordance with the instructions given to her (Zavhan Aimag 4, Uvs 5, Gobi-Altai 4, Hovd 6). In

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addition and according to the plan agreed with ADB 5 participants were accepted from the National Cooperative Associations in Ulaanbaatar and 1 from the MCTIC. Therefore at the beginning of the course actually 25 participants were registered. However, only 23 Participants successfully completed the first phase of the training, because 2 participants dropped out due to personal reasons. As far as organizations are concerned, 9 participants came from primary and secondary cooperatives, 5 from cooperative regional associations, 4 from Aimag and Soum administrations, 5 from the National Cooperative Associations, and 1 from the MCTIC.

In-between the two phases of the training course the domestic expert undertook a field visit to the four western Aimags to contact the participants. The results of the visits were documented and can be summarised as follows: • nearly all participants were met, the progress with regard to the field work assignments was discussed and advice was provided where necessary, • the trainees had already started to conduct training and consultation activities for primary and secondary cooperatives as well as for the Aimag and Soum administrations in their Aimags, • the trainees were finalizing work on their individual field work assignments, which in most cases comprised a Business Plan for a primary or second level cooperative, • the PIUs in the Aimags were contacted and the relationships between them and the cooperative associations were strengthened.

During the second phase of the training 26 participants were registered. All of them successfully completed the second phase of the training and therefore the whole training course. Besides the training manual the participants received during the training course copies of the Mongolian Cooperative Law, comments on the amendments to the law and model by-laws for cooperatives.

The manuals, which were already used in the year 2002 were thoroughly checked with regard to changes due to the amendments of the cooperative law of 12th December 2002. Several manuals had to be adjusted to the updated requirements and were also supplemented with additional material.. Also minor deviations from the timetable had to be made in order to accommodate special interests and training needs of the participants.

The main features of the training course (both phases) were evaluated by the overwhelming majority of participants with either very good or good. The participants were satisfied with the relevance of the contents of the training for cooperative development in Mongolia. The materials were seen as sufficient and relevant. The organizational aspects received only a slightly less positive feedback.

The participants stated as benefit of the training that it would contribute to the development of new and existing cooperatives, especially the setting up of second level cooperatives and of Aimag Cooperative Training Centers. When asked, which aspects of the training the participants will implement in their own work, most trainees stated that they will develop Business Plans, provide cooperative training and consultation, undertake SWOT analyses and establish a training and information center at Aimag level. The following further requests were made: to support Aimag training centers with equipment and to provide computer training and English lessons to their staff; to organise re-training and a study tour to learn about cooperative development abroad.

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Zavkhan; As a result of the successful 10 implementation during 2002 and UB; 18 2003 of the two-phase training courses “Co-operative Trainers and Business Consultants” Uvs; 9 which were completed by a total of 52 participants (see Annex 1) Gobi-Altai; from the following provinces (see Khovd; 8 7 graph to the left):

During the training, the participants have: ƒ conducted training courses for ASDP project. ƒ became trainers of the aimag cooperative training centres. Training manuals were developed, published and widely distributed.

b) Training for Cooperative Accountants and Auditors

The international short-term expert for co-operative training, Dr. Michael Bock, had been commissioned to conduct a Training Program for Co-operative Accountants and Auditors. This program was to be organized in 2002 and 2003. The implementation was based on the previous input of the international and national consultants on development of training materials (Dr. Axel Wolz and Ms. T. Battsetseg) who in March 2002 drafted a timetable and manual for a training course for co-operative trainers and consultants as well as for a training course for Co-operative Accountants and Auditors and made proposals about the appropriate training site, the procurement of the necessary equipment, the budgeting for the training courses, as well as for the selection of the participants. The Training Manual for Co-operative Auditors in Mongolia which was prepared by the international and local expert for training material as well as its translation into Mongolian was thoroughly checked by the international short-term expert for Co- operative Accountants and Auditors. It was adjusted to the updated requirements and also supplemented with additional material. It can be considered the most comprehensive manual on cooperative accountant and auditing issues, which has been produced in Mongolia so far.

Based on this preliminary work, the international short-term expert for Co-operative Accountants and Auditors, Mr. Michael Bock, conducted the Training Program for Co- operative Accountants and Auditors during 2002 and 2003 in coordination with the co- operative associations and the PMU. The objective was to train co-operative advisory staff who would afterwards be able to provide qualified assistance to the co-operatives in their home Aimags regarding accounting and auditing.

The training of Cooperative Accountants and Auditors in 2002 was split into two parts with a duration of 4 weeks for each part. The first part of the course was organised from 31.05.02 to 19.06.02, and the second part was carried out from 26.08. to 18.09.02. Through the regional branches National Cooperative Associations a total of 30 persons applied for participation in the training, out of which 12 alone came from Zavhan Aimag. From among them 15 persons were selected by the Board of Directors of the MCTIC (5 from Zavhan Aimag, 2 from Uvs, 3 from Gobi-Altai, 1 from Khovd, 4 from Ulaanbaatar). Altogether 15 persons participated in the training, 12 of which came from primary and secondary cooperatives, and 3 from co-operative regional associations.

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Training programme In general the training was implemented as planned. However, deviations from the timetable had to be made in order to accommodate special interests and training needs of the participants. On 16 September 02, Members of the Parliament of Mongolia as Mrs. Gerelsuren, Mr. Tumur & Mr. Ganbaatar from the Ministry of Justice visited the participants of the training course and discussed with them in a broad context the current legislative framework of co-operatives, proposed amendments to the Co-operative Law with regard to auditing and possibilities to establish an Audit Association. Guest lectures were delivered by Mr. Mishiglunden, Vice-Director of General Tax Department of Mongolia, Mr. Franz Volker Müller, Co-ordinator of Projects Organised Rural Self Help of GTZ, Mr. Batmunkh, Head of the National Association of Mongolian Agriculture Co-operatives and Mr. Enkhsaikan, Project Management Director of ASDP Project.

The training course dealt with the following major topics:

INTRODUCTION TO ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING IN MONGOLIA • Accounting and Auditing in Mongolia • Auditing and Accounting for Co-operatives • Conformity of Mongolian with International Accounting Standards • Professional Competence and Experience Requirements of Professional Accountants • Knowledge, Skills and Professional Values

CO-OPERATIVE ACCOUNTS • Why a cooperative • How to define a cooperative • The Cooperative Agreement • Capital contribution • Profit sharing ratios • Interest on capitals • Interest on drawings • Salaries to partners • Performance- related payments to partners • The final accounts • Where no partnership agreement exists

DISSOLUTION OF A COOPERATIVE • Need for dissolution • What happens upon dissolution • Disposal of assets • Piecemeal realisation of assets

STATEMENT ANALYSIS • Ratio of Assets and Investments • Capital Structure and Finance • Financial ratio • Flow of funds

BUSINESS PLAN FOR AN AUDITING ORGANISATION IN ZAVHAN AIMAG

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A key element of the second part of the training course was the practical field work in the Zavkhan Aimag during which 12 co-operatives were visited. The analysis of the accounts and the discussions yielded very important insights for the participants and gave a very strong impetus to the further course programme.

Evaluation by participants As the last activity of the training course, the participants were given the opportunity to evaluate the course on the basis of a prepared evaluation questionnaire. The main features of the training course were evaluated by the overwhelming majority of participants with either very good or good: contents (very good 50%, good 50%), training methods (57%, 43%), training materials (43%, 43%), international expert (64%, 36%), national experts (43%, 50%). The participants were satisfied with the relevance of the contents of the training for co- operative development in Mongolia. The materials were regarded as sufficient and relevant. The founding of an auditing organisation was regarded as very important for the future work of the participants. They thought that besides methodical advice for the building of an auditing organisation for co-operatives, an exchange of experience about auditing associations in Germany was needed.

In 2003 three training units for cooperative accountants and auditors were organized. From 19th February to 13th March the first training course cycle was completed. The second training course cycle was split into two phases with the first part from 28th May to 15th July and a second part from 27th August to 26th September 2003. This schedule was agreed with ADB. Based on the very positive experience from the first course, also during the second training course an extended trip to the pilot provinces of Gobi Altai, Khovd and Uvs was undertaken by all participants and experts. The purpose of this trip was to exercise auditing on cooperatives and information collection on practical examples for training purposes and preparing co-operative auditing reports under real conditions. Much attention was paid to the participants’ later work under the local conditions in the provinces.

The results of the trip were collected and compiled in a report by the domestic training expert.

During April 2003 the MCTIC sent the manager of the national training center to the regional branches of the National Cooperative Associations, asking them to nominate participants to the training course. The criteria for the selection were identical to the ones recommended by the international expert for training material development. 14 persons were selected by the Board of Directors of the MCTIC during meetings in 2003 (Zavkhan Aimag 1, Uvs 3, Gobi-Altai 2, Khovd 4, Ulaan Bataar 4). 6 additional participants selected by the GTZ project "Promotion of Self-help Organisations" were invited to attend the training course. Therefore at the beginning of the course actually 20 participants were registered, which means twice the number that had been targeted. They completed the registration forms, which had been elaborated in the preparation of the training course.

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The field trip was aimed at enabling participants of the “Cooperative Auditing & Accounting” training, to strengthen their knowledge gained in the classroom sessions, understanding of activities of cooperatives in the visited aimags & neighboring provinces, and providing required consultancy to the cooperatives, being trained in methods to execute audits in cooperatives and exchanging accumulated experiences. During the trip, representatives of local administration and cooperative authorities were met. Business activities of the cooperatives for 2001 & 2002 were audited as practical training. The scope of the audit covered examination of documents for establishment, members registration, internal regulation & guidelines, cooperative resolutions, type of business activities & services of the cooperative, financial statement as at the end of year 2001-2002 and source documents. While doing the audit, participants learned how to execute an audit, what problems could arise during the audit, what preparation is necessary for auditing and methods to prepare an audit report. Participants prepared audit reports with recommendations and submitted them to the cooperative management.

Additional consultancy was provided to people intending to establish new cooperatives and to cooperative managers on a number of topics such as: • to improve the positive influence of cooperatives in regional development and sharing experience gained in Germany; • required measures to be taken to improve knowledge and skills of cooperative members in addition to providing education and related knowledge of cooperative managers; • issues of establishing secondary cooperatives and how primary cooperatives could benefit from secondary cooperatives; • proposals on a variety of agricultural services, which could be delivered through cooperatives and discussing what could be done regarding water supply, since infrastructure development is poor in the local provinces; • establishment of MONGERCOOP association in which cooperative auditors and accountants are enrolled as members; • suggestions on the principles and values of cooperatives, organizing documents for establishment and motivating active participation of members.

The evaluation at the end of the training course showed that the overwhelming majority of participants was very satisfied with the contents and organisation of the training as well as with the provided training material. The participants stated as a benefit of the training that it would contribute to the development of new and existing co-operatives not only in the western Aimags, but also in the whole country, through the improved knowledge of the trainees. The participants found that the training course was very important for them acquiring new knowledge and obtaining an additional qualification. Also, they found that the trip through western Aimags was very interesting, bringing much information and showing a broad range of co-operative branches, the culture in different Aimags and the situation of auditing co-operatives in the countryside.

All in all, the participants attended the training sessions with great interest and enthusiasm. The course ended with a final examination of all 20 participants who successfully passed the exam and received the training certificate.

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As a result of these series of classroom session trainings and practical field work, the total number of cooperative accountants and auditors trained by the project reached 35 (see Annex 2: 6 trainees from Zavkhan, 5 from Uvs, 5 from Gobi-Altai, 6 from Ulaanbaatar and 5 from Khovd. In addition, 8 trainees were accommodated from the GTZ project.)

Cooperative auditing organizations

Towards the end of the training course, a cooperative auditing organization was founded and registered with the intention to install branches first of all in the Aimags of the training course participants and then in the rest of Mongolia.

As a result of the first unit of the training course, a special training organization for co- operative auditors and accountants was formed and registered as a NGO on 11 March 2003. The association, called MONGERCOOP, was founded on the initiative of the trainees and all of the certified co-operative auditors became members of this NGO. Its mission is to develop and strengthen the co-operative auditing service and practice in Mongolia.

During 2003-2004 MONGERCOOP undertook the following activities:

z Audited 14 cooperatives; z Elaborated business plans for 4 cooperatives; z Provided advice on business planning to 3 cooperatives; z Developed a model of bookkeeping for herder cooperatives; z Conducted survey on audit needs assessment in Uvs, Gobi-Altai, Zavkhan aimags and in UB.

Altogether, after project intervention the project trained cooperative trainers, consultants, accountants and auditors provided training to about 7000 cooperative members and herders. Their training capacity has been continuously utilised by the Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Center and its regional branches. They conducted training courses above all on the following major topics:

1. Basic knowledge of cooperative 2. Legislation of cooperative 3. Cooperative establishment and start-up accounting 4. Cooperative marketing and management

Output 3: The facilities of the training centre in Ulaanbaatar are improved and provincial co-operative training centres in the capitals of the four western provinces are set-up

The Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Center (MCTIC) which is jointly run by the seven National Cooperative Federations has been closely involved from the starting of the project in the planning, organization and implementation of the training courses for Cooperative Business Consultants and Accountants and Auditors. The project has provided the MCTIC with a basic set of equipment of improve its operational capacity, which includes: one desktop computer, a photocopier with sorter, an overhead projector, a book shelf and a desk for photocopier.

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In 2002, two potential aimag cooperative centers in Uliastai, Zavkhan Aimag, which had been established only recently, were visited. Both centers comprised a training facility. The first “Ornol-Tov” had been founded as an initiative of the cooperative associations and was situated on the promises of the regional representation of the NAMAC. It seemed to be strongly dominated by Mr. Dorjsambuu, director of NAMAC in Zavkhan. In 2002, the centre had no concrete activities and no staff was employed, the plans for activities were rather vague but very concrete in terms of equipment needs.

The other centre “Ekhlel-Tov” had been founded on the initiative of 21 different primary cooperatives, the regional association for rural development and some others. The training centre itself had been established through six trainers who had participated in previous training courses organized by the GTZ cooperative project. In 2002, this training centre had already leased premises for the training activities, had established a small library and already carried out some initial training courses for cooperative members. The trainers seemed to be very motivated and had a reasonably clear vision of their future activities. During the project visit it was recommended to both organizations to explore possibilities for merging the activities since it was clear that two cooperative training centres in the same region could not sustain in the short and medium term.

Following the advice given by the project, these two competing cooperative training and training centers in Zavkhan consequently merged into the Cooperative Training Center "Evlerel" in 2003. Since then the center has developed an impressive number of activities providing essential consultancy to cooperative members, copying and distributing training manuals on cooperative accounting and bookkeeping, developing business plans for cooperatives and preparing training manuals and handbooks for training courses. 24 new cooperatives were set up thanks to the support of the Training Center. In the national programme “Wholesale marketing network”, 2 cooperatives were selected as partners. 13 different training courses were carried out by the center during 2003.

The project contributed to the establishment of the training centre by providing the following equipment:

List of Equipment provided by the project for Zavkhan Training Center

No. Item Quantity 1 Desktop computer + Monitor 1 2 Color printer with spare cartridges 1 3 Scanner 1 4 Projector-overhead 1 5 Projector screen 1 6 Fax machine 1 7 UPS 1 8 Photo camera 1 9 Stabilizator 1 10 Yamaha Generator 1 11 White board 1 12 Portable board 3 13 Book shelf 2 14 Safe 1 15 Computer table 2 16 Desk 1 17 Stationary-transparency, whiteboard markers, spare cartridge 1 for printer & fax machine

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The cooperative training and training center in Khovd is located at the building of agricultural department – government implementation agency – and has a separate entrance. The aimag governor’s office financed the renovation of the training room of 70 sqm. The agricultural department is bearing rent and heating cost of the training center. On 17.05.03 the centre was inaugurated with an official ceremony of presenting equipment and facilities that were provided by the project. The director of the agricultural department of the aimag governors’ office, the head of industrial cooperatives union and TV journalist attended the ceremony. The computer, photocopying machine as well as other equipment were installed, tested and then handed over to Mr. Khashbat, Executive Director of the training center.

From June to October 2003 the training centre carried out 11 training courses with a total of 534 participants. In addition 22 cooperative members & 11 cooperatives were assisted in developing their business plans.

The project provided the training center with the following equipment:

List of Equipment provided by the project for Khovd Training Centre

No. Item Quantity 1 Desktop computer 1 2 Laser printer 1 3 UPS 1 4 Photocopier 1 5 Scanner 1 6 Photo camera 1 7 Laminator 1 8 Fax 1 9 Overhead projector 1 10 Whiteboard 1 11 Portable Board 1 12 Chairs 50 13 Computer table 1 14 Book shelf 1 15 Stationary-whiteboard markers, transparency, spare cartridge for copier and printer

The Cooperative Training Centers in Gobi-Altai and Uvs Aimags were officially established in 2002 and 2003 respectively. They implemented a considerable number of training courses but their activity has been hampered by lack of proper equipment. Since their establishment they are running without proper equipment because despite several requests during 2004, 2005 and 2006 funding and delivery of necessary equipment by the project has not been approved by ADB.

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3.3 Pasture management Component

Output 4: Current winter and summer pasture uses are identified, information on the use of wells and data on inoperative wells are collected.

Output 4 required first of all the selection of pilot soums. After having gained a general overview of the situation in the 4 Western pilot Aimags at the beginning of the project, the project selected two sample Soums (districts) in each Aimag:

1. Yaruu Soum, Zavkhan Aimag 2. Santmargaz Soum, Zavkhan Aimag 3. Zuunhangai Soum, Uvs Aimag 4. Hovd Soum, Uvs Aimag 5. Myangad Soum, Hovd Aimag 6. Must Soum, Hovd Aimag 7. Darvi Soum, Gobi-Altai Aimag 8. Haliun Soum, Gobi-Altai Aimag

During 2002 a field survey was carried out in each of the selected Soums and the following information was collected: • Name of herder household head • Location of 4 seasonal pastures and water points by name of place and topographic co-ordinates, of 4 seasonal camps, and hay making areas • Duration of grazing by season • Number of livestock by species • Use of pastures by non-residents

Recording of topographic co-ordinates was done by the project’s national pasture management experts who visited each site and took GPS measurement on the site with the help of location maps, scale 1:100000.

The field surveys showed that the pattern of pasture uses varied significantly across the soums depending on customary herding traditions and ecological conditions of the locality. The differences encountered had to be taken into account for designing pastureland management models and land use contracts. The survey results showed also that there was a need for digging new deep wells in some of the pilot soums. In 2002 only hand-made wells were used and engineered wells that were existent during the negdel time had broken down.

In two herding communities in the Yaruu soum of Zavkhan Aimag a pilot allocation of pastoral resources between herder groups was carried out and possession boundaries between them were identified. The draft boundaries were elaborated through discussions with the bag governors, group leaders and representatives of herder groups. The boundaries identified should be used as a basis for establishing land use contracts between the soum governor and herder groups, the ultimate tool for regulating the use of pastures in Mongolia.

During this fieldwork the following lessons for drawing pasture use boundaries were learnt: ƒ To be based on the existing allocation of pastoral resources

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ƒ To stick to the normal / equilibrium pattern of herders’ migration ƒ To select the best, most experienced herder groups with leadership qualities for demonstration purposes ƒ Successful allocation of pastoral resources between herder groups and identification of possession boundaries between them requires the following pre- conditions: ƒ The soum has to be provided with a base map of 1:100 000 scale ƒ The soum official in charge of land management and bag governors need to be trained in basic skills in reading maps, making records in them, rough assessment of grass yields and carrying capacity of pastures. ƒ 4 seasonal pastures of each member of a herder group need to be identified and mapped in at least 1:100 000 scale map. ƒ Number of livestock including those of absentee herders needs to be carefully recorded. ƒ Bag governors need to be trained to enhance knowledge about peculiarities of migration pattern in the bag, seasonal pastures of bag members and to improve skills in resolving potential conflicts.

During the field trip in June 2002, the project also identified in consultation with soum government officials, representatives from the aimag Government and aimag PIU wells to be rehabilitated by the ASDP loan project for each of the 8 selected soums in 2002 and collected necessary data on these wells (location, condition, depth, etc).

For example, the project team was invited to select appropriate wells to be rehabilitated under the ASDP Wells Rehabilitation Program in 2002 and visited the Santmargaz and Yaruu soums of the Zavhan aimag and the Khaliun soum of the Gobi-Altai aimag.

The sample data on selected wells for two soums of the Zavkhan aimag are shown in Table 1.

Table : Wells identified for rehabilitation, Santmargaz and Yaruu soums of Zavhan aimag

Names of wells Year of Dept Current Position Herder’s establishme h m situation group by nt name of head Yaruu soum 1 Baga-Unegt 1988 105 Broken 45o57'54 Batchuluun down 95o57'24 2 Khoriv 1986 100 Broken 47o45'25 Chogsomjav down 95o57'00 3 Ulaan bilchir 1979 109 Broken 47o52'05 down 96o22'10 4 Alag tolgoi 1968 111 Broken 47o54'45 down 95o58'10 Santmargaz soum

1 Mondgor tolgoi 1980 137 Broken 48o44'20 Ochirbat down 95o32'00 2 Khargant tolgoi 1990 80 Broken 48o42'18 Baatarjav down 95o08'08 3 Khavtgai 1969 160 Broken 48o29'20 Bayaraa down 94o54'50 4 Khuugaa 1974 55 Broken 48o41'43 Buleg

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tsagaan tolgoi down 94o52'27 5 Suragt 1974 94 Broken 48o36'30 Gungaanayam down 95o11'55 6 Buduun ulaan 1985 70 48o40'15 Khurelkhuu 95o27'45

In June 2002 the project team evaluated the availability of mapping and other information on pastureland use by visiting agencies such as the Land Authority of the Ministry of Nature and Environment and the Geo-ecological Institute of the Academy of Sciences. As mentioned in the Inception Report good base information, especially mapping data, are important for building sustainable pastureland management.

In 2003, to achieve output 4 the team conducted land use surveys in the 8 earlier selected pilot soums and 4 new soums.

Previously selected pilot soums Newly selected pilot soums 1. Yaruu Soum, Zavkhan Aimag 2. Santmargac Soum, Zavkhan Aimag 3. Zuunhangai Soum, Uvs Aimag 1. Ondorkhangai Soum, Uvs Aimag 4. Hovd Soum, Uvs Aimag 2. Baruunturuun Soum, Uvs Aimag 5. Myangad Soum, Khovd Aimag 3. Khovd Soum, Khovd aimag 6. Most Soum , Khovd Aimag 4. Mankhan Soum, Khovd aimag 7. Darvi Soum, Gobi-Altai Aimag 8. Khaliun Soum. Gobi-Altai Aimag

The new soums were selected mainly based on closeness to inter-Aimag main roads, requests from the Aimag governments and representation of different ecological zones.

6 field surveys to identify current winter and summer pasture uses and collect information on the use of wells and data on inoperative wells were carried out in 2003/2004.

1) Field survey in all 8 Soums of the 4 pilot aimags In the period from March to April 2003, in all 8 pilot soums

2).Field survey in Uvs aimag In the period from 5 August to 30 August 2003 in the 4 soums of Zuunhangai, Khovd, Ondorkhangai, Baruunturuun, Uvs aimag, carried out by the national pasture management expert Mr. Davaabaatar.

3).Field survey in Khovd aimag, In the period from 15 August to 30 August 2003 in the 3 soums of Myangat, Khovd and Mankhan, Khovd aimag, carried out by the national pasture management expert Mr. Batbuyan.

4).Field survey in Zavhan aimag and Gobi-Altai aimag In the period from 31 October to 14 November 2003, in the Yaruu soum of the Zavkhan aimag and in Khaliun soum of the Gobi-Altai aimag, carried out by the pasture management experts Mr. Batbuyan and Mr. Jansen.

5) Field survey in Zavkhan aimags In the period from 26 March to 16 April 2004, the team consisting of Mr. Batbuyan and Mr. Davaabaatar, together with Mr. Jansen, the international expert for pasture management, worked in the Yaruu , Santmargac and Telem soums of the Zavkhan aimag.

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6) Field survey in Khovd aimag In the period from 30 July to 9 August 2004, the team consisting of Mr. Batbuyan and Mr Davaabaatar worked in Myangat and Most soums of Khovd aimag.

By visiting the earlier selected soums the team collected additional statistical material from bag leaders and herders in order to improve the data base of the pilot area. Additional information has been obtained namely on the composition of herder groups, form of cooperation, details of the seasonal pattern of the pasture use, possible form of non- livestock source of income, list of non-resident herders of the bag and the list of the potential new pasture management units and their location.

The survey material of the newly selected soums formed the basis for introducing improved pastureland management including the organization of herders groups as natural resource management (NRM) units, the establishment of land use contracts between herder groups and soum Governors and the land use planning. During the field surveys the team met with previously selected herder group heads and herders to identify the problems encountered in the use of pastures and water points. The team also visited herders groups which have been established under the well rehabilitation program by the ASDP loan project.

As far as the functioning of the water user associations is concerned various problems have been identified. In some cases it seemed that richer herders try to control the wells and tend to consider them as their own. Consequently, it can easily happen that poorer families for whom it is difficult to pay their water fees in cash are getting more and more dependent on the persons running the wells.

The team made the following key observations during the field works:

¾ The herders are supportive of the project's general approach to improving the pastureland management. The recent changes in the rural-nomadic living space of the pilot soums however underline the fact that not single measures such as the introduction of a proper pasture management but only a holistic approach considering the socioeconomic structure and the wealth situation of the different herders’ groups and assisting them to improve their economic basis can be successful in the long run. The introduction of the project community based pasture management concept seems to be more successful in those Soums without high dzud-related animal losses where the majority of the herders’ households still possess larger herds of livestock which need more grassland, thus have to be more mobile and consequently depend more on a proper pasture management if they don’t want to destroy their pasture land.

¾ The leaflets circulated earlier had played an obvious awareness building role in highlighting the issues important to sustainable pastureland management. Local people were supportive of the idea of circulating such leaflets because they are important for making local governments and herders better understand the importance of improved pastureland management and ways for its implementation and its benefits. For example the herders from neighboring Khovd soum of Myangad soum in Khovd aimag expressed interest to organize herders' groups as natural resource management units and to conclude land use contracts.

¾ The herders from the newly selected soums proposed that the introduction of land use agreements should be piloted first within a few herder groups and replicated further based on the careful consideration of the lessons learnt.

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¾ As the socioeconomic and ecological conditions are varying from Soum to Soum locally adapted strategies for pasture management and appropriate measures for economic improvement of our herders’ communities have to be worked out.

¾ There are differences in principles of establishing the herder groups according to the ecological zones. The herder groups are more likely (easy) to be organized in resource management units around the well in Gobi region than in forest-steppe regions.

¾ The pattern of pasture uses varies significantly across soums depending on customary herding traditions and ecological conditions of the locality. Therefore, the differences should be taken into an account for designing pastureland management plans and land use contracts.

¾ The absolute majority of herders were supportive of the introduction of land use agreements between soum governors and herders groups. The main argument they perceive was that agreements could provide self-incentives for herders to protect pastures from degradation.

¾ In discussions with herders 3 issues were looked at carefully in the area of herders' group development. These include (i) what the existing groups can do and what are the benefits; (ii) what are potentials of these groups and benefits of improving them; (iii) what are the areas the herder groups need support from outside in order to become a viable unit of running herding business. On the third issue an opinion that herders' groups/communities need to be supported materially/financially was quite common. The issues of financial support to the herding groups have been raised nearly in all discussions with herders and local officials.

¾ There is a need for assistance to support existing pasture management units:

¾ The trainers (who attended earlier training courses from the local soum representatives) didn’t regularly visit herding groups to promote the benefit of pasture management units and monitor them. Also due to lack of resources (transport expenses) local officials have difficulties with providing information and monitoring the progress of building the pasture management units. In most cases they could visit established herding groups only 2-3 times per year.

¾ There is a lack of information material explaining the new Land Law, benefits of pasture management units and on other topics essential for building sustainable pastureland management.

Piloting the allocation of pastoral resources between herders' groups and identifying possession boundaries between them was carried out in 2003 in the newly selected Baruunturuun and Ondorkhangai soums of Uvs aimag.

The new group leaders expressed that the basic problem in pastureland use is out of season grazing, e.g. grazing of winter pastures during the summer-autumn season, trespassing to others pastures and staying longer than expected when crossing pastures of others during seasonal migrations. The grazing disputes were recommended to be resolved through negotiations between herders’ groups, with the involvement of informal powers only in cases of not reaching substantial agreements. As a result of the fieldwork rough boundaries of seasonal migrations have been identified. The draft boundaries were

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elaborated through discussions with the bag governors, group leaders and representatives of herders groups.

In 2005 in spite of lacking transport budget but in order to achieve the expected outputs, the project team conducted land use surveys in the following pilot soums: Yaruu soum of Zavkhan aimag, Darvi soum of Gobi-Altai aimag.

The project team visited the PIU officers in the aimag centers and discussed the current situation and changes on implementation of TA project. Also the team arranged a meeting with the director of the Land Management Department of the Zavkhan aimag and exchanged views on possible coordination between the project and the pasture management program of the local government.

In the visited soums the project team had discussions with the newly elected members of the soum working group on implementation of the new land law and regarding the current status of project implementation, it informed the new members on the responsibilities of the soum working group regarding implementation of the new land law. Additionally, the team collected information on population and livestock changes at the soum level and social economic information on the bags. It provided advice to different herder groups on how to improve their pasture management activities in the future. The project team monitored the implementation of the land use agreements and provided information and assistance on registration as NGO to the newly established herder group “Urgen meel”.

The following lessons have been drawn from the field trip in 2005:

1. It is necessary to activate the work of soum working group members to ensure that land use agreements are concluded with more herder groups and that compliance with these agreements is controlled on a regular basis. This requires payment of petrol costs to members of the working group for their visits to herder groups.

2. In the areas where wells are rehabilitated by the ASDP project new herder groups should be selected and soum working group members should be appointed accordingly.

3. It is advisable to conduct regional seminars at soum centers taking the most successfully operating herder groups as a model.

4. In order to prepare attachment maps to the land use agreements, the land officer at the soum level is to be provided with topographical maps and proper software is to be provided to soums where the project has provided the digital maps for record of changes.

5. To ensure the opportunity for the best herder groups to get loans for their small businesses based on the assessment and notification from the soum working group. This way the soum working groups gain recognition and the herders are more motivated.

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6. To assist informal herder groups to register either as cooperatives or Non- Governmental Organization.

7. To organize training for herder groups on the formation and management of funds for the maintenance of wells and keeping of records on the use of wells.

Land management plans for each soum have to be prepared. As preliminary work, training on carrying out field surveys and definition of pasture carrying capacity is required.

Project achievements with regard to output 4 can be summed up as follows:

¾ Field surveys have been conducted in all selected pilot soums, collecting data on seasonal migration of herders, and location of water resources covering approx. 2000 herding families. ¾ A comprehensive data base containing the social-economic and environmental data of the herder groups, their pasture use pattern and the use of wells has been developed. ¾ 4 digital maps have been produced (Scale 1: 150000) for: ¾ Yaruu Soum (Zavkhan aimag) ¾ Khaliun Soum (Gobi Altai) ¾ Zuunkhangai Soum (Uvs aimag) ¾ Most Soum (Khovd aimag). ¾ 27 wells have been identified together with the soum government and rehabilitated by the ASDP loan project.

Output 5: Feasibility analysis regarding the design and establishment of local grazing associations, district pasture co-management units and provincial pasture co-management committees able to advise the governor on formulating land management plans are made.

At the start of the project, on a preliminary basis, the project selected 2 communities in each Soum for piloting the project activities. Discussions with herders revealed that community members were already seeking ways to upgrade their co-operation and formalize it; they, however, seriously lacked the knowledge and skills to realize it into practice.

Following extensive discussions with the Aimag and soum government representatives on the problems in livestock and land use related areas and potential solutions, the project proposed to establish a permanent working group to organize the local participation in the project at the soum level. The local working groups were also expected to play an important role in 'linking' the project with herder communities in the soum and the aimag government.

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In 2002 all 8 soum governments established working groups. Working groups included usually the soum Vice Governor /Head of the working group/ Environmental Officer/Land Officer, Agricultural Officer/Veterinarian and bag governors. The working groups were established by decree of the soums governors. In addition to establishing working groups the decrees also involved articles that assigned certain tasks to the working group in order to facilitate project implementation at the soums, bag and herders group level. For example, the decree by the governor of the Zuunhangai soums of Uvs Aimag assigned the working group to organize the development and implementation of a soums-level plan for the utilization of pastures and provision of water on the basis of proposals by bag governors and bag governors, to identify and support at least 2-3 area-based herders communities in their own bags and assist them in preparing sketch maps for seasonal use of pastures.

Soum pasture co-management units The permanent soum working groups established with help of the project were aimed at organizing local participation in the project at the soum level. Among other tasks the local working groups were expected to play the role of soums pasture co-management units. In general, the work by local working groups was considered as satisfactory, although the performance was varying across soums. There were very promising bottom-up initiatives from soum governments. For example, the Yaruu soum government initiated training on voluntary formation of herder groups.

At the national seminar on pastureland management and steps needed to implement the new Land Law, held in January 2003 with 90 participants, the functions of soum co- management units were discussed and the following agreement reached:

Functions

1. Determine the general direction of soum pastureland management

2. Based upon the local ecological conditions and traditions of pasture use and willingness of herders provide advice to herders on group development

3. Provide support to informal herders groups in obtaining official legal body status such as NGO and cooperatives

4. Conduct land water use surveys, including carrying capacities, provide training to herders

5. Assist the soum government in establishing land and water use agreements with herders’ groups

6. Provide support to identifying and documenting pasture use boundaries of herder groups and producing relevant mapping for land use agreements

7. Facilitate the resolutions of grazing conflicts between herder groups

8. Assist in establishing otor reserve areas of pastures within the soum territory and estimating their carrying capacities

9. Conduct necessary in-advance surveys and facilitate the establishment of agreements with neighboring soums on emergency migrations, including the estimates of migration directions, duration, the number of animals through negotiations

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10. Provide necessary technical support to developing annual soum level land management plans

11. Provide support to haymaking activities, protection of hayfields by fencing and their improvement

To improve capacities of the soum working groups the project organized several seminars in the earlier selected project soums with the key project stakeholders (officials of the soum and bag and some herders from the co-management units) informing them about the present legal environment regarding the use of pastoral resources and to discuss the draft of the new land law and its possible implications for pastoral management. The seminars also covered discussions on recommendations and achievements of the project, including guidelines and mock-ups related to improved pastureland management. Subjects of discussion were also alternative development options for mobile livestock keeping under the present ecological and socio-economic circumstances. A total of 83 participants attended these seminars.

In 2004, evaluation of the soum working groups showed that their work was not fully meeting project requirements. A written detailed action plan for the soum working group was lacking. Therefore, a need to organize new training for the members of the soum working groups and some herders (mainly for the influential persons and herders who have strong interest, and willingness) became obvious. Also there was a need to provide financial assistance to the working group to cover minimum transportation cost to visit herder groups. Training seminars have been designed and proposed to ADB, but were in spite of different requests never approved.

Aimag pasture co-management committee The national seminar which had been organized in January 2003 discussed also the composition and functions of Aimag co-management committees and reached the following agreement: A. Composition of Aimag co-management committee: 1. Aimag vice governor /head/ 2. Head of the Aimag land office 3. Head of the division in the Aimag governor’s office in charge of land and water 4. Officer in charge of land in the Aimag governor’s office 5. Officer in charge of water in the Aimag governor’s office 6. Officer in charge of livestock in the Aimag governor’s office 7. Soum governors 8. NGO representative such as Aimag herders’ association

B. Functions: 1. Determine the general directions of soum pastureland management 2. Provide support to soum co-management units and coordinate their activities 3. Undertake preparatory activities in relation to negotiations and agreements on inter-soum and inter-Aimag otor and emergency migrations 4. Conduct surveys on inter-soum or Aimag otor reserve pastures and hayfields and draft regulation on their optimal use 5. Provide support to organizing surveys to estimate carrying capacities of Aimag pastures and develop general directions for annual Aimag pastureland management plans 6. Provide support to soum pasture co-management units by directing the activities of professional land and water related organizations in the Aimag and assisting in establishing contacts with other related government and non-government bodies

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7. Collaborate with relevant government bodies to facilitate the process of getting the official legal body status /getting certificate, stamp, bank account etc./ by informal groups of herders organized in soums 8. Provide necessary information and advice to relevant government bodies involved in the settlement of inter-soum territorial and grazing conflicts

Project experience in 2005 showed that local soum working groups needed more day-to- day assistance to be capable of evolving into real pasture co-management units. Serious problems were the frequent changes of members of working groups, lacking clear understanding of the work and lacking financial means to visit herder groups.

In spite of the lack of local transport and office operational costs visits to herder groups, regular training, consultation and monitoring by the project team were undertaken. However, more frequent visits and advice proved to be necessary to ensure sustainability of the working and herder groups. Aimag administrations showed only limited interest in the establishment of pasture co-management committees at the Aimag level in the absence of regular assistance.

During the field trips carried out in 2005 the experts team was able to visit and advise some herder groups already established earlier, provided for monitoring of the implementation of land use agreements and assisted the newly established herder group “Urgen meel” to register as a NGO.

Lessons learnt: ¾ Conditions have to be set to undertake frequent visits to the regions ¾ Frequent training activities have to be undertaken

Project achievements regarding output 5 can be summarised as follows:

¾ In all 8 soums, soum pasture co-management units / working groups have been established, composed of soum governor, agriculture officer, land officer, environmental officer and bag governors.

¾ District and provincial governments have been assisted in putting together the available information on existing land resources, and pasture uses.

¾ 32 official and 49 unofficial herder groups have been established as natural resource management (NRM) units (comprising around 600 households).

¾ Land use contracts/agreements between herder groups and soum Governors have been established and rules to cross used pastures have been developed.

¾ Assistance in formulating and designing land management plans for the district governors has been provided.

¾ Seminars on pasture management have been organized for the soum working groups.

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Output 6: Land management plans for selected areas are made.

Elaboration of guidelines for land use management First of all guidelines for land use management have been elaborated to assist in the implementation of improved pastureland management models based on the broad participation of herders' communities and local governments. These guidelines are designed to assist in improving the management of pastoral resources by better mobilizing the potentials of area-based herders' communities, local governments and their cooperation.

The inefficiency of bag governors’ involvement in pasture management, and low participation of herders in bag activities, made it necessary to look for alternatives. The most promising alternative was considered to be area-based herder groups who already co-operate in the use of pasture, water, saltlicks, and other livestock-based activities including preparation of fodder, collecting livestock products and marketing. Such groups are often based on customary natural resource managing groups such as well or valley communities, and could become a prime focus for pastoral risk management activities. In areas where such groups do not yet exist or where they are weak, community development should be promoted as a priority policy direction and governors have to play a major role in this activity. Relying on herder groups for pastureland management doesn't mean governors’ involvement would not be necessary. They would have a very important role in enforcing land laws and contracts on herder communities, monitoring, evaluating and using social pressure, when necessary, on bad ones through bag meetings and organizing the delivery of other state functions directly or indirectly related to pastureland management, such as information delivery, dealing with contagious animal diseases, quarantines, relief assistance, etc.

The project therefore elaborated and discussed the following procedure and guidelines for elaborating proper land management plans at the various levels of aimag, soum and bag administration.

1 TA experts visit a soum and update the soum government on the objectives and benefits of TA project focusing on pastureland management component. 2 TA experts facilitate the soum government in establishing a soum working group in charge of organizing local participation in the project. The group should involve among others a soum official in charge of land management and all bag governors. 3 The group will make up a core of the soum pastureland co-management unit, which will be totally open to leaders of herders' groups and ordinary herders and discusses any issue related to pastureland management. 4 TA experts organize a one-day seminar on sustainable pastureland management and the related articles of the new land law for the soum working group. It is desirable that the seminar audience is extended involving interested leaders of herders groups and herders. 5 The seminar participants are expected to possess the basic knowledge and skills to assist herders groups in building their capacities to better manage pastoral resources. 6 TA experts organize 2-day training seminar for a soum official in charge of land management and bag governors in basic skills in community strengthening, reading maps, making records in them, rough assessment of grass yields and carrying capacity of pastures.

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7 The aimag office/official in charge of land management authorized to hold 1:100000 scale base map regarded as a state secret document under the current law organizes the provision of a copy of the map to each soum. 8 TA experts provide the soum working group with written materials from the seminars in 4 and 6, 'Guidelines for Community-based Well Rehabilitation and Management' with sample well possession agreement and sample land use agreement between a soum governor and herders groups as developed by the project. 9 A soum official in charge of land management together with a bag governor starts the identification of herders groups, memberships and boundaries: 9.1 If required updates the names of places on the provided base map to make better orientation for identifying and documenting group boundaries 9.2 Visits herders groups and records (i) the group membership and the number of livestock including those owned by absentee herders; (ii) possessions of pastoral resources, wells, seasonal camps and shelters, haymaking fields, access to saltlicks and others; (iii) migrations for seasonal and reserve pastures and options for emergency migrations in addition to permanent reserve pastures 9.3 Identifies boundaries of groups in consultation with leaders of herder groups 9.4 Ensures that the identified membership and boundaries of herder groups in a bag is discussed and endorsed at the bag meeting. 10 The Soum official in charge of land management organizes the documents resulting from activities in 9.1-9.4 and submits them to the soum governor. 11 The Soum governor reviews the submitted documents and makes them a part of the soum land management plan and submits the plan to the soum hural of citizens’ representatives for approval. Proceedings of the bag meetings that discussed the membership and boundaries of groups are attached to the soum land management plan as a supporting document. 12 The soum hural discusses the land management plan and approves it. 13 The soum official in charge of land management prepares draft land use agreements for each parcel of pastureland identified between herder groups and the soum governor based on the sample land use agreement as developed by the project. 14 The Soum land management plan is reviewed each year in accordance with the Land Law. As a part of this activity the soum government reviews, discusses and resolves any issue related to pastureland management including grazing conflicts that cannot be resolved at the level of herder groups through negotiations. The soum co- management unit will play a key role in this process and assist the soum official in charge of land management and bag and soum governors in performing their land management related functions.

The major risk in the proposed guidelines was considered the capacity of aimag governments to provide the soums with 1:100000 scale base maps. In 2002, each aimag had only one copy of the base map and soums have no base maps at all. If the aimag fails to provide its soums with maps

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the alternative option might be buying these maps in UB and then delivering them to soumss, but this option is feasible only if funds are made available.

It is essential for soums to have base maps to be able to introduce a more sustainable and participatory model of pastureland management. Maps will provide an essential tool for identifying boundaries of land uses and implementing and monitoring land use agreements and soum level land management plans.

The project circulated the Guidelines for establishing herders' groups, soum co- management units and possession/use contracts to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MFA), the Ministry of Nature and Environment (MNE), the Land Authority under MNE, the government implementing agency in charge of land management, aimag governments and the loan project team PIUs, aimag and soum governments.

The team organized a meeting and discussed the documents with relevant officials from the MFA, MNE, Land Authority and the National Water Committee.

Until December 2002 the project received formal written comments on the sample land use agreement from MNE, Land Authority and governments of Uvs, Zavhan and Gobi- Altai aimags as a reply to an official letter containing a sample land use agreement to be established between a herders' group and soum governor.

The Ministry of Nature and Environment and the Land Authority gave high importance to the sample agreement as a contribution to the implementation of the new land law and supported it. The Ministry's comments included a caution about the possibility of contracting the autumn and summer pastures to a herders' group. This reflects the trickiest part of the new land law. The possibility of contracting summer and autumn pastures depends on the interpretation of the term ‘using land commonly’ and whether common-use land strictly rejects any contractual arrangements. The project suggested that a differentiation was being made according to the size of the herder groups. As mentioned in previous reports an absence of contractual arrangements contradicts the tradition of using pastureland by communities and khot ails and threatens the conservation of pastureland. No contract means no responsibility for overstocking and overgrazing of pastures and no division of responsibilities between local government bodies, herding communities and members of communities, this means to 'legalize' increasing instances of using pastureland in anarchy that is a major problem in grassland management. In case that these resources are contracted it can be argued that pastures will be used still commonly but within the members of the herders' group.

The Uvs, Zavkhan and Gobi-Altai governments were also very supportive of the project elaborated guidelines and made minor suggestions for improvement which were taken into account.

Piloting the introduction of the land use agreement between herders' groups and soum governors The land use contracts between soum governors and herders groups are expected to play a key role in enforcing sustainable use of pastoral resources by herder groups. Contractual arrangements for grazing land management should be based on the existing informal arrangements and take account of regional distinctions and the need for reciprocal grazing rights between community groups in cases of emergencies.

Key principles for designing pastureland use contracts were:

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¾ To be based as much as possible on the existing allocation of pastoral resources among communities and families ¾ Stick to normal/equilibrium pattern of herders' migration and include specific provision for reciprocal grazing rights in cases of emergencies ¾ Support the community/community-based formal institution's interest to possess pastoral resources on area-basis ¾ To be based on a combination of formal powers /aimag, soum and bag government/ with informal arrangements in resolving grazing conflicts between families and communities, with informal arrangements always preceding interventions by formal powers, i.e. stick to the principle of co-management.

Based upon the above principles the project developed and implemented on a pilot basis a pastureland use contract in 4 soums, one soum in each project aimag. A model land use agreement which was developed in September 2002 incorporated comments by the relevant central and local government agencies as well as of the participants of the national seminar held on 22 January 2003.

The land use agreements were established in accordance with the new land law. First, the soum Governor issued a resolution to issue grazing rights to herders groups and the agreement was prepared on the basis of the Governor's resolution and signed by the representative of the herder group and the soum land/environmental inspector.

The agreement was concluded for around 15-20 years. This term was proposed by local governments who saw that the term was long enough to provide incentives at least for the piloting purpose. A 7-year term in case of the herders’ group in the Yaruu soum was proposed by the herder group itself. The group was planning to get user rights to winter camps in a different area and was cautious that getting too long user rights may hinder the group's intention to change the location of the winter camping area.

Most remarkably herder groups adopted land use agreements with great pleasure and expectations. They saw it as the real implementation of the new land law in case of pastures. Although real impact of the land use agreement on the behavior of herders is unlikely to occur soon it is believed to become an essential instrument for building pastureland management by gradually changing the herders behavior.

Advising district and provincial governments on designing and implementing land management plans

Using the land survey data the project team developed digital pastureland maps (Annex 3). The following maps have been produced digitally for 4 soums, namely, Yaruu soums of Zavhan Aimag, Zuunhangai soum of Uvs Aimag, Must soum of Khovd Aimag and Khaliun soum of Gobi-Altai Aimag:

1. Map that shows the basic topography characteristics including elevation, forestry, water resources of the soum, the allocation of the existing pastoral resources, i.e. 4 seasonal camps of each herders in the soum marked by numbers, salt licks, wells 2. Map that shows the informal boundaries of herders' groups in the soum under normal weather conditions 3. Map that shows the soum-level migration options in case of emergencies, i.e. the case in which the normal weather conditions are disturbed. 4. Annual stocking density of pastures by boundaries of herders groups as well as boundaries of bags

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5. Stocking density of pastures by boundaries of herders groups as well as boundaries of bags for the spring season 6. Stocking density of pastures by boundaries of herders groups as well as boundaries of bags for the summer season 7. Stocking density of pastures by boundaries of herders groups as well as boundaries of bags for the autumn season 8. Stocking density of pastures by boundaries of herders groups as well as boundaries of bags for the winter season

The project team considers that production of digital maps is essential for achieving the project objectives, namely design and implementation of land management plans, for the following reasons:

ƒ to provide easily up-datable information base for the management of pastoral resources which no one soum has now in Mongolia. Although the land law sets ambitious tasks for managing pastoral resources, the soum and bag governors have no information and other tools to achieve those objectives; ƒ to establish land use contracts between herder groups and soum governors and settling land related disputes between herders groups; ƒ to provide essential information for soum, bag and herders groups on the carrying capacity of pastures under possession/use and stopping and preventing potential overstocking and overgrazing of pastures, the number one problem in the grassland management in Mongolia; ƒ to show soum-level migration pattern of each herders group in case of emergencies is essential for planning and implementing effective land use decisions thus minimizing animal loses during natural disasters; ƒ demonstration of proper land management activities through the use of these maps provides the only feasible way of achieving one of the most important project objectives, replicating the project findings and outcomes to non-project soums and Aimags. Given the impossibility for grassland management consultants to replicate the activities undertaken in pilot soums without proper data, this seems to be essential for replicating the project outcomes for not only project Aimags, but also non-project Aimags and soums which face the same problem of lacking proper land management techniques.

Production of soum-level digital maps has been carried out with the broad participation of primarily bag governors. Especially, in the identification of boundaries between herder groups for the whole soum local people participated actively.

Preparing and distributing a leaflet on topics essential for building sustainable pastureland management and other public relations activities

Three leaflets have been developed and distributed in the target Aimags during 2002:

• What are the lessons for a herder? This leaflet is intended to raise awareness among the herders on the causes of dzud which are not only due to natural calamities but have also a lot to do with pasture management practices.

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• Key issues of the new land law which was adopted in the summer 2002 The adequate interpretation of the new land law for local government bodies and rural people is crucial for building a sustainable model of pastureland management. Therefore, a leaflet was developed to facilitate the understanding of the law articles by local relevant government bodies and their implications for building sustainable pastureland management. The leaflet occasionally makes reference to related articles of the law and comes up with conclusions and recommendations to promote the necessary national level actions. The leaflet was distributed to project aimags.

• Benefits of using pasture resources under long term contracts with herders' groups After dissolution of the former negdel system long term possession/use contract or leasehold may serve as a main tool to create incentives for long term sustainable use of land and making investments in it when private property is not possible. The leaflet intends to promote the idea of long term use right contracts among the herders and outlines key issues involved in this.

The project considered proper information on the importance of the new Land law and provision of information to the whole herder community as an essential activity. The project thus continued the distribution of the three main leaflets developed at an earlier project stage in the following years.

The leaflet was distributed mainly to the herders and respective district and provincial governments in selected pilot soums. But the field surveys showed that there was high demand of information on project activities and other topics such as how to organize informal herder groups and benefits of using pasture resources under long term contracts with herder groups. Therefore, the team attempted to publish leaflet materials in local Aimag newspapers in order to spread the information to a larger audience. Unfortunately, due to technical reasons the materials could not be published. Therefore, as of February 2004 the project team started printing its own project newspaper entitled as ‘Land and Life’ and distributing it to all 4 Aimags. The team already printed 4 issues. The materials for the issues cover the following topics:

1. Introduction to project goals and current activities. 2. Introduction and explanation of the new land law 3. Introduction into ASDP project activities (for example, reconstruction of well process factory in Uvs aimag) 4. Information about forming cooperatives in Mongolia and in foreign countries 5. Interview with herders and local official regarding implementation of land law and establishment of herders group. 6. Information about available credits, conditions 7. Current situation in animal husbandry in Mongolia 8. The price list for the new agricultural equipment/technology 9. Information about how to improve household income

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10. Cartoon - importance of co-operation

The main purpose of the newspaper was to update beneficiary herders on recent changes in the Land Law, explain the meaning of some parts of the Land Law, respond to herders’ views on pasture management issues and provide them with additional information on establishment and management of cooperatives, moreover the newspaper was to give a new impulse to the establishment of herder groups by providing new information about the current stage of the project activities and experience from neighbour herder groups, as well as from the experiences of foreign countries’ cooperatives. It contained also important information for building capacities of local government bodies and herders for proper pastureland management.

5000 copies of the newspaper were published for each edition and distributed through the project team field trip, PIU and ACTC offices in the aimag centers. The project team received much appreciation from herders that the newspaper was beneficial and informative to them. The project team therefore proposed to continue the printing of this newspaper subject to approval of ADB. As an example of the last edition, the following topics were touched:

• Recent project implementation activities • Land use contract part, the new Land Law • Possible forms of cooperation of herder groups • Questions and answers related to the new Land Law • ASDP Project Implementation – Facts regarding the successful implementation of the Project in Khovd Aimag • Cooperative ethics and principles • Useful advice on potato growing • KHAAN bank credit programme for herders – products and terms and conditions

The project’s achievements regarding output 6 can be summarised as follows:

¾ Guidelines for land use management have been elaborated and harmonised with all stakeholders

¾ long-term land use agreements between herder groups and soum governors have been concluded

¾ Digital pastureland maps for 4 pilot soums have been produced.

¾ leaflets and 4 issues of the project’s newspaper “Land and Life” dealing with pasture management and other herder issues have been published and widely distributed.

Output 7: Chosen herder groups are trained in new pasture management and the sustainable use of wells, provincial and district staff involved in land management have been trained.

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Seminars for soum working group members To improve capacities of the soum working groups the project designed and implemented 4 training seminars for the Santmargaz soum of Zavhan aimag, the Yaruu soum of Zavhan aimag, the Khaliun soum of Gobi-Altai aimag and the Zuunhangai soum of Uvs aimag and another 4 seminars in the Dariv soum of Gobi-Altai, the Myangad and Must soums of Hovd aimag and the Hovd soum, Uvs aimag in the autumn season of 2002.

In consultation with relevant authorities the project team also invited key people from the aimag government and the aimag PIU to the training seminars.

The training seminars sought to achieve the following goals: • Clarify the objectives of the TA Project and its linkages to the ADB Loan Project. • Discuss alternative development options for mobile livestock keeping under the present ecological and socio-economic circumstances. • Inform the participants about the advantages of a herders’ community-based pastoral development approach and convince them that its implementation offers the best possibilities to overcome the present problems of pastoral economy and pastoral management. • Inform about the present legal environment regarding the use of pastoral resources and discuss the Draft of the new Land Law and its possible implications for pastoral management.

During each seminar the proceedings were recorded and typed by the soum participants. The project team requested the seminar participants, especially the bag governors to communicate the seminar ideas to member herders' families.

Each training seminar was attended by around 20 participants. The largest group, around 30 participants, attended the Telmen soums seminar.

In 2003 the project organized soum working group training seminars in 4 soums: 23 March in the Must soum, 27 March in the Khaliun soum, 25 March in the Yaruu soum and 28 March in the Zuunhangai soum. During the seminars project experts among others discussed with local governments’ and herders' representatives the guidelines and mock- ups related to pastureland management developed both before and after the national seminar held on 22 January 2003.

The seminar objective was to equip local people with the knowledge and skills for (i) preparing soum-level digital maps; and (ii) pilot introducing land use agreements between the soum governor and herder groups. It focused on the following 3 topics:

• Ways to improve the pastureland management in the selected soums through introducing land use planning and land use agreements • Ways to strengthen herders' groups and their implications for the pastureland management • Rules to cross pastures used by others developed by the project team in February 2003.

Moreover, the team organized a training seminar in the 2 newly selected soums: Baruunturuun Ondorkhangai (Uvs Aimag). The seminar topic was introducing land use agreements between the soum governor and herders groups.

In 2005 new training seminars were prepared, budget breakdowns established and sent to ADB on 19 May 2005 but neither were commented nor approved. Without prior approval the TA team was not in a position to implement any training.

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However, during the field trip made in 2005, the team organized and implemented a small pasture management workshop in the Khalun soum.

'Guidelines for Community-based Well Rehabilitation and Management' developed and circulated to project aimags and soums The guidelines were developed by the TA national pastureland management experts in July 2002. To develop the rules the experts visited key institutions such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture /MFA/, the National Water Committee and individuals and collected relevant information on well management including government regulations and reports by different projects and programs.

The guidelines were designed to assist the implementation of well rehabilitation and management activities under the Agricultural Sector Development Project /ASDP/ and Advisory Technical Assistance Project /TA/ 'Capacity Building for Agriculture' through a community-based approach. The guidelines include also the sample well possession contract.

The guidelines have been developed and circulated to key officials in the MFA, ASDP, ADB and project aimags for feedback. First of all the team consulted with relevant officials from the MFA including Mr. Nergui, Head of the Policy Implementation and Coordination Department /PICD/ and Mr. Myahdadag, Head of the Livestock and Irrigation Division under the PICD. Both of them were supportive of the general idea of the guidelines. The team conducted extensive discussions with the ASDP team, Mr. Kevin Rutter, team leader, Mr. Peter Seibert international water economist and Mr. Ulziibayar, national water expert. The ASDP team members were of high opinion of the guidelines. Later Mr. Seibert and Mr. Ulziibayar revised the guidelines and invited the TA team to the presentation of the revised rules. The essence of the rules was not much different form the initial version. Mr. Enkh-Amgalan, the national pastureland management expert expressed his opinion regarding the revised version. ASDP aimag PIUs and project soums adopted the sample well possession contract for formal adoption of the wells rehabilitated under the ASDP project.

The aimag PIUs and soum governments were very supportive of the guideline principles. Thus, it can be safely said that the guidelines, especially the sample well possession contract are highly supported by all stakeholders and in the process of being successfully adopted in practice. Consultations on the guidelines and sample contract with local governments have been carried out during the fieldwork.

In the Dariv soum of Gobi-Altai aimag where the water co-operative headed by Mr. Dorjbal from the Gobi-Altai aimag centre was engaged in the rehabilitation activities the team presented the sample agreement to the soum government and raised discussions on its content. The soum government has agreed to adopt the agreement format and established the agreement between the soum governor and the head of the herder’s group. The agreement was also signed by a member of the herders’ group who would operate the well. In the Myangad and Must soums of Hovd aimag and the Hovd soum of Uvs aimag the project team has undertaken similar activities.

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The wells for which the respective soum governors have issued the decree for possession and established subsequent possession agreements are shown below.

Table : Wells rehabilitated under ASDP project and for which possession agreements have been established in accordance with the project-developed sample:

Name of soum Name of bag Name of the Coordination Head of herder’s group well location Degre Minute Seco e nd Myangan, Tsagaan Tulam Uzuurin hudag N 48 39 22 Baatarjav Hovd aimag E 92 2 23 Bayanbulag Huren tolgoin N 48 45 24 Not known hudag E 91 50 0 Must, Hovd Bayanhairhan Zuumon N 46 52 54 B.Delger aimag E 92 23 2 Hujirt Urtin sair N 46 5 25 J.Pagva E 92 17 22 Tsetseg-gol Hooloin hudag N 46 39 10 G.Tsogoo E 92 54 30 Hovd, Uvs Shiver Deguigin hudag N 49 14 0 B.Darhijav aimag E 91 9 46 Haliun Bulag Bituu tsoojin N 49 27 11 J.Gonchigsumlaa uzuur E 90 50 1 Achit Ulaan soli N 49 35 3 U.Tovdoo E 90 35 3 Dariv, Gobi- Hujirt Beliin Zaraat N 46 34 33 J.Naymtseren Altai aimag E 94 30 27 Javhlan Khavkhaast N 46 18 3 G.Batbileg E 94 24 27 Ihes Nuur Tungalag N 46 42. 24 D.Norov E 93 57 4

Organization of a national seminar where key project stakeholders discussed the project achievements including guidelines and mock-ups related to improved pastureland management. The project organized a national seminar to discuss the project achievements including guidelines and mock-ups related to improved pastureland management, a total 67 persons from project targeted regions and Ulaanbaatar participated (see Annex 4). The seminar was organized in Ulaanbaatar city on January 22, 2003. In the opening speech, Mr. Damdindorj, the State Secretary of MFA, highlighted the importance of the seminar in streamlining the guidelines and procedures regarding the use of pastures and wells to ensure their long-term and sustainable use.

The workshop focused on 3 issues: herders’ community organization, community-based pastureland management and community-based well management. The latter two were considered as crucial for promoting the herder group organization because key pastureland and water resources play the most important role in the formation and development of herders groups. As CPR project experiences show a well-designed, participatory community-based pastureland and well management has to be introduced at an early stage to strengthen the herder groups’ organization.

The presentation of workshop documents prepared by CPR team members included the manual on herders’ group organization and model agreements to be established between

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a soum governor and a herders' group on the possession/use of pastures and wells by the group, draft standard monitoring and evaluation procedures for herder group organizations and draft proposal for simplifying the registration of NGOs followed by open debate on the presented topics.

A more detailed discussion of the topics continued in the group sessions. The purpose of the group session was to discuss and seek consensus on proposed documents with balanced participation of experts, local government and herders. The groups facilitated by CPR experts intensively commented on the proposed documents and reached general consensus on them.

Regarding herders’ group organization the following major problems encountered in the area were enumerated by local participants:

¾ Lack of general knowledge and information about the herders group organization ¾ Lack of leaders or champions to lead the activity in local areas ¾ General high poverty level slows down the herder groups’ development ¾ Lack of an appropriate legal environment for resolving grazing conflicts inhibits the group’s formation and development

The projects achievements regarding output 7 can be summarised as follows:

¾ Organisation of a national seminar on steps needed to implement the Land Law regarding pastureland management. Ulaanbaatar, January 2003 (90 participants)

¾ Organization of seminars for the working groups on pastureland management, land law, land rights in pasture use and establishment of herder groups (83 participants)

¾ Organization of workshops for herders during field trips on the advantages of a herders’ community-based pastoral development approach, on the new land law, land rights in pasture use, establishment of herder groups, guidelines for Community-based Well Rehabilitation and Management (200 participants altogether)

¾ Development of training materials for herder groups and for the working groups on topics such as improvement of land use, establishment of herder groups, etc.

¾ Elaboration and circulation of 'Guidelines for Community-based Well Rehabilitation and Management'

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3.4 Cooperation with Counterparts on the national level

The Project Counterpart on the national level was the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Mongolian Government, represented by Mr. Nergui, Head of the Policy Implementation and Coordination Department /PICD/ in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Coordination of project actions with all central-level stakeholders especially with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture /MFA/, ASDP loan project team and ADB was considered of high priority. The project team organized regular meetings with representatives from MFA, ASDP loan project team and ADB, informed them about the project progress and discussed among others coordination issues.

Since June 2002, with an aim to update more recent information and to exchange the views, the TA project team conducted working meetings on a monthly basis with Mr. Nergui, the Head of the Policy Implementation & Coordination Department, MFA, Mr. Davaadorj, the Head of the Policy Planning Department, MFA and Mr. Kevin Rutter, PMU Adviser ASDP.

On 24 May 2002, Mr. Jansen, international pastureland management expert and Mr. Enkh-Amgalan, national pastureland management expert met with Mr. Terbishdagva, Vice Minister and Head of ASDP Program Steering Committee and Mr. Nergui, Head of the PICD. Mr. Terbishdagva stressed the need for coordinated actions with the ministry and other ASDP project participants and suggested that the ministry could liaise between the TA and loan projects or organize tripartite meetings. He highlighted the importance of the new land law for improving pastureland management and encouraging herders to produce more value added products from fewer animals. The Vice Minister also said that Mr. Nergui and Mr. Myahdadag, Head of the livestock and water division of the PICD, shall be official counterparts for the project.

On 23 December 2003, Mr. Batbuyan and Mr. Davaabaatar, the national pastureland management experts, met with Mr. Zandanshatar, Vice Minister, and his office staff. The experts informed about project activities in the year 2003. At the request of the Vice Minister, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, a working group was convened to (i) review the activities in water point rehabilitation sponsored by both the Government and donor projects operating in Mongolia, and (ii) harmonize approaches adopted by donors and the Government to the greatest extent possible. The Vice Minister of Food and Agriculture sought assistance from the Water Point Rehabilitation Working Group (WPWG) to standardize, where appropriate, rehabilitation procedures.

On 6-7 June, 2005. the TA team attended a consultative meeting between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and international donors on “International Cooperation in the Food and Agriculture Sectors and its future Perspectives”. The aim of the meeting was to provide a forum for over hundred donor and project representatives, representatives of national and international governments, and NGOs to foster cooperation and aid coordination in the agriculture sector. The Conference was led by Mr. Terbishdagva, Minister of Food and Agriculture. Its specific objectives were:

• To improve the legal environment of food and agriculture sector, to direct foreign loan and aid towards implementing state policy on food and agriculture • To cooperate with donors at all stages of project development, its implementation, monitoring and evaluation, budget spending and results of projects and programmes. • To develop a coordination mechanism for providing harmonization of activities • To develop the management resources and capacities of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to play its full coordinating and management roles.

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On behalf of the Capacity Building in Agriculture project, Mr. Davaabaatar, pasture management expert, presented the project and informed on its status of implementation at the conference.

In the wake of this conference two working groups were established, one dealing with the topic of “scientific mapping”, the other with “monitoring of pasture use”. The two working groups which held several ulterior meetings were joined by the two TA pasture- management experts, Mr. Batbuyan and Mr. Davaabaatar.

On the whole cooperation with the MFA was efficient and fruitful. Especially regarding the pasture management component a good working relation between the project and MFA was established and frequent meetings between MFA officials and the project’s pasture management experts took place. The Food and Agriculture Minister, Mr. Terbishdavag, has been regularly updated on the status of project implementation and plans for the future.

The direct counterpart on the national level for the project’s Cooperative Training Component was the Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Center (MCTIC) which has been directly involved in the implementation of the project training courses. The Training Center was handicapped by the fact that due to financial constraints no permanent staff could be employed. All staff members were only available on part-time basis as they were seconded from the co-operative associations.

3.5 Cooperation with Counterparts on the local level

The project established good working relations with the government administrations of the 4 project pilot Aimags. Right from the beginning it received support from the different sections of the Aimag administration involved in rural development planning, for example with the help of the pasture use specialists of the Aimags, overview sketch maps showing the present seasonal pasture use in the four Aimags could be drawn. Especially the Bag Governors and the chairmen of the Bag People’s Representatives provided the project with very useful information about the organization of pasture use and related problems. Most valuable discussions were held with the leaders of the pastoral communities.

The project was aware of the fact that improved pastureland management models had to be developed based on the broad participation of the herder community and local administration. That is why the land use agreements developed by the project incorporated not only the comments and suggestions of the MNE, MFA and Land Authority but also from the governments of Uvs, Zavhan and Gobi-Altai aimags and different herder groups.

The Soum Governors assisted with the establishment of the soum pasture management working groups and were key project counterparts since they were responsible for issuing grazing rights to herder groups and concluded the land use agreements with them.

The soum working group members (the soum governor, agriculture officer, land officer, environmental officer and bag governors) participated in the project’s training seminars on pasture management and received advice and assistance from the project’s pasture management experts. The excellent working relations established with the soum working groups suffered towards the end of the project from the fact that due to budget constraints

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planned field trips and workshops could not be carried out by the project’s pasture management experts.

Finally, the projects direct beneficiaries, the herder communities, were very open for project intervention and actively collaborated with the project by forming herder groups, concluding land use agreements and participating in training workshops on sustainable pasture management organized by the project.

With regard to the Cooperative Training Component the project collaborated on the local (Aimag) level with the Aimag Cooperative Training Centres set up during project implementation with the help of the MCTIC and substantial project support in terms of financial and technical assistance. The following Cooperative Training Centres were founded in the 4 Aimags and collaborated with the project:

¾ Bolomj Ireedui, Khovd Aimag (founded in 2003, provided with project equipment) ¾ Khorshoolol-Uvs, Uvs Aimag (founded in 2003) ¾ Evlerel, Zavkhan Aimag (founded in 2002, provided with project equipment) ¾ Surahui, Gobi-Altai Aimag (founded in 2002)

3.6 Cooperation with ASDP and other projects

Close liaison with the ASDP project has been an essential element in the project coordination. For both training courses for cooperative business consultants and cooperative auditing the ASDP has been asked to propose suitable candidates as trainees. ASDP experts have also been repeatedly invited for discussions and/or lecturing during the training events. Efforts were undertaken to integrate the requirements for the ASDP loan component into the curriculum for the cooperative business consultancy training. Specifically for the pasture management component regular meetings with the ASDP team had been agreed. The primary focus of cooperation and coordination has been on the selection of wells for rehabilitation, drafting of guidelines for well rehabilitation and management and sample well possession contracts.

On June 14, 2002, the project team including Mr. Klaus Bader-Labarre, Director of the lead company, Mr. Jansen, international pastureland management expert and Mr. Enkh- Amgalan, national pastureland management expert met with Mr. Kevin Rutter and discussed major issues of coordination between two projects.

On 6 December 2002, a special meeting was organised with the ASDP team. Attended by Mr. Kevin Rutter, ASDP team leader, Mr. Ulziibayar, ASDP water expert, Mr. Jansen, TA international pastureland management expert, Mr. Enkh-Amgalan, TA national pastureland management expert, the meeting discussed the progress of the two projects and exchanged views on the cooperation between the two teams.

Within the framework of cooperation with ASDP the project team attended a workshop organized by Mr. Olziibayar, ASDP water expert, in Zavkhan aimag (March 26-27, 2004) on the implementation of the well rehabilitation program in 2004.

On May 6 and May 17, 2004 Mr. Batbuyan had meetings with Mr. Olziibayar ASDP water expert to exchange opinions regarding the problems facing well-based herders' group. Mr. Batbuyan provided research technical assistance with regard to resource allocation and organizing herders groups. During the field trip the project also identified in consultation

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with soum government officials and representatives from the aimag Government wells to be rehabilitated by the ASDP loan project for each selected soum in 2004.

Also with other projects and institutions meetings were organized to exchange experience and foster synergies, for example with the ADB “Agriculture Sector Strategy” project, the UNDP “Sustainable grassland management” project and the SIDA “Greengold” project. Possibilities to cooperate with the National Agriculture Extension Center (NAEC) with a view to ensuring sustainability of the herder groups were explored.

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4. PROJECT COORDINATION

4.1 Management by Contractor

The Contractor, ABG GmbH, based in Germany, implemented the project. Responsible Project Director within ABG GmbH was Mr. Klaus Bader-Labarre from the start until November 2004 at the beginning of 2005 Mr. Markus Ditges took over as Project Director managing the Capacity Building in Agriculture project on behalf of the Contractor. The project directors undertook many backstopping missions to the project to on a regular basis in order to monitor project implementation and provide guidance.

Since 2005 a constant strain on project implementation has been the need for negotiation of contract variations due to currency fluctuation losses which have been unilaterally compensated by ADB through cuts in the project’s local travel and office operational budgets. The implications of these cuts for project implementation in the field were so grave that the Contractor had to devote much time and effort to negotiate acceptable contract variations reflecting project needs and assignments carried out on behalf of ADB. Due to the legal incertitude caused by the unsettled contractual situation project implementation on the ground came to a serious slow-down.

Despite these constraints, in June 2006, the project director, Mr. Markus Ditges, together with the national pasture management expert Mr. Davaabaatar, undertook a field trip to Uliastai city Zavkhan Aimag, and Altai city of Gobi-Altai Aimag to evaluate in particular the status of the provincial cooperative training centres. Mr. Davaabaatar used the opportunity to visit some herder and soum working groups.

4.2 Management by Contracting Authority

Right from the start of the project, ADB was actively involved in project implementation, mainly through the ADB resident Mission based in Ulaanbaatar. For example, during their first field trip in Zavkhan aimag the project team was joined by Mr. Darius Tetter, chief economist of the ADB resident mission in Mongolia .

Mrs. Scheirerling was the first ADB project task manager, during 2002-2004 Mr. Joji Tokeshi was the project counterpart in the ADB headquarters in the Philippines. He has been informed regularly about the project progress and provided useful advice for ensuring real impact of the project on the improvement of the pastureland management.

However, as from 2005, responsibility for the project within ADB shifted and no clear ADB Task Manager was available any more to whom to address requests for training and equipment purchase.

In June 2006 project administration by ADB was handed over to ADB Mongolia Resident Mission (MNRM) office and in July 06 the Contractor was asked to address all project related matters to Mr. A. Ruthenberg, Country Director of MNRM and Mr. Mandar Jayawant, Country Economist of MNRM and Ms. Tsetsegmaa Amar, Economics Officer of MNRM respectively.

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All in all, the co-ordination of project implementation was hindered by lacking project officers in ADB, lacking comments and approvals on training and equipment requests, unclear contractual situation between contractor and contracting authorities, very serious reduction of land transportation (60%) and office operation costs (40%) by contracting authorities.

Negotiating and finalizing necessary contract variations was a very protracted process and internal processing in ADB of changes finally agreed upon took several months up to years. Invoices were lost, not paid for a long time and finally contractors budget has been reduced by 40.226 U$ Dollar, without any reduction of tasks or expertise.

Promised approval of requested international expertise reallocation was outstanding for a long period. Furthermore, experts assignments which were undertaken on strong request of ADB were not backed by related contract variations. Name and co-ordinates of ADB’s responsible project officer were communicated to the consultant only in July 2006.

4.3 Monitoring and Evaluation by MFA

On April 29, 2005 the TA team participated in a project evaluation meeting organized by the Mongolian Ministry of Food and Agriculture and headed by the Minister of Food and Agriculture Mr. Terbishdavag. Project achievements and implementation in 2004 were previously studied and assessed by Mr. Buuveibaatar, monitoring officer of the MFA. The project pasture management team and members of the Ministerial Council attended the meeting and the discussions were based on the draft assessment made by Mr. Buuveibaatar.

At this meeting the TA pasture-management expert Mr. Batbuyan held a presentation on the TA project describing the current stage of project implementation, the project’s main findings, results and lessons learned as well as the plan of future activities.

The project implementation and results achieved so far were approved during the meeting and obtained positive evaluation results in the internal project evaluation mission carried out by the MFA. The evaluation results can be summarized as follows:

1. The project implementation was according to the work plan and schedule, of which 85% was fully executed. The assessment of planned activities was therefore “B” (good). 2. The project overall implementation for 2004 was in the framework of project terms of reference and supported the implementation of cooperative and well rehabilitation components of the Agriculture Sector Development project. But the technical assistance to the Aimag Cooperative Training and Information Centres in Uvs and Gobi-Altai Aimags was still outstanding. The project pasture management activities were somehow limited to organizing training courses and seminars. The assessment of project achievements for 2004 was “C” (satisfactory).

The following recommendations regarding the remaining project implementation were made:

1. The cooperation and links between the TA Capacity Building in Agriculture project and the ASDP need to be restudied and redesigned.

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2. Cooperation and share of information among all agriculture sector projects is required. 3. Follow-up activities for cooperative trainers and cooperative auditors who were trained by the project are necessary. 4. The project pasture management activities should be more directed to local capacity building.

The overall evaluation score was “C” – satisfactory. It was suggested that besides delivering useful technical assistance to herder groups the project should support them also financially, providing them for example with small-size tractors or equipment for hay cutting.

4.4 Project Mid-Term Review by ADB

In 2005 the following main tasks were accomplished by the project in the framework of the mid-term review: (i) Review the performance of the piggy-backed TA, and its contribution to the well rehabilitation and cooperative development component of the investment project. (ii) Together with the Project Economist, assess the outcome and impact of the TA, identify the measures required to improve performance during the remaining TA period, and prepare a time bound action plan. (iii) Together with the Project Economist, review the implementation of the cooperative development component, assess outcome and impact of this component, and in the light of the assessment, redesign it, if necessary, to improve the component performance. (iv) Together with the Project Economist, evaluate the implementation of the veterinary services component, and assess its outcomes and impacts. (v) Together with the Mission Leader, review the current arrangements for cost recovery under the cooperative development, well rehabilitation and Green Revolution components, and propose measures for improving repayment rates. (vi) Provide inputs to the update of the economic/financial analysis, and improvements in the M&E system. (vii) Contribute to MOU preparation.

5. SUSTAINABILITY

5.1 Sustainability of Cooperative Training Centres

Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Centre:

In December 1998, the Mongolian Cooperative Training Center (MCTIC) has been founded as an NGO. The founders of the Center are • the National Association of Mongolian Agricultural Co-operators, • the Mongolian Association of Private Herder's Co-operatives, • Association of Mongolian Industrial Co-operatives,

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• Union of Mongolian Productions and Service Co-operatives, • Center Union of Mongolian Consumer Co-operatives • National Confederation of Mongolian Savings and Credit Co-operatives,

The Association of Mongolian Savings and Credit Co-operatives has joined afterwards. MCTIC is a Member and registered NGO and its Board consists of one representative from every Member Union. Board Director of MCTIC is Ms. Ch. Altangaaya, president of the National Association of Mongolian Production Cooperatives. The executive director of MCTIC is Mrs. Baigalmaa.

The main objectives of the MCTIC are: ¾ to give the right understanding about cooperatives to the rural people, and to provide training to members and staff of cooperatives ¾ to help the Association of Cooperatives to coordinate their business action and to give them related information to supply market information regularly to connect with reliable local and foreign partners and to give methodological advice to the member cooperatives and their employers. ¾ to find qualified staff for cooperatives. For this proposes, we have to elaborate training programs on a long term basis. First of all, we have to train managers and accountants for cooperatives. These are two ways to implement it.

The MCTIC currently employs 42 part time trainers and 4 full-time staff, including a training manager, information manager, driver and the executive director Ms. Baigalmaa. Among the part-time trainers figure also some of the project trained cooperative trainers and consultants as well as of the cooperative accountants and auditors. The Centre disposes of one training room for 35 people equipped with 3 desktop computers, 1 laptop computer, a copier, a fax, a printer and some small office items.

The following training activities have been carried out by the MCTIC in 2006:

Training Courses for Cooperative Trainers:

3-phase training courses for Cooperative Trainers on the provincial level were implemented in the Aimags of Darkhan Uul, Arkhangai, Zavkhan, Tuv Orkhon, Zavkhan, Uvurkhangai, Uvs and Tuv, Orkhon, Arkhangai, Khovd and Dornopgobi. A total of 199 cooperative trainers were trained. Jointly with the GTZ Improved Cooperatives Management project a 3-day seminar on Financial Analysis and Financial Management was organized for staff of the accounting policy, methodology and auditing department of the Ministry of Finance, and of the Accounting Department of the Economic College. 21 trainees participated.

General Cooperatives Training:

Training of Cooperative Management on behalf of the French project and the Anti Poverty project, 21 participants

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Training for Cooperative Boards of Directors, implemented in the 4 Aimags of Arkhangai, Khuvsgul, Orkhon and Selenge, total of 70 participants

Training for Cooperative Supervisory Committees, implemented in the 3 Aimags of Arkhangai, Khuvsgul, and Orkhon, total of 25 participants

Cooperative Management and Membership training, implemented in Darkhan Uul and Selenge Aimags, total of 58 participants

Training course on Establishment of Secondary Level Cooperatives, organised in cooperation with the National Production and Services Cooperatives Association, 13 participants from Ulaanbaatar, Darkhan Uul, Bayankhongor and Orkhon provinces

Training on Business Plan Development, organised on behalf of the Norvegian Humanitarian Fund, 28 participants

Training on Cooperative Accounting, re-training of 12 cooperative accounting trainers in Khovd, Uvs, Gobi-Altai and Zavkhan Aimags; training on behalf of the Norvegian Humanitarian Fund in Darkhan-Uul and Ulaanbaatar, 25 participants

Technolgoy training: Training on preparing kimchi (Korean dish) was organised for the Soumet cooperative of Tuv Aimag

Training on Felt making and Marketing of Felt Products: a total of 6 training courses with 103 participants

Felt making cooperative management: training course organised in Ulaanbaatar, 15 members of 7 cooperatives participated

Test training course on cooperative savings and crediting for members of credit cooperatives organised in Khuvsgul, Selenge and Darkhan Uul Aimags, total of 71 participants

In December the MCTIC conducted a 2-day training course for the management staff of the provincial training centers which was attended by 15 provincial centres.

In addition to the training courses implemented the MCTIC elaborated and published a manual for Directors and Management Board of Credit and Savings Cooperatives. Moreover, the Center started official cooperation with the Financial Coordination Committee. It organised a 1-day seminar for 22 people of the Committee staff with the topic “International development of credit savings cooperatives, current situation, principles of credit savings cooperatives, good governance of credit cooperatives”.

MCTIC cooperated with the GTZ project “Improved Cooperatives Management” to provide equipment to newly established provincial cooperative training centres in Darkhan-Uul, Tuv, Uvurkhangai, Khuvsgul, Orkhon, Arkhangai, and Dornogobi Aimags.

Besides carrying out its normal training and consultancy activities the Centre plans to conduct a survey of cooperatives at national level, to organize a “Young Leaders” national conference in Ulaanbaatar and to organize cooperative strengthening training courses at soum level in 2007. The MCTIC is well staffed and equipped and cooperating with various donor projects and national institutions, its sustainability seems assured.

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Provincial Cooperative Training and Information Centres:

a) “Khorshoolol-Uvs” Training Centre, Uvs Aimag

The Khorshoolol-Uvs Cooperative Training and Training Centre was registered on 28 April 2003 with the objective to provide qualitative cooperative training courses, advise local people on cooperative issues and to be self-sustainable. It is owned by the local branches of the National Cooperative Federation.

In 2003 and 2004 it organized and implemented training courses on the following topics: co-operative law, co-operative bookkeeping, co-operative management, main characteristics & future trends of co-operatives, first steps to establish co-operatives. The training courses attracted a total of 814 participants.

In 2006 the training centre moved into the building of the Aimag Agricultural Cooperative Association where it disposes of an office room and a training room equipped with 30 tables and chairs. It has installed information boards to make information on cooperative development accessible to the broad public. During 2006 the provincial centre closely cooperated with the MCTIC in the organization and implementation of its consultancy and training courses. Its trainers have been re- trained in 2006 by the GTZ “Cooperative Managements Improvement” Project.

Together with the Aimag Agricultural Cooperatives Association the centre elaborated a cooperative development strategy plan and assessed the implementation of the aimag cooperative and bookkeeping policy.

Soum level cooperative trainers have been hired on a contract basis to carry out training courses at soum and bag level. Currently, 7 trainers are working at the Aimag level and 21 trainer on the soum level, all hired on a temporary basis for conducting training courses. The only permanent full-time employee is the director of the Centre, Mr. Byambajav who is not paid by the Centre.

At the request of cooperative managers and accountants the centre organized IT training courses.

In 2006 the following training courses have been carried out:

1. Cooperative accountancy, business planning and writing of project proposals (60 participants) 2. Cooperative start-up bookkeeping, calculation of balance sheet (4 participants) 3. Special training at the request of 8 cooperatives on cooperative management and development

32 cooperatives were advised by the centre on various matters of cooperative management and business development.

In order to continue and develop its training and capacity building activities in 2007 (notably cooperative management and membership training as well as cooperative accounting training at soum level) and introduce important services for primary cooperatives the Centre still requires support in the form of training equipment. Currently the Center uses a desktop computer and a printer which have been lent for temporary use

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by the Aimag agricultural cooperatives association. Without proper equipment and financial means to pay its staff the sustainability of the centre seems at risk.

b) Surahui CooperativeTraining Centre, Gobi-Altai Aimag

The Surahui provincial Cooperative Training and Training Centre was founded in 2002 in order to promote the establishment of new cooperatives and to support the strengthening of local cooperatives. At present, it occupies a room in the Aimag’s Agricultural Cooperatives Association building which serves as office and training room at the same time, with space for 30 trainees. The room is equipped with one old table and a computer, donated by the Aimag Agricultural Cooperatives Association. The Centre employs 6 part- time cooperative trainers at the aimag level and 24 part-time trainers at the soum level. Three employees are working on a full-time basis at the Surahui Centre but without receiving any salary: the Director, Ms. Tsogzomaa, the head of the Board of Directors, Ms. Undarmaa, and the senior trainer, Ms. Ulziikhuu.

Between October 2002 and October 2006 the training centre organized and implemented 22 different training courses which were conducted in the Aimag center and in 18 soums, altogether a total of 1621 persons were trained. The following training courses were implemented:

¾ Cooperative basic knowledge; ¾ Development of secondary level cooperatives; ¾ Forum of cooperative members; ¾ Training of cooperative trainers; ¾ Business planning of cooperatives; ¾ Cooperative management; ¾ Business development training; ¾ Legislation of cooperatives; ¾ Cooperative start-up; ¾ Training for Tax Officers; ¾ Training for Soum Governors; ¾ Training of Cooperative Accounting and Bookkeeping; ¾ Cooperative Membership; ¾ Training for Cooperative Members on vegetable preservation

The Centre intends to continue its training and consultancy activity in 2007. In particular, the following training courses are already planned: - “Cooperative establishment” training with Gobi Initiative in June - “Motivation of cooperative members” training together with the MCTIC in July - “Cooperative Management” training together with the MCTIC in some soums - “Supervisory Committee” training - “Cooperative Membership” training, at the request of the Aimag Labour Force Agency

However, the execution of the Centre’s tasks and training courses would be facilitated by provision of proper furniture and IT equipment. Its sustainability also hinges on the availability of financial means.

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c) Evlerel Cooperative Training and Information Centre, Zavkhan Aimag

The training centre Evlerel, which was established on 30 September 2002 and received project equipment in 2003, is located in the building of the Professional Inspection Agency where it disposes of an office and training room with training facilities for 25 persons. It is equipped with a desk computer, fax machine, printer, overhead projector, writing and computer tables, tables and chairs for 25 persons. The centre currently employs 45 trainers on a part-time basis and 2 full-time staff, the executing director and an accountant. In 2006, five of the Centre’s trainers benefited from re-training organised by the GTZ project “Improved Cooperatives Management”. As the training courses implemented by the TA project in 2002/2003 this training course consisted of 3 phases and involved a practical field work where cooperatives in the soums were monitored by the trainers and provided with advice for their further development.

Other training activities conducted by the centre’s cooperative trainers in 2006 included: ¾ Field survey in 14 soums on behalf of the GTZ Regional Economic Development Project. ¾ Training on miscellaneous cooperative issues for the Eeltei buckthorn cooperative in Durvuljin district. ¾ Credit and Savings Cooperative Training in collaboration with ADRA in Tudevtei, Telmen and Tosontsengel soums. ¾ Cooperative Development Training in Tes, Bayantes, Asgat and Tsetsen uul soums. ¾ Provision of consultation and advice to vegetable growing and fodder production cooperatives during field trips to Yaruu, Songino, Bayantes, Tudevtei, Tosontsengel and Zuunkhangai of Uvs province. ¾ Organisation and implementation of a 3-day course on cooperative establishment in Erdenekhairkhan soum at the request of the National Labour and Welfare Fund. ¾ Organisation and implementation in 22 soums of a training course on production of felt and wool products in collaboration with Mercy Corps (duration: 44 days). ¾ Implementation of a 4-days training on Cooperative Accounting and Bookkeeping training in Tes and Bayantes soums. ¾ Training course “Living and working as a Group” designed for poor citizens of Uliastai city, at the request of the National Labour and Welfare Fund. ¾ Joint implementation of a 3-days cooperative training course in the regions targeted by the Gobi Initiative.

Altogether, the trainers of the Evlerel training centre conducted 116 training days in 2006.

Training courses organised and implemented directly in the Evlerel Cooperative Training and Information Center in 2006: 1. Organized ‘Zavkhan’ forum on 22 June 2. Training of SWOT Analysis together with GTZ Regional Economic Development project on 27 November 3. 3-days retailer training in July for 24 professional sellers and retailers 4. 4-days cooperative management training for Monkhaan and Tsetsen Devsjil Cooperatives. 5. 3-days cooperative membership training course

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6. Vegetable growing training The Centre has developed a training plan for 2007 stressing its intention to continue and enlarge its cooperation with international donor projects.

d) Bolomj Ireedui Cooperative Training and Information Centre, Khovd Aimag The Khovd Aimag Cooperative Training Center was established on 11 April 2003 and was provided with equipment by the project in the same year. It is located in the building of the Aimag’s local administration where it occupies a room with space for about 50 people serving as office and training room at the same time. It is equipped with a computer, copier, printer, fax machine, overhead projector, writing and computer tables, tables and chairs for 50 people. During 2006 it was working successfully, managed by the executing director, Ms. Ts. Bolormaa, and employing 12 part-time trainers. The Center was selected partner of the Micro Business Development component of the ‘Enterprise Development in Mongolia’ project financed by GTZ. This project has supported the Center in a number of ways, for example a computer and a LCD projector were handed over to the Center based on a one year contract, thanks to which implementation of the training courses was more effective and beneficial.

The Center in total organized 11 different training courses during 2006, and attended regional exhibition fairs with great reputation where the member cooperatives Ochirsuld, Arvin Ulias, Amtatnii Undarga, Suvagt were placed as regional top enterprises.

The Center took part in the UNDP Partnership Fair organized between 16-18 June of 2006 and the policy development conference.

Mrs. Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, visited the Center during her trip to Khovd province and expressed her satisfaction about the work of the Center. The following training courses have been implemented by the Center during 2006:

Altogether the Center trained 345 participants in 2006.

Moreover, 2 of the centre’s trainers were re-trained at a cooperative training course in

1. Korean Language Training for Agricultural Cooperative members, 02 January-05 March, 35 participants 2. Cooperative accounting and financial management, 13-18 March, 12 participants 3. Training of sewing, 19-26 March, 10 participants 4. Formation of herder groups, 01 April, 16 participants 5. Business plan and planning, 09-11 May, 25 participants 6. Technology of felt making and felt products, 19-20 May, 18 participants 7. Production Management Training, 07-09 June, 10 participants 8. Cooperative start-up accounting, cooperative general bookkeeping, 19-21 July, 17 participants 9. Knitting training, 16-18 August, 1 participant 10. Conference procedure, 23-27 October, 8 participants 11. General cooperative issues training course was implemented in 11 districts with a total of 16 participants.

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Khovd Aimag organised by the GTZ “Improved Cooperatives Management” project. The executing director of the Center, Ms. Ts. Bolormaa, participated in a training course for certified accountants organised by the Institution of Certified Accountants and thus was able to extend her accountancy license for another 5 years.

The Bolomj Ireedui Centre intends to pursue its training activities in 2007, conducting training courses on behalf of the Mongolian Cooperative Training and Information Centre and providing advice to herders on all matters related to cooperative development.

The sustainability of training centres is very much depending on their ability to find financing for the training courses offered, major sources of financing are state authorities and international donors. As close as a training center is able to establish contact to donors as more realistic is financing (Training Center in UB is here in a pool position). Training centres in provinces will hardly survive. The training centers still need support from national and / or international financing.

5.2 Sustainability of the Pasture Management Component

To implement and really establish improved pasture management in the 4 Aimags detailed and correct data on current pasture uses, boundaries between herder groups and information about the use of wells is an indispensable prerequisite. Collection and representation of this data can best be done through GPS measurement of pastureland and the subsequent production of digital maps as has been done by the project for 4 selected soums (one soum per pilot Aimag). However, GPS measurement of pastoral resources can only be carried out by bag governors if they are adequately trained and if GPS devices are made available. This is currently not the case in most of the Aimags and Soums. Therefore the alternative option of using hand-drawn maps (scale 1:100000) for collection and presentation of pasture use data should be pursued, especially where the Soum administration still has no data processing capabilities. The experience of 4 pilot soums for which digital maps have been produced should be used as demonstration basis to build capacity of other soums.

The herder groups fostered by the project who function as natural resource management units and have concluded land use contracts with their respective soum governors (including rules for crossing used pastures) are well established but would still benefit from further training on sustainable pasture use management and community-based well rehabilitation and management. The last field trip carried out by the project’s pasture management experts in 2005 showed that the herders are still very interested in the herders community-based pastoral development approach and try to formalise their communities by registering as a NGO. Especially on these formalities expert advice is still in great demand, all the more since many herder groups seem to be interested in exploring additional joint income generating activities and the possibility to improve their access to credit thanks to the formalisation of their community. During the mid-term review mission it was observed that many herder groups, including those in the pilot Soums of the TA, do not diligently pay their contributions of 10% to the repairs of wells, which are used by them. Further awareness-raising measures are therefore needed to convey the necessity that all members have to fulfil their obligations to contribute to the costs of well repair and that the respective agreements and internal by-laws on well use must be adhered to. Further consultation of the Soum governors with regard to the future ownership of repaired wells would be advisable, too.

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The Soum working groups are also well established and working but they have difficulties to evolve into real soum pasture co-management units mainly because of a lack of capacity and financial means. Clear guidelines for their work and detailed annual action plans have to be elaborated yearly. Financial means are needed to enable the soum working group members to visit the herder groups on a regular basis and to monitor their adherence to the land use agreements. The experience with formation and development of herder groups and of Soum working groups gained by the project can fruitfully be applied to herder groups around newly rehabilitated wells and to support the establishment of Soum working groups in those Soums. However, to replicate such project achievements further training seminars / workshops for Soum working groups and awareness creation campaigns for herder groups on the formation and management of funds for the maintenance of wells based on fees for water use have to be carried out. During implementation of the TA it was only to a limited extent possible to promote the establishment of pasture co-management committees at the Aimag level. As these committees are not foreseen in the Law there is limited interest on the side of the Aimag administrations. This is considered as an obstacle for the integration of the individual Soum pasture co-management units into the vertical administrative relationships as well as for the dissemination of the developed models and lessons learnt. However, if the Land Officers of the project Aimags are fully briefed about the project’s work and intentions they are expected to support and foster the pasture management work at the Soum level. Valuable experience has been gained through the conclusion and implementation of the land use agreements which found great support from all stakeholders. This experience just needs to be converted into a replicable model and be disseminated through brochures and presentations at regional and national workshops in order to spread the project achievements over the other Aimags. The pasture management staff in the Soum administration can draw on the project’s preparatory work to develop concrete annual land management plans for the respective soums.

The preparatory worked performed by the project’s pasture management experts Publication of leaflets or newspapers targeting herders and dealing with issues of sustainable pasture management, herder community building, well management, conflict resolution, access to finance etc. has proved to be an efficient means to reach herders and to build awareness and capacity in a bottom-up approach. These publications were easily and widely distributed through the PIUs and ACTCs in the ASDP project Aimags. As this kind of capacity building is not very costly it should be pursued by the project counterparts perhaps with the help of other projects operating in the field of pasture management or rural development in general.

As a conclusion, it can be said that the actors involved in pasture management at all levels, and above all the project assisted herder groups and soum working groups clearly show a need of further capacity training measures as well as assistance and advice in the day-to-day management of their pastoral resources. Further training of the Soum working group members on execution of field surveys and on the assessment of pasture carrying capacity is highly recommended.

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In particular, constant monitoring of the operation and management of wells which are at the basis of the herder groups’ common pastureland management needs to be ensured.

Project implementation obviously suffered from an insufficient local transport budget and office operational budget hindering the project pasture management experts to travel into the pilot provinces, to visit the herder groups, to provide necessary practical advice and monitor implementation of the land use agreements. Without these restrictions capacity built at local level would clearly have been more sustainable.

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6. ANNEXES

Annex 1. List of Participants of “Cooperative Trainers and Business Consultants Training”

Organization Position No Name Age Sex Profession Aimag

1 D. Avhia 45 M Teacher politician Burhan Buudai Chairman Gobi-Altai

2 D. Tsoodol 54 M Agricultural Ikh Ovoo Trade Co.,Ltd Director Gobi-Altai economist 3 G. Undarmaa 44 F Engineer Soum Governor Office, Chief officer for labor Gobi-Altai Aimag Union of Industrial Cooperatives 4 S. Tsogzolmaa 22 F Lawyer Language High School Lecturer Gobi-Altai 5 T. Ulziikhuu 38 M Criminal case Khalkh Juram Juridical Dean of Civil - Case Gobi-Altai investigator Institute Department 6 J. Tsend-Ayush 29 M Veterinarian Aimag Governor’s Office Agricultural officer Khovd 7 Kh. Bayansuren 41 F Accountant Erdeniin zul housing Chief accountant Khovd company 8 J. Enkhjargal 27 F Lawyer Attorney Council Lawyer Khovd 9 D. Batchuluun 47 M Agronomist Agricultural Extension Manager Khovd Center 10 Khashbat 30 M Aimag Cooperative Training Chairman Khovd Center 11 D. Enkhtuya 41 F Economist Moncord CSC Economist Ulaanbaat ar 12 Otgonjargal 43 F Designer Undral Industrial Chairwoman Ulaanbaat Cooperative ar 13 Galkhuu 29 M Economist Industrial Cooperatives Ulaanbaat Union ar 14 Uranchimeg 25 F Accountant National Cooperative Accountant Ulaanbaat Training & Information ar Center 15 Jargalsaikhan 44 M Lawyer Trade & Consumers Lawyer Ulaanbaat Cooperatives Union ar 16 P. Ganbat 28 M Economist, Union of Industrial Manager Ulaanbaat Mathematics Cooperatives ar 17 B. Naranchimeg 33 F Sewing Union of Industrial Credit officer of Ulaanbaat technologist, Cooperatives Tschinggis SCC ar Accountant 18 Ts. Batsukh 49 M Agronomist Uran Zurvas Cooperative Chairman Uvs 19 Ch. Gombosuren 51 M Veterinarian Umnugobi cooperative Chairman Uvs 20 Ts. Badam 31 M Accountant Nuuriin Am cooperative Chairman Uvs 21 Munkhzaya 23 F Economist Jalalt Agric. Coop. Accountant Uvs 22 Ts. Ganzorig 24 M Economist Unemployed Zavkhan 23 D. Batdorj 45 M Lawyer Aimag Government Legal Advisor Zavkhan Administration 24 L. Ulambayar 42 M Economist Dayan Uul Cooperative Chairman Zavkhan 25 N. Altanhuyag 39 F Teacher of Secondary school – Devshil Teacher, Head of Gender Zavkhan mathematics and Development center 26 Kh. Odontuya 23 F Agronomist Enkh-Devshil CSC Manager Zavkhan 27 G. Manibazar 58 M Teacher of Governor's Office of the Local Governor of the Gobi-Altai Biology Esonbulag soum Esonbulag soum 28 Narantuya 48 F Boot making Goyol industrial cooperative Chairman of the Goyol Gobi-Altai technology Cooperative since 1995 29 D. Togtokh-baatar 59 M Trade specialist Central Union of Mongolian Chairperson Hovd Trade & Consumers Cooperatives 30 Sh. Battulga 56 M Engineer Jargalalnt Soum Local Jargalant Soum Local Hovd Economist Government Administration Government Office Administration Head 31 Oyun-Erdene 35 F Engineer "Savings Fund" Cooperative Chairperson Hovd

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32 M. Ganchimeg 25 F Economist National Federation of Secretary of the Ulaanbaat Mongolian Credit & Savings NACCUM, Ardiin itgel ar Cooperatives SCC Chief Accountant 2001 33 G. Manaljav 50 M Raw material Central Union of Mongolian Executive Director of the Ulaanbaat processor Trade & Consumers CUTCC ar Cooperatives 34 S. Enkhtuya 46 F Production Mongolian Production and Executive Director of the Ulaanbaat Economist Service Cooperative MPSCU ar 35 D. Erdenetuya 37 F Electricity Mongolian Cooperative Manager Ulaanbaat Engineer Centre for Training & ar Information 36 T. Byambadorj 54 M Journalist Mongolian Radio Cooperative expert Ulaanbaat ar 37 Ts. Altantuya 30 F Eng & Russian National Association of Officer Ulaanbaat Lan Translator Mongolian Agricultural ar Cooperators NAMAC 38 Enkhjargal F Veterinary Ministry for Food and Expert Ulaanbaat Agriculture MFA ar 39 B. Bayarmaa 35 F Knitting Engineer Tsetsgiin undes 2-nd tier Financial manager Ulaanbaat SCC ar 40 Uranbaigal 33 F Teacher Agricultural university, Teacher Ulaanbaat School of Economics and ar Business 41 Zayasaikhan 31 F Engineer GTZ Project “Organised self Officer Ulaanbaat technology help in rural areas” ar 42 Tsagaanhuu 41 M Engineer "Rural Development" 2-nd Chairman of Auditing Ulaanbaat mechanic tier SCU Committee ar 43 D. Orlogojav 45 F Trade specialist Mongolian Trade and Chairperson Uvs Consumer Cooperatives Association MCCU Regional branch 44 Ts. Lumjav 44 M Labor economist Production and service Chairman of aimag Uvs cooperative union, regional MPSCU & Head of the branch and aimag Trade aimag Trade Union Union 45 Batsuuri 37 M Engineer UNDP aimag "Human rights Project coordinator Uvs project" 46 P. Byambajav 57 M Veterinarian National Association of Chairperson Uvs Mongolian Agricultural Cooperators NAMAC, Aimag branch 47 Ch. Tsevelmaa 56 F Teacher "Ulaan Davaanii Khutul" Manager Uvs Cooperative 48 N. Tserendorj 37 M Doctor "Ekh Bolor Tungalag" Chairperson Zavhan Savings and Credit Cooperative 49 Shagjjav 39 M Economist, Association of Mongolian Chairman Zavhan Master in Private Herders Business Cooperative Administration "Khersoot" Cooperative 50 L. Sukhbaatar 57 M Livestock expert National Association of Specialist recruitment and Zavhan Mongolian Agricultural training Cooperators NAMAC, Aimag branch 51 P. Gurragchaa 28 M Economist National Federation of Manager of the NACCUM Zavhan Mongolian Credit & Savings branch Cooperatives NACCUM Manager of "Bayan Namsrai" Cooperative 52 P. Tserendejid 50 F Biologist "Khaikhan Orgil Trade" SC Chairperson Zavhan Cooperative

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Annex 2. List of Participants of “Cooperative Accountants and Auditors” Training

No Name Age Sex Profession Organization Position Aimag

1 L. Erdenechimeg 41 F Accountant, Hovd. "Bayan sharguun" Director of both Hovd economist horshoo,and aimag association of Union trade & Consumers Cooperative 2 D.Oyunkhuu 46 F Economist, UB. "Buyant orgil" horshoo Director Ulaanbaatar accountant 3 Ch. Batkhuyag 30 M Accountant Gobi - Altai. Ornoh Altai accountant Gobi-Altai horshoo 4 L. Mandalsuren 36 F Accountant Gobi - Altai. MTV horshoo accountant Gobi-Altai 5 D. Ochirpurev 46 M Economist, Zavhan. Tsagaanchuluut accountant Zavhan accountant sum. Oboot hairhan horshoo 6 G. Dashnyam 44 F Certified Zavhan. Uliastai, Idriin Director Zavhan accountant undraga horshoo 7 P. Gantsolmon 31 F Accountant Zavhan. Tegsh duuren accountant Zavhan horshoo 8 Ts. Lhamkhuu 47 F Economist, Aimag Agricultural chief accountant Uvs accountant Cooperatives Union,Namac 9 T. Enkhtuul 40 F Certified Ulaanbaatar. Team up ltd. Director Ulaanbaatar accountant, Consultant economy ingenieur 10 D.Namhainyambu 43 M Accountant, Zavhan.Union of Trade & chief accountant Zavhan u economist Consumers Cooperative 11 S.Tsedev 45 F Accountant Zavhan. Usukh ireedui accountant Zavhan cooperative 12 D.Ariunaa 41 F Economist, "Altain Hedelmer" coop, Director Gobi-Altai accountant, Gobi - Altai, Tonhil business administration 13 B.Urtnasan 30 M Accountant, "Ulaandavaany hetel" coop accountant Uvs economist 14 D. Enkhjargal 28 F Accountant Unemployed Uvs 15 B.Bainahuu 46 F Economist, Chandmana Altai Co.,Ltd Accountant Govi-altai accountant 16 D.Tsagaantsooj 38 F Accountant Tax Department accountant Hovd 17 P.Erdenetungalag 35 F Accountant Shim Us Co.,Ltd accountant Hovd 18 Ts.Bolormaa 33 F Accountant Hust bayan Khairkhan accountant Hovd Co.,Ltd 19 Sh. Oyuntsetseg 42 F Economist- Social Insurance accountant Hovd Accountant Department 20 B.Tarvachimbe 23 F Accountant Mand B Co.,Ltd Accountant Uvs 21 N.Tsog 48 M Economist- S.H.Credit CSC Accountant Ulaan baatar Accountant 22 B.Balsan 25 M Accountant Tavan Erdene Cooperative accountant Zavhan 23 S.Sodnom- Ish 46 M Economist, Aimag Audit Committee Auditor Govi- Altai accountant 24 E.mendbayar 23 F Accountant Ijil Khairhan Cooperative Director Uvs 25 Ch.Altangaaya 42 F Accountant, Central Union of Industrial Director Ulaanbaatar economist Cooperatives 26 D.Baigalmaa 37 F Accountant Centrial Union of Trade & accountant Ulaanbaatar Consumers 27 S.Oyun-Erdene 37 F Accountant Buyant-Orgil cooperative accountant Ulaanbatar

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Annex 3. Map of Herders Group Boundaries

ZAVHAN AIMAG \& YARUU SUM MAP OF HERDERS GROUP BOUNDARIES \& 2133.0 R \& Áº çèéí óóë \& \&\& R \& \& \& \& \& 2455.7 § R 23 66 . 0 \& R 2084.0 [ 2232.0

R2141.0 N R 2364.4 Àì àðàà 23 08 .7 \& R 1997.0 R \& \& \& 2238.0 \& 3 R2062.0 R \& Óëààí òî ëãî é R 2133.7 \& \& \& \& \& \& \& Áóì áàò äî î ä \& \& R 2026.0

R2312.5 \& R\& R2468.0 R 22 68 . 0 2423.1 21 08 . 0 \& R\& \& \& Íóðàìò R 2465.0 24 79 . 0 R 2548.1 \& R 2268.0 R Óëààí õà ä äî î ä Õàëçà í äàâàà R 2452.0 [ \& \& R 2445.0 2449.0 2 Öýí õýð óóë R 2420.2 Õ¿éòý í òàø óó \& \& R2502.5

§ 4 § \& R2427.9 2557.7

§ R R 24 45 . 0 R 2420.2 \& § \&\ \& Õº õ ÷óëóóí û î âî î 2594.4 § Óëààí äý ýë R 2649.4 Z R R 2349.6 \&

2751.0 R2562.9 R2566.8 Î ðî éí òî âãî ð 5 1 ¨ë § Ãó ó \& Óëààí õàä R 2190.5 R 2171.0 R \& R 23 09 .0 \& R 2461.2 § \& §

\& § § Äàðäàí ãèéí äºì áºí \& § R R 2138.0 2625.0 Øî íõîð Z 2638.7 R2414.0 Z 2491.1 ª í äº ð òî ëãîé 2265.0 R R 2441.0

2526.6 2567 .0 § R Áàðóóí ýõ äýýä \& R G" R2520.0 R 2242.0 R2682.0 \& R§ 2581.2 \& R 2337.0 \& R 2481 .1 § \& § R 2380 .0 § \& \& \& § 7 \& \& § R 2750.2 R 2392 .0 § 2167.0 Ýëñýí äàâàà Áààöûí äº ì Ạí 2527.9 R 2510.5 Õº õ ÷óëóóòû í õÿ ð R [ 2422.0 R 2307 .3 R2555.2 Áàðóí ýõíèé íàéìàí R R 2751.0 áàãàí àò Z § \& § \& 2282.6 Àð õóæèðòûí äàâàà 31 R 2404.0 § R 2342.6 § § R 2418.0 R 2486.6 \& R 2264.0 \& R2657.3 R2573.0 § R 2362.0 \& R 2475.0 R2562.0 R 2503.0 R 2402.0 G" \& R 24 86 . 1 \& R2743.0 § \& \& R2565.0 \& 2411.5 \& 22 30 .2 § R R 2567.5 R 25 72 . 9 R Ãîë ìîäîí äàâàà \& R 2410.0 § \& R2492.2 R 2218.0 R2476.0 [ 2366.6 R 2481.0 § R2518.0 § R 25 11 . 0 Öýãèéí àðûí ºâºë溺 24 74 .3 \& \& R G" G" 8 \& 2407.0 Õº í äëº í óóë R2574.0 R 2645.0 R2555.1 R 2357.0 \& R 24 71 . 6 R2300.0 \&\& R 2582.2 \& \& Íàðèéí îâîî \& R 25 01 .8 \&\& R2576.5 § \&\& \& R 2413.0 R 2441 .9 \& \& R 22 60 . 0 \& R2410.0 \& \&\&\& \&\& \& \& \& \& \& Áàðçàí 2377.8 \& R \& R 2302.1 \& \& \& \& 30 \& \&\& \& R2310.0 [ 2325.0 \& ×àí äì àí ü óóë " Äàõòûí äàâàà \& G \& R 2422.3 \& R 2184.1 \& [ 2322 .0 \& \& 9 \& \& 2383.0 [ \& 2256.2 R \& \& \& 2378.4 \& \& \& 2301 .4 \& \& [ 2435.0 \& R \& \& \& R 25 85 . 0 \& 2353 .6 \& R \& Áàÿí ç¿ðõ óóë \& R Õî ðî î ò 2179.2 R 2463.0 \& \&

§ \& R2228.0 \& \& R G" Ì î äî ò óõàà \& \& R 2080.0 § 2342.0 \& \& \& R Ýëñòèéí äàâàà 2330.0 \& Ãóðâàí òî ëãî é 22 70 . 9

§ R R \& R 2217.1 [ 2290.0 R 2612.0 \&\& \& \& \& R 24 62 . 0 \& \& § R2237.0 \& \& 10 \& G" Õºõ áèë÷èð óóë \& \& R 2394.0 \& \&Ñàëõèòû í ä ýýä R2441.0 R2675.0 \& c \& R 24 05 .0 6 [ 2511.0 LEGEND \& \& \& \& R2426.3 \& \& \& \&\&\& 2306.6 Ãýñýðèéí óóë R 2469.6 2478 .2 \& R [ 2450.0 R 2551.3 \& R Ì î äî ò óõàà 28 RR26 24 . 0 2645.0 \&\&\& \& \& \& Z Geodetic point R 2257.2 R 25 25 .2 \& \& \& Èõ áèë÷èð óóë R 25 25 . 0 \& R2505.0 Óëààí ÷óëóóò R R 2270.0 \& 2549.6 Í à ðèé í äàâàà \& R2485.6 Ãàãàëöàã § \& 2301.0 Sum boundary § \& Õàí æàðãàëàí ò Ãî ë ì î ä R [ 2321.6 \& [ 2462.0 R 2625.0 R 2248.0 \&\&\&\& \& Z 2884 .3 \& Height 2330.0 \& \& 2385.0 \& R 27 17 . 9 [ R 2526 .9 R R R 25 51 . 0 \& \& \& Õº ø º º ò óóë \&\& \& \& \& \&\& R 2485.0 R 2270.0 \& \& \& R2662.0 Hill R 2511.4 \& \& 29 R § 2330.0 &\ Winter camp § \& [ \& Òóíãàëàã óóë \&

R 2472.0 Õýðñýíãèéí îâîî \& R 2299.0 R 2648.0 R 21 95 .0 Õýëñýí òî ë ãîé R 25 47 . 0 \& Spring camp [ 2330.0 \& &\ R 2299.0 \&\& R 2729.0 R 21 49 . 6 \& Sum center \& 2520.0 R2495.0 \& \& ÚÊ R \& \& \& \&\& 2245.0 R \& R2541.0 Summer pasture \& \&

&\ § Õî éò õ¿ðýí áóõò [ 2358.0 \&\& \& 2305.0 \& Bag center R \& R 2642.4 R2804.1 c Ì àí äàëûí î ðî é \& Autumn pasture \& \& &\ Z 2896.0 \& R 2652.0 \& R 2470.0 R 24 92 .0 [ 2248.0 \& \&

R 2223.3 \& § Wells \& § " \& § G R 2352.0 R2690.0 Óðä õ¿ðýí áóõò § R2190.0 R2385.0 R2418.1 R 2563 .8 R 2817.9 Æèø ë ¿¿ðãèéí õÿð R 2570.0 \& Springs \& \& 28 05 . 0 R R 2709.0 Ãà ëò óóë 2168.0 \&\& Õ¿ðýí áóõòû í ýõí èé î ðî é \& R [ 23 28 . 0 R \& [ [ Í àëóóãèé í áàðçàí R 2813 .0 \& 2643.0 2508 .0 R 2856.3 \& Ì º ñº í ãèéí äàâàà R 2768.0 Herders group boundaries Íàìûí äàâàà \& 2500.2R \& [ 2581.0 Òàõèëò óóë [ 2502.0 \& R 2300.5 R 2423.0 \& R2381.0 25 22 . 0 \& \& \& [ \& \& \&\& Óõàà óóë ÚÊ \& \& \& 2646.3 \& \& R2681.0 \& \& R \& R 2683.7 49 - Number of herders group boundary \& R 2629.9 R 25 50 . 0 \& R 2180.0 \& [ 2346.0 25 \& \& G" Àðñëàí òî ë ãîé \& Ñî í ãèí î ò óóë R 2565.0 2471.4 R 2095.0 R R 2174.8 2748.0 R2173.0 2490.0 R R § [ 2210.5 R 21 20 . 1 R 23 74 . 0 R2048.3 R 23 47 . 0 R 2585.0

Öàãäóóëòûí àðû í äàâàà 2654.6 R Õ¿é ñ òî ë ãîé Î âî î ò óóë [ 2452 .0 R 2262.0 Ñîíãèíîò R 2207.0 \& \& R2136.3 \& Z 2711.0 \&R\&\&20 82 .0 Öàãäóóëòàé R 2205.0 \& \& R2681.0 G" \& R 20 57 . 1 \&\& R 2153 .0 \&\& R 2510.0 \&\& \&\& R 2452.2 G" R \& Õà ð ¿ç ¿¿ð \& R2333.0 R R 2267.0 G" R 2312.0 Àéðàãûí îðîé R R 2273.7 \& \& 2216.0 2108.1 R2090.5 \& R 2589.4 \&\& 2193.7 \& R 26 86 . 0 \&\& \&\& \& Öàõèðû í äàâàà \& R Õà ãèé í ý ðý ý í

Áº ãòº ð óóë 2000.0 § 2162.1 \& R [ \& Ìîä òîëãîé 2140.0 " 2749.6 2207.0 R G" \& G Z G" \&\& R 2825.0 G" G" R2141.0 G" ĺ ðº ë æèéí öàõèð óóë R 2107.6 R2415.6 R2000.1 2324.0 R \& \& § \& \& c \& [ 2476.0 21 02.0 1999.7 \&\& \& R \& R R 2230.0 R1958.0 24 \& \& \& \& \& \& \&\& \& \&Øàð ÿì ààò \& \& Õîìáîò óóë Äóëààí óóë \& \& \&\& R 26 49 . 7 R2705.6 \& \& \& \& \& R 2762.0 G" \& R 2444.0 R 2614.3 Z 2257.4 \& Ãî ç ãî ð óó ë \&\& \& R \& \& \& R1920.0 2055.1 \& R2472.0

\& § \&\&\&\&\& \& \& R2380.3 26 R 2443.0 R2483.0 1917.0 Äóëààí î âî î \& \&\& \& \&\&\&\&RG" \& R 1916.0 R 2281.0 \&\&\&\&\&\& \& \& \& R 26 17 .0 R2221.0 \& \& Ãàíö ìîä 27 R1942.0 \& \& R R2065.0 Óëà à í ä ýë è éí î ðî é \& \& 2020 .8 \& R2782.0 R2209.0 \& \& \& R 1984.0 \&\& R1943.0 \& \& R 2098.0 ¯íýãòèéí îâãîð R 1822 .0 \& \& R 2126.0 R 2368.0 ª âäº ã òî ëãîé \& \&\& R R1878.0 Óëààí ÷óëóóí îâîî \& \& R1755.0 \& Äî í óóë \& R 1963.0 \&\& \& Õî éä õàð ÷óëóóò \& \& \&\& \&\& R 2641.0 \& 1930.8 R2572.0 \& \& \& 1882.0 11 \& \R& \& R 2150.0 R1783.0 \& G" \& Õ¿ðýë ÷óëóó 2369.0 \& Àëàã òî ë ãîé R 2518.0 R1634.0 \& \& R 18 52 .0 R 1951.8 \& G" Ç¿¿í àöû í ø èëèéí öàãààí òî ëãî é R2586.0 R R 18 24 . 0 R1811.0 \& R2041.0 \& 2524.0 Èõ ¿í ýä óóë G" Õýö óëààí R ßçðàãèéí ø àëí û áóóö \& R 2521 .0 R 2015.3 \& \& \& \& 12 \& \& \&\& \& \& 2337 .0 \& \& \& 23 R RÓóø ãèéí öàãààí òîëãîé R 2014.0 R 21 36 . 0 Õîøî îòûí äºðºëæ 1935.9 21 R23 10 . 0 R 2048.0 [ R17 60 . 0 Õ¿ðýí òî ëãî é R2228.0 \& Óð ò æàëãà R2139.0 \& G" \&\&\& Äàõàò óóë R 2132.0 \& R2361.0 \& R1850.8 \&\& \& R2568.0 \& \& \& Óó ø ãè é í ¿ç ¿ ¿ð \& 2165.0 R1814.0 R1738.9 ßí õû í äº ðº ëæ \& \& \& \& 22 \& R R1936.3 Óóø èã àð õ¿¿ø 20 R1943.0 \& 2070.0 \& \& \& \& R Óóø è ã \& \& \& \& Äàëè ð óóë R 1963.0 \& Öàõèð óóë 1912.0 \& \& R \&\& \& 2343.0 R 2263.0 R21 23 .0 \& Áî ð ¿ç¿¿ð àö R2285.0 R R2302.0 R 2396.0 Óëà à í á è ë÷ èð èé í õî é ò òý ý ã \&\& \& 1830.0 \&\& R1960.0 \& \& \& \& R\& \& G" \& 2216.0 R2112.0 \& R R1797.0 R2031.0 R1751.0 R 1789.0 R2433.0 Ñý ýð º í äº ð R2207.9 \& R19 21 . 0 2045.0 R Áóí õàí òû í óóë R1718.9 Öàãààí ìîðüòûí õîíä RÕýí ãýðýã öî õèî 2272 .0 \& R R R1750.9 2066.0 \& \& \& Ì àéõàí \& R 1898.6 Õ¿éòýí òî ëãî é 18 19 R1890.0 13 \& 1832.0 \& \& \& \& \& R1748.0 RG" \& \& \& R1739.6 Õ¿éòýí áàðãàö \& \& \& \& \& R1706.7 \& \& 1861.0 Áîñîî äóíä òàøèð \& R \& Õ¿é òý í \& \& R18 81 .1 \& \& R Çàëàà \& 1792.4 20 46 . 4 R 1931.0 16 \& R R16 24 . 4 \& 14 R1660.5 \& \& \& R1874 .1 1882.7 Õýí õð ýã R R1797.4 \& \& \& R1860.0 R2105.0 Óëààí ñýýðèéí áàðóóí ¿ç¿¿ð R1851.8 \& \& \& \& \&\ G" \& \& R 17 35 . 0 Äóí ä áàÿí èõ á óóö R1805.0 R1835.0 G" R \& \& R1700.0 1837 .5 \& 17 R1721.0 1996.2 \& R 1841 .9 R \& Áàãà á¿ðýí Èõ á¿ðýí \&\& R1803.0 R 1760.0 \& Áàÿ í óëààí óóë R 16 37 . 0 \& 19 31 .8 1951.3 \& R R \& Áàÿí óëààí ñ¿¿ë \& \&

\& \& Õîëáî î -áàðóóí R1664.2 R1760.0 \& \& R1808.6 15 Àÿãûí õàí íóðàìò \& \& R1704.2 \& R1651.0 \& R1713.7 16 22 . 0 \& \& R \& "Capacity Building 1756.8 \& R1683.2 Àÿãû í õº õ òî ëãîé R R17 25 . 0 Ëóóãàðû í öî õèî R 1:150000 for Agriculture", ADB, TA 3606, June 2003 \&

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Annex 4. List of Participants of “National Pastureland Seminar”

Ulaanbaatar Gobi-Altai aimag

1. Mr.Damdindorj, State Secretary of 6. Mr.Erdenebat, Deputy governor Ministry of Food & Agriculture 7. Mr.Munkhjargal, Officer of Governors 2. Mr.Batmunkh, Irrigation expert of office Ministry of Food & Agriculture 8. Mr.Dagvadorj, Director of “Us-Altai” 3. Mr.Enkhtaivan, Ministry of Nature & company Environment 9. Mr.Gombojav, Head of PIU 4. Mr.Enkhsaikhan, Head of PIU, ASDP 10. Mrs.Tungalag, Officer of PIU 5. Mr.Ulziibayar, Water expert of PIU, ASDP

Govi-Altai aimag, Darvi soum Govi-Altai aimag, Haliun soum

11. Mr.Dagiisuren, Sum governor 15. Mr.Battulga, Sum governor 12. Mr.Tungalag, Officer of Governors 16. Mr.Bayamba, Land expert office 17. Mr.Jargalsaikhan, Bag governor 13. Mr.Nyamdorj, Bag governor 18. Mr.Tumurkhuyag, Head of Herder’s 14. Mr.Sodnom, Head of Herder’s group group

Govi-Altai aimag, Erdene soum Khovd Aimag

19. Mr.Bukh-Ochir, Sum governor 21. Mr.Shirendev, Deputy governor 20. Mr.Munkhbat, Head of Herder’s group 22. Mrs.Enkhsuren, Officer of Governor’s office 23. Mr.Myagmarsuren, Expert of Land Authority 24. Mr.Jugderbaram, Head of PIU

Khovd aimag, Myangad soum Khovd aimag, Must soum

25. Mr.Chuluunkhuu, Bag governor 29. Mr.Bayanzul, Deputy Governor 26. Mrs.Suvdchimeg, Environment 30. Mr.Uudus, Environment inspector inspector 31. Mr.Davaanyam, Bag governor 27. Mr.Tsogt-Erdene, Agriculture expert 32. Mr.Orsoo, Head of Herder’s group 28. Mr.Galbadrakh, Head of Herder’s group

Khovd aimag, Zereg soum Zavkhan aimag

35. Mr.Bayarlkhagva, Deputy governor 33. Mr.Darisuren, Agriculture expert 36. Mrs.Bolormaa, Officer of Governor’s 34. Mrs.Tserendulam, Environment office inspector 37. Mr.Erdenebileg, Agriculture expert 38. Mr.Dagvadorj, Head of PIU

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Zavkhan aimag, Yaruu soum Zavkhan aimag, Santmargaz soum 43. Mr.Delger, Sum governor 39. Mr.Denebaldan, Sum governor 44. Mr.Sukhbaatar, Environment inspector 40. Mr.Yamchinsuren, Environment 45. Mr.Damdin, Bag governor inspector 46. Mr.Chuluunbat, Head of herder’s group 41. Mr.Choidorj, Bag governor 42. Mr.Chuluun, Head of herder’s group

Zavkhan aimag, Aldarkhaan soum Uvs aimag

47. Mr.Dorjpalam, Agriculture expert 49. Mr.Doojoo, Head of Department of 48. Mr.Delgernasan, Bag governor Governor’s office 50. Mr.Lkhagvasuren, Officer of Governor’s office 51. Mr.Lantuubayar, Water expert of Agricultural Department 52. Mr.Batsukh, Head of PIU

Uvs aimag, Zuunkhangai soum Uvs aimag, Khovd soum

53. Mr.Battegsh, Sum governor 57. Mr.Davaajav, Sum governor 54. Mr.Munkhjargal, Environment inspector 58. Mr.Nergui, Environment inspector 55. Mr.Mandalsuren, Bag governor 59. Mr.Bilegsain, Bag governor 56. Mr.Sukhbaatar, Head of herder’s group 60. Mr.Tovdoo, Head of herder’s group

Uvs aimag, Sagil soum Uvs aimag, Tarialan soum

61. Mr.Nadmid, Sum governor 63. Mr.Lkhamjav, Sum governor 62. Mr.Khatanbaatar, Head of herder’s 64. Mr.Namsrai, Bag governor group 65. Mr.Davaasambuu, Head of herder’s group

Uvs aimag, Turgen soum

66. Mr.Bayambaa, Sum governor 67. Mr.Khukhuu, Bag governor 68. Mr.Purevjav, Head of herder’s group

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