Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020)
Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction in Mongolia - 3 (LTS3)
December 2020
FINAL REPORT (April 1, 2020- September 30, 2020)
Agreement # 720FDA19GR00135
Submitted to: USAID Submitted by: Mercy Corps
COUNTRY CONTACT HEADQUARTERS CONTACT
Wendy Guyot Erik Mandell Country Director Program Officer Mercy Corps Mercy Corps PO Box 761 45 SW Ankeny Street Ulaanbaatar 79, Mongolia Portland, OR 97204 Phone: +976 9911 4204 Phone: +1.503.896.5000 [email protected] [email protected]
1 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020)
ACRONYMS AND TRANSLATIONS
Aimag An administrative unit similar to a province or state ALAGAC Administration of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography Bagh An administrative unit similar to a sub-county (sub-soum) DRR Disaster Risk Reduction DPP Disaster Protection Plan Dzud Environmental hazard that unfolds over several seasons and includes drought conditions in summer leading to poor forage availability and low temperatures, heavy snows and/or ice in winter, resulting in animal deaths from starvation or exposure. GAVS General Authority for Veterinary Services GoM Government of Mongolia Khural An elected decision-making body at the district, province and national level LEGS Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards LEMA Local Emergency Management Agency LTS Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction in Mongolia MoJ Ministry of Justice MET Ministry of Environment and Tourism MOFALI Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry MULS Mongolian University of Life Science NAMEM National Agency of Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring NEMA National Emergency Management Agency NSO National Statistical Office OFDA Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance PDS Participatory Disease Surveillance PE Participatory Epidemiology PENAPH Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animals and Public Health PMP Pasture Management Plan PMR Pasture Management Regulation PBU Private Veterinarian Unit SAP Soum Action Plan SMART Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool SMS Short Message Service Soum An administrative unit similar to a county Otor Moving beyond traditional areas in search of better pasture. Herders do “otor” only during extreme situations, when there is no grass for animals due to drought, heavy snow, etc. TAD Transboundary Animal Disease ToT Training of Trainers
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WFP World Food Program WCS Wildlife Conservation Society
3 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020)
Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 6 PARTNER COORDINATION ...... 7 PROGRAM START UP ...... 8 Activity 1: Formation of LTS3 Team ...... 8 1. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PDS APPROACHES AND TOOLS ...... 8 Introduction ...... 8 Activity 1: MOU signed with GAVS...... 9 Activity 2: Certification of local veterinarians as PDS practitioners ...... 9 Activity 3: Workshops, meetings, and advocacy for integration of PDS at the national level ...... 12 Activity 4: Workshops, meetings, and advocacy for integration of PDS at aimag level ...... 14 Activity 5: Dissemination of information about the PDS approach ...... 16 Table 1: Agriculture and Food Security Sector- Mandatory indicators (See Annex- Detailed Indicator Performance Tracking Table) ...... 1 2. RANGELAND MANAGEMENT ...... 3 Activity 1: Selection of soums in 5 target aimags ...... 3 Activity 2: Soum support priorities...... 4 Table 4: Target soum priorities ...... 5 Selection of rangeland consultants...... 6 Activity 3: Assistance provided to target soums...... 7 Table 5: Herders’ competition activities ...... 9 Activity 3: National and aimag level workshops on rangeland management ...... 11 Table 6. Total number of participants ...... 12 Table 7: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Mandatory indicators (See Annex- Detailed Indicator Performance Tracking Table) ...... 15 Table 8: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Additional Indicators ...... 16 3. DISASTER RISK REDUCTION ...... 18 Activity 1: Aimag and soum level capacity building activities for rural stakeholders and partners ...... 18 Activity 2: Awareness raising and capacity strengthening for herders and local community ...... 19 Activity 3: Distribution of DRR equipment and supplies to target soums ...... 22 Table 9: Type and number of equipment donated to each soum ...... 22 Table 10: Value of donations and estimated No of participants ...... 23 Activity 4: Workshops, conferences on national level ...... 24
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Table 11: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Mandatory indicators (See Annex- Detailed Indicator Performance Tracking Table) ...... 26 Table 12: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Additional Indicators ...... 27 CHALLENGES ...... 28 COVID-19...... 28 Elections ...... 29 PROGRAM EVALUATION AND CLOSE OUT ...... 29 Summary of Key Evaluation Questions ...... 31 Evaluation Conclusions: ...... 36 Evaluation Recommendations: ...... 36 ANNEXES ...... 37 Annex I: Summary of Soums ...... 37 Annex II: Rangeland Management and Small Scale Rehabilitation Projects ...... 37 Annex III: Rangeland Management and Herder Competition Report ...... 37 Annex IV: Rangeland Management Workshops ...... 37 Annex V: DPP Workshop Report Summary ...... 37 Annex VI: DRR ToT Summary Report ...... 37 Annex VII: DRR Equipment Handover Report ...... 37 Annex VIII: PDS Workshop Report ...... 37 Annex IX: Indicator Performance Tracking Table ...... 37
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GENERAL INFORMATION Project name: Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction in Mongolia 3 Duration: September 1, 2019- November 30, 2020 Funding: Total funding: $749,946/ USAID: $749,946 Direct Participants: 38,887 Indirect: 73,360 Reporting period: Sep 1, 2019 - November 30, 2020 Target area: 5 aimags: Khentii, Sukhbaatar, Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since 1999, Mercy Corps Mongolia has partnered with government, businesses, and civil society to help Mongolians develop the local skills and capacities that have enabled them to grow while retaining distinctive vital cultural and livelihood traditions. Currently, Mercy Corps Mongolia’s programs focus on strengthening the livestock sector and preventing livestock loss through improved rangeland management, market systems development, and disaster risk mitigation strategies. Mercy Corps’ presence in the project’s targeted geographic locations resulted in both a deep understanding of the context and issues and strong partnerships with key disaster risk reduction (DRR), rangeland management, and livestock health stakeholders at sub-national (aimag and soum) government levels. In addition, Mercy Corps has been working productively at the national level for almost twenty years with key ministries and government agencies including the Ministry of Agriculture and Light Industry (MOFALI), the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), as well as key DRR entities such as the National Agency of Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring (NAMEM), and both the National and Local Emergency Management Agency (NEMA and LEMA). With generous support from OFDA, Mercy Corps’ DRR programming continued to reflect the changing needs and increasing capacities in Mongolia. The Leveraging Tradition and Science in DRR in Mongolia, Phase 3 (LTS3) program was an important step in Mercy Corps’ OFDA-funded programming in Mongolia, engaging stakeholders at all levels- from national institutions to herders themselves, in all aspects of the project. We achieved short-term project objectives while institutionalizing disaster risk reduction and pastureland management efforts led by government structures and community leaders that will be utilized for years to come. The project had four objectives: 1. Improve early surveillance of transboundary animal diseases;
2. Increase pasture area under improved rangeland management in target soums;
3. Strengthen management and planning capacity of soum level government on DRR and rangeland management; and
4. Increase knowledge and skills of herders in disaster preparedness and rangeland health.
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LTS3 was implemented in Bayan-Ulgii, Uvs, Khovd, Khentii, and Sukhbaatar aimags. These aimags were selected based on an assessment of need, risk of natural disasters, vulnerabilities to severe weather-related shocks and resulting livestock loss, risk of transboundary animal disease, and general state of rangeland health and livestock populations relative to the carrying capacity of the land.
PARTNER COORDINATION Mercy Corps gained substantial experience working with local (aimag, soum) government, herders, private veterinarians, and other local level stakeholders during the implementation of LTS2 and other past and current Mercy Corps programming.1 We have established relationships with key actors that have proven beneficial in LTS3 implementation. General Authority for Veterinary Services (GAVS) was a key coordinating counterpart for Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS) efforts under LTS3, including support in training new PDS practitioners and incorporating PDS tools and approaches into the government policy and practice for detection, prevention, and control of TADs at national and local levels. We have been working with this agency since its establishment in 2018. Mercy Corps signed a MoU with GAVS upon the project start-up that outlined engagement and expectations from both parties for LTS3. Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry (MOFALI) was another key partner of the LTS3 project team at both the national and local levels. Under this project, Mercy Corps worked with MOFALI to identify target soums and support the development of the Soum Action Plan (SAP) and Pasture Management Plan (PMP) in ten soums of five aimags. National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is the government agency responsible for disaster-related coordination down to the local level. Mercy Corps worked with NEMA and local branches of Emergency Management Agency (LEMA) on a) planning and executing livestock-related risk mitigation, b) improving disaster protection plans (DPP) at soum level, and c) SMS system ownership and delivery. Until February 2020, Mercy Corps worked with the World Food Programme (WFP) to expand on- demand SMS services and functionality to include critical market price information, while weather and other information continue to be available nationwide. With funding from OFDA, WFP implemented a project in Mongolia that aimed at more effectively integrating existing early warning information, such as Mercy Corps’ SMS system with early action efforts by the Government of Mongolia. Mercy Corps collaborated with WFP on the expansion of on-demand SMS services and functionality to enhance herder households’ ability to trade and resilience to dzud and other exogenous shocks. In all targeted areas, LTS3 worked closely with both the aimag and soum governor’s offices. Aimag and soum level governments have authority over natural resource management. Governors’ offices at both levels are tasked with preparing plans for their level and implementing policies. Mercy Corps worked with local governors to plan and execute activities; build sustainability mechanisms within local institutions; and ensure that all interventions have a positive effect on the long-term sustainability of pastoral systems.
1 LTS2 – Leveraging Tradition and Science -2 project (2015-2019)
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PROGRAM START UP Activity 1: Formation of LTS3 Team The project was launched on 1 September 2019 with a formal kick off conference among Mercy Corps LTS staff. The LTS3 team consisted of five aimag coordinators, one based in each of the target aimags, who were responsible for facilitation and coordination of activities. These rural staff all previously worked on the LTS2 program; in addition to being certified LEGS trainers, they have requisite agriculture and livestock skills and knowledge to identify needs, jointly agree priorities with soum and aimag officials, and provide some technical support directly.2 The LTS3 structure also included five technical staff and senior management based in the capital, with travel to other aimags to support implementation as needed. Some of the team were transitioned from LTS2, while recruitment for the new team members focused on pasture management and was completed in early November 2019. The team included a Project Manager, a Senior DRR Officer, a Rangeland Management Specialist, a Rangeland Management Officer, and an LTS3 Program Assistant.
1. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PDS APPROACHES AND TOOLS Introduction Growing herd sizes and widespread degradation of the rangelands, combined with an underinvestment in natural resource management, rural economic development, and the agricultural sector vis-a-vis the mining sector has contributed to an animal health crisis in the country. Since 2001, Transboundary Animal Diseases (TAD) have been an increasingly serious problem in Mongolia, threatening the food security and livelihoods of herding families and their dependents. Foot-and-mouth disease, pox, Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), and African Swine Fever (ASF) are highly contagious TADs characterized by rapid spread, resulting in serious socio-economic losses and market disruptions. The Government of Mongolia (GOM) has recently initiated efforts to establish and maintain disease-free zones to suppress outbreaks. These have, however, fallen short of expectations; a lack of resources and capacity, and the inability to react to quickly changing conditions; have, in fact, resulted in new and re-emerging diseases, including TAD. Despite growing demand for meat and animal products from Mongolia’s close neighbors, these diseases continue to impact the livestock sector’s export potential. In addition to the frequency and complexity of diseases, surveillance and control measures are currently insufficient, as they are applied only during outbreaks and not as a continuous program in Mongolia. In addition, top-down surveillance by experts tends to overlook herders’ valuable local knowledge and experience in preventing, detecting, or addressing outbreaks. Currently control measures are applied only during outbreaks and there is no continuous or early surveillance system in Mongolia. In other developing countries, Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS) has proven to be one of the most successful ways to identify early, mitigate and manage TADs. PDS incorporates participatory methods with more traditional epidemiological research and disease surveillance practices. PDS is a globally accepted methodology that harnesses the knowledge of local herder communities to establish the presence or absence of a specific animal disease in a particular area. The approach was originally developed for small-scale, community animal health programs, then applied to large-scale
2 LEGS – Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards
8 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020) international disease control efforts. The newly established GAVS, together with Mercy Corps and OFDA, decided to introduce this approach to Mongolia under the LTS2 program; this was continued during LTS3. Certification of four PDS trainers under LTS2 PDS is a completely new concept in Mongolia and, until the introduction of PDS through the LTS2 project, there were no PDS specialists in country. During October 2018 - March 2019 under the LTS2 program, Mercy Corps assisted four veterinarians to become certified PDS trainers, through the Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and Public Health (PENAPH) process. This process included: ● PDS introductory training in Zimbabwe ● Field practice in Mongolia followed by a study report ● 5-day refresher training in Ulaanbaatar ● 4-day training-of-trainers in Ulaanbaatar, which included revisions of the curriculum in Mongolian language. Then, in March 2019, Mercy Corps supported the four veterinarians to conduct the first PDS introductory course in Mongolia, under the supervision of a Master Trainer from OFDA. A total of 20 local veterinarians from seven aimags were trained including three veterinarians from non-LTS3 aimag: Bulgan, Darkhan-Uul and Orkhon. The LTS2 project then supported the four veterinarian trainers-in-training to oversee field work by the 20 veterinarians, which focused on documenting the incidence of TADs. Activity 1: MOU signed with GAVS As part of the formal launch of the LTS3 project, Mercy Corps and GAVS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in December 2019. The MoU signaled commitment from both parties to a) incorporate the PDS approach into the government policy and practice for detection, prevention and control of TADs, b) build capacity of local veterinarians in PDS methodology, c) inform decision makers at all levels of government on PDS methodology, and d) support local veterinarians to become PENAPH certified practitioners. Under this MoU, GAVS appointed a national focal point of PDS and agreed to promote PDS tools among local communities, herders, veterinary services, and governments throughout the project period. GAVS and Mercy Corps worked in close partnership on a number of animal health-related activities, including: a) developing key messages on PDS for soum-level veterinarians to utilize and share with herders; b) continuing the PDS certification process for the next 23 veterinarians despite the government restrictions due to COVID-19; and c) conducting stakeholder meetings that brought the decision-makers of the veterinary sector together. Activity 2: Certification of local veterinarians as PDS practitioners A PDS practitioner is an experienced veterinarian who applies participatory approaches and methods to improve the understanding of patterns of diseases in the population. Applications of participatory epidemiology range from data collection to interactive participation where information is analyzed with the community and a joint action plan is developed. The PDS practitioner is trained to conduct needs assessment, risk assessment, research study, participatory disease surveillance, community based disease-reporting, evaluation of disease control intervention, as well as strategy and policy reform. Veterinarians become PDS practitioners after completion of the following four stages: 1. PE Introductory course (10 days)
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2. Field work in PE (minimum of 20 days in the field prior to refresher course) and writing a field study report 3. PE Refresher course 4. Approval of the field study report by PENAPH3 During the project lifetime, the LTS3 project team and partners such as GAVS and the veterinary departments in target aimags aimed to certify a total of 40 veterinarians as PDS practitioners. Mercy Corps worked with the national and aimag-level GAVS offices to select veterinarians appropriate to join the PENAPH program. The first PDS training cycle of 14, out of initial 20 veterinarians, was selected under the LTS2 project.4 The second training cycle of 26 new veterinarians was selected by the Veterinary Departments of four aimags and the project team in the beginning of the LTS3 project. The veterinarians were selected on the basis of their qualifications, work and research experience, report writing skills and commitment and availability to engage in further activities. PDS introductory training in target aimags The introductory training is the first stage of the PDS practitioner certification process. It consists of seven-day classroom sessions and three-day field practice sessions. During the introductory training, veterinarians learn the main concepts, principles, and tools of PDS as well as its application in animal disease surveillance. The first ten-day PDS introductory training facilitated by four PDS trainers took place in March 2019 under the LTS2 project. Initially, 20 veterinarians from seven aimags attended the training including three vets from Bulgan, Darhan-Uul, Orkhon. However, after the training, six of them dropped out and only 14 veterinarians continued the certification program. The training followed a standardized PDS program approved by PENAPH and included seven-day class session and three-day field study. The class session covered the following subjects: participatory approaches and methods, principles of participatory epidemiology (PE), attitudes and behavior for PE, indigenous knowledge on livestock health and production, triangulation in PE, methodological adaptation and flexibility, methods for PE such as interviewing, visualization methods, ranking and scoring methods, options for quantification and standardization in PE, and presentations. The introductory PDS training for the next cycle of 26 veterinarians took place in February 2020 in Khentii aimag and in April 2020 in Khovd. On 5-11 February 2020, the four PDS certified trainers organized a six-day PDS introductory training for 14 participants from Sukhbaatar and Khentii aimags in Ulaanbaatar. Following the lifting of some local coronavirus restrictions, the field practice session of this training was organized from 25-29 May in Khentii aimag for veterinarians from both eastern aimags. A total of six veterinarians from Sukhbaatar aimag (Baruun-Urt, Dariganga, Sukhbaatar and Tuvshinshiree soums) and eight veterinarians from Khentii aimag (Bayankhutag, Murun, Bayan-Ovoo, Bayan-Adarga, Jargaltkhan, Kherlen and Galshar soums) attended the field practice. During the field practice in Kherlen, Bayankhutag and Murun soums of Khentii aimag, the participating veterinarians
3 The Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and People Health (PENAPH) oversees the certification process for a global cadre of Practitioners, Trainers, and Master Trainers able to practice and train in innovative PDS methods. 4 Out of initial 20 veterinarians, 3 were from non-LTS3 aimags and 3 dropped out due to personal reasons.
10 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020) conducted a total of 19 interviews with 173 herders. This provided them with a critical opportunity to apply their knowledge of PDS tools and approaches as well as learn about animal disease outbreaks, herders’ knowledge and attitude towards animal diseases, and the quality and availability of veterinary service in the soums. A total of ten veterinarians from seven soums of Khovd aimag (Mankhan, Altai, Munkh Khairkhan, Must, Darvi, Buyant and Khovd) participated in the introductory training in 13-22 April 2020. The organizers held the training after obtaining formal permission from GAVS despite COVID-19 restrictions limiting the number of people that could gather for workshops or trainings. Bayan-Ulgii participants couldn’t attend this training due to COVID-19 restrictions and a local quarantine. Instead, they attended the introductory training held in Ulaanbaatar in January 2020. The three-day field practice of this training was held in Buyant, Mankhan, and Erdeneburen soums of Khovd aimag. During the field practice, the veterinarians conducted 13 interviews with 161 herders to practice PDS tools and approaches and learned about animal disease outbreaks, herders’ knowledge and attitude towards animal diseases, and quality and availability of veterinary service in the soums. PDS field studies in four aimags Twenty-six veterinarians were divided into groups and conducted their field study focusing on different animal health concerns. Prior to the field study, the study team agreed with their local vet departments on the subject and hypothesis of their study. Therefore, the subject of the study differed from aimag to aimag. The following presents the overall attendance and location of the field study organized in each aimag:
● 11 veterinarians of Khovd aimag held 34 focus group discussion/PDS interviews with 392 herders of 4 soums (Altai, Bulgan, Uench, Must); ● 2 veterinarians of Bayan-Ulgii aimag held 6 interviews with 56 herders of Ulaankhus soum; ● 6 veterinarians of Khentii aimag held 24 interviews with 204 herders of Dadal and Binder soums; and ● 7 veterinarians of Sukhbaatar aimag held 30 interviews with 278 herders of Dariganga, Tuvshinshiree and Sukhbaatar soums. PDS Refresher training With oversight from the OFDA Technical Advisor/ PENAPH Master Trainer, the PDS refresher training was held for the first training cycle of 14 veterinarians on 27-31 January 2020. This was the last stage of the PENAPH practitioner certification process. The purpose of the refresher training was to review the main PDS concepts and tools and revise field reports developed by 14 state veterinarians with the help of PDS trainers and the PDS Master Trainer. Field study reports are produced by veterinarians who complete their 20-day field study; reports consist of findings, analysis, and recommendations for animal disease surveillance developed using PDS tools. During the remainder of the LTS3 project implementation period, the next cycle of 26 veterinarians completed the first three stages of the PDS training. However, only 23 veterinarians attended the last refresher training and qualified to be certified as PDS practitioners. Three veterinarians couldn’t continue their training due to personal reasons and unexpected circumstances. After the refresher training, 23 veterinarians submitted their field study report to PDS trainers and Mercy Corps for review. In September 2020, Mercy Corps completed the review process and
11 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020) developed a brief English summary of the reports which was then submitted to PENAPH for approval and formal certification of 23 PDS practitioners. Certification of PDS practitioners As described above, a total of 37 veterinarians were certified as PDS practitioners as a result of LTS3 project. The certification was carried out in two cycles. The first cycle was completed in May 2020 when 14 veterinarians were trained, completed their field work, and submitted field study reports to PENAPH. Then, PENAPH approved their reports and, as a result, 14 veterinarians were officially certified as PDS practitioners in August 2020. The second cycle took place between April and September 2020. In addition, four PDS Trainers have successfully completed the PDS training and certification process of an additional 23 local veterinarians in four aimags. Despite COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Mongolian Government early on in the year, GAVS and NEMA granted permission to Mercy Corps to facilitate one ten-day introductory training, four field studies, and two refresher courses both regionally and at the aimag level. Activity 3: Workshops, meetings, and advocacy for integration of PDS at the national level All PDS activities were planned, designed, and delivered in close partnership with GAVS. Mercy Corps staff were in constant communication with relevant decision makers as well as the PDS Trainers, three of whom work in GoM veterinary structures and institutions. In addition, throughout implementation, the two partners met frequently to ensure alignment of project activities with government policies and strategies. A few of the critical meetings between GAVS, Mercy Corps, and other key PDS stakeholders are summarized below. National level PDS introduction workshop for decision makers The first PDS workshop was organized on 17 December 2019. Twenty-five representatives of key national government decision makers attended the workshop including: GAVS, MOFALI, State Central Veterinary Laboratory (SCVL), Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS), Veterinary Department of Ulaanbaatar, General Agency for Specialized Investigation (GASI), General Authority for Border Protection, NEMA and Epidemiology Association. The participants discussed the importance of PDS methodology, learned about LTS3 project activities and the partnership between GAVS and Mercy Corps, shared initial thoughts and ideas on how to incorporate PDS tools into the national surveillance system, and how to train local veterinary units to use that methodology. In addition, PDS trainers presented their field study reports, sparking active debate and discussion amongst the participants- some of whom were initially skeptical of a participatory approach to epidemiology. By the end of the workshop, most participants agreed that PDS is a very effective and cost-saving method that can involve a large number of people in the surveillance process. Meeting with GAVS, PENAPH and Wildlife Conservation Society At the request of the GAVS, Jeff Mariner, the general coordinator of PENAPH, visited Mongolia on 5- 21 August 2019, as a part of the SNAPP project of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to support the surveillance efforts to eradicate PPR and Pox animal diseases in Mongolia. During his visit, he completed the following activities: 5 ● Delivered certificates to the four PDS trainers; ● Provided recommendations on the field study, reports and PDS findings
5 Science for Nature and People Partnership
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● Discussed current surveillance practice and the institutionalization of PDS in Mongolia with the GAVS, shared ideas on the opportunity to apply PDS tools in different projects. On 12 August 2019, a meeting was held at the GAVS office to discuss the use of PDS in veterinary surveillance systems, and participation of stakeholders in TAD surveillance and integration of the on- going capacity building effort in participatory surveillance with specific national disease control initiatives for FMD and PPR. The meeting was attended by 10 people: Mercy Corps Country Director and a Program Manager, PENAPH coordinator, Country Director of WCS, Deputy Director of GAVS, Head of Animal Health Division of GAVS, Specialist on TAD, Animal Health Division of GAVS, specialist of new and re-emerging diseases, Animal Health Division of GAVS; Executive Director of Mongolian Veterinary Epidemiologist’ Association, Director and Researchers of State Central Veterinary Laboratory. During the meeting the participants discussed: ● The importance of capacity building trainings for epidemiologists and veterinarians; ● Effective collaboration between key stakeholders on PDS certification process; ● The importance of further institutionalization of PDS approaches; and ● Importance of implementation of sero-surveillance and outbreak studies in Mongolia
Dr. Jeff Mariner provided his insights and recommendations on improving the current surveillance practice in Mongolia, collaboration between the national and local stakeholders on the institutionalization of PDS, and use of PDS approach in the eradication and control of TADs. He also shared conclusions from a recent joint field trip to Khovd, where experts from Mercy Corps, WCS, and the aimag veterinary department conducted focus group discussions with local herders to profile the animal health situation in communities, identify outbreaks of PPR and FMD, and build participatory risk maps at the soum and aimag level. The mission group then developed a recommendation document which provides a framework for the integration of the on-going capacity-building effort in participatory surveillance with specific national disease control initiatives for FMD and PPR. In addition, at the meeting Dr. Jeff Mariner presented certificates to the four newly-certified PDS trainers, including Mercy Corps’ project manager Enkhtuya. The Certificates confirmed completion of month’s long processes that included training, field work, research, writing a research paper, Training of Trainers session, conducting training, and overseeing field research conducted by other practitioners. Lastly, as a result of this meeting, GAVS and Mercy Corps agreed to sign an MoU (see Activity 1 on Page 9 above for more details) to confirm their partnership in the institutionalization of PDS and expressed their commitment to collaborate on the implementation of “Saiga Health Interventions” pilot project of WCS. Animal disease handbook discussion and review workshop The second workshop was held on 18 June 2020. Mercy Corps invited experts from GAVS to comment and provide feedback on a draft of a handbook, titled Common Animal Diseases. This handbook describes the symptoms, prevention, and protection tips for the 25 most common animal diseases in Mongolia, as identified using PDS methodology. The handbook was written in simple language for herders, with color pictures, and included some parts of the Animal Health Law directly relevant for herders. (See Page 16 for more details on this handbook) This handbook was developed by experts from the Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine who used the findings from the PDS field study. A total of 20 people, including 12 experts from GAVS, two
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PDS trainers, three members of the animal health consultant team and three Mercy Corps experts reviewed and discussed the handbook at this review workshop. In addition, Mercy Corps introduced the main activities implemented under the PDS component and shared the results of the PDS field studies. The workshop provided a great opportunity to demonstrate to the workshop participants the value of information provided by herders in on-going prevention and detection efforts. The experts reviewed each of five categories of the handbook and discussed what kind of information about the certain animal diseases should be provided to herders. At the end of the workshop, the handbook content was finally confirmed. Then, in September 2020, 17,500 copies of the Common Animal Diseases handbook were printed and distributed during October and November 2020 to herders in five target aimags. PDS Institutionalization Workshop As part of the close out of the LTS3 program, Mercy Corps and GAVS organized the third national level workshop in Ulaanbaatar on 14 October 2020. The objective of the workshop was to share PDS project accomplishments and results, and discuss further plans for institutionalization of the PDS approach with key national decision makers in the veterinary sector. The event was attended by 30 veterinary experts including the representatives from government and non-government organizations such as the GAVS, SCVL, MULS, Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine, PDS Consulting firm and Association of Mongolian Epidemiologists. The agenda for the workshop consisted of the following sessions: 1. Presentation of the PDS system, PDS tools and approaches 2. Presentation of field study reports 3. Discussion on the importance of the PDS/PE methodology in early detection and surveillance of animal diseases 4. Introduction of the Common Animal Diseases handbook for herders The GAVS experts expressed their satisfaction about the progress towards institutionalization of the PDS approaches in Mongolia. Also, the GAVS committed to continue PDS training and institutionalization efforts after the project close-out in the remaining 17 aimags of Mongolia. The agency has plans to conduct PDS trainings in five aimags under new projects implemented by the World Vision and funded by the World Bank in 2021. Activity 4: Workshops, meetings, and advocacy for integration of PDS at aimag level LTS3 close-out workshops in three aimags In collaboration with GAVS and aimag veterinary departments, Mercy Corps successfully organized LTS3 close-out workshops in Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Khentii aimags in October and November 2020. The close-out workshop with Sukhbaatar aimag veterinarians was postponed due to COVID19 nationwide lockdown and took place on 17 December 2020 in online format.6 The four workshops were attended by a total of 221 private and state veterinarians – including newly certified PDS practitioners and epidemiologists from each soum and aimag-level veterinary department.
6 Though the LTS3 project came to an end on November 30, 2020, the PDS Trainer was employed by Mercy Corps for a few weeks in December under different funding sources to finalize project reporting and conduct the on-line session with Sukhbaatar aimag stakeholders.
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The main objectives of aimag-level PDS workshops were to:
● Introduce the PDS methodology and PENAPH certification process to the veterinarians; ● Share the results of PDS activities completed under LTS2 and LTS3 projects in each aimag; ● Present the findings of the field studies conducted in target aimags and discuss how to use the findings for planning of veterinary activities; ● Develop one-year plan to further institutionalization of PDS methodology in their own aimags; and ● Present “PDS Practitioner Certificates” to the 37 veterinarians who have successfully completed their PDS training and field studies. During the workshops, the participants were introduced to the new Common Animal Diseases handbook. This handbook helps herders better understand and identify animal disease symptoms. 17,500 copies of the handbook were distributed to herders in all of the soums in target aimags by the soum vets who attended the workshop. At the end of each workshop, the PDS practitioners developed Action Plans of their respective aimag Veterinary Department for 2021 to improve animal health in the aimag. Proposed activities will be fully funded and supported by the local Veterinary Departments.
PDS training in Gobi-Altai and Khovd aimags under the WCS project Another example of PDS impact is illustrated through other animal health interventions pivoting to include PDS approaches and tools in implementation. In August 2020, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) launched a new Saiga Health Interventions project—the first pilot project that brings rangers and veterinarians together for monitoring of PPR disease among livestock and wildlife, especially saiga antelopes, in the western aimags of Mongolia. Under this project, 16 animal health experts (10 veterinarians, 6 rangers) of Khovd and Gobi-Altai aimag have started working to study saiga antelopes. From 11-16 September 2020, WCS, WWF and Mercy Corps co-organized a five-day training for these experts. After the training, the veterinarians and rangers have agreed to meet monthly with herders to monitor the presence of PPR disease among livestock and wild animals using SMART methodology and PE tools.7 PDS practitioner’s independent field study At the request of the veterinary department of Must soum of Khovd, one PDS practitioner and four PVU staff jointly conducted an independent PDS field study in the soum in September 2020. The PDS practitioner and the veterinarians held seven interviews with 90 herders under the guidance of Mercy Corps’ PDS Trainer. The objective of this field study was to learn more about local animal diseases, better understand the quality and availability of veterinary services in Must soum, and assess the herders’ knowledge and awareness of the new animal health law. The study team has written a field study report and submitted it to the PDS trainer of Mercy Corps for review before submission to GAVS. This field study report was sent to the aimag GAVS database as a resource material for further veterinary service planning. This activity demonstrated that PDS practitioners are able to conduct field studies on their own and share PDS tools with the local PVUs, soum, and aimag veterinarians. Some of the highlights of the study’s findings include: ● Animal diseases, such as coenurosis and blue lice are common in Must soum;
7 SMART- Spatial Monitoring and Reporting tool is a software application that enables rangers to collect, store, communicate, and evaluate wildlife related data on: patrol efforts, patrol results, and threat levels.
15 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020)
● Vaccination for equine strangles doesn’t completely work and cannot cure the disease; ● In springtime, animals are likely to be infected with mange; ● In Khujirt bagh, more than 50% of the baby yak calves have been eaten by wolves over the last ten years; and ● Due to the lack of standard dipping baths, animals are still prone to parasitic diseases. Activity 5: Dissemination of information about the PDS approach Common Animal Disease Handbook In order for soum-level state veterinarians and other PDS practitioners to have appropriate behavior change messaging, tools and messages needed to be carefully crafted to promote a robust understanding of disease outbreaks and concerns. To achieve this objective, Mercy Corps hired a consultant firm called Veterinary Drug Research Institute to develop the herders’ handbook and write an article about PDS to be published in a national veterinary journal in December 2020.8 The consultant firm used the PDS field study reports and worked with local experts as well as GAVS to finalize the Common Animal Disease Handbook in August 2020. The Handbook presents a total 25 diseases which are categorized into transboundary, infectious, non-infectious, parasitic and zoonotic sections and interpret symptoms, transmission pathways, and prevention and control tips and reporting guidance to PVU/soum and aimag vet units, treatment, and recovery. Also included is economic information about how these diseases will harm the livelihoods of herders if left untreated. The book also included some of the updated animal health laws, particularly the parts related to herders’ responsibilities. As described above, 17,500 copies of the Some Animal Diseases Handbook have been published, and distributed to herders in all of the soums in target aimags by the soum vets. Publication in the National Veterinary Journal The veterinary consultants hired by Mercy Corps wrote an article on PDS for the National Veterinary Journal in November 2020. The article focused on efforts to integrate PDS tools and approaches in Mongolia, described the PDS methodology, shared the results of partnership with government agencies, and the results of PDS field studies, and highlighted the importance of PDS in prevention, control, and response to TAD outbreaks. The Mongolian National Veterinary Association has been publishing the monthly National Veterinary Journal since 1990. This is the only publication in Mongolia for veterinarians. The article was planned to be published in November, but due to the COVID-19 crisis, this activity was postponed until January 2021 Online meetings and conferences The GAVS organized the first online meeting with all aimag and soum level state veterinarians on 9 April 2020. A total of 340 veterinarians attended that meeting to discuss the risk assessment of FMD outbreak that took place in Dornod and Sukhbaatar aimags in 2017. Mercy Corps participated in that meeting and introduced the PDS activities implemented under the LTS3 project. The participants already had a pretty good idea about the PE methodology and were interested in knowing which aimags would introduce the PDS next and how rural veterinarians could attend PDS trainings. The
8 The article was written and finalized during the LTS3 program; however, Mercy Corps’ contribution to publishing costs (75% of the total) was paid for by other funding sources since the publishing was delayed a bit due to COVID restrictions outside of Mercy Corps’ control.
16 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020) director of GAVS praised active participation of the veterinarians and informed them that GAVS plans to conduct online trainings on PDS in partnership with FAO. The second online meeting with veterinarians from Sukhbaatar aimag was held on 17 December 2020. This was a close-out meeting and a total of 47 individuals participated in the workshop including private and state veterinarians from 14 soums, the Sukhbaatar aimag Veterinary Department and representatives from GAVS, FAO, and PDS practitioner from Khovd aimag participated in the meeting. During the event, Mercy Corps provided information about integration of PDS approaches in Mongolia and the four local PDS practitioners presented findings and results of field work studies conducted in four soums of Sukhbaatar aimag. (See Activity 4 on Page 16 for more information about close-out meetings.)
17 Mercy Corps LTS3 Final Report (September 2019 – November 2020)
Table 1: Agriculture and Food Security Sector- Mandatory indicators (See Annex- Detailed Indicator Performance Tracking Table)
Sector: Baseline Target Progress Agriculture and Sep Aug Progress 2019 Progress 2020 Total Rate Food Security 2019 2020 Sub-Sector: Livestock Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov OFDA Indicator 1: Number of people benefitting 0 3,906 264 0 0 14 14 0 476 348 1033 341 102 90 0 0 2,682 69% from livestock activities OFDA Indicator 2: Number of animals 0 158,100 0 0 0 0 0 0 7,395 1,377 157,964 29,886 196,622 124% benefitting from livestock activities OFDA Indicator 3: Number of See 51 TBC It was planned to be counted in August, 2020 originally using NSO data 49 49 49 49 49 animals owned explanation per individual OFDA Indicator 4: Number of See
45 TBC It was planned to be counted in August, 2020 originally using OIE info system 0 0 0 0 0 animal disease explanation outbreaks Custom Indicator 1: Number of government 0 45 9 0 22 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 156 42 241 536% officials introduced to PDS methodology Custom Indicator 2: Number of certified PDS 4 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 0 0 23 0 0 37 93% practitioners in Mongolia
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Table 2: Agriculture and Food Security- Additional Indicators
Sector: Agriculture and Life of Total Total № Explanation Food Security Project (male) (female)
Sub-Sector: Livestock
Additional indicator 1: Mercy Corps, Wildlife Conservation Society Number of vets and rangers (WCS) and World Wildlife Fund team co- Not Not 1 from HO and GA aimag 16 organized a four-day Saiga Health Intervention trained on PDS in available available workshop for vets and rangers of 6 soums of collaboration with WCS. Gobi-Altai and Khovd aimags in September 2020.
Additional indicator 2: Number of handbook on Not Not 2 Common Livestock Diseases 17,500 applicable applicable published and distributed to local herders and vets
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2. RANGELAND MANAGEMENT Introduction The health and longevity of Mongolia’s rangeland is under pressure as changing climate patterns, outdated or inappropriate herding practices, and overgrazing have degraded approximately 60% of the total available pastureland. The growing livestock population far exceeds the carrying capacity of most rangeland in the country; this overgrazing leads to erosion of topsoil resulting in complete degradation and eventual desertification of Mongolia’s rangeland. These challenges and environmental threats put the future of Mongolia’s livestock sector at risk. Activity 1: Selection of soums in 5 target aimags The five LTS3 target aimags were carefully chosen based on a mix of criteria including need, risk of natural disasters or threats, vulnerabilities (related to livestock and rangeland), capacity and prioritization of aimag governments to take this work forward, and existing presence of Mercy Corps or other comparable interventions to build upon. In alignment with this strategy of working with target aimags, Mercy Corps utilized a participatory approach to select target soums at the beginning of the project as well. Selecting target soums, allowed MCM and soum governments to identify priorities, and ensure shared ownership of the projects and resulting outcomes. Aimag and soum level government agencies collaborated in the soum selection process. Mercy Corps worked closely with aimag officials from relevant agencies to discuss key requirements for selection of soums. The key areas for consideration were improved practices, resource allocation, human capital, and pasture degradation levels. Based on these considerations, the team developed a three-stage soum selection process with evaluation criteria to ensure that the right communities were selected. The target aimags proposed four soums per aimag based the criteria, and the LTS3 project team worked with the soum stakeholders to assess and select the final two soums in each aimag to receive intensive technical support and assistance from Mercy Corps to revise, refresh, and operationalize their Pasture Management Plans. Soum selection process First Stage (October 2019): The aimag coordinators and rangeland specialists developed a soum referral template that was completed at the aimag level and organized soum selection round table sessions in each of the five target aimags. During the sessions, an overview of the LTS3 program was presented, the goals of the PMP support activities were explained, and the soum selection process was launched. Environmental inspectors, meteorologists, officials from the agricultural department, pasture specialists, and land officers from the aimag governor’s office participated in the session, and, using the template provided, they identified four soums in each aimag to proceed to the next stage. Second Stage (October 2019): After receiving the recommendations, Mercy Corps aimag coordinators visited each of the recommended soums in their aimag. They conducted a further assessment of their eligibility based on the Soum Assessment Template. Meetings with representatives from the soum-level Environmental Department, Agricultural Department, Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, and Department of Land Management were conducted to assess their ability and willingness to implement their PMPs. Third Stage (November 2019): The LTS3 project team, Director of Programs, and aimag coordinators held an online session to review the final soums for selection. Both the Stage 1 and Stage 2 scoring results were considered in the final ranking. This was followed by an open discussion to assess any
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potential outside factors that could influence successful implementation. The final list of target soums in each aimag was finalized through consensus In the case of Khentii aimag, only one of the four recommended soums was deemed suitable for the program. The team went back into the prior selection process, and with consultation from the Khentii aimag officials, another soum was identified, screened, and selected for the program. Final selection (November 2019): Based on the selection process, two soums in each of the five target aimags were selected in November 2019 to receive additional support through the program. The soums that were not chosen to be part of the intensive PMP support activities were notified by the local aimag coordinators of the decision. They were also notified that they would be included in relevant aimag level activities and training for PMP, DRR, and animal health. Table 3: Soums selected for targeted support (see Annex 1- Summary of Soums for more details)
Aimag Soum
Bayan-Ulgii Altai and Tolbo
Uvs Davst and Naranbulag
Khovd Khovd and Erdeneburen
Khentii Bayanmunkh and Darkhan
Sukhbaatar Erdenetsagaan and Bayandelger
Activity 2: Soum support priorities MoU with the selected soums In November 2019, Mercy Corps signed MoUs with governors of all selected soums to implement activities to improve disaster risk preparedness and pasture management plans as well as to reduce vulnerability of herder households. A key component of the MoU was development of Soum Action Plans (SAP) to operationalize soum Pasture Management Plans, in collaboration with local partners. Tailored for each soum and based on the results of a participatory needs and capacities assessment, the SAPs outline clear steps, milestones, and roles related to moving forward with their proposed plans, processes, and priorities for improved rangeland management. The priorities in each SAP met the following criteria: ● Actionable by the local soum officials, with some support from Mercy Corps
● “Owned” by the local soum government, with some support from Mercy Corps
● Feasible within the timeframe of the LTS3 program
● In line with programmatic objectives and compliant with donor rules and regulations The project team worked with the soum governments to agree on SAP priorities between January and March 2020.Development and implementation of SAPs was conducted in the following three stages:
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Phase 1 (Jan 2020): Identify and agree on SAP priorities. The project team developed a list of criteria for selection of SAP priorities to best operationalize soum PMP. The criteria included: ● Impact on pastureland ● People impacted by this intervention ● Feasibility of the interventions ● Availability of soum resources ● Community engagement and ● Alignment with aimag and soum-level regulations and strategies Aimag coordinators, supported by rangeland management consultants, worked with local soum governments to develop milestones, roles, and responsibilities required for the SAP. Phase 2: (Feb-Mar 2020) Finalize Soum Action Plan. The project team drafted SAPs, discussed them with key stakeholders, modified, agreed and had them signed by key community stakeholders in each soum. Phase 3: (Mar-Sep 2020) Operationalize Soum Action Plans. The project team worked on activities included in the SAPs: printing soum PM regulations approved by the Ministry of Justice, reviewing small scale infrastructure project proposals, and procuring sets of pasture assessment equipment for seven soums. The SAPs were agreed on by both MCM and respective soum governments in March 2020. Based on soum priorities, Mercy Corps supported five key activities to be implemented during the project period: 1. Small scale infrastructure rehabilitation projects to contribute to improved pasture management; 2. Pasture photo monitoring equipment distribution; 3. Submission and approval of soum-level pasture management regulations (PMR); 4. Herder competitions for promotion of improved pasture management; and 5. Herder conference about improved pasture management.
Activities prioritized by soum governments in this process are detailed in the table below. Table 4: Target soum priorities Soum name Priorities
Khovd
Erdeneburen 1. Well rehabilitation 2. Set of equipment for pasture assessment 3. Experience sharing meeting, herders conference, and production of brochures
Khovd 1. Well rehabilitation 2. Set of equipment for pasture assessment 3. Experience sharing meeting, herders conference, and production of brochures
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Bayan-Ulgii
Tolbo 1. Conduct impact assessment of new pasture regulation and submit soum PMR to MoJ 2. Hay storage rehabilitation 3. Set of equipment for pasture assessment
Altai 1. Support soums to conduct impact assessment of new pasture regulation and submit soum PM Regulation to MoJ 2. Well rehabilitation 3. Set of equipment for pasture assessment
Khentii
Bayanmunkh 1. Two natural springs rehabilitation
2. Set of equipment for pasture assessment
3. Herders’ competition
Darkhan 1. Two natural springs rehabilitation 2. Organize experience sharing meeting, herders conference 3. Set of equipment for pasture assessment
Uvs
Davst 1. Well rehabilitation 2. Set of equipment for pasture assessment 3. Experience sharing meeting, herders conference, and production of brochures
Naranbulag 1. Well rehabilitation 2. Set of equipment for pasture assessment 3. Experience sharing meeting, herders conference, and production of brochures
Sukhbaatar
Bayandelger 1. Well rehabilitation 2. Set of equipment for pasture assessment 3. Herders’ competition
Erdenetsagaan 1. Well rehabilitation 2. Set of equipment for pasture assessment 1. Herders’ competition
Selection of rangeland consultants The LTS3 project team identified local rangeland consultants to provide technical assistance with operationalizing PMPs. Through a competitive recruiting process, completed in November 2020,
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Mercy Corps selected five rangeland consultants (one per aimag) and signed a service contract with each of them. The consultants traveled to their assigned target soums in Bayan-Ulgii, Khentii, Uvs, Sukhbaatar aimags in February and March 2020 to finalize the SAPs and revise and improve soum PM regulations. Mercy Corps aimag officer traveled to the two remaining target soums in Khovd to do the same. Consultants provided further support in their assigned soums, which included facilitation of participatory activity planning and active stakeholder engagement, as well as technical assistance on rangeland health and topics related to SAP implementation and pasture management regulations. Consultants worked in cooperation with soum SAP implementation working groups composed of relevant departments at the soum level. Activity 3: Assistance provided to target soums Small-scale rehab projects Starting in November 2019, Mercy Corps supported soum level authorities to identify key priorities and activities that would contribute to improvement of rangeland management at the local level. (See Table 4 on Soum Priorities). In order to address these priorities Mercy Corps launched a Call for Proposals for small-scale infrastructure rehabilitation on 13 February 2020. Each soum was asked to submit a proposal to implement the rehabilitation project identified in their SAP. Using a template designed by Mercy Corps, the soum governments submitted proposal packages that included: a narrative, a budget including cost share, and technical specifications for the proposed project. A total of ten proposals from each of the ten target soums across the five aimags were received. The proposals were for one of three interventions: well rehabilitation, natural spring fence rehabilitation, or feed and fodder storage rehabilitation. All ten proposals went through a comprehensive review and evaluation process and were greenlighted on 14 April 2020. As per donor guidelines, the LTS3 program does not transfer funds to government agencies for rehabilitation work. Instead, Mercy Corps conducted an open and transparent procurement process to identify qualified contractors with the technical skills to implement the projects. These contractors worked closely with soum level stakeholders, as the stakeholders were responsible for key elements of the projects such as transportation and the provision of unskilled labor. Before procurement could begin, Mercy Corps required soum governments to provide the relevant approvals from the aimag government departments for the small-scale infrastructure projects. Once documentation was received, Mercy Corps launched the procurement process for natural spring fencing material, hay shelter rehabilitation material, and bids for well rehabilitation contracts. Contracting companies for well rehabilitation was slightly more complex than the other projects, as the companies had to be able to rehabilitate wells, and provide a feasibility report prior to starting their work. During the bid review process, it became clear that Mercy Corps was unable to move forward with the proposed well rehabilitation projects in Erdenetsagaan soum and Bayandelger soum of Sukhbaatar aimag. The two bids from these two soums in Sukhbaatar aimag were two and four times higher than the estimates the soum provided and Mercy Corps budgeted for; in part because the estimates provided by the soum government did not consider the specialized tools needed to safely dig and rehabilitate the well. Given the age and deteriorated condition of the well, neither of the available companies was willing to take on the risk of rehabilitation, as it would have to be done by hand; similarly, Mercy Corps will not support such a dangerous project. In addition, both potential contractors
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expressed concern about the feasibility of the well rehabilitation in these areas, even with specialized equipment and technical expertise, as there is no guarantee of water quality. Ultimately only eight projects were able to move forward through to completion. After evaluating and selecting the best proposals, Mercy Corps signed a tripartite letter of commitment with the governor and the leader of herders’ group of eight soums to implement eight small-scale infrastructure rehabilitation projects in their respective soums. This commitment letter stated the financial contribution, roles and responsibilities of the respective parties. All projects were completed by the end of July 2020; a total of four natural springs in two soums were fenced, one hay storage shelter was expanded, and five wells were fully rehabilitated. All the wells were tested for water quality and potability by the State Inspection Agency, and then handed over to the soum government along with the well passport by the contractor.9 Mercy Corps contributed 78% (68.9 million MNT/$24,494) while soum government offices and herders themselves cost- shared 22% (19.8 million MNT/$7,500) of the total cost. In addition, across the eight rehabilitation projects, 47 herders worked for approximately 20 days providing unskilled labor for their successful realization. A tripartite letter of commitment was signed with each soum governor and the herders’ group responsible for future use, oversight, and maintenance. The following aggregated results were achieved and are an important contribution towards better rangeland management practices in Mongolia. These include: ● Herder households: 980 herders from 348 herder households directly benefit from the projects ● Pastureland: Improved utilization of 85,970 ha of pastureland and reduced the grazing pressure on a similar area of pastureland ● Livestock: A total of 157,964 livestock (measured in sheep head units) benefit from improved animal welfare and access to water, hay, etc. (See the full report on Small-scale rehab projects - Annex 2)
Soum-level Pasture Management Regulations (PMR)
Six target soums, from Bayan-Ulgii, Uvs and Khovd, prioritized the development and approval of soum- level PMRs by the Ministry of Justice in their SAPs. PMR is a legal document that governs all pasture management activities at the soum level. It helps with planning, implementation and monitoring of all rangeland activities at the local level since it includes the legal obligations of relevant parties, including herders to soum governments. Once the PMR is approved by the Ministry of Justice, it becomes a national legal document and everyone living in the soum is required to recognize the regulations. Mercy Corps provided technical support to develop the PMR and facilitate a range of national and local stakeholders in each stage of the PMR development. The working groups were also established in each soum to support development and implementation of the PMRs. The 10-15 member working groups consisted of key local stakeholders: a soum governor, chief of staff, environmental inspector, land manager, rangeland specialist, meteorologist, veterinary and breeding specialist. At each stage
9 This is a document which shows the history of the well, such as when it was built, rehabilitated, water availability
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of PMR development, Mercy Corps and the working groups engaged local stakeholders such as herders and pasture user groups (PUGs) in the process by incorporating their feedback and comments into the draft PMR. During these processes, a total of 744 herders in six soums actively participated in review of the PMR and in discussions to provide their feedback. As result, six PMRs were developed and submitted to the MoJ and five of them (Erdeneburen and Khovd soums of Khovd aimag, Davst and Tolbo soums of Bayan-Ulgii aimag, Altai and Naranbulag soums of Uvs) the PMRs were approved by the Ministry of Justice. The 6th PMR is still under review by MoJ. Mercy Corps and the local rangeland consultants designed, printed and distributed 6,395 copies of the PM regulations approved by the Ministry of Justice to herders to ensure herders had access to the necessary information about these regulations. In September 2020, Mercy Corps helped organize Herders’ Conferences in two target soums (Erdeneburen and Khovd) of Khovd aimag and Darkhan soum of Khentii aimag. During the conference, the organizers presented the final approved PMRs of their respective soums to participants. Herders’ Competitions Bayanmunkh soum of Khentii aimag and Erdenetsagaan and Bayandelger soums of Sukhbaatar aimag proposed to organize competitions for herders to increase their participation in rangeland management and promote cooperation between the local government and herder households. These competitions were prioritized by the soum governments and approved by the Citizens’ Representative Khurals. Pasture management consultants were recruited by Mercy Corps in each of target soums to support the organization of the competitions, develop criteria and rules of the events and establish working groups responsible for organization of the event. The working groups consisted of 7-11 members: governor’s office officers, an environmental inspector, land manager, rangeland management specialist, meteorological engineer and bagh governors. The working groups and the consultants held meetings with PUG leaders to discuss and agree on the rules of the competition and identify interventions to improve rangeland management. The achievements of each pasture user group were evaluated by the working group and the best three groups received awards during the closing ceremony. The organizers of the event shared best practices and showed the video produced by Mercy Corps during the event, showcasing the results of the competition and highlighting positive actions that herders can take to contribute to improved rangeland management. The table below describes what activities and results were achieved during the competition. Table 5: Herders’ competition activities Date # of MC Local Activities participants Contribution Contributions
Bayanmunkh soum, Khentii aimag
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May 565 herders 10,920,00 10,072,800 ● Rested 92,766 ha of rangeland - of 364 herder MNT MNT ● Fenced 40 ha of natural hay area and 200 ha of tall Sep households grass for winter grazing of 23 PUGs ● Built 9 new wells, rehabilitated 5 wells and fenced 3 natural springs ● Built a reserve water tank ● Installed 49 bird perches on 25 ha of pastureland ● Developed a rangeland map depicting the rested rangeland area ● Established a Risk Fund to improve the rangelands ● Produced a video on the rangeland management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KTGjPF6png&t= 37s
Erdenetsagaan soum, Sukhbaatar aimag
May 944 herders 3,393,700 1,450,000 MNT ● Rested one thousand hectares of rangeland -Jul of 300 herder MNT ● Increased foliar cover by 17% in rested area households ● Produced a video on the rangeland management: of 9 PUGs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9S4KNFYEs&t= 89s
Bayandelger soum, Sukhbaatar aimag
Apr- 835 herders 3,236,200 1,050,000 MNT ● Rested 766 hectares of rangeland Jul of 269 herder MNT ● Increased foliar cover by 25% in rested area households ● Produced a video on the rangeland management: of 5 pasture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9S4KNFYEs&t= user groups 89s
These competitions showed that the herders are willing and capable of taking action to improve rangeland management. A total of 2,344 herders of 933 herder households participated in the herders’ competitions in all three soums. In total, herders contributed 12.5 million MNT ($4,378) to the competition activities by procuring construction materials, building fences around natural springs, and repairing animal shelters. The herders actively cooperated on demarcating the pastureland to be rested, rehabilitating wells and natural springs, and raising money for the risk fund. Herders proved that they can improve rangeland health when provided with the right support, guidance, and incentive from the soum government.
Rehabilitation of wells and natural springs improved access to water for 364 herder households and 200,000 heads of livestock and increased their wellbeing. A total of 94,536 hectares of rangeland was rested for two months which led to reduction of soil degradation, and increasing a forage reserve for livestock in winter. Total of 26,550 tonnes of vegetation biomass has grown on the rested pastureland area measured by the photo monitoring. The value of this amount of biomass is estimated to be around 39,700,000 MNT using the standard of 1.5 MNT for 1 kg of biomass according to the land evaluation methodology. The changes happening in the rangeland management had a positive effect on the attitude and mindset of the soum government as well. In video interviews conducted with more than 20 herders.
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M. Tsengel, the soum governor, expressed her satisfaction, stating, “It’s financially and economically impossible for the government to fund every single activity of the people. These people have been able to do a lot of things with little money to improve their pastures on their own, and I think they are succeeding quite well.” The herders were similarly delighted to see the changes happening in the rangeland, and they are motivated to continue this work. (See the full report on Herders’ Competitions – Annex 3). Distribution of photo monitoring equipment Since 2015 the Mongolian Administration of Land Affairs Geodesy and Cartography (ALAGAC) has required photo monitoring systems to be used to monitor rangeland health in Mongolia. Land managers are expected to measure the rangeland condition in mid-August of each year using photo equipment. However, due to lack of proper equipment, land managers had been unable to assess rangeland conditions as required. Lack of appropriate equipment affected the government agencies and personnel responsible for rangeland management because they did not have the information needed to take proper action or provide necessary interventions to improve the pastureland. Mercy Corps and soum administrations jointly identified the need to assess local rangeland in ten target soums. All target soums prioritized the equipment needs in the SAPs. As part of supporting the effective implementation of SAPs in target areas, Mercy Corps agreed to procure the set of equipment in accordance with Mercy Corps’ procurement policy and procedures and provided ten sets of equipment to all ten soums in 2020: one for each target soum. To ensure proper use and future maintenance of the equipment, soum governments created a plan which outlined the responsibilities of the users, sign-out protocols, and maintenance agreement. These rules apply to the four government officers in the soum which will be using the equipment: land manager, agricultural officer, environmental ranger, and meteorologist. Soum government officers are now able to conduct photo monitoring on rangeland areas in a timely manner, and assure monitoring results feed into the national level database. This equipment and the resulting quantitative data are particularly helpful for national, aimag, and soum level governments to make annual land and rangeland management plans.
Activity 3: National and aimag level workshops on rangeland management Regional Rangeland Assessment Workshops The LTS3 project team, rangeland consultants, MOFALI and MULS jointly organized two regional Trainings on the new “Methodology on Assessment of Pasture Carrying Capacity” in November and December 2019 in Bayan-Ulgii and Khentii aimags respectively. The objective of the training was to introduce the LTS3 project, train the participants in a new methodology to assess pasturelands, share best practices to control rodents, exchange experiences on developing and implementing PMPs, and discuss priorities on soum PMP and DRR. This new pasture assessment methodology based on international standards was adopted by MOFALI, Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), and the National Statistical office (NSO) and one of the key components of the assessment methodology are the state and transition models.10 The participants also learned different rodent control methods and advantages and disadvantages of each
10 State and transition models were developed to help land managers make better decisions when managing vegetation for a suite of potential land uses — for example, livestock forage and wildlife habitat — and/or ecosystem services such as erosion control, water infiltration, and wildfire risk reduction. They provide a framework for describing, understanding, predicting, and controlling ecosystem dynamics; the integrated goal of science and management.
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method. The participants were encouraged to use biological and physical methods, because chemical methods are very toxic and do more harm to the environment by killing other animals. The first training took place on 20-21 November in Bayan-Ulgii aimag. Sixty-eight participants from three western aimags - Bayan-Ulgii, Khovd and Uvs - attended the training. The second training took place on 3-4 December in Khentii aimag for 47 participants from Khentii and Sukhbaatar aimags. The training consisted of the following topics: 1. Presentation of the LTS3 project 2. Methodologies for PM planning, implementation and monitoring 3. Sharing best practices of PMP implementation (Erdeneburen soum) 4. Methodology to reduce pastureland rodents 5. Methodology to assess of pasture carrying capacity 6. Discussion on PMP implementation, priorities 1. Pre and post tests The training participants included representatives of aimag and soum-level departments of Environment, Agriculture, Meteorology and Hydrology, Land Management, governors, and LEMA. Participants received certificates signed by Mercy Corps, MOFALI, and MULS based on their test results. Knowledge and skills of the participants were evaluated by pre- and post- tests which showed all participants improved their knowledge and skills by more than 30%. Rangeland Management Capacity Building Regional Workshops Mercy Corps organized a series of “Rangeland Management and Capacity Building” regional workshops in collaboration with the MOFALI, ALAGAC, National Federation of Pasture User Groups (NFPUG), MULS, and the Research Institute of Animal Husbandry (RIAH) in October and November 2020 in LTS3 target aimags. The goal of these workshops was to: ● Provide up-to-date information about rangeland conditions, management, rangeland use agreement, rangeland regulations, the raw materials traceability system, and best practices
● Connect rangeland management specialists, animal breeding specialists, and land managers with technical experts
● Ensure soum level specialists have the information needed to support herders in protecting rangeland from degradation and increase cooperation between specialists The workshops took place in three different locations for three different groups of participants. See the table below for more details: Table 6. Total number of participants
Name of the workshop Location, Date Participants aimag
Workshop for rangeland Khovd and 19-20 Oct 48 participants from Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs managers Khentii 28-29 Oct 32 participants from Khentii and Sukhbaatar
Workshop for breeding Khovd and 21-22 Oct 49 participants from Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs specialists Khentii 30-31 Oct 32 participants from Khentii and Sukhbaatar
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Workshop for land Bayan-Ulgii 23-25 Oct 55 participants from Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs managers Khentii 1-3 Nov 32 participants from Khentii and Sukhbaatar Total 248 participants
The overarching agenda of each specialists’ workshop was similar and focused on the following subjects: 1. Government priorities and policies on developing the livestock industry, animal health, and rangeland management
1. Current conditions and carrying capacity of rangelands, rangeland use agreements and regulations, rangeland risk fund, best practices, and the raw material traceability system
2. Herd management: intensive livestock farming, quality and productivity of livestock, herd size and composition 3. Knowledge checking through a pre- and post-workshop test The workshops were a success; this was the first time key soum-based rangeland specialists gathered to learn about rangeland management, pasture use agreements and regulations in all aimags. There were several key results of the workshop: The participants understood the importance of collaborating and sharing information to improve rangeland management. They learned more about each other’s work, and improved skills that would help them collaborate more effectively across departments. The participants gained new knowledge and skills: ● The animal breeding specialists learned to use the herd management software. This new and advanced software mandated by GoM allows the specialists to instantly calculate the herd size and composition by entering livestock numbers. This information will help to develop a soum land- management plan every year, and adjust animal numbers to match rangeland carrying capacity.
● The land managers learned about best practices of rangeland management in other aimags and understood the importance of collaboration with other specialists. In addition, the land managers completed registration of all remaining Rangeland Use Agreements and entered them into the national Land Manager database.
● The rangeland management specialists learned about benefits and best practices of rangeland management, clarified roles and responsibilities of other specialists in rangeland management, practiced developing PMPs of their soums. After the workshop, they will improve their PMPs and once the plans are ready, they will be submitted to soum Khurals for approval. The workshops strengthened collaboration between local and national-level agencies. Due to budget constraints, national level agencies do not have much opportunity to meet with their colleagues in the field. The consultants from MOFALI and ALAGAC shared plans and priorities of the national government with rural specialists and discussed current challenges affecting their work. The workshop participants communicated to MOFALI and other key decision makers about their poor working conditions, lack of professional development opportunities, and need for funds for more effective rangeland management. The participants requested that the government organize short courses for
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experts working in the rangeland management sector who do not come from a rangeland management or agricultural background. The MOFALI representatives were open to these suggestions and promised to improve working conditions of the specialists and plan to start short-term courses for non- professionals who work as rangeland management specialists.
Shagdarsuren, the animal breeding specialist from Darkhan soum of Khentii aimag I have worked for many years as a breeding expert but still struggle to learn how to use new technology. This workshop taught me to determine herd composition using software. It improved my work by almost 90%. At first, I could not believe how easy it was to calculate the numbers by just clicking on computer buttons. I used this software to assess the pasture carrying capacity, determine herd numbers and composition suitable for the pasture, and develop a long-term rangeland management strategy. This software was used to determine herd composition of each herder household.
See the full report on Rangeland Management Capacity Building Regional Workshops in Annex 4. Herders’ Conferences In September 2020, governments of three soums - Erdeneburen and Khovd soums of Khovd aimag and Darkhan soum of Khentii aimag - organized Herders’ Conferences to discuss PMP and PMR in each soum and raise awareness of herders on the importance of pasture management. Mercy Corps provided financial and technical assistance for these conferences. A total of 630 participants attended these conferences including herders and representatives from soum government and Khural (local Parliament). During the conference, the participants discussed final drafts of PMP and PMR, made necessary changes to PMR and had them approved by local Khurals. In addition to it, the participants agreed on the next steps to start implementing PMRs of their respective soums. Active participation of herders in the conference demonstrated to the organizers that local herders have improved their knowledge about pasture management plans and regulations.
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Table 7: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Mandatory indicators (See Annex- Detailed Indicator Performance Tracking Table)
Target Sector: Risk Management Baseline Aug Progress 2019 Progress 2020 Total Prog. rate Policy and Practice Sep 2019 2020 Sub-Sector: Building community Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov awareness/mobilization OFDA Indicator 5: Number of people participating in pasture 0 100 60 0 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 248 348 348% management training OFDA Indicator 6: Percentage of people trained who retain 0 >80% 0 0 0 0 98% 98% 123% skills and knowledge after two months OFDA Indicator 7: Percentage of attendees at joint planning meetings who are from the 0% 90% 0 0 0 100% 100% 0 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 111% local community Custom Indicator 3: Percentage of selected soums making progress against 0% 100% 0 0 0 100% 0 0 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% "action support plans"
Custom Indicator 4: Number of 'joint dialogues' or outreach events conducted between 0 40 6 0 0 10 10 0 0 1 3 2 1 4 5 42 105% herders and soum officials
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Table 8: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Additional Indicators Sector: Risk Life of Total Total Management Policy and Explanation Project (male) (female) Practice
Sub-Sector: Building community awareness/mobilization
Additional indicator 3: A total of 248 local officials trained. Average Average increase of score of pre-test was 60.3%. Average score knowledge gained per Not of post test result was 82.3%. Increase in Not 3 participant after the 22% applicabl knowledge and skills gained by 22%. applicable Regional workshop on e Rangeland management capacity (by %)
Additional indicator 4: Number of herders 4 participated in the Herders’ 2,974 1,911 1,063 Competitions and Herders Conference
Additional indicator 5: Livestock wellbeing is improved as a result of Number of livestock Not improved access to water, reduced pressure Not 5 benefitting from herders 200,000 applicabl on rangeland by evenly distributing livestock applicable competition e across the pastureland under Herders Competition in 3 aimags.
Additional indicator 6a: Number of Pasture Not Not Management Regulations 10 applicabl applicable (PMRs) approved by Soum e Government
6 Additional indicator 6b: Number of herders benefitted from Soum 10,879 5,536 5,343 Pasture Management Regulation in 10 communities (soums).
Additional indicator 7: Approved PMRs- Altai soum (Bayan-Ulgii), Number of Pasture Not Naranbulag soum (Uvs), Erdeneburen & Not 7 Management Regulations 5 applicabl Khovd soums (HO), and Darkhan soum applicable approved by MoJ as e (Khentii). One soum PMR is being under prioritized in SAPs review
Additional indicator 8: 85,970 ha of pastureland improved utilization Total area of improved of by reducing the grazing pressure under utilization of pastureland, Not rehabilitation projects; 94,536 ha of Not 8 recovered and rested (by 180,506 applicabl pastureland pastureland rested in order to applicable hectares) as a result of e prevent degradation of the soil and provide a SAP implementation reserve of forage for livestock during the activities winter under herder competitions.
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Additional indicator 9: Total cost was $ 47,286. MC contributed Percentage of local Not 16,2% ($ 7682) Not 9 (herders & soum 83,8% applicabl applicable governments) contributions e operationalizing PMPs
Additional indicator 10: Pasture Management Regulation (BO, Altai Total number of soum)- 1260; Herders` Handbook about Not educational and awareness Not Darkhan and Bayanmunkh soum's Pasture 10 6,395 applicabl raising products on applicable Management Regulations-525; Soum e Rangeland developed and Pasture Management Regulation book- 4010; distributed Pasture condition of Uvs aimag- 600
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3. DISASTER RISK REDUCTION Introduction Mongolia is prone to recurring extreme weather events, such as droughts and dzud - harsh winter conditions. Droughts severely affect national crop production, such as animal feed, and staple wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and vegetables, while dzud can lead to widespread death of livestock, negatively impacting on livelihoods of large numbers of the population. Herder families prepare for winter every year in the same way using their knowledge and experience of weather and pasture conditions and implementing preparatory measures. These include harvesting and storing hay, preparing hand fodder or other supplementary feed for animals, improving animals’ winter shelter, conducting otor movement to better pastures, culling weaker animals for sale in the market or identifying suitable water sources.11 Early warning systems in Mongolia are nascent, and while the development of drought and dzud conditions is monitored regularly, response activities continue to rely mainly on rapid assessments for identifying needs and assessing disaster impact. Timely and targeted preparedness and early action is important to enable more effective response, thereby reducing the level of disaster damage and loss experienced by herders and the national economy.
Activity 1: Aimag and soum level capacity building activities for rural stakeholders and partners DPP Workshops The soum emergency committees composed of local community-level leaders (such as school principals and clinic heads) and chaired by the deputy soum governor are responsible for developing and implementing soum disaster preparedness plans (DPP). Each DPP must be developed using a certain methodology and based on approved templates provided by the NEMA. However, members of the emergency committee have different levels of skills and knowledge which affects the quality of DPP. In addition, the need arises to regularly improve and update the plans depending on changes in rangeland health and degradation of pasturelands, the carrying capacity of land, weather conditions and patterns, and other emerging risks. Therefore, in order to ensure local participation, Mercy Corps and LEMA representatives from each target aimag worked directly with soum emergency committee members in the ten LTS3 soums to conduct and analyze a soum risk assessment and improve their own soum DPP based on the results of the risk assessment. In June and August of 2020, sixteen experienced trainers from LEMA and Mercy Corps conducted the DPP workshop in ten soums of the five LTS3 target aimags in collaboration with the LEMA. The purpose was to improve and update the soum DPP for different types of natural hazards, other than dzud, using the LEGS tools and approaches, train emergency committee members in disaster risk assessment and disaster protection planning, and educate on relevant laws and policies on disaster management. The workshop covered the following topics: 1. Disaster protection law 2. Aimag-level disaster risk assessment results 3. Soum disaster risk assessment methodology 4. DPP development strategies 5. General soum-level disaster risk assessment methodology
11 Otor is moving beyond traditional areas in search of better pasture. Herders do “otor” only during extreme situations, when there is no grass for animals due to drought, heavy snow, etc.
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6. Updating soum DPP based on the result of the risk assessment Mercy Corps had originally planned to train 100 people: ten people in each soum. However, in response to requests from local governments, the actual number of participants was higher than expected. A total of 107 emergency committee members (52 males, 52 females) participated in the workshop including soum governors, government officials, veterinarians, environmental inspectors, school and kindergarten directors, bagh governors, teachers, police officers, treasury officers and doctors. The participants were divided into teams and completed the following tasks:
1. Conducted a general disaster risk assessment of their soum using participatory response identification matrix method 2. Updated the soum DPPs on two to three hazards using the LEGS tools, DPP guidelines and DPP template approved by the NEMA.
At the end of each workshop LEMA and Mercy Corps reviewed the soum DPP and provided recommendations. Based on these recommendations, the soum participants updated their DPP and submitted them to their respective soum governors for approval. More information can be found in Annex 5. “Be Ready” Training of Trainers (ToT) Mercy Corps and the Local Emergency Management Agency (LEMA) of five aimags jointly organized a ToT in ten soums of five target aimags in June and August of 2020. A total of 121 government officials (71 males, 50 females) including 29 LEMA officers participated in the training and became local trainers. The ten-hour training was based on the Be Ready DRR module developed by NEMA and World Vision, with funding from OFDA. The Be Ready training module consists of an interactive program that can be accessed both on and offline, and a mobile training package that includes a trainer's manual, training materials, sign language video lessons, introductory lessons, and knowledge-checking tests. During the ToT sessions, participants learned planning, prevention and mitigation strategies for the following types of natural disasters: earthquakes, fire, climate change, forest and steppe fires, human and animal infectious diseases, floods, lightning, windstorms, use of household chemical substances, and household preparedness plans. The participants were taught to conduct community training and assess household risks, received a training manual and a training package with interactive training software. At the end of the training period, 121 participants including LEMA officers received trainers’ certificates and formed teams to organize trainings at the community level. As per OFDA requirements, the efficacy of the training was assessed by retention tests two months after the training. The project team developed test questions and the tests were conducted using an online platform. All 121 participants took part in the retention tests. Each test consisted of seven questions that covered a simple model for understanding the chemicals used in fire extinguisher, types and use of fire extinguisher, earthquake awareness/general knowledge, types of flood and action, types of livestock infectious disease and action. The level of knowledge retained by the participants who took the tests was 90%. More information can be found in Annex 6 - DRR ToT Report.
Activity 2: Awareness raising and capacity strengthening for herders and local community Training for the bagh-level communities The certified DRR trainers conducted training for the bagh-level communities: herder households, high school students, and other soum residents. From 5 July - 20 September, local trainers trained 3,849 citizens (1,979
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households) from 52 baghs in ten soums. Because of restrictions on public gatherings related to concerns about potential community outbreaks of COVID-19, the community-level trainings differed from one another as they were conducted inside schools or herders’ homes, using precautions such as masks and sanitizer. The training topics were selected depending on the potential risks around the household. During the session, a risk assessment was conducted with each herder household. The households received around 30-45 points which indicates a high risk and a need to continue training. This household risk assessment methodology is one of the Be Ready module tools. Households participating in the assessment answer to 20 questions. Each response gets between 0-5 points: 0 points indicate the lowest risk and 5 points indicate the highest risk. Households that get up to a total of 10 points during the assessment are generally considered to be low risk, 11-30 points are medium risk and 31-60 points indicate high risk. The most frequent risks identified through these assessments were Dzud, Flood, Household Fire, Forest and Steppe Fire, and the use of household chemicals. In addition to the informative session of the training, trainers also provided recommendations on how to do household risk assessment and reduce the risk on their own. Common household hazards included: fires near the stove, improper chimney structure, failing to use designated ash pots or lids, residing near flood risk areas, damaged river bridges and roads, and delayed harvesting due to long rainy seasons. The trainers also provided advice on winter preparations and prevention of wildfires. The next community training plan is not developed yet. It is up to soum government to continue this training. Apart from the capacity building session, the trainers also introduced the SMS system, and practiced with the participants to send and receive SMS about pasture weather and pasture conditions. Mercy Corps provided the trainers with 500 copies of disaster prevention packages, mobile phone credits for SMS system testing, fuel vouchers and two-day per-diems. Soum-level DPPs shared One of the results of the DPP workshop described above was updating DPPs for ten soums in accordance with the LEGS standard and methods. These DPPs were later approved by respective soum governors. To raise knowledge of local community on disaster mitigation and disaster preparedness and share soum DPPs with local herders, certified DRR trainers visited approximately 2,000 herder households in 52 baghs during the community level training which took place between July and September 2020. These community trainings were based on the Be-Ready training module. (See more about the Be-Ready training on Page 19)
The training topics were selected depending on the potential risks around the household. Most of the topics included dzud, flood, household fire, forest and steppe fire. Based on these topics, DRR trainers provided basic overview of disaster prevention and protection including general concepts, prevention measures, and the relevant DPP sections which describe the importance of herder’s cooperation with the soum in the event of a disaster, whom to reach out, as well as herders’ roles and responsibilities.
Outreach about SMS platform One of the objectives of DRR training is to promote SMS systems to local government officials and herders. During the DRR training, DPP workshop, and community training, facilitators and trainers introduced the SMS system and practiced with the participants how to send and receive SMS for different types of information, particularly on weather and pasture conditions. Apart from the instructional guidance on the use of SMS systems, Mercy Corps distributed 40,000 SMS system brochures to LEMA of five LTS3 aimags and provided the trainers with mobile phone credits for SMS system testing in community training.
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Development of DRR handbook As described in detail above, Mercy Corps and the LEMAs of five aimags jointly organized a ToT “Be Ready” in ten soums of five target aimags in June and August of 2020. (See Page 19 for more information) The training revealed that many soum authorities lack knowledge and skills to conduct disaster risk assessment and disaster protection planning. There was a clear need to share with them recommendations and tips on how to organize DRR activities. Besides that, the local elections were due in October, and new government officials would need to learn about DRR. In order to address that issue, Mercy Corps and NEMA established a joint team to produce a DRR handbook for soum government officials in September 2020. The task force consisted of eight members: three from Mercy Corps and five from NEMA. The process of writing the handbook took two months and was finished in November. Mercy Corps hired an experienced consultant to edit the handbook. The design and the text were finally ready and went to the printing company in December 2020. “Recommendations for Organizing DRR Activities”, consists of four key parts: 1. Disaster risk assessment
2. Disaster protection plan
3. Disaster protection training
4. Legal documents These parts contain the following information: 1. Disaster protection laws
2. Guidelines to develop disaster protection plans
3. DPP Template
4. Methodology of disaster risk assessment
5. Disaster protection training
6. Regulation on disaster protection voluntary activities The design of the book has been ‘handed over’ to NEMA so that they can print these again in the future. The delay due to lockdown imposed as a result of COVID19 outbreak in Mongolia. In total, 2,500 copies of the handbook are planned to be printed and distributed to the NEMA and LEMAs of all 21 aimags, 9 districts and 173 sub-districts of Ulaanbaatar in January 2021. SMS system website modification The SMS system was established by Mercy Corps under the LTS2 project to disseminate 12 types of weather and rangeland information of all 1820 baghs, 330 soums and 21 aimags to all users of cell phones. The system uses the www.LTS2sms.com website to connect to four mobile operators in Mongolia. The SMS system was handed over to the NEMA in August 2019. The website was placed at .com domain which doesn’t meet the safety and internet security requirements of NEMA. Thus, in September 2020, NEMA requested Mercy Corps to help improve the website structure, change the domain name and make it more accessible for public use. Mercy Corps hired a consultant to work with NEMA specialists to make the following changes: 1. The website menu was changed with six key menus for better navigation
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2. All information now is available on one page 3. Added instructions in video and text format on how to receive weather and pasture information 4. Codes of all baghs are now available 5. Video ads produced with Mercy Corps are now available on the website 6. Number of website visitors and number of SMS requests are now available on the website 7. Contact information of NEMA is now available 8. The website can be accessed through cell phones and tablets 9. Checked and cleaned database system and the server 10. Website visitors have an opportunity to ask questions from NEMA about the system 11. Established http://sms2.nema.gov.mn domain on the data center 12. Placed the website on http://sms2.nema.gov.mn domain These improvements make it much easier to conduct trainings and disseminate ads through the web and reduce costs of printing and distribution of brochures and other print materials. In addition to that, it provides an opportunity for NEMA to more closely monitor SMS requests.
Activity 3: Distribution of DRR equipment and supplies to target soums As described in detail above, Mercy Corps, in partnership with the LEMA of five target aimags, organized a workshop on “Improving Soum Disaster Protection Plan Using LEGS Tools” between June and August 2020 in ten target soums. During the workshop, the participants conducted a disaster risk assessment and updated the DPP of their soums on the riskiest 2-3 hazards using LEGS tools. (See Page 18-19 for more information) Based on the risks and mitigation strategies identified in their DPPs, target soum governors and aimag LEMAs submitted a formal request to Mercy Corps for DRR equipment. The formal requests for equipment and supplies were based on an application form developed and shared with soum government officials by Mercy Corps. This form contained several questions related to the purpose, ownership and use of this equipment and alignment with the soum DPP. All applications were reviewed by LTS3 project team. Since all ten soum-level proposals and five requests from aimag-level LEMAs included clear linkages to the priorities identified in previous DRR trainings, the decision was made to fulfill all requests. No funds were transferred to local governments or emergency committees; instead, Mercy Corps procured all materials on behalf of partners and distributed the equipment and supplies during the final months of the project. Mercy Corps procured and handed over eight types of DRR equipment worth 20,530,400 MNT to ten soums of five aimags and 18,719,900 MNT of equipment and supplies to five target aimag LEMAs. The total value of donation was 39.25 million MNT. Reflecting local priorities identified through the DPP process, equipment includes fire extinguishers, warning sign boards, sprayers, civil defense sirens, water pumps, first aid training manikins, training table and chair. See the table below for detailed information. Table 9: Type and number of equipment donated to each soum Aimag Recipient Equipment donated
35 fire extinguishers Naranbulag 2 sets of firefighting equipment
Uvs 35 fire extinguishers Davst 2 sets of firefighting equipment
LEMA 20 training tables and 40 training chairs
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Khentii Bayanmunkh 10 warning sign boards
4 warning sign boards Darkhan 1 water pump set (pump, pipe, hose, nozzle) 2 sprayers
LEMA 1 projector for training
Bayan-Ulgii Tolbo 1 civil defense siren
Altai 1 civil defense siren
LEMA 2 civil defense siren
Khovd 2 water pump sets Erdeneburen 4 sprayers
2 water pump sets Khovd 4 sprayers
LEMA 4 first aid training mannequins
Erdenetsagaan 4 warning sign boards 1 water pump set 2 sprayers Sukhbaatar Bayandelger 2 water pump sets 4 sprayers
LEMA 10,000 copies of the “Be ready” training brochure
The donation of DRR equipment and supplies had a significant impact on building DRR capacities and operationalization of DPP in target ten soums and five aimag LEMAs. The donated equipment and supplies will allow LEMA to organize DRR trainings for local citizens and rescue teams, warn people about the dangers of fire and floods, and disinfect livestock to reduce risks of infectious diseases. Moreover, this equipment will strengthen the commitment of local leaders to partner with local communities to mitigate disasters, encourage local initiatives aimed at reducing risks of disasters and build local capacities to protect against and prevent natural and human-made disasters which will eventually lead to establishment of safer and healthier rural communities. The estimated number of all beneficiaries is more than 54 thousand people. The beneficiaries include herders who benefit from disinfection of animals and shelters, school kids and hospital staff and patients who feel much safer due to availability of fire extinguishers in the building, LEMA staff who can now improve effectiveness of their trainings with new mannequins, chairs, desks, projector, local residents living in flood or fire high-risk areas who can instantly receive warnings about upcoming flood or fire, and visitors from other soums and aimags informed about the dangers of steppe fire and fast river streams. Table 10: Value of donations and estimated No of participants Aimag Value of donation, MNT Estimated No of participants
Bayan-Ulgii 5,280,000 17,100
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Khovd 10,269,200 4,500
Uvs 10,732,000 9,800
Khentii 6,267,200 7,400
Sukhbaatar 6,701,900 16,000
Total 39,250,300 54,800
Aimag and soum government, LEMA, school and hospital staff expressed their gratitude to Mercy Corps and USAID for timely donation of DRR supplies and equipment and reiterated their commitment to use the donated equipment and supplies to reduce and prevent risk of disasters. The number and severity of disasters such as infectious diseases, fire and flood is constantly growing and the donation of this important supplies and equipment will undoubtedly help build capacity of the local government and citizens to prevent from and protect against disasters. Find more information in the Annex 7 - DRR Equipment Handover Report. Activity 4: Workshops, conferences on national level The 3rd Annual Knowledge Exchange Symposium on Future Challenges in Dzud Management This conference was organized in Ulaanbaatar on 4 December 2019. This event was co-organized by NAMEM, NEMA, the Nagoya University, Red Cross, Mercy Corps, WFP, and Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS). Mercy Corps offered some financial assistance and presented on the issues of pasture degradation, animal disease monitoring, and expansion of SMS on-demand service.
Over 50 people participated in the symposium, including representatives from MOFALI, FAO, NSO, PIN, UNICEF, and Malchin TV. The objective of the event was to share information on dzud prevention and response, pasture management, and climate change with the participants. The participants had active discussions on the winter outlook for 2019-2020 and dzud risk factors, challenges to the livestock sector, and the future of herding in Mongolia. Mercy Corps presented on the issues of pasture degradation, animal disease monitoring, and the SMS system. WFP introduced the expansion of SMS on-demand service to enhance herder household preparedness and resilience to winter conditions, dzud pilot project review, and lessons learned. Workshops with NEMA NEMA and Mercy Corps cooperated on awareness raising activities for the SMS system in December 2019 and January 2020. NEMA helped to communicate about the SMS system via 20 most popular websites and ten most popular publications in Mongolia. In addition, NEMA posted five SMS awareness raising videos on their national and local websites and broadcast these videos through local TV stations in all aimags. These videos were produced by Mercy Corps under the LTS2 project in 2018. Each video ad (40 seconds long) explains how to use the SMS system.
Sensitization Workshops Building on a successful pilot conducted from November 2018 through March 2019, Mercy Corps and the World Food Program (WFP) signed a new partnership agreement that began on 1 April 2019 and ended on 28 February 2020, overlapping with both the LTS3 program. Under this new agreement, Mercy Corps and WFP collaborated with the NEMA and the NSO to implement a joint “The Enhancing Mobile Data Systems for Livelihood Protection in Mongolia” project to support
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vulnerable herders through the expansion of the type of information that is disseminated to them, primarily market price information. This was done by building on the existing databases, collection and dissemination mechanisms in Mongolia, such as the SMS on-demand system for weather information created by Mercy Corps and NEMA under the LTS2 project As part of this project, Mercy Corps, WFP, NEMA, and the NSO conducted two rounds of sensitization workshops for project stakeholders from 30 pilot soums in the six selected aimags - Arkhangai, Bayankhongor, Uvurkhangai, Bayan-Ulgii, Uvs, and Khovd - in March and September 2019. The purpose of the workshops was to train soum stakeholders to conduct sensitization activities at soum level. A total of 128 people attended these one-day workshops to learn about how the SMS system operates, with a specific focus on how to request and receive price information. In April-May 2019 and September-October 2019, the soum trainers traveled back to their soums and raised awareness among local soum residents about the project. The soum trainers informed residents about the SMS system, taught them how to request and receive hay price information, and distributed SMS brochures during different kinds of public events: bagh and soum meetings, trainings and workshops, animal census, etc. Also, herders were sensitized by bagh governors during their regular visits. Mercy Corps provided some incentives in the form of fuel expenses and phone credit to implementers and herders to support this process. Coordination with the International Community Throughout the implementation period, Mercy Corps was an active participant in a number of coordination mechanisms in Mongolia. These included the Mongolia Humanitarian Country Team, co-chaired by the Head of NEMA and the UN Resident Coordinator and comprised of heads of key UN agencies as well as international and local NGOS with humanitarian mandates, missions or activities. With the support of regional OCHA team members, the HCT conducted scenario planning for both winter dzud risk and earthquakes and developed humanitarian response plans which could be triggered in the event that NEMA declares an emergency and requests support from the international community. In addition, the UN Cluster system was activated to contribute to the GoM’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in country. Given our focus in Mongolia, Mercy Corps was most active in the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster.
In addition to humanitarian coordination, Mercy Corps is also a member of the Development Partners’ Coordination Forum. Co-chaired by the head of the World Bank and the UN Resident Coordinator, this group consists of representatives of donor agencies, embassies, and international agencies; the key function of the group is to help the various missions and actors here avoid duplication and leverage each other’s efforts.
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Table 11: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Mandatory indicators (See Annex- Detailed Indicator Performance Tracking Table)
Sector: Risk Baseline Target Progress Management Policy Sep Aug Progress 2019 Progress 2020 Total Rate and Practice 2019 2020 Sub-Sector: Capacity building and Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov training OFDA Indicator 8: Number of people trained in disaster 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 21 79 0 0 0 121 121% preparedness, risk reduction and management OFDA Indicator 9: Number of people passing final exams 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 21 79 0 0 0 121 121% or receiving certificates OFDA Indicator 10: Percentage of people trained who retain 0 >80% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 93.0% 87.2% 0 90% 112% skills and knowledge after two months Custom Indicator 5: Number of soums benefitting from small 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 80% scale infrastructure projects to operationalize PMPs Custom Indicator 6: Number of herders 4,718 12,200 1,212 664 382 538 215 939 1,650 2,009 862 1,272 2,361 1,915 1,910 1,704 17,633 145% using SMS system
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Table 12: Risk Management Policy and Practice- Additional Indicators
Life of Sector: Risk Management Policy and Practice Total (male) Total (female) Explanation Project
Sub-Sector: Capacity building and training
Additional indicator 11: Number of community 11 members trained by 'Be Ready' DRR Trainers 3,849 2,352 1,497
Additional indicator 12: Number of people attended 12 107 52 55 DPP workshop in 10 soums
Add indicator 13: Number of soums updated DPPs in Not Not 13 accordance with LEGS standard 10 applicable applicable
Additional indicator 14: Total number of educational Brochure about How to use a SMS-9000; and awareness raising products on Rangeland SMS brochure for LEMA in 5 aimags-40,000; Not Not 14 developed and distributed 89,150 Be Ready Training: Trainers Handbook-150; applicable applicable and Be Ready Training Brochures-40,000;
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CHALLENGES COVID-19 In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Government of Mongolia announced the first restrictions- closing the border with China and school closures on January 24, 2020. Through the LTS3 implementation period, international borders remained closed and air travel in and out of Mongolia is prohibited except for repatriation flights organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Throughout the year, the government has periodically introduced and enforced restrictions on public gatherings, interstate travel, and business operations. These are driven by the context, are unpredictable, and change frequently. Though LTS3 activities and operations were never fully suspended in response to COVID-19, our program progress did slow significantly between February and June and again in November 2020, when a full lockdown was instituted in the country following the announcement of the first locally transmitted cases in Mongolia. In addition, COVID-19 temporarily affected our collaboration with our government partners at national and local levels. NEMA and LEMA have effectively shifted their focus and resources from natural disasters to battling COVID-19. This shift, though necessary, presented challenges for implementation as it was, at times, difficult to schedule meetings with decision makers. Similarly, emergency committees at the soum level, LTS3 stakeholders for DPPs pivoted their focus to COVID prevention as well. The restrictions on inter-aimag travel as well as on public gatherings (including meetings, trainings, and conferences) had the most significant impact on LTS3 implementation. Throughout implementation, some key activities and meetings were postponed until the restrictions were lifted, while other activities were modified to enable us to comply with the restrictions while also ensuring the safety of our staff, our partners, and program participants.
The LTS3 team and our partners made adjustments and adaptations in response to COVID risks and restrictions throughout the implementation period. Specifically:
● The LTS3 team initially planned to organize the PDS introductory training for participants from all four target aimags at one time, allowing sufficient time for conducting field work, writing field studies, and attending the refresher trainings. However, due to the government restrictions, Mercy Corps and our GAVS partners delivered the session twice, once for veterinarians from Khentii and Sukhbaatar and once in Khovd; and had to exclude the field practice from the training for participants from the eastern aimags given our inability to gather more than a few people together at any time. ● Due to COVID-19 restriction, PDS training for Bayan-Ulgii participation was cancelled due to the quarantine restrictions imposed by the local government. Bayan-Ulgii aimag is located on the western end of Mongolia and is bordered by Russia and China. In February and March, when the COVID-19 outbreak was relatively high in the neighboring countries, Bayan-Ulgii aimag was at risk of community transmission of the virus and thus stopped the gatherings, meetings of any sort and limited the entry and exit at the aimag borders. ● The Altai and Tolbo soums in Bayan-Ulgii and Naranbulag and Davst soum in Uvs aimag planned to organize herder’s conference to update PMP, improve and discuss PMR in the SAPs. These events were cancelled because these soums are located very close to the border
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of neighboring countries. Three different herder conferences in Darkhan soum, Erdeneburen soum, Khovd soum were cancelled because of similar restrictions ● The PDS close-out meeting in Sukhbaatar was canceled in November and was conducted later in December in online format; a final meeting with GAVS to close out the PDS component of the program will be rescheduled in early 2021 with Mercy Corps’ senior management team. ● The printing of the DRR book was postponed until December 2020 due to a lockdown imposed by GoM in November. Similarly, the veterinary journal that included an article about PDS could not be published and distributed until December 2020. Since the LTS3 project had already come to a close, these publications were funded through other Mercy Corps resources. Elections Mongolian national parliamentary elections took place on 24 June 2020. Campaigning was conducted for the month preceding the elections; during this time, gatherings were prohibited and programming slowed. Local parliamentary elections were held in mid-October; program activities at the aimag level were halted for the two weeks leading up to the elections in order to ensure adequate distance between Mercy Corps’ activities and campaigning.
PROGRAM EVALUATION AND CLOSE OUT
As the LTS3 program came to a close it was strategically important to capture the impact and outcomes generated from not only the last phase of the LTS program, but the outcomes which were built over time from the beginning of LTS program implementation. As such, Mercy Corps Mongolia’s end-of-program evaluation was developed to assess overall program performance and achievements against the planned project objectives, outcomes, targets, and key indicators of LTS3. Mercy Corps sought to capitalize on the fact that this was the third phase of OFDA funding for DRR programming implemented over the last seven years. Each of the phases of the LTS project builds on the previous work - which enabled Mercy Corps to leverage existing relationships, integrate lessons learned, and adapt project activities and approaches based on past achievements, successes, and challenges. The evaluation provided a unique opportunity to explore changes over time as well as analyze the longer arc of program impacts and activities vis-à-vis the changing context in Mongolia. Outputs from this evaluation are recommendations for Mercy Corps, the Government of Mongolia, and other programs aimed at reducing the risk of disaster in Mongolia. The evaluation methodology was “Outcome Harvesting” which is used to identify intended and unintended outcomes, and relies on participatory tools, qualitative data collection, and working closely with the program team and key stakeholders to gather information. Outcome harvesting follows six steps: The method follows a six step process:12 1. Design the Outcome Harvest (Harvest users and harvesters identify useable questions to guide the harvest.) 2. Gather data and draft outcome descriptions (Collect information about changes in social actors and how the change agent contributed, from documents, interviews, focus group discussions, surveys, M&E data, and other sources, Draft preliminary outcome descriptions:
12 Wilson-Grau, R. and Britt, H. (2012): Outcome Harvesting, Ford Foundation. 29
3. Review (Review outcomes descriptions, identify and formulate additional outcomes, and classify all outcomes.) 4. Substantiate (Double check “too good to be true” outcomes with independent sources.) 5. Analyze and Interpret (Compile, analyze and interpret outcome descriptions, Give evidence-based answers to the useable questions) 6. Support Use of Findings (Discuss lessons learned)
To execute this evaluation, with consideration to border closures due to government COVID19 restrictions, MCM hired an external evaluation consultant team based in Mongolia. The external consultant team was made up of two different components, a national evaluation group and international lead evaluator. The national team, from IRM (Independent Research Institute of Mongolia), was contracted to conduct data collection in the field, documentation, translation and consolidation of findings. The leader of the national team, Ms Narangerel Yansanjav, executive director of the NGO PCC (People Centered Conservation, Mongolia), was contracted by IRIM for this assignment to facilitate focus group discussions in the field and collaborate with the lead evaluator to consolidate the list of outcomes generated. National team members also included Mr Tserendorj Erdenebat (IRIM staff), Ms Javkhlan Jargalsaikhan (IRIM staff), and Ms Suvd Boldbaatar (local consultant, contracted for this assignment). The lead evaluator, with overall responsibility for the evaluation process and preparing the final report, was Dr. Sabine Schmidt, who was also located in Ulaanbaatar at the time. With a dual contract, working with both a national team and an international lead evaluator, MCM was able to meet the necessary standards of a final evaluation, while working within the parameters of restrictions and abiding by safety precautions. Over the course of two months, October and November, the evaluation team and lead evaluator conducted a document review; focus group discussions, key informant interviews, triangulation of evidence and information, and wrote the final evaluation report. Below is a table with the learning plan for the data collection:
National Level Data collection
● KII with National Emergency Management Agency ● KII with Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Light Industry ● KII with General Authority for Veterinary Services ● KII with PDS Trainers ● FGD with INGO and UN agencies working in animal health, rangeland management, etc
Aimag Level Data Collection
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● KII with Local Emergency Management Agency ● KII with Agriculture Department ● KII with Provincial Vet Department ● KII with local rangeland management experts/ consultants ● FGD with PDS Practitioners
Soum Level * 4 Data Collection
● KII with local governor and/ or deputy ● KII with persons responsible for DRR planning and management ● KII with soum veterinarians and/ or private veterinary units ● KII with PDS practitioners (if relevant) ● KII with rangeland officer and/ or ranger ● 1-2 FGDs with herders
From the qualitative data collection and analysis the lead evaluator identified outcomes and impacts of the LTS programs and was able to answer the Key Evaluation Question set forth. The main findings of the evaluation are included in the table below. The outcomes are interrelated as they often result from interconnected project activities and outputs. While the LTS3 program had distinct intervention areas, the program used a unified strategy implemented using a set of tools and principles that created a harmonious approach to disaster risk reduction in Mongolia. As such, these outcomes should be seen as a holistic review of the impact of the LTS program.
Summary of Key Evaluation Questions
KEQ1: In what ways has the project contributed to improve DRR planning and preparation at the household, community, aimag, and national level?
Key Outcome: Key Outputs: NEMA assumed full ownership of the SMS system, • The SMS system received 161,449 text the adoption of new planning formats for soum and requests from 33,114 mobile users in 4 aimag level disaster preparedness planning, and roll years (2015 – 2019) out of the “Be Ready” training for herder households. • SMS system utilized nation-wide
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• Dzud book published (in Mongolian and Kazakh) 86,00 copies distributed • 292 soums received LEGS training1,000 LEGS handbooks, translated to Mongolian distributed • 121 government officials (29 LEMA officers) certified as Be Ready Trainers • 4,000 rural citizens received Be Ready training • 10 DPP updated with Be Ready Methodology
KEQ 2: How did the project support improved rangeland management planning and practices in target areas?
Key Outputs:
Key Outcome: • 10 PMRs, from the 10 target soums were approved by local parliaments The project operationalized PMPs by working closely with soum governments in defining targeted support • 6 PMRs were approved by the Ministry of for local priorities in the form of a Soum Action Plan. A Justice key strategy for operationalization was Mercy Corps • 8 small scale infrastructure rehabilitation support in registering pasture management projects completed regulations, case studies from target areas show a reduction in conflict over resources due to certified • 2,974 herders participated in herders pasture regulations. competitions and conferences • 248 government rangeland management specialists participated in Rangeland Management and Capacity Building training
KEQ 3: How did LTS3 enhance local capacity to detect, treat, and control transboundary animal disease through the introduction of participatory epidemiology
Key Outputs: • 4 certified Mongolian PDS trainers in Key Outcome: Mongolia Two important lessons have been learned: a) as a • 37 certified practitioners in the country result of vets using PDS tools, herders have become much more collaborative in sharing knowledge on • 1 book published and distributed: “25 TADs and b) this information is starting to be Common Animal Diseases” 17,500 copies recognized by the government as critical in detection distributed and control of outbreaks. • 1 article about PDS methodology and institutionalization published in a national veterinarian journal
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• 10 field studies and reports approved by PENAPH • 2,935 herders were involved in PDS field work
KEQ 4: How has the program evolved over the three phases to be adaptive to changing contexts?
Key Outputs: • 292 soums of 20 aimags improved their DPP using the new template using the LEGS methodology, all drafted DPPs were approved by LEMA. (In response to the NEMA requirement that all soums have a DPP) Key Outcome: • 10 DPP were updated with Be Ready Close cooperation with stakeholders has ensured that methodology in 2020 program objectives and targeting were relevant in a changing legal environment, a changing institutional • 10 PMR developed and submitted for landscape, with changing capacities and review by the Ministry of Justice (in opportunities, and of course under a changing climate response to the need for enforceable and natural environment. pasture regulation) • 10 Soum Action Plans developed and operationalized • PDS institutionalized in 4 aimag-level GAVS, and national-level GAVS committed to including PDS reports in the Mongolian Animal Health Information System
KEQ 5: How have capacities of various change agents been strengthened? What was Mercy Corps Mongolia’s role in that process?
Key Outputs: Key Outcome: • 27 representatives of NEMA, LEMA , At the national level capacities were strengthened MOFALI, and regional coordinators of through new planning methods, such as LEGS, new Mercy Corps Mongolia received the first approaches like PDS, and assisting in scaling up LEGS training trainings and distribution of awareness raising • LEGS training rolled out to 292 soums of 20 material. aimags, 7,786 participants At the local level, capacities were strengthened • 10 Soum Action Plans developed and among soum government officers through DPP and operationalized DRR trainings, collaborative planning mechanisms, and PDS practitioner certification. • 121 government officials (29 LEMA officers) certified as Be Ready Trainers
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• 248 government rangeland management specialists participated in Rangeland Management and Capacity Building training • 4 certified Mongolian PDS trainers in Mongolia • 37 certified practitioners in the country
KEQ 6: To what extent has the government of Mongolia at all levels, acted to take ownership or institutionalize program activities; and how has Mercy Corps Mongolia contributed to this institutionalization?
Key Outputs: Key Outcome: • MoUs signed between Mercy Corps and 10 Project support was planned closely with government soums for targeted DRR and Rangeland counterparts to move government priorities forward; Management support from MC activities were designed to leverage GoM initiatives to ensure high-impact results. LEGS and the updated • DPP format adjusted to meet LEGS DPP formats and PMPs, as well as the collaborative standard best practice, adopted by LEMA mechanisms that make them effective instruments for and NEMA local planning and management, have found policy • 10 DPP updated and approved by LEMA support on Soum and Aimag level. • 10 DPP operationalized with support from The SMS system was handed over to NEMA and has MC, providing equipment and supplies successfully been institutionalized within the government of Mongolia. New GoM partners were • SAPs developed in 10 soums and were phased into project implementation, like NAMEM and operationalized. Soums committed co- NSO. financing to implement SAP priorities MoUs were an effective instrument to establish a clear • MoU signed between MC and GAVS division of tasks among government agencies and committing time, resources, and dedicated MCM, and to promote institutionalization of activities. effort to mainstream PDS in animal health practice and policy
KEQ 7: What was the effect of Mercy Corps Mongolia consulting and involving stakeholders in program design implementation and adaptation through the different phases of the project?
Key Outputs: Key Outcome: • SMS system grew to include 10 different types of information, including the latest MCM worked closely with each stakeholder in addition of forage market information program design and implementation. Notably working with local governments and the emerging framework • 10 PMPs operationalized through SAP of herder’s institutions, from local to national level, and activities, designed by soum governments supported MoFALI in putting into practice PMPs when 3 herders’ conferences and 3 herders’ the ministry sought to enforce better planning • competitions, led by soum governments, procedures. working groups, and herders, positively impacted 446,000 acres of pastureland
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• 8 Small-scale rehabilitation projects completed, led by soum governments and herders groups, supported by MC Stakeholder involvement in program design and implementation led to: • Leveraging project implementation to meet requirements of article 8.1 of the Law on Natural Disaster, DPP are mandatory for each soum • LTS3 provided direct support for aimags and soums to develop and register pasture management regulations, in lieu of a national pasture management law • Facilitated the adoption of carrying capacity software, approved by MOFALI • PDS supported the GoM Animal Health Law - tracing livestock product origin - by building capacity in epidemiology and feeding accurate data into the new registration system
KEQ 8: What attitudes and behaviors of stakeholders have changed, in what ways did Mercy Corps Mongolia contribute to these changes? In what ways did the different levels of government contribute to these changes?
Outputs: • 2,935 herders were involved in PDS field work, herders have recognized their Key Outcome: importance as informants and holders of traditional knowledge Attitude and behavior changes have occurred on all levels; herders have been motivated to actively • The SMS system received 161,449 text participate in disease surveillance, and they have requests from 33,114 mobile users in 4 contributed in kind and financially for rangeland years - there has been a shift in herders improvements and their inputs on the discussions on understanding of how to manage dzud and pasture land regulations in their Soums. other weather events The benefits of citizen involvement in planning and • Herders contributed 99.7 MNT and labor execution of DRR and PMP activities, and of herder’s towards rangeland management activities, involvement in disease surveillance were recognized demonstrating a shift in behavior and by local governments and changed their perception of dedication to improved management local and traditional knowledge, and of participatory practices processes in general. • Soum governments and herders contributed a total of 22% of the funding for infrastructure rehabilitation projects, including in-kind labor from herders’ groups
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Evaluation Conclusions:
1. The project helped to significantly scale up planning and outreach for DRR through capacity building events and resources, collaboration and close partnerships, and technical advances in the SMS system.
2. To achieve sustainable improvements in rangeland management planning and practices, the project helped introduce and scale up improved planning processes and the collaborative local bodies that include all stakeholders in rangeland planning.
3. Local capacity to detect and control TAD was built through the introduction of international experiences and standards of PE to Mongolia where epidemiology itself is only in its infancy in animal health and where PDS approaches was only known by scholars but not applied by veterinarians.
4. MoUs were an effective instrument to establish a clear division of tasks among government agencies and MCM, and to promote institutionalization of activities. At the soum level, implementation support for PMPs was defined by MoUs, on national level a MoU negotiated by MCM documents the commitment of GAVS to scale up PDS.
5. Attitude and behavior changes have occurred on all levels of change agents and among social actors. Herders have been motivated to actively participate in disease surveillance rather than withholding information, and they have contributed in-kind and financially for rangeland improvements and their inputs on the discussions on pasture land regulations in their soums. Evaluation Recommendations: 1. DRR communication material developed specifically for audiences of herders and local stakeholders is essential. This includes educational materials and awareness raising or informal informational material. For example: the “Dzud Book” and the book on “25 Common Animal Diseases” are both written in easy to understand language, and translated into different dialects or languages when necessary, and accompanied by pictures and illustrations. These resources have been very useful for herders and other community members. The recommendation is for GoM or other organizations implementing DRR programming to develop similar communication materials. 2. National exchange visits between soums and aimags can be impactful and build off of lessons learned and best practices. For example, one of the target Soums, Baynmunkh Soum of Khentii Aimag, had been contacted by other soums in the country (Bayankhongor, Bayan-Ovoo Soum and Dundgobi, Erdenemandal soums) to share experience with them about the herder’s competition held in Baynmunkh soum, on herder group formation, and on community fund development. The exchange visit was planned for late 2020, but had to be postponed. These soums demonstrated a clear interest in learning from the experience in Bayanmunkh, GoM can use this as a foundation for providing inter-soum and inter-aimag learning opportunities and field visits. 3. For GoM, international agencies, and organizations – such as FAO, ADP, etc- form interagency relationships to inform planning processes for future programming in Mongolia. The LTS program has shown that multi-stakeholder projects that build from past efforts result in high impact, sustainably built, outcomes.
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4. Ensure that all reporting and relevant documentation – including lessons learned- have been shared with relevant GOM counterparts, donors, and other international agencies programming in Mongolia.
ANNEXES Annex I: Summary of Soums
Annex II: Rangeland Management and Small Scale Rehabilitation Projects
Annex III: Rangeland Management and Herder Competition Report
Annex IV: Rangeland Management Workshops
Annex V: DPP Workshop Report Summary
Annex VI: DRR ToT Summary Report
Annex VII: DRR Equipment Handover Report
Annex VIII: PDS Workshop Report
Annex IX: Indicator Performance Tracking Table
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PDS workshop in Khovd aimag, October 2020
PDS INSTITUTIONALIZATION IN MONGOLIA – NATIONAL AND LOCAL WORKSHOPS FOR VETERINARIANS Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction (LTS3)
NOVEMBER 2020
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Background In 2019 Mercy Corps partnered with the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) to design and launch the Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction, Phase 3 (LTS3). LTS3 is a one-year project that builds upon six years of investment by OFDA in DRR and Livestock through Mercy Corps in Mongolia. LTS3 is implemented across 5 aimags: Khovd, Uvs, Bayan-Ulgii, Khentii, and Sukhbaatar, but PDS is not implemented Uvs. The LTS3 project aims to reduce vulnerability of herder households in Mongolia through increased disaster risk preparedness, more effective rangeland management, and improved capacities to mitigate the risks of transboundary animal diseases (TAD). One of the main activities of this project is to integrate Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS) approaches and tools into on-going veterinary initiatives to improve local capacity to prevent, control, and respond to TAD outbreaks. Since 2001, new and re-emerging diseases and transboundary animal diseases (TAD) have been an increasingly serious problem in Mongolia that threatens the food security of herding families and their dependents. Currently control measures are applied only during outbreaks and there is no continuous or early surveillance system in Mongolia. Against this backdrop, PDS has emerged as one of the most successful ways to identify early, mitigate, and manage TADs. PDS is the application of participatory methods to epidemiological research and disease surveillance. It is a proven technique that overcomes many of the limitations of conventional epidemiological methods while also directly involving local stakeholders such as veterinarians and herders in conducting health surveillance and research. The approach was originally developed for small-scale community animal health programs, then applied to large-scale international disease control efforts by PENAPH, the Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and People Health.1
Starting with the previous phase of the LTS project, Mercy Corps and the General Authority of Veterinary Services (GAVS) have been collaborating to incorporate PDS approaches into the government policy of animal disease surveillance systems in Mongolia. As the LTS3 project commenced in September 2019, the two parties signed an MoU to continue their partnership for further institutionalization of PDS approaches at national and local level. As part of the institutionalization efforts, the partners agreed to conduct a series of national and aimag- level workshops and meetings with national and local stakeholders. In 2019 and 2020, Mercy Corps and GAVS organized three national-level workshops in UB and six aimag-level workshops. A total of 257 state and private veterinarians, academic stakeholders, and government partners at national and local levels attended the workshops. The workshops focused on introducing our stakeholders in the veterinary sector to PDS approaches and tools, PDS certification process, and achievements and results of the PDS component of the LTS3 project.
1 https://penaph.net/ MERCY CORPS LTS3: PDS Institutionalization in Mongolia - November 2020 > 2
National Level Meetings and Workshops National Level Meetings All LTS3 PDS activities were planned, designed, and delivered in close partnership with GAVS. Mercy Corps staff were in constant communication with relevant decision makers as well as the PDS Trainers. In addition, throughout implementation, the two partners met frequently to ensure alignment of project activities with government policies and strategies. A few of the critical meetings between GAVS, Mercy Corps, and other key PDS stakeholders are summarized below. Meeting with GAVS, PENAPH and WCS At the request of the GAVS, Jeff Mariner, the general coordinator of PENAPH, visited Mongolia on 5 - 21 August 2019, as a part of the SNAPP project (of WCS) to support the surveillance efforts to eradicate PPR and Pox animal diseases in Mongolia. During his visit, he completed the following activities: Delivered certificates to the four PDS trainers; Provided recommendations on the field study, reports and PDS findings Discussed current surveillance practice and the institutionalization of PDS in Mongolia with the GAVS, shared ideas on the opportunity to apply PDS tools in different projects.
PDS certificate awarding event at GAVS on 8 August 2019
On 12 August 2019, a meeting was held at the GAVS office to discuss the use of PDS in veterinary surveillance systems, and participation of stakeholders in TAD surveillance and integration of the on- going capacity building effort in participatory surveillance with specific national disease control initiatives for FMD and PPR. The meeting was attended by 10 people: Mercy Corps Country Director and a Program Manager, PENAPH coordinator, Country Director of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Deputy Director of GAVS, Head of Animal Health Division of GAVS, Specialist on TAD, Animal Health Division of GAVS, specialist of new and re-emerging diseases, Animal Health Division of GAVS; Executive Director of Mongolian Veterinary Epidemiologist’ Association, Director and Researchers of State Central Veterinary Laboratory. MERCY CORPS LTS3: PDS Institutionalization in Mongolia - November 2020 > 3
During the meeting the participants discussed: ● The importance of capacity building trainings for epidemiologists and veterinarians; ● Effective collaboration between key stakeholders on PDS certification process; ● The importance of further institutionalization of PDS approaches; and ● Importance of implementation of sero-surveillance and outbreak studies in Mongolia As the Director of PENAPH, Dr. Mariner provided his insights and recommendations on improving the current surveillance practice in Mongolia, collaboration between the national and local stakeholders on the institutionalization of PDS, and use of PDS approach in the eradication and control of TADs. He also shared conclusions form a recent joint field trip to Khovd, where experts from Mercy Corps, Wildlife Conversation Society, and the aimag veterinary department conducted focus group discussions with local herders to profile the animal health situation in communities, identify outbreaks of PPR and FMD, and build participatory risk maps at the soum and aimag level. The mission group then developed a recommendation document which provides a framework for the integration of the on-going capacity-building effort in participatory surveillance with specific national disease control initiatives for FMD and PPR. In addition, at the meeting Dr Jeff Mariner presented certificates to the four newly-certified PDS trainers, including Mercy Corps’ project manager Enkhtuya. The Certificates confirmed completion of a 6-8 months’ long processes that included training, field work, research, writing a research paper, Training of Trainers session, conducting training, and overseeing field research conducted by other practitioners. Lastly, as a result of this meeting, GAVS and Mercy Corps agreed to sign an MoU to confirm their partnership in the institutionalization of PDS and expressed their commitment to collaborate on the implementation of “Saiga Health Interventions” pilot project of WCS. Signing of MOU with GAVS In December 2019, Mercy Corps and the GAVS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to incorporate the PDS approach into the government policy and practice for detection, prevention and control of TADs, build capacity of local veterinarians in PDS methodology, inform decision makers at all levels of government on PDS methodology, and support local veterinarians to become PENAPH certified practitioners. Under this MoU, the GAVS appointed a national focal point of PDS and agreed to promote PDS tools among local communities, herders, veterinary services, and governments throughout the project period.
Meeting with PDS Master Trainer and GAVS On 13 February 2020, Mercy Corps and the PDS Master Trainer (who was observing and guiding PDS training in Mongolia) met with senior level GAVS officials. The objective of the visit was to discuss GAVS plans regarding the PDS methodology, and future steps to institutionalize PDS approaches into GAVS strategies and priorities for 2020. During the meeting, the partners agreed on the plan for further institutionalization activities including PDS training, field studies, workshops, and meetings. The GAVS experts demonstrated to Mercy Corps the advantages of the information management system/database operated by the GAVS. This information system contains all data related to veterinary sector in Mongolia: plans and activities of the national and local GAVS branches; requests for veterinary help and service provided, number and types of veterinary certificates issued, import and export of meat, animal diseases, number of livestock and herder households, information on private veterinary units, supply, sales and availability of veterinary drugs and medicine. The soum
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veterinarian is responsible for entering relevant data into the system. For instance, the date of request for veterinary help made by a herder, type of service provided by a local veterinarian, drugs and medicine prescribed and procured, diagnosis results and so on are tracked in this database. And finally, the partners discussed how PDS approaches can be integrated with the government’s on- going surveillance activities. National level workshops In addition to the small, high-level meetings described above Mercy Corps and GAVS jointly organized three national level workshops during 2019 and 2020, in Ulaanbaatar city. The goal of all these workshops was to introduce the PDS tools and approaches to key national government decision makers, explore ways in which PDS can link with on-going surveillance efforts, and contribute to the institutionalization of the approach within GAVS. 1. PDS Introductory Workshop The first PDS workshop was organized on 17 December 2019. Twenty-five representatives of key national government decision makers attended the workshop including: GAVS, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry (MOFALI), State Central Veterinary Laboratory (SCVL), Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS), Veterinary Department of Ulaanbaatar, General Agency for Specialized Investigation (GASI), General Authority for Border Protection, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Epidemiology Association. The participants discussed the importance of PDS methodology, learned about LTS3 project activities and the partnership between GAVS and MCM, shared initial thoughts and ideas on how to incorporate PDS tools into the national surveillance system, and how to train local veterinary units to use that methodology. In addition, PDS trainers presented their field study reports, sparking active debate and discussion amongst the participants- some of whom were initially skeptical of a participatory approach to epidemiology. By the end of the workshop, most participants agreed that PDS is a very effective and cost-saving method that can involve a large number of people in the surveillance process. Therefore, GAVS has been supporting all PDS activities at national and local levels despite delays and challenges caused by the global COVID19 pandemic during the project period. 2. Animal disease handbook discussion and review workshop The second workshop was held on 18 June 2020. Mercy Corps invited experts from GAVS to comment and provide feedback on a draft of the handbook, titled the Common Animal Diseases. This handbook describes the symptoms, prevention, and protection tips for the 25 most common animal diseases. The handbook was written in simple language for herders, with color pictures, and included some parts of the Animal Health Law directly relevant for herders. This handbook was developed by experts from the Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine who used the findings from the PDS field study. Total of 20 people, including 12 experts from GAVS, two PDS trainers, three members of the animal health consultant team and three Mercy Corps experts reviewed and discussed the handbook. By discussing the handbook, Mercy Corps introduced main activities implemented under the PDS component and shared the results of the PDS field studies. The workshop provided a great opportunity to demonstrate to the workshop participants the value of information provided by herders in on-going prevention and detection efforts. The experts reviewed each of five categories of the handbook and discussed what kind of information about the certain animal diseases should be provided to herders.
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At the end of the workshop, the handbook content was finally confirmed and 17,500 copies of the Common Animal Diseases handbook were printed in September 2020 and distributed during October- November 2020 to herders in five target aimags. 3. PDS Institutionalization Workshop As part of the close out of the LTS3 program, Mercy Corps and GAVS organized the third national level workshop in Ulaanbaatar on 14 October 2020. The objective of the workshop was to share PDS project accomplishments and results, and discuss further plans for institutionalization of the PDS approach with key national decision makers in the veterinary sector. The event was attended by 30 veterinary experts including the representatives from government and non-government organizations such as the GAVS, SCVL, MULS, Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine, PDS Consulting firm and Association of Mongolian Epidemiologists.
PDS institutionalization workshop with national GAVS authorities, October 2020
The agenda for the workshop consisted of the following sessions: 1. Presentation of the PDS system, PDS tools and approaches 2. Presentation of field study reports 3. Discussion on the importance of the PDS/PE methodology in early detection and surveillance of animal diseases 4. Introduction of the Common Animal Diseases handbook for herders The GAVS experts expressed their satisfaction about the progress towards institutionalization of the PDS approaches in Mongolia. Also, the GAVS committed to continue PDS training and institutionalization efforts after the project close-out in the remaining 17 aimags of Mongolia. The agency has plans to conduct PDS trainings in five aimags under new projects implemented by the World Vision and funded by the World Bank in 2021.
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Aimag Level Workshops In addition, in collaboration with GAVS and aimag veterinary departments, Mercy Corps successfully organized LTS3 close-out workshops focused on PDS in Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Khentii aimags in October and November 2020. The close-out workshop with Sukhbaatar aimag veterinarians was postponed due to COVID19 nationwide lockdown and took place on 17 December 20202 in online format. The four workshops were attended by a total of 221 private and state veterinarians – including newly certified PDS practitioners - and epidemiologists from each soum and aimag-level veterinary department. The main objectives of aimag-level PDS workshops were to: ● Introduce the PDS methodology and PENAPH certification process to the veterinarians; ● Share the results of PDS activities completed under LTS2 and LTS3 projects; ● Present the findings of the field studies conducted in target aimags and discuss how to use the findings for planning of veterinary activities; ● PDS practitioners develop one-year plan to further institutionalization of PDS methodology in their own aimags; and ● Present “PDS Practitioner Certificates” to the 28 out of 37 veterinarians who have successfully completed their PDS training and field studies During the workshops, the participants were introduced to the new “Common Animal Diseases” handbook. This handbook helps herders better understand and identify animal disease symptoms and 17,500 copies of the handbook were distributed to herders in all of the soums in target aimags by the soum vets who attended the workshop. PDS workshop in Khentii aimag A PDS workshop was organized in Khentii aimag by Mercy Corps in collaboration with the Aimag Veterinary Department on 10 November 2020. The event was attended by 42 state and private veterinarians, aimag and soum epidemiologists, and the head of the aimag Veterinary Department. Ten soum veterinarians and epidemiologists from Khentii aimag, who were selected by Mercy Corps and GAVS, successfully completed the PDS training sessions and were certified as PDS practitioners. During the workshop, these PDS practitioners presented their findings from the PDS field study conducted in three soums of Khentii aimag (Bayan-Adarga, Norovlin and Binder) and discussed how to use the findings for planning veterinary service activities with fellow veterinarians Some of the key findings of PDS field study in Khentii aimag include:
● Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), hypodermosis and anthrax are the leading causes of livestock death in Bayan-Adarga and Norovlin soums;
2 Though the LTS3 project came to an end on November 30, 2020, the PDS Trainer was employed by Mercy Corps for a few weeks in December under different funding sources to finalize project reporting and conduct the on-line session with Sukhbaatar aimag stakeholders. MERCY CORPS LTS3: PDS Institutionalization in Mongolia - November 2020 > 7
● Livestock movement, lack of access to quality veterinary services, and proximity of infection area are the key factors that contribute to the occurrence of cattle diseases in Bayan-Adarga and Norovlin soums; ● Poor quality and accessibility of veterinary services affects animal health in Binder soum; ● Parasitic and other diseases caused by severe weather conditions such as ceonurosis, mange, necrobacteriosis, white muscle and eye disease were the most dominant ● Currently, there are no veterinarians at the soum level in Mongolia who can treat coenurosis, so animals diagnosed with ceonurosis are most likely to die; ● Only 61% of participating herders obtain a certificate of traceability (veterinary certificate) when moving to different locations; and ● 84% of participating herders want to have their livestock tested for brucellosis and are also willing to pay for such veterinary service In addition, a representative from GAVS – who is also a PDS trainer- introduced the new online data system from GAVS, and shared the latest updates and plans from GAVS on animal disease surveillance in Mongolia. Guided by the PDS practitioners, non-PDS veterinarians practiced PDS approaches and tools to identify the most prevalent and harmful animal diseases in their soums, and calculated animal morbidity and mortality rates as well as the negative impact of animal diseases on the livelihoods of herders.
PDS tools demonstration, Khentii aimag, Nov 2020
PDS workshop in Khentii aimag, November 2020 MERCY CORPS LTS3: PDS Institutionalization in Mongolia - November 2020 > 8
At the end of the workshop, the PDS practitioners developed an Action Plan for the Khentii aimag Veterinary Department for 2021 to improve animal health in the aimag. Proposed activities will be fully funded and supported by the Veterinary Department of Khentii aimag. See the table below: Table 1: Action Plan of the Khentii aimag Veterinary department for 2021
# Activities Location Date
1 Share the latest updates about veterinary All soums 2020-2021 services with local residents
Conduct trainings to improve reporting, Aimag and soum 2021 2 communication and epidemiological research centers skills of state and private veterinarians
3 Carry out cattle brucellosis surveillance Dadal and Binder May-Jun 2021 soums
4 Conduct PDS field study Umnudelger and 2021 Delgerkhaan soums
Study symptoms of rare animal diseases: Aimag Veterinary 1st and 2nd quarter 5 excessive hair loss, diarrhea and lung Lab of 2021 inflammation
PDS Workshop in Bayan-Ulgii aimag In collaboration with Bayan-Ulgii aimag veterinary department, Mercy Corps conducted a PDS workshop in Bayan-Ulgii aimag on 20 October 2020. A total of 36 private and state veterinarians from 13 soums and aimag veterinary department participated in the meeting including 4 local veterinarians who received certification from PENAPH and became PDS practitioners. During the workshop the participants practiced PDS focus group discussions facilitated by a PDS practitioner. The PDS practitioners also presented the results of PDS workshop in Bayan-Ulgii aimag, October 2020 their field work performed in four soums of Bayan-Ulgii aimag: Altai, Sagsai, Tsengel and Bulgan and Ulaankhus. Key findings of the field studies include: MERCY CORPS LTS3: PDS Institutionalization in Mongolia - November 2020 > 9
The most prevalent parasitic diseases affecting livestock are helminthiasis, lice and mange; White muscle disease was also mentioned frequently by the herders as the most common endemic disease in Bayan-Ulgii aimag; and The main cause of these diseases are a lack of dipping baths, irregular disinfecting activities, and short supply of mobile disinfecting sprayers, vaccines and low quality of veterinary drugs and medicines. White muscle disease is mainly caused by nutrient and vitamin deficiency. At the end of the workshop, PDS practitioners developed an action plan to improve animal health in Bayan-Ulgii aimag for 2021. The aimag Veterinary Department officials pledged full support for the implementation of this plan. Table 2: Action Plan of the Bayan-Ulgii aimag Veterinary department for 2021:
# Activities Location Date
Conduct PDS focus group discussion with herders Bugat, Ulgii, Bayannuur, Nov-Dec 2020 1 on the most common animal diseases Altantsugts, Nogoonnuur soums
2 Introduce the PDS methodology and findings of the All soums of Bayan-Ulgii Dec 2020 field study to local state and private veterinarians aimag
3 Train local epidemiologists to use PDS tools: focus Aimag center Feb 2021 group discussion, data integration and analysis
4 Conduct PDS field study Ulaankhus, Deluun, Altai Mar-Apr 2021 and Tolbo soums
5 Conduct study on infectious, non-infectious and Aimag Vet Department June 2021 endemic diseases using PDS approaches
PDS Workshop in Khovd aimag The workshop was organized jointly by Mercy Corps and the aimag Veterinary Department on 23 October 2020, at Khovd aimag center. A total of 96 individuals participated in the workshop including private and state veterinarians from 17 soums, aimag government officials, representatives from the aimag Veterinary Department participated in the meeting. The list of attendees included 14 PENAPH- certified PDS practitioners from Khovd aimag, Director of Animal Health Department of GAVS, Khovd aimag governor and a Member of Parliament representing Khovd aimag. During the event, GAVS provided information about their current activities, progress, and results achieved in the animal health sector and the participants discussed challenges faced by local veterinarians. The PDS practitioners presented findings and results of 6 field work studies conducted in 13 soums of Khovd aimag. Some of the key findings from the field studies include: ● The most prevalent livestock diseases in Khovd aimag are strangles, lice and mange. Cases of coenurosis increased in recent years, with young animals becoming more ill and highly contagious;
MERCY CORPS LTS3: PDS Institutionalization in Mongolia - November 2020 > 10
● The herders reported that the number of animals suffering from plant poisoning increased in recent years which resulted in high mortality rates; ● Quality of anti-parasitic services (dipping and deworming) in all target soums is low; ● Uncontrollable growth of livestock numbers and poor pasture management leads to overgrazing and rangeland degradation. Animals suffering from lack of nutrition are prone to all sorts of animal diseases; and ● The occurrence of contagious agalactia remains high due to the lack of disinfection activities and short and irregular supply of vaccine
Certified PDS practitioners during PDS workshop in Khovd aimag, October 2020
At the end of the workshop, PDS practitioners developed a one-year action plan to improve animal health service in Khovd aimag. Table 3: Action Plan of the Khovd aimag Veterinary department for 2021
# Activities Location Date
Share the results of field studies conducted in Mankhan, Erdeneburen 1 Mankhan, Erdeneburen and Buyant soums with 2021 and Buyant soums aimag veterinary department
Tsetseg, Darvi, Zereg 2 Conduct PDS field study 2021 and Durgun soums
Organize awareness raising activities for herders All soums 2021 3 about veterinary laws, regulations, veterinary services and veterinary medicines
Conduct research on rare endemic diseases using Altai, Uench, Must, 2021 4 PDS approaches Munkhkhairkhan soums
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Study equine strangles in and differentiate equine Altai soum 2021 5 strangles from equine influenza.
Develop and approve the Action Plan for the Aimag Vet Department 2021 6 Prevention of Parasitic Diseases in Khovd Aimag
Control number of street dogs and provide Jargalant, Buyant soums Mar- Apr 2021 7 veterinary services to dogs
Develop and share with herders guidelines on the All soums 3rd quarter of 8 treatment of animals suffering from poisonous 2021 plants, such as ranunculus, oxytropis
Improve quality of livestock dipping by introducing Aimag Vet Department 2021 9 advanced technologies
Conduct study on local endemic diseases such as All soums 2021 10 white muscle, retained placenta, fluoride poisoning, and young animals mineral deficiency
PDS workshop in Sukhbaatar aimag A PDS workshop was organized in Sukhbaatar aimag by Mercy Corps in collaboration with the Aimag Veterinary Department on 17 December 2020. The event was originally scheduled to be held in November, but due to COVID19 restriction, it was postponed and took place in December in online format. A total of 47 individuals participated in the workshop including private and state veterinarians from 14 soums, the aimag Veterinary Department and representatives from GAVS, FAO, and PDS practitioner from Khovd aimag. During the event, the organizers provided information about PDS institutionalization in Mongolia and four PDS practitioners presented findings and results of field work studies conducted in four soums of Sukhbaatar aimag. Key findings of PDS field study in Suhbaatar aimag include Cases of venereal disease of horses (Equine Dourine) are low (0.012%) in Khalzan soum. However, the risk of infections is high due to frequent horse trades that are very popular in the aimag. It is necessary to organize meetings and consultations between horse traders, experts, veterinarians on horse diseases and conduct a veterinary assessment of all breeding horses in Khalzan soum. Most prevalent infectious animal diseases in Tuvshinshiree soum are FMD and mange. Herders had experience and knowledge about FMD because this disease spread through the aimag in 2010, 2014, 2017 and some soums even experienced full lockdowns for 1-2 months Increasing cases of FMD, mineral deficiency and osteodystrophy are worrying herders of Dariganga soum There are no vets who could treat Coenurosis, prices of mange and other parasitic diseases are high in Dariganga
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Outbreak of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) took place in Dariganga soum in 2017, but herders didn’t receive any information about risks and impact of this disease In Sukhbaatar soum, cases of non-infectious diseases are growing and affecting productivity of animals. Animals grazing near mining sites are drinking from polluted water sources. Herders have no knowledge about dangers of pollution from mining sites.
The aimag Veterinary Department summarized the results of the field study: 1. The field study demonstrated how animal diseases affect livelihoods and income of herder households. This gives motivation to herders to cooperate with veterinary units and learn to protect against infectious diseases. 2. With the help from local herders, the practitioners identified most common TADs: equine influenza, strangles, gastric parasitic insects, helminths, dry tongue; equine dourine. In Khalzan soum, venereal horse disease was identified as the high risk disease and herders increased their knowledge and awareness of this problem. 3. There is a need to use PE study results and laboratory test results to plan prevention and vaccination activities At the end of the workshop, head of the aimag AH department presented one-year action plan developed by PDS practitioners to improve animal health service in Sukhbaatar aimag. Table 4: Action Plan of the Sukhbaatar aimag Veterinary department for 2021
No Activities Location Date 1 Declare Khalzan soum as an infection free soum Khalzan soum 2021 2 Determine factors that influence the spread of TAD Erdenetsagaan, Dariganga, 2021 in the five border soums Naran, Ongon, Bayandelger 3 Register Tumentsogt soum as a brucellosis free Tumentsogt soum 2021 soum 4 Determine causes and risk factors of non-infectious Baruun-Urt, Sukhbaatar, 2021 diseases Erdenetsagaan, Asgat soums 5 Conduct epidemiology study to reduce cases of All soums 2021 parasitic diseases
Impact The national and aimag-level workshops were very successful, as more than 250 state and private veterinarians and local and national government officials attended these events to learn about PDS methodology, practice PDS tools and approaches, discuss steps for further institutionalization of the PDS system, and share the results of the field studies. During the aimag workshops, the PDS practitioners were able to develop a one-year action plan of each target aimag. These plans aim to improve animal health in each aimag with the help of PDS approaches and tools. Aimag Veterinary Departments will be responsible for the implementation of the action plans.
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In addition, state and private veterinarians of every soum in the target aimag gained the basic knowledge on the PDS/PE and the PDS practitioners will continue working with local veterinarians to build their capacity to use PDS methodology and conduct field studies. The LTS3 project ended on 30 November 2020. But the institutionalization of PDS approaches into the GoM’s policies and practices will continue in the remaining 17 aimags under the leadership of GAVS and with the financial support of other international donors such as the World Bank and World Vision. The experts from GAVS expressed their gratitude to Mercy Corps and the LTS3 project for taking first steps to institutionalize PDS methodology in Mongolia for the first time. In fact, PDS approaches and findings from field studies using participatory methods have already started to be integrated into other projects. For example, as part of an FAO-funded initiative, the national epidemiologists’ team including two PDS trainers implemented the FMD risk factors analysis in Erdenetsagaan soum of Sukhbaatar aimag and Matad soum of Dornod aimag. The team used a mix of traditional epidemiology and participatory epidemiology approaches to assess the FMD risk in those soums. In addition, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has recently launched a pilot project named “Saiga Health Intervention.” At program start-up, one of the certified PDS trainers co-facilitated (with WCS, World Wildlife Fund and a team of epidemiologists) a capacity building training for local specialists on use of PDS approaches and tools for field study. Also, five PDS practitioners from Khovd aimag took part in the local field surveillance and applied PDS tools and approaches to study the health concerns of saiga and other livestock. Lastly, without funding from OFDA and at the request of the aimag level Department of Veterinary Services, the PDS practitioner from Must soum of Khovd aimag conducted jointly with local private veterinarians a field study using PDS tools. It was a good example of collaboration between soum veterinarians.
Kh. Bodisaikhan, animal infectious disease expert of the GAVS Continuous adaptation of PDS approach into the veterinary surveillance system is our key priority in the near future. The PDS approach will improve communication between veterinarians and herders which will result in a better collection and analysis of more accurate data for effective identification of animal diseases in Mongolia. We plan to train more local veterinarians in PDS approach in each of 331 soums of 21 aimags and the capital city so that more PDS practitioners can be involved in animal disease surveillance and local research. We are going to include capacity building activities in the GAVS’ annual plan and continue supporting the certification of PDS practitioners in partnership with different projects and programs.
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REPORT HAND-OVER OF DRR EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES TO TARGET SOUMS Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction in Mongolia
NOVEMBER 2020
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Hand-over of DRR Equipment – November 2020 1
BACKGROUND In partnership with the Emergency Management Agencies (LEMA) under the Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction-3 (LTS3) project, Mercy Corps of five target aimags (Bayan-Ulgii, Khovd, Uvs, Sukhbaatar and Khentii) organized a workshop on “Improving Soum Disaster Protection Plan Using LEGS1 Tools” between June and August 2020 in ten target soums. A total of 146 emergency committee members participated in the workshop including soum governors, government officials, veterinarians, environmental inspectors, school and kindergarten directors, bagh governors, teachers, police officers, treasury officers and doctors. During the workshop, the participants conducted a disaster risk assessment and updated disaster preparedness plans (DPP) of their soums on the riskiest two to three hazards using LEGS tools. Each updated DPP identified actions necessary to address these hazards and included a list of urgent supplies and equipment necessary to operationalize their plans. Based on the DPPs, target soum governors and aimag LEMAs submitted a formal request to Mercy Corps for DRR equipment. The formal requests for equipment and supplies were based on an application form developed and shared with soum government officials by Mercy Corps. This form contained several questions related to the purpose, ownership and use of this equipment and alignment with the soum DPP. All applications were reviewed an internal selection committee consisting of LTS3 project staff. Since all ten soum-level proposals and five reuests from aimag-level LEMAs included clear linkages to the priorities identified in previous DRR trainings, the decision was made to fund all requests. Note that no funds were transferred to local governments or emergency committees; instead, Mercy Corps procured all materials on behalf of partners and distributed the equipment and supplies during the final months of the project.
DONATION OF THE EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES Mercy Corps procured and handed over DRR equipment worth 20,530,400 million MNT to ten soums of five aimags and 18,719,900 million MNT of equipment and supplies to five target aimag LEMAs. Reflecting local priorities identified through the DPP process, equipment includes fire extinguishers, warning sign boards, sprayers, civil defense sirens, water pumps, first aid training manikins, training table and chair. See the table below for detailed information. Table 1: Type and number of equipment donated to each soum
Aimag Recipient Equipment donated Naranbulag 35 fire extinguishers, 2 sets of firefighting equipment Uvs Davst 35 fire extinguishers, 2 sets of firefighting equipment LEMA 20 training tables, 40 training chairs Khentii Bayanmunkh 10 warning sign boards 4 warning sign boards, 1 water pump set (pump, pipe, Darkhan hose, nozzle) and 2 sprayers LEMA 1 projector for training
1 LEGS – Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards MERCY CORPS LTS3: Hand-over of DRR Equipment – November 2020 2
Bayan-Ulgii Tolbo 1 civil defense siren Altai 1 civil defense siren LEMA 2 civil defense siren Khovd Erdeneburen 2 water pump sets and 4 sprayers Khovd 2 water pump sets and 4 sprayers LEMA 4 first aid training manikins Erdenetsagaan 4 warning sign boards, 1 water pump set and 2 sprayers Sukhbaatar Bayandelger 2 water pump sets and 4 sprayers LEMA 10,000 copies of the “Be ready” training brochure
Uvs Aimag
Naranbulag and Davst soums identified floods and house/ wildfires as hazards that pose the highest risk during the risk assessment conducted at the DPP workshop. These two soums did not have any firefighting units and the nearest unit is located 100 km from the soums. Mercy Corps and the soum administrations selected five most frequently visited public organizations for donation of fire extinguishers: soum governor’s office, health center, kindergarten, public school and the cultural center. According to the governments’ fire protection standards2 approved by the government, there must be at least one fire extinguisher per 20 m2 of building area- meaning that these five organizations needed on average 70 of extinguishers. Mercy Corps procured and handed over 50 percent of the total requirements – a total of 35 extinguishers or 7 per organization. The soum government in Naranbulag expressed their commitment to follow these fire protection standards and include procurement of the remaining 35 fire extinguishers in the soum budget for the next year. “We are happy to have introduced the fire protection standards with the help from Mercy Corps. We will definitely allocate some funds in the budget to buy fire extinguishers next year. And we will work with other organizations in the soum to encourage them to these requirements,” says the governor of Naranbulag soum. In addition, Mercy Corps donated two sets of firefighting equipment per soum. Each set contains the following items: fire blanket, first aid kit, ventilator mask, crowbar, and a fire extinguisher. In Naranbulag soum, the hospital and school received firefighting sets, whereas in Davst soum the governor’s office and school received firefighting sets. During the hand-over ceremonies, which took place in early November 2020, Mercy Corps provided instructions on how to use and maintain this equipment. On 7 November, Mercy Corps donated 40 chairs and 20 desks to the Uvs LEMA. The chairs and desks will be used to organize DRR trainings for soum officials, local citizens, tourists at the Training and Monitoring Center near Khyargas Lake run by LEMA. It is anticipated that 2,000-3,000 people will attend the DRR trainings annually at this center. Khentii aimag According to the disaster risk assessment, the highest risk hazard for Bayanmunkh soum was flood and steppe fire. Every year three or four people drown in the Kherlen River flowing through the soum. This year a wildfire caused by irresponsible activities of people was barely extinguished before it ran out of control. As a result, the soum leaders updated
2 MNS 5566:2005 – fire protection standards MERCY CORPS LTS3: Hand-over of DRR Equipment – November 2020 3
the DPP to including erecting ten boards along the river and main road to warn people about the dangers of fire and deep rivers. Mercy Corps traveled to Bayanmunkh soum on 9 November 2020 to hand- over ten warning sign boards with light reflectors to the governor’s office and environmental inspectors that work there. Four of the signs warn of dangers of steppe fire and six of them remind people about the risks of drowning. The soum emergency commission erected the boards on Warning sign board in Bayanmunkh soum, Khentii the road to the aimag center and aimag Darkhan soum. Darkhan soum is located at the cross-roads between Khentii aimag and central and the western aimags of Tuv, Gobi- Sumber, Dundgobi, Uvurkhangai. Herders from these aimags and soums frequently travel through Darkhan soum for “otor.” “Otor” is moving beyond traditional areas to other soums or aimags in search of better pasture for the winter. Herders do “otor” only during extreme situations, when there is no grass available locally for animals due to drought, heavy snow, etc. Frequent travels and “otors” raise the risk of spreading infectious animal diseases and wildfires. The soum administration requested Mercy Corps to purchase four warning sign boards to raise awareness of local communities- as well as those passing through on “otor” about the dangers of steppe fire and infectious diseases. In addition, Mercy Corps donated one set of water pump and two sprayers for deworming and disinfection to the soum administration. Khovd Aimag
According to the disaster risk assessment, floods and infectious diseases came up top in Khovd and Erdeneburen soums as the riskiest hazards. The soums have funds to repair bridges and dams, but requested Mercy Corps to provide disinfection tools and equipment to prevent outbreaks of infectious animal diseases.
On 11 November 2020, Mercy Corps donated two water pump sets and four sprayers to Khovd soum administration. Khovd soum is the center of Khovd aimag. Because it has the largest population, all key government organizations, private businesses and factories operate here. As such, local leaders recognize that an outbreak of infectious disease would have serious impact on health and economy of the aimag.
Thus, as part of their efforts to prevent the spread of TADS, very year, the soum veterinary unit conducts three major disinfection campaigns. Every spring and autumn, animal shelters and barns get disinfected, and every summer, all livestock receive disinfection services. It is estimated that around 180 thousand heads of livestock of 411 herder households would receive disinfection services. The equipment distributed under the LTS3 program will support these annual disinfection efforts, and will also be available for emergency veterinary teams to use when dispatched to the site of potential outbreaks.
Erdeneburen soum has over 175 thousand heads of livestock owned by 405 herder households and is prone to animal infectious diseases. For instance, the soum was affected by an outbreak of anthrax in 2010, PPR and goat pox in 2016 and rabies for the last three years in a row. It caused up to 18.5 million MNT (7,042 USD) in damages.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Hand-over of DRR Equipment – November 2020 4
The newly procured equipment will be used by the state vets for emergency services and seasonal disinfection activities: disinfection of animal shelters and barns in spring and autumn, and disinfection of livestock in July-August.
In addition, on 18 November 2020, Mercy Corps donated four first aid training mannequins to the Khovd LEMA. LEMA currently has a simple classroom where they show videos and hold meetings. They plan to refurbish and turn this room into a practice room. These trainings will be attended by LEMA staff, professional rescue teams, ordinary citizens, and students to practice rescue and emergency life support simulations. The LEMA anticipates that the mannequins will make their first aid trainings more LEMA of Khovd aimag effective and closer to real life.
Bayan-Ulgii Aimag
The disaster risk assessment conducted in July 2020 identified floods, wildfires and dzuds as hazards that pose the highest risk in Tolbo and Altai soums of Bayan-Ulgii aimag. At the workshops, training participants worked on a plan to reduce risks of flood in those soums. Altai and Tolbo soums are surrounded by high mountains and the likelihood of all types of flood due to melting snows or rains is very high. The participants agreed that the priority for the soums was to acquire a means to warn soum citizens, emergency commission members and rescue teams about floods. The soums already have small manual sirens. However, since these sirens are not powerful enough to reach all citizens, the soums requested Mercy Corps to donate more powerful electric sirens. These were handed over to the soum administrations in early November. In addition, the Bayan-Ulgii LEMA requested and received two sirens. The aimag center was struck by flood twice: in 2016 and 2018. These floods destroyed houses and affected lives of 2,512 people from 530 households causing over ten billion MNT (3.8 million USD) in damages. The LEMA has a siren at the aimag center, but it could reach only ten percent of the population. The new sirens donated by Mercy Corps are much more powerful LEMA of Bayan-Ulgii aimag and able to reach over 14,000 citizens residing on two banks of the river most likely to suffer from sudden floods. The sirens were installed on the roof of the public school located in the area that regularly gets flooded in summer.
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Sukhbaatar aimag According to the risk assessment, floods, infectious diseases and steppe fires pose the highest threat to Erdenetsagaan soum. The soum disaster preparedness plan included measures to prevent people from drowning and to control spread of animal diseases. The soum has a river flowing through the soum center and, since 1996, there have been ten big floods that have killed local residents. In Erdenetsagaan soum, Sukhbaatar aimag addition, infectious animal diseases are quite frequent in this area: outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018) and goat pox (2012) affected herders’ livelihoods and caused damages worth up to 20 million MNT. On 24 November 2020, Mercy Corps donated four warning sign boards, one set of water pump and two sprayers to the soum administration. The boards will be erected along the Chono River and will warn residents of the dangers of flood and drowning. The pump and the sprayers are expected to disinfect 200 thousand heads of livestock in the soum. The equipment will be used in case of emergency or during seasonal disinfection activities that take place throughout the year: disinfection of shelters and barns in spring and autumn and disinfection of animals in summer. Bayandelger soum lies in the desert region and is prone to infectious animal diseases and fires in buildings. The soum prepared firefighting tools and equipment but lacks the means to control infectious diseases. On 25 November, Mercy Corps traveled to the soum to donate two water pump sets and four sprayers to the soum administration. This equipment will be used for disinfection services of all animals. Animal diseases like rabies, FMD and goat pox are rampant in the soum and negatively impact livelihoods of local herders. For instance, the losses incurred by herder households in 2015 are estimated at 300 million MNT (114,199 USD). Meanwhile, the aimag LEMA requested that Mercy Corps provide 10,000 copies of the “Be Ready” training brochure. This will enable the Sukhbaatar LEMA to organize “Be Ready” DRR trainings for soum citizens, rescue teams, students. Due to budget constraints, LEMA has unable to print out and distribute promotional materials to past training participants. These copies of “Be Ready” training brochure provide a perfect opportunity for the LEMA to improve effectiveness of DRR activities in the aimag. IMPACT
The donation of various DRR equipment and supplies had a significant impact on building DRR capacities of target ten soums and five aimag LEMAs.
The donated equipment and supplies will allow LEMA to organize DRR trainings for local citizens and rescue teams, warn people about the dangers of fire and floods, and disinfect livestock to reduce risks of infectious diseases. Moreover, this donation will strengthen the commitment of local leaders to partner with local communities to mitigate disasters, encourage local initiatives aimed at reducing risks of disasters and build local capacities to protect against and prevent natural and human-made disasters which will eventually lead to establishment of safer and healthier rural communities.
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Eight types of supply and equipment were donated by Mercy Corps. The total value of donation was 39.25 million MNT (14,941 USD). The estimated number of all beneficiaries is more than 54,000 people. See the table two for more details. The beneficiaries include herders who benefit from disinfection of animals and shelters, school kids and hospital staff and patients who feel much safer due to availability of fire extinguishers in the building, LEMA staff who can now improve effectiveness of their trainings with new mannequins, chairs, desks, projector, local residents living in flood or fire high-risk areas who can instantly receive warnings about upcoming flood or fire, and visitors from other soums and aimags informed about the dangers of steppe fire and fast river streams. Table 2: Value of donations and estimated number of beneficiaries
Aimag Value of donation, MNT Estimated No of beneficiaries
Bayan-Ulgii 5,280,000 17,100 Khovd 10,269,200 4,500 Uvs 10,732,000 9,800
Khentii 6,267,200 7,400 Sukhbaatar 6,701,900 16,000 Total 39,250,300 54,800 Aimag and soum government, LEMA, school and hospital staff expressed their gratitude to Mercy Corps and USAID for timely donation of DRR supplies and equipment and reiterated their commitment to use the donated equipment and supplies to reduce and prevent risk of disasters. The number and severity of disasters such as infectious diseases, fire and flood is constantly growing and the donation of this important supplies and equipment will undoubtedly help build capacity of the local government and citizens to prevent from and protect against disasters.
B. Toilat, epidemiologist and head of veterinary unit of Khovd soum: We identified flood and infectious diseases as hazards posing the highest risk in our soum. We are happy to have received disinfection equipment from Mercy Corps. We plan to disinfect over 166 thousand animals of 406 herder households using this equipment. A. Ozat, chief of governor’s office, Altai soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag: There was a fire in the school dormitory in 2014. We didn’t have any equipment to warn the students. The building was completely destroyed by fire. In 2015, flood caused by incessant rains damaged two buildings. Again, we didn’t have any means to warn people. Mercy Corps donated to us an electric siren that is loud enough to be heard by all people. Sh. Otgonjargal, Chief of Darkhan soum Governor’s Office, Khentii aimag Our soum has more than 255 thousand animals and 346 herder households. In 2018 and 2019, we had an outbreak of rabies. The governor’s office, herders and private veterinarians will use the disinfection equipment to remove dead animals and prevent infectious diseases.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Hand-over of DRR Equipment – November 2020 7
“BE READY” TOT TRAINING SUMMARY REPORT
Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction- 3 (LTS3) Project
OCTOBER 2020
This report is the summary of all the reports received from the local trainers from 10 target soums
Be Ready Module
The “Be Ready” module is a training kit developed by NEMA with the support of several governmental and non-governmental as international organizations such as World Vision, Red Cross Society, NAMEM, JICA, Zoonotic Disease Research Center and Institute of Teacher’s Professional Development. The module is designed to educate the public about NEMA’s disaster protection training program. Developed in accordance with order #A130 of Director of NEMA in 2016, this ten hour module/curriculum includes trainer's manual and training materials, as well as sign language video lessons, introductory lessons, and quizzes. Training of Trainers
Using the “Be Ready” module, Mercy Corps Mongolia and the Local Emergency Management Agency (LEMA) of five aimags jointly organized a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Training of Trainers (ToT) in ten soums of five LTS3 target aimags in June and August of 2020. A total of 121 government officials (71 males and 50 females) participated in the training and received certificates to become local trainers. At the ToT session, soum-level government officials become certified trainers, able to provide the “Be Ready” training to local herder households, institutions like schools or other government offices, and community groups, thus strengthening soum DRR capacity at all levels. During the ToT, participants learned planning, prevention, and mitigation strategies for the following subjects: earthquakes, fire, climate change, forest and steppe fires, human and animal infectious diseases, floods, lightning, windstorms, use of household chemicals. The “Be Ready” methodology includes a focus on the development of household preparedness plans, for household level prevention and response to emergency situations enabling participants/ trainers to assess household risks and work with community participants to mitigate and plan to responses to those risks in the future. The ToT participants also received a “Be Ready” training manual and training package with interactive training software to support these community or household level post ToT sessions. At the end of the training, the ToT participants selected one topic and practiced training on their own using the training materials. Upon the completion of the training, 121 participants and 29 LEMA officers (150 people total) received trainers ’certificates. Then, in order to effectively and efficiently provide these trainings in their communities and to herder households, in collaboration with the soum governors the ToT participants formed community training teams. The training teams then travelled to baghs around the soum to provide trainings.
“Be Ready” training in “Be Ready” training in “Be Ready” training in Erdeneburen soum, Khovd Naranbulag soum, Uvs aimag Erdeneburen soum, Khovd aimag aimag
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Disaster Risk Reduction 2
“Be Ready” training in Davst SMS test at the “Be Ready” “Be Ready” training in soum, Uvs aimag training in Tolbo soum, Bayandelger soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag Sukhbaatar aimag
“Be Ready” community training 150 certified trainers 1, in their community training teams, conducted trainings for bagh-level communities: herder households, high school students, and other soum residents. Between 5 July and 20 September, the local trainers conducted sessions 3,849 citizens (1,979 households) from 52 baghs in ten soums. The community-level training differed from the ToT because they were conducted in more informal settings, like inside schools and herders’ homes. The training topics for these community trainings were selected depending on the potential risks around the household, which was identified by the trainers and informed by the community members together. The most frequent topics selected by community members for trainings were Dzud, Flood, Household Fire, Forest and Steppe Fire, and the use of household chemicals. Once topics were selected by participants, trainers provided information about common household hazards which are easily mitigated but can be devastating should they occur. These hazards include: uncontained fires, improper chimney structure, failing to use designated ash pots, not having a lid on the ash pots, residing near high risk flood areas, crossing damaged bridges and roads, and delayed harvest which impacts winter preparedness. The trainers also provided advice on winter preparations and prevention of wildfires. In addition to the informative sessions from the “Be Ready” modules, trainers provided recommendations on how community members could do their own household risk assessment and reduce the risk on their own. Increasing a household’s capacity to mitigate and respond to disaster is critical to their safety and larger disaster risk reduction capacity of the soum. A household risk assessment was also conducted by the trainers for each herder household. The households received around 25-45 points which indicates a high risk and a need to continue trainings. This household risk assessment methodology is one of the “Be Ready” module tools and is created to assess household participants. There are three categories which are herder household, ger district and apartments depending on the location and has a total of 20 questions. The level of risk is determined by scoring how the question is answered. The results are shared with local goverenment officials, who are expcted (as per LEMA guidelines) to incorporate the findings into their planning and mitigation strategies. The community level training participants shared their suggestions and feedback about what they learned during this training:
1 Total of 150 people received “Trainer” certificates including 121 training participants, 12 LEMA officers and 17 local government representatives – soum governors, deputy governors and chiefs of staff. MERCY CORPS LTS3: Disaster Risk Reduction 3
• Every household should have fire-fighting equipment for their own needs, such as a fire extinguisher
• The training was informative and they would like to have more such sessions at the household level • Herders reported that they learned to prepare for and protect against disasters • Herders learned to receive SMS alerts on their mobile phones. These alerts include 12 different topics: information on weather, pasture carrying capacity, pasture vegetation, summer, drought and snow, dzud, and dzud risk • Participants reported that the lessons were simple and easy to understand • This training was conducted at a good time as winter is approaching and risk of disaster increases Conclusion The ToT and the community trainings on the “Be Ready” curriculum is vitally important for the safety of soums and households alike. Ensuring soum level government officials and LEMA have the information and tools to train community members on DRR in a meaningful and productive ways helps households prevent and respond to emergencies. This training series has aided the institutionalization of DRR protocols and has strengthened the response mechanisms to disaster.
Community training in Erdeneburen soum, Khovd aimag
Community training in Erdenetsagaan soum, A household risk Sukhbaatar aimag assessment MERCY CORPS LTS3: Disaster Risk Reduction 4
Community training in Khovd soum, Community training in Bayandelger soum, Khentii Khovd aimag aimag
Community training report of Davst Community training route in a bagh soum, Uvs aimag
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“IMPROVING SOUM DISASTER PROTECTION PLAN USING LEGS TOOLS” WORKSHOP – SUMMARY REPORT Leveraging Tradition and Science in DRR 3 (LTS3) Project in Mongolia OCTOBER 2020
Summary of the reports received from DPP workshop facilitators
Background
Soum Emergency Committees are responsible for developing and implementing soum Disaster Preparedness Plans (DPP) within the soum. Each DPP must be developed using certain methodology and based on approved templates (originally developed by MCM) provided by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Deputy Prime Minister. However, members of local Emergency Committees often have different levels of skills and knowledge which affects the quality of the resulting DPP. There is a substantial need to regularly improve and update the plans to ensure they are meeting the criteria of the methodology and are changing as disaster risks shift. Therefore, in order to ensure local participation, MCM worked with aimag level LEMA to support soum Emergency Committee members to conduct and analyze soum risk assessments and improve their own Soum DPP based on the results. DPP workshop
In June and August of 2020, Mercy Corps successfully organized a two-day DPP workshop in ten soums of the five LTS3 target aimags in collaboration with the Local Emergency Management Agency (LEMA). In total, 16 experienced trainers from LEMA and Mercy Corps conducted the workshop. The purpose of this workshop was to improve and update the soum DPP for different types of natural hazards, other than dzud, using the Livestock Emergency Guidance and Standards (LEGS) tools and approach. The LEGS methodology was chosen for this workshop is because MCM had previously trained LEMA and soum governments in this methodology, so there were already certified trainers that could lead the DPP workshops. The LEGS methodology is also highly relevant in the Mongolian context as many people are herders and their livelihoods rely on the health and safety of their livestock. During the workshop the facilitators trained Emergency Committee members in disaster risk assessment and disaster preparedness planning, and provided information about relevant Mongolian laws and policies on disaster management. The workshop covered the following topics: 1. Disaster protection law 2. Aimag-level disaster risk assessment results 3. Soum disaster risk assessment methodology 4. DPP development strategies 5. General soum-level disaster risk assessment methodology 6. Updating soum DPP based on the result of the risk assessment Mercy Corps had originally planned to train around 100 people: ten people in each soum. However, local governments saw a lot of potential in the workshop and requested a higher number of Emergency Committee members attend. As such, the actual number of participants was higher than expected. A total of 146 emergency committee members (74 males and 72 females) participated in the workshop including soum governors, government officials, veterinarians, environmental inspectors, school and kindergarten directors, bagh governors, teachers, police officers, treasury officers and doctors. The participants were divided into teams and completed the following tasks: 1) Conduct a general disaster risk assessment of their soum using participatory response identification matrix method and 2) Update the soum DPPs on the riskiest two to three hazards using the LEGS tools, DPP guidelines approved by the Deputy PM, and DPP template approved by the NEMA MERCY CORPS LTS3: Disaster Protection Plan 2
At the end of each workshop, LEMA and Mercy Corps reviewed the soum DPP and provided recommendations. The Committees will finalize them and submit to the soum governor and, eventually, LEMA, for approval.
Risk assessment in Erdeneburen Introducing LEGS tools/approaches Risk assessment matrix in soum, Khovd aimag in Darkhan soum, Khentii aimag Erdeneburen soum, Khovd aimag
DRR plan Erdenetsagaan soum, Workshop introduction in Tolbo DPP in Naranbulag soum, Uvs Sukhbaatar aimag soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag aimag
Risk assessment
The following table presents results of the general risk assessment which identified natural hazards that pose the highest risk. The assessment was conducted by the participants using two methodologies adopted by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA): indicator tracking (which looks at the likelihood of each risk) and community-based disaster risk assessments.
Soum Participants Highest risks by likelihood/ Proposed action plan to reduce impact of risk the identified risk Male Female
1 Naranbulag 6 4 Flood: high risk -Build dam to prevent flooding Household fire: medium risk -Place fire extinguisher at public places/ government offices
2 Davst 5 4 Flood: high risk -Build dam to prevent flooding Household fire: medium risk -Place fire extinguisher at public places/ government offices
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3 Altai 8 2 Flood: high risk -Build or repair dam to prevent flooding Animal infectious disease: high risk -People will be warned/alarmed
4 Тоlbo 8 2 Flood: high risk -Build or repair dam to prevent flooding Animal infectious disease: medium risk -People will be warned/alarmed
5 Erdeneburen 10 7 Flood: high risk -Repair Ulaan Uzuur bridge in Khongio bagh Animal infectious disease: medium risk -Repair livestock dipping bath in Shurag bagh
-Purchase water pump, automax to spray and disinfect livestock manure
6 Khovd 4 7 Windstorm: medium risk -Repair livestock dipping bath Animal infectious disease: -Purchase water pump, automax to medium risk spray livestock and disinfect livestock manure
7 Bayanmunkh 4 6 Flood accident: high risk - Place warning signs in whirlpools, deep shores and places where Steppe fire: high risk people get into drowning accidents - Conduct horse patrols and schedule patrol for members of disaster protection volunteer groups
8 Darkhan 9 3 Animal infectious disease: High -Disinfection protective clothing, risk automax, water pump required Steppe fire: High risk - Placing warning boards on busy roads as there is a high risk of unidentified fires due to passers-by throwing lit cigarettes and matches
9 Erdenetsaga 12 22 Animal infectious disease: - Necessary to improve and build an medium risk the “Chono Gol” crossing. Flood: high risk - Place warning boards (size 2x3) in soums to prevent disasters (floods
and wildfires) -Disinfecting automax and animal washing water pumps are required for highly infectious animal diseases.
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10 Bayandelger 8 15 Animal infectious disease: 71% Disinfection automax and animal washing water pumps are required
for highly infectious animal In 2010, 2014, and 2016, there diseases. were outbreaks of FMD, and in Install 2x3 warning boards to 2015, there was an outbreak of prevent and be alarmed of floods sheep pox, causing an and wildfires economic loss of 200-300 million MNT. In order to prevent steppe and household fires, 25 fire
extinguishers and 50 handheld blowers are needed.
Total 74 72
As a result of this workshop, soum emergency committee members have started updating their DPPs using LEGS tools and approaches. Also, the risk reduction section of the DPP has become clearer, presenting a systematic action plan to be implemented by the soum in times of disaster.
*Decree of the Bayandelger soum governor on updating the disaster protection plan
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RANGELAND MANAGEMENT CAPACITY BUILDING REGIONAL WORKSHOPS Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction in Mongolia
NOVEMBER 2020
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 1 Abbreviation
MOFALI Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry
ALAGAC Administration of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography
MULS Mongolian University of Life Science
NFPUG National Federation of Pasture User Groups
RIAH Research Institute of Animal Husbandry
RUA Rangeland Use Agreements
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 2
Introduction
The health and longevity of Mongolia’s rangeland is under pressure as changing climate patterns, outdated or inappropriate herding practices, and overgrazing degrade approximately 60 percent of the total available pastureland. The growing livestock population far exceeds the carrying capacity of most rangeland in the country; this overgrazing leads to erosion of topsoil resulting in complete degradation and eventual desertification of Mongolia’s rangeland. These challenges and environmental threats put the future of Mongolia’s livestock sector at risk. Improved rangeland management is necessary to halt and reverse the damage that was done to the country’s rangeland. Each soum has three key specialists responsible for rangeland management activities: rangeland management specialist, animal breeding specialist, and land manager. However, land managers report to the aimag land department, breeding specialists report to the aimag veterinary department, while rangeland management specialists report to soum governors. In addition, most soums lack unified coordination centers or functions that could bring these specialists together to carry out unified rangeland management efforts. In practice, these communication and coordination challenges means that the three specialists are often unaware of each other’s priorities and responsibilities and do not share information and data that could support rangeland management activities. A rangeland management specialist is an individual who plays a key role in developing, implementing, and monitoring the annual rangeland management plan at a soum level. However, most rangeland specialists come from a variety of backgrounds and do not have a professional degree in rangeland management, which impacts the quality of rangeland services provided. In addition, the law is not very clear about funding streams for rangeland activities. As a result, there is usually no dedicated budget at the soum level for necessary interventions, a serious barrier to managing rangelands. A land manager plays an important role in the land planning, registration (cadaster) and early monitoring of rangeland health at the local level. Based on the photo monitoring results, they determine the current state and carrying capacity of rangelands. Land managers enter rangeland photo monitoring data directly onto the national Land Manager database, often bypassing the soum. The data is reviewed by the aimag land department and then shared with Administration of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography (ALAGAC). ALAGAC specialists develop three types of maps using this data: rangeland health map, rangeland recovery map and rangeland carrying capacity map. Animal breeding specialists are responsible for improving animal quality and herd management in a soum. They conduct herd management analysis which helps herders adjust the number of animals in their herd to the carrying capacity of the rangeland and subsequently reduce grazing pressure. Animal breeding specialists develop short and long-term herd management strategy based on the existing animal numbers and rangeland carrying capacity. If the current animal numbers exceed the carrying capacity of the rangeland they would suggest to herders to improve their animal quality and reduce the animal numbers. The results of analysis help them to determine which herder households should consider reducing their livestock numbers and how many animals should be culled every year. Currently the animal breeding specialists manually calculate herd size and composition using outdated methods, which takes a lot of time and often contains errors.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 3 Brief Summary
The Leveraging Tradition and Science 3 (LTS3) program aims to reduce the vulnerability of herder households in Mongolia through disaster risk preparedness and improved rangeland management. LTS3 is implemented across five aimags: Khovd, Uvs, Bayan-Ulgii, Khentii, and Sukhbaatar. A total of ten soums within those five aimags were selected for intensive technical support and assistance to operationalize their existing Pasture Management Plans (PMP) and for technical and in-kind support to disaster risk reduction efforts at the local level. In addition, the LTS3 program works to support the government’s efforts to improve rangeland management practices in the targeted aimags more broadly. Towards this end, Mercy Corps organized a series of “Rangeland Management and Capacity Building” regional workshops in collaboration with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry (MOFALI), Administration of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography (ALAGAC), National Federation of Pasture User Groups (NFPUG), Mongolian University of Life Science (MULS), and the Research Institute of Animal Husbandry (RIAH) in October and November 2020 in LTS3 target aimags. The goal of these workshops was to: 1. Provide up-to-date information about rangeland conditions, management, rangeland use agreement, rangeland regulations, the raw materials traceability system, and best practices; 2. Connect rangeland management specialists, animal breeding specialists, and land managers with technical experts; and 3. Ensure soum level specialists have the information needed to support herders in protecting rangeland from degradation and increase cooperation between specialists. The workshops were facilitated by Mercy Corps specialists and consultants from MULS, MOFALI, NFPUG, and ALAGAC and took place in three different locations for three different groups of participants. See the table below for more details: Table 1.Total number of participants
Location, Name of the workshop Date Participants aimag
Workshop for rangeland Khovd and 19-20 Oct 48 participants from Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs managers Khentii 28-29 Oct 32 participants from Khentii and Sukhbaatar
Workshop for breeding Khovd and 21-22 Oct 49 participants from Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs specialists Khentii 30-31 Oct 32 participants from Khentii and Sukhbaatar
Workshop for land Bayan-Ulgii 23-25 Oct 55 participants from Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Uvs managers Khentii 1-3 Nov 32 participants from Khentii and Sukhbaatar
Total 248 participants
Methodology The overarching agenda of each specialists’ workshop was similar and focused on the following subjects: 1. Government priorities and policies on developing the livestock industry, animal health, and rangeland management;
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 4 2. Rangeland management: current conditions and carrying capacity of rangelands, rangeland use agreements and regulations, rangeland risk fund, best practices, and the raw material traceability system; 3. Herd management: intensive livestock farming, quality and productivity of livestock, herd size and composition; and 4. Knowledge checking through a pre- and post-workshop test. However, there were some differences between workshops for the three groups of specialists based on their roles and responsibilities for rangeland management within the soum. For instance, the animal breeding specialists learned to use new and advanced computer software to accurately calculate the size and composition of a herd to match the carrying capacity of a given area of pastureland for the short and long- term. The rangeland management specialists focused more on learning and sharing rangeland management best practices, clarifying specialists’ roles and responsibilities in rangeland management, and exchanging ideas for the implementation of rangeland management activities in their region. They also drafted rangeland management plans for their soums for the following year. The land managers discussed Rangeland Use Agreements (RUA) and their role in improving the management of rangeland. The soums began registering RUAs four years ago, but due to outdated software and incomplete agreements, the registration process halted indefinitely. During the workshop, the land managers learned to use the updated software and to register all RUAs into the “Land Manager” national database system. Mercy Corps co-hosted the workshops with the government partners: MULS, MOFALI, NFPUG, and ALAGAC. The first day of the workshop was facilitated by Mercy Corps with the hired consultants. Mercy Corps spoke mostly about pasture and herd management, rangeland management agreements and regulations, risk fund, best practices and so on. The second day was run by MOFALI and ALAGAC. They provided information about government policies and priorities, winter preparation, tax on animals, and rangeland laws (which they are working now). ALAGAC sent two technical advisors to the workshop for land managers. They trained the participants to register and enter the rangeland use agreements into the national Land Manager database without making mistakes and shared information about ALAGAC’s plans and priorities for the next year. These workshops presented perfect opportunities for the government agencies to establish links with their local counterparts. Due to budget constraints, national level agencies do not have much opportunity to meet with their colleagues in the field. The consultants from MOFALI and ALAGAC were able to share plans and priorities of the national government with rural specialists and discuss with them current challenges affecting their work. MOFALI and ALAGAC plan to address all complaints and issues at the national level. The consultant from MULS provided information on herd management, animal quality, challenges to livestock breeding and a herd management program. The consultant from NFPUG discussed rangeland conditions, management, rangeland use agreement and regulations, the raw materials traceability system, and best practices of rangeland management.
Cost Share
Mercy Corps paid around 58.3 million MNT (22,193 USD) to cover the transportation, lodging costs and per diem of the trainers. We also paid for lodging and per diem of the participants during the event. The
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 5 government contributed by covering transportation costs,providing per diems to all participants during travel days and paying salaries to the participants during training days. Impact
The participants took pre- and post-training tests to assess their comprehension and retention of new information. In advance of the trainings, Mercy Corps and the two consultants from MULS and NFPUG worked on test questions. Each test contained 11 questions but these questions were different for each type of participants. On average, the workshops improved the level of knowledge and comprehension of the participants by more than 20 percent as demonstrated by pre- and post-training tests. The level of knowledge of land managers increased from an average pre-test score of 64% to an average on the post-test of 84 percent, while animal breeding specialists averaged a 14 percent increase, improving their scores from 65 percent to 79 percent. Rangeland management specialists demonstrated the greatest improvement between pre- and post-tests, with average scores increasing from 58 percent to 80 percent.
Figure 1. Main result of the pre and post test
Knowledge test result 90 84 80 79 80 70 65 64 58 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Rangeland management Animal Breeding Land manager
Before After
The workshops were a success; this was the first time key soum-based rangeland specialists gathered to learn about rangeland management, pasture use agreements and regulations in all aimags. There were several key results of the workshop: The participants understood the importance of collaborating to improve rangeland management. As described above, the three key specialists work in different departments, report into different people, and often do not share important data with each other. As a result of the workshop, the participants understood the importance of sharing information, learned more about each other’s work, and improved skills that would help them collaborate more effectively across departments. It is anticipated that the improved cooperation will lead to a more effective implementation of the soum PMP and land management plan. During the training, each aimag presented their best rangeland management practices which helped the participants to learn and improve their motivation to work with each other and with their aimag level departments to develop their rangeland management strategies in line with national priorities and policies.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 6
The participants gained new knowledge and skills. • The animal breeding specialists learned to use the herd management software. This is a new and advanced software, which allows the specialists to instantly calculate the herd size and composition by entering livestock numbers. This information will help to develop a soum land-management plan every year, and helps to adjust animal numbers to match rangeland carrying capacity. The Government of Mongolia mandated the use of this software, but the soum level land managers have not yet had an opportunity to learn and use it. Therefore, to address this issue, the organizers included a special session in the agenda for land managers to practice using this software at the training, where experts could support them and answer questions in real time. • The land managers learned about best practices of rangeland management in other aimags and understood the importance of collaboration with other specialists. In addition to it, the land managers worked with the trainer to complete registration of all remaining RUAs and entered them into the national Land Manager database. This database is not a new tool for them, but before the training, they made many mistakes when entering agreement details. The trainer taught the land managers how to avoid those mistakes. Finally, the land managers learned about outcomes of photo monitoring carried out by ALAGAC in collaboration with the Green Gold Project (funded by SDC) in all soums and next year plans. • The rangeland management specialists improved their understanding about benefits and best practices of rangeland management. During the workshop, the specialists practiced developing rangeland management plans of their soum. After the workshop, they will improve their plans in collaboration with the other two specialists. Once the plans are ready, they will be submitted to soum Khurals (local Parliament) for approval. Collaboration between local and national-level agencies was strengthened. The workshops presented a perfect opportunity for the local specialists to build stronger ties with their national-level counterparts. The workshop participants used this opportunity to communicate to MOFALI and other key decision makers about their poor working conditions, lack of professional development opportunities, and funds for more effectively rangeland management. The participants requested the government to address this issue by organizing short courses for experts working in rangeland management sector who do not come from a rangeland management or agricultural background. The MOFALI representatives were open to these suggestions and promised to improve working conditions of the specialists and plan to start short-term courses for non-professionals who work as rangeland management specialists.
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Shagdarsuren, The animal breeding specialist from Darkhan soum of Khentii aimag I have worked for many years as a breeding expert but still struggle to learn how to use new technology. This workshop taught me to determine herd composition using software. It improved my work by almost 90%. At first, I could not believe how easy it was to calculate the numbers by just clicking on computer buttons.
I used this software to assess the pasture carrying capacity, determine herd numbers and composition suitable for the pasture, and develop a long-term rangeland management strategy. This software was used to determine herd composition of each herder household.
B. Salauat, Land manager in Tolbo soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag From this training, I learned about the importance of rangeland use agreements and regulations, establishment of rangeland risk fund. Learning to use the Land Manager software to register individual rangeland use agreements was especially useful for me. With the help from the trainers, I registered all the RUAs of 13 Pasture Users Groups of my soum.
I think the workshop achieved its objectives. We practiced under the supervision of our experienced trainers. I would like to express my gratitude to Mercy Corps, ALAGAC and the trainers for organizing this rangeland management workshop.
Ts. Gantumur, rangeland management specialist in Erdeneburen soum, Khovd aimag I participated in the Rangeland Assessment training in Bayan-Ulgii aimag last year and this is my second training organized by Mercy Corps. The soum Agricultural Unit has three specialists. Rangeland specialists have very few opportunities to attend capacity building trainings compared to other two specialists. In addition, very few rangeland specialists have professional degrees in this position. I have been working as a rangeland specialist for the last two years and do not have a professional degree either. That is why, these kinds of
trainings are very important for me.
At the workshop, I learned about the importance of proper government policies on rangeland, rangeland use agreements and regulations, participation of soum herders in rangeland protection. We shared the best rangeland management practices and I heard many interesting stories that we can implement in our soum. Even without any legal framework, there are still many opportunities to work effectively with other specialists on rangeland management.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 8
CONTACT Wendy Guyot Country Director | Mercy Corps Mongolia [email protected]
About Mercy Corps Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
45 SW Ankeny Street Portland, Oregon 97204 888.842.0842 mercycorps.org
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Rangeland Management Regional Workshops- November 2020 9
FINAL REPORT ON HERDERS’ COMPETITIONS Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction 3 (LTS3) Project in Mongolia OCTOBER 2020
Impact Summary
● A total of 2,344 herders of 933 herder households participated in the herders’ competitions between 10 May and 25 August 2020
● A total of 94,536 ha of rangeland was rested during the growing season, which contributed to an increase in vegetation foliar cover by 17 percent (averaged across three soums), as compared to coverage before the land was rested
● 9 new wells were built, 5 wells were rehabilitated, three springs were fenced, one reserve water tank was built and 49 bird perches for rodent control were installed by herders in Bayanmunkh soum, Khentii aimag
● The competition in Sukhbaatar aimag helped to grow around 26,550 tonnes1 of biomass on a rested area according to the photo monitoring results at the close of the competition. Using the land evaluation methodology approved by MOFALI (1.5 MNT for 1 kg of biomass) the valuation of biomass is 39.8 million MNT (15,150 USD)
● Khentii aimag rested 92,766 hectares of land, and herders collectively spent 99,700,000 MNT (37,952 USD) of their own money to improve rangeland management strategies Introduction
The Leveraging Tradition and Science 3 (LTS3) program aims to reduce the vulnerability of herder households in Mongolia through disaster risk preparedness and improved rangeland management. A total of ten soums were selected for intensive technical support and assistance to move forward with the operationalization of existing Pasture Management Plans (PMP). These PMPs help to ensure long term productivity, sustainability, and quality of pastures by balancing proper herd size with the carrying capacity of a pasture area. In November 2019, Mercy Corps signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with all selected soums. A key component of this MoU was the development and implementation of Soum Action Plans (SAP) in collaboration with soum partners. Tailored for each soum and based on the results of a participatory needs and capacities assessment, the SAPS outline clear steps, milestones, and roles related to moving forward with their proposed plans, processes, and priorities for improved rangeland management. During the planning process, it was made clear that the priorities in a Soum Action Plan should be: 1. Actionable by the local soum officials, with some support from Mercy Corps 2. ‘Owned’ by the local soum government, with some support from Mercy Corps 3. Feasible within the timeframe of the LTS3 program 4. In line with programmatic objectives and compliant with donor rules and regulations Mercy Corps provided technical assistance with operationalizing PMPs. The project team began working on SAPs with local partners in January 2020. By the end of March, all ten soums identified their priorities and developed their SAPs. The list of priorities includes proposals for small scale infrastructure rehabilitation,
1 Tonnes is a metric measurement, 1 tonne = 1,000 kg
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 2 requests for set equipment for pasture assessment and organization of different types of knowledge sharing events (competitions, meetings).
Bayanmunkh soum of Khentii aimag and Erdenetsagaan and Bayandelger soums of Sukhbaatar aimag proposed to organize competitions for herders to increase their participation in rangeland management and promote cooperation between the local government and herder households. These competitions were prioritized by the soum governments and approved by the Citizens’ Representative Khurals.2 This report illustrates the objectives, implementation, and impact of these herders’ competitions.
Herders’ Competition in Bayanmunkh soum of Khentii aimag Overview Bayanmunkh soum is located 96 km to the south of the aimag center. The soum population is 1,743 and the number of herder households is 364. The soum occupies 276,200 hectares of land, 94 percent of which is rangelands. The number of livestock is growing every year and reached 200,000 in 2019, exceeding the carrying capacity by two to three times and putting enormous pressure on the rangeland. As a result, more than 60 percent of the rangeland in the soum is in poor condition. Bayanmunkh approved their mid-term (five years) PMP. One of the activities included in the mid-term PMP is organization of herders’ competition to improve the rangeland and encourage active participation of herder community in the management of the rangelands. The competition aimed to familiarize herders with the rangeland issues and provide tools to help prevent further degradation and support recovery of the rangeland. Dates of competition: May 29, 2020 - September 4, 2020 Participants: 565 herders of 364 herder households of 23 pasture user groups Process Mercy Corps hired a pasture management consultant to help the soum government and technical experts with implementation of the soum SAP. The consultant provided the following support: ● Supported the organization of the competition ● Provided recommendations and practical guidance to the herder groups on forage cultivation, protection of spring sources, livestock rotation and carrying capacity, pasture management ● Attended the closing ceremony and made a presentation about forage cultivation, protection of Opening ceremony in Bayanmunkh spring sources, livestock rotation and carrying capacity, general pasture management
The Bayanmunkh soum government announced their plan to hold a herders’ competition on May 2020 and established a competition working group responsible for organization of the event: developing competition criteria in alignment with the existing PMP, providing technical support to herders during the competition, and presenting best practices to all herder groups in the bagh.
2 Khural is a parliament
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 3 The working group consisted of seven members: a head of the governor’s office, rangeland management specialist, land manager and four bagh governors. The group was also tasked with monitoring the competition progress. The competition was originally expected to begin in March; however, it was delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions and began in May and finished in September. The rules of the competition were presented to representatives of the herders’ groups during the opening ceremony on June 29th. Before the ceremony, the working group announced 13 activities that herders could implement during the competition: 1. Improve the quality of animal shelters; 2. Clean up waste near their camp; 3. Fence natural springs; 4. Assign a member of PUG responsible for monitoring wildfires; 5. Dig a trench around the spring pasture to protect from a rangeland fire; 6. Prepare fire extinguishing equipment; 7. Improve animal breeding related to herd management issues; 8. Rest the rangeland; 9. Comply with PMR; 10. Implement rodent control measures; 11. Control movement of neighboring herders into their pastureland (otor3). Herders should inform the authorities if they see any herders from other soums in the otor area; 12. Participate in otor within the soum; and 13. Work with the soum government on rangeland management activities in accordance with the approved pasture management regulations and the mid-term PMP. During the competition, the aimag agriculture department and the working group provided technical support to the herder groups and routinely monitored their activities. The achievements of each pasture user group were evaluated by the competition working group and the best three groups received awards during the closing ceremony held on September 4th. The organizers of the event shared best practices and showed the video produced by Mercy Corps during the event, showcasing the results of the competition and highlighting positive actions that herders can take to contribute to improved rangeland management. Spring protection done by herder’s group
Contributions In addition to hiring a local rangeland management consultant to support the process, Mercy Corps Mongolia contributed 10,920,00 MNT (5,156 USD) to support this activity. This money was used for the following activities: ● Production of a video of rangeland management best practices, interviews with herders and soum officials, and competition results (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KTGjPF6png&t=609s) ● Support to the opening and closing ceremony: tea breaks, lunch, print materials, supply ● Procurement and distribution of fuel vouchers for the working group members to monitor the progress of the herder groups
3 Otor is reserved area which is used for harsh winter. Usually herders move to the Otor areas during the dzud. Dzud happens when livestock does not have anything to eat in order to heavy snow and coldness during the winter.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 4 ● Printed 150 copies of the PMR brochure for distribution to herders
Bayanmunkh soum government contributed 10,072,800 MNT (3,546 USD) to the competition. They paid for the venue and covered costs of some prizes. The soum also organized a concert for the herders during the opening and closing ceremonies. The herders contributed to the competition in a variety of ways. They procured construction materials with a value of 99,700,000 MNT (35,106 USD), built fences around natural springs, and repaired animal shelters. All of these activities were recorded by the competition working group during monitoring visits and have been verified by the soum government. Impact There were many positive changes to the rangeland management practices. See the following table for results and impact. Table 1: Results and impact of the competition Result Impact 92,766 ha of rangeland was rested during the Reduced degradation of the soil, and provided a summer, 40 hectares of natural hay area were reserve of forage for livestock during the winter fenced, 200 hectares of tall grassed (Stipa splendens) area was fenced for winter grazing
Built 9 new wells, rehabilitated 5 wells, fenced and Improved access to water for 364 herder protected 3 natural springs, and built one reserve households and 200,000 heads of livestock and water tank increased their wellbeing; reduced pressure on rangeland by evenly distributing livestock across the pastureland
Installed 49 bird perches on 25 ha of pastureland Improved rodent control over 25 ha of land and reduced soil erosion and degradation
Developed a rangeland map which depicts Improved communication and cooperation rangeland area which is rested between herders, reduced the number of conflicts between herders
Established a Risk Fund4 to improve the Made a big step towards a change in attitude and rangelands; 16 herder households contribute behavior of herders. The herders now have a around 16 million MNT to the fund every year sustainable source of funding to protect rangelands according to PMR Video production This video can be used in future to explain the importance of proper rangeland management, share best practices and lessons learned to more aimags and soums
4 The risk fund consists of money collected from herder households each month or quarter. Pasture user groups can use it on rangeland management in accordance with the Risk Fund Regulations. The regulations are developed developed and agreed upon by members of the herder groups and define where and how to spend the Fund money.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 5
The herders are organizing a meeting to protect the rangeland, installing a bird sit to control rodents and improving the condition of winter shelter for livestock
This competition showed that the herders are willing and capable of taking action to improve rangeland management. The herders actively cooperated on defining the area for resting, rehabilitating wells and natural springs and raising money for the Risk Fund. Herders proved that they can improve rangeland health with the right support and guidance provided by the soum government. The changes happening in the rangeland management had a positive effect on the attitude and mindset of the soum government as well.
In video interviews conducted with more than 20 herders. M. Tesenngel, the soum governor, expressed her satisfaction, stating, “It’s financially and economically impossible for the government to fund every single activity of the people. These people have been able to do a lot of things with little money to improve their pastures on their own, and I think they are succeeding quite well.” The herders were similarly delighted to see the changes happening in the rangeland, and they are motivated to continue this work.
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Herders’ Competition in Erdenetsagaan soum of Sukhbaatar aimag Overview Erdenetsagaan soum is located 220 kilometers east of the aimag center and borders with Russia and China. The soum has a population of 6,668 residents, with 1,878 herders managing over 381,000 animals. It is one of the largest soums in the aimag with 1.3 million hectares of pastureland. Sixty-two percent of the total pastures are degraded to some degree. Erdenetsagaan soum developed and approved their SAP on 21 Feb 2020. The SAP includes a herders’ competition to improve the condition of the rangeland and encourage the herder community to participate in the rangeland management. The main objective of this competition was to improve rangelands, strengthen rangeland management capacity of herder groups and share best practices of rangeland management with herders. Dates of Competition: May 2020 – July 2020 Number of participants: 944 herders of 300 herder households of 9 pasture user groups Process The pasture management consultant recruited by Mercy Corps to help with implementing SAP collaborated with soum specialists to develop rules and criteria of the competition and establish a competition working group. The working group consisted of a total of 10 members: an environmental inspector, land manager, rangeland management specialist, meteorological engineer and five bagh governors. The group developed an action plan for the competition in April. The MCM LTS3 team organized a meeting of the Pasture User Group leaders and the working group to discuss rules of the competition and potential interventions to improve rangeland management. A decision was made at the meeting to rest around one thousand hectares of pastureland The closing ceremony during this competition and prevent livestock from grazing in the rested area. The opening ceremony was organized on May 7th. During the event, the organizers introduced the objectives and rules of the competition to the leaders of PUGs, soum government and a working group. The Green Gold (funded by SDC) project and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) helped to organize the competition by sharing the costs of prizes and supporting a study tour within Mongolia. The working group assessed the rangeland condition before and after the competition using a photo monitoring methodology. The consultant wrote a report on the competition: competition activities, results, and impact, lessons learned, best practices of rangeland management, and success stories. The closing ceremony took place on July 30th. 60 herders attended the event to celebrate the end of the competition, share their best practices, and attend a concert. The best three PUGs received prizes. Contributions Mercy Corps Mongolia contributed 3,393,700 MNT (1,292 USD) to the competition. This money was used for the following activities:
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 7 ● Produced a video of best practices for rangeland management, interviews with herders and soum officials, and the results of the competition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9S4KNFYEs&feature=youtu.be ● Provided lunch and tea break for the participants of the opening and closing ceremonies PMP consultant, hired by MCM, provided organizational and technical support during the event
The soum government and herders contributed to the competition and their cost share totaled 1,450,000 MNT (552 USD). They paid for: ● Monitoring of the rangeland ● Prizes ● Transportation costs of herders The Green Gold Project handed out cash prizes to the
three best Pasture User Group and IFAD invited the winners to take part in a study tour to visit other best PUGs in Mongolia. Their total contribution was 2,100,000 MNT (739 USD).
Rested rangeland in Erdenetsagaan soum
Impact The competition was very successful as the herder groups improved their rangeland management capacity and learned to work with each other as a collective. The photo monitoring revealed that about 15,060 tonnes of vegetation biomass has grown on a target pastureland area as a result of resting it for two months. The value of this amount of biomass is estimated to be around 22,500,000 MNT (8,606 USD) using the standard of 1.5 MNT for 1 kg of biomass according to the land evaluation methodology. Please see the following table for more details.
Table 2: Results and impact of the competition Result Impact Over one thousand hectares of rangeland was The total amount of vegetation biomass grown on rested during the summer the rested rangeland is estimated to be around 15,060 thousand tonnes with a value of over 22,500,000 MNT. The vegetation reduces degradation of the soil, and ensures livestock has plenty of forage during winter As measured by the photo monitoring, total foliar Total area of 1,004 ha of pastureland recovered cover increased by 17% in rested areas. leading to improved vegetation cover, soil protection, reduction of surface runoff, improvement of water absorption into the soil, and carbon capture 944 herders (300 herder households) cooperated The herders improved their cooperation and with each other to improve rangeland health communication with each other which led to improved rangeland management. Herder groups
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 8 shared best practices and learned the importance of cooperation to improve rangelands
The soum will continue organizing herders’ The decision by the soum ensures that this competitions next year and include this event in the competition is institutionalized. Herders now have annual PMP an incentive to play an active role in pastureland management
Video production This video can be used in future to explain the importance of proper rangeland management, share best practices and lessons learned targeting more aimags and soums
Showcasing vegetation growth
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Herders’ Competition in Bayandelger soum of Sukhbaatar aimag Bayandelger soum is located 160 km southwest of the Sukhbaatar aimag center and has 4,958 residents, with 1,394 herders managing over 508,000 animals. Of the 726,000 ha of pasture, 34 percent is degraded. The soum developed and approved their SAP in February 2020 and a herders’ competition was one of their priorities along with a well rehabilitation and a pasture set equipment. The main objective of this competition was to improve rangelands, strengthen rangeland management capacity of herder groups and introduce innovative ideas to improve the condition of the rangeland.
Dates of competition: April 2020 – July 2020
Number of participants: 835 herders of 269 herder households of 5 pasture user groups
Process Bayandelger soum organized the competition the same way as Erdenetsagaan soum. First, the soum selected the herders’ competition as a priority and included it in the SAP. The pasture management consultant hired by Mercy Corps worked with specialists from the soum governor’s office to develop rules and criteria of competition and helped to establish a competition working group. The working group had 11 members: an environmental inspector, land managers, rangeland management specialist, meteorological engineer and 6 bagh governors. The group developed a competition’s work plan approved by the soum governor on April 28th. The pasture management consultant and the aimag coordinator organized a meeting for the PUG leaders and the working group members to discuss the rules of the competition and identified pasture resting as a main activity. The opening ceremony of the competition was held on May 4th. A total of ten people attended the event, including PUGs leaders. The organizers introduced the objectives and rules of the competition and encouraged the PUG leaders to participate. Then, 5 PUGs consisting of 835 herders actively participated in the competition. To assess the progress of pastureland recovery, the working group conducted photo monitoring. The closing ceremony was organized on July 28th. A total of 39 herders attended the event and the three best PUGs were selected and received awards. The organizers shared the best practices with the herders. There was also a concert for the participants. The Pasture Management Consultant attended a closing ceremony, and wrote a final report on achievements of the herder groups, results of the competition, best practices for rangeland management, and success stories. Contribution Mercy Corps contributed 3,236,200 MNT (1,233 USD) to the competition. This contribution was in the form of:
● A video illustrating best practices, combined with Erdenstagaan soum’s herder competition https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=tp9S4KNFYEs&feature=youtu.be ● The pasture management consultant, hired by MCM, provided technical support for the competition
The soum government and herders’ contribution was 1,050,000 MNT (400 USD). They paid for the distribution of informational material, monitoring of the rangeland, and certificates for three best performing groups. Herders covered their transportation costs.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 10 Green Gold and IFAD also shared some of the costs. Their total contribution was 2,100,000 MNT (739 USD). The Green Gold project distributed cash prizes for the three winners and IFAD invited the winners to take a study tour to visit other PUGs in Mongolia to learn from their experiences. Impact The competition was very successful as the herder groups improved their rangeland management capacity and learned to work with each other. Around 11,490 tonnes of vegetation biomass has grown on the target area as a result of resting it for two months. The value of this amount of biomass is estimated to be around 17,200,000 MNT (6,566 USD) using the standard of 1.5 MNT for 1 kg of biomass according to the land evaluation methodology used by MOFALI. This competition resulted in many positive changes in herders’ rangeland management practices. See below the table describing key results and impact.
Table 3: Results and Impact of the competition:
Result Impact 766 ha of rangeland was rested during the summer The total amount of vegetation biomass grown on the rested rangeland is estimated to be around 11,490 tonnes with a value of over 17,200,000 MNT. The vegetation reduces degradation of the soil, and ensures livestock has sufficient reserves of feed during winter Total foliar cover increased by an average of 25% A total of 766 hectares of land have recovered in rested area leading to less soil erosion, reduction of surface runoff, improving water absorption into the soil, and carbon capture 835 herders (269 herder households) collaborated Cooperation and communication between herders to improve rangeland health greatly improved during the competition. Herders raised their awareness and knowledge of proper pasture management, exchanged best practices which led to improved pastureland in the soum The soum governor will continue organizing the This competition is being institutionalized which competition next year and include it in the annual means that herders have a motivation to participate PMP in a rangeland management every year. With the right support and incentives, herders can work with each other more effectively to improve the rangeland Production of video This video can be used in future to explain the importance of proper rangeland management, share best practices and lessons learned targeting more aimags and soums
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 11
Pastureland vegetation before the herders' competition
Pastureland vegetation after herders' competition
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CONTACT Wendy Guyot Country Director | Mercy Corps Mongolia [email protected]
About Mercy Corps Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
45 SW Ankeny Street Portland, Oregon 97204 888.842.0842 mercycorps.org
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Herders’ Competitions 13
SMALL SCALE INFRASTRUCTURE REHABILITATION PROJECTS Leveraging Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction in Mongolia
SEPTEMBER 2020
Introduction
The Leveraging Tradition and Science 3 (LTS3) program aims to reduce the vulnerability of herder households in Mongolia through disaster risk preparedness and improved rangeland management. LTS3 is implemented across five aimags: Khovd, Uvs, Bayan-Ulgii, Khentii, and Sukhbaatar. A total of ten soums within those five aimags were selected for intensive technical support and assistance to operationalize their existing Pasture Management Plans (PMP). Starting in November 2019, Mercy Corps supported soum level authorities to identify key priorities and activities that will contribute to improving rangeland management at the local level. In order to address these priorities Mercy Corps launched a call for proposals for small-scale infrastructure rehabilitation on February 13, 2020. Using template designed by Mercy Corps, the soum governments submitted proposal packages that included: a narrative, a budget including cost share, and technical specifications for the proposed project. A total of ten proposals from ten soums across the five aimags were received. The proposals were for one of three interventions: well rehabilitation, natural spring fence rehabilitation, or feed and fodder storage rehabilitation. If the proposal was delivered on time, in the proposal format provided to them, including a budget and a technical photograph or drawing, the proposal then went on to the review phase. Implementation Call for Proposals All ten proposals were screened and passed onto the review phase. Each proposal was submitted in Mongolian and a summary of that document was translated into English and presented as a PowerPoint presentation to the review committee, which reviewed the proposal packages against the following criteria to ensure that proposed projects: • Were actionable by the soum officials, with some support from Mercy Corps • Contained a reasonable community contribution • Were feasible within the timeframe of the LTS3 program • Were in line with programmatic objectives • Were compliant with donor rules and regulations – must be rehabilitation project, no new construction Using that criteria, the review committee judged the following aspects of the proposals: • Clear project description that includes the number of people, livestock, and hectares of pastureland that are affected by the issue • A description of the proposed solution or intervention • The expected results from the intervention, including how many people, livestock, and hectares of pastureland that will benefit from this intervention • Description of community engagement and contribution • The technical specifications of the proposed rehabilitation • Budget for the rehabilitation A review committee composed of representatives from Mercy Corps’ finance team, operations team, program team, and senior leadership met on April 3, 2020 to review the proposal packages submitted by soum government partners. There were five voting members of the committee, and three program team members to provide technical guidance and clarification. Eight projects were green-lighted, two projects were yellow-
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale rehabilitation projects- September 2020 2 lighted; those soum governments were asked to provide more information and clarification. Following some clarification with the soum, those two projects were later greenlighted on April 14.
Activities As per donor guidelines, the LTS3 program does not transfer funds to government agencies for rehabilitation work. Instead, Mercy Corps conducts an open and transparent procurement process to identify qualified contractors with the technical skill sets to implement the projects. These contractors were expected to work closely with soum level stakeholders, as they were responsible for key elements of the projects such as transportation and/ or the provision of unskilled labor. However, before procurement could begin, Mercy Corps required soum governments to provide the relevant approvals from the aimag government departments for small-scale infrastructure projects. Well rehabilitation projects are particularly complicated under Mongolian law and, as such, soum governments were required to: • Demonstrate ownership of the well and a declaration that there are no outstanding disputes related to that ownership • Certify that the rehabilitation of the well is included in the local Pasture Management Plan and has been endorsed by the herders • Outline a protocol for a water users’ fee or budgeting plan for operational costs • Explain the plan for care and maintenance of the well after completion of the rehabilitation project, including plans for establishing an agreement with local herders
Once documentation was received, Mercy Corps launched the procurement process for natural spring fencing material, hay shelter rehabilitation material, and bids for well rehabilitation contracts. Unfortunately, during the bid review process, it became clear that Mercy Corps was unable to move forward with the proposed well rehabilitation projects in Erdenetsagaan soum and Bayandelger soum of Sukhbaatar aimag. This decision was made based on a few indelible facts. The two bids that were received were two and four times higher than the estimates the soum provided and Mercy Corps budgeted for, in part because the estimates provided by the soum government did not consider the specialized tools needed to safely dig and rehabilitate the well. Given the old age and deteriorated condition of the well, neither company was willing to take on the risk of digging it out by hand; similarly, Mercy Corps will not support such a dangerous project. In addition, both potential contractors expressed concern about the feasibility of the projects, even with specialized equipment and technical expertise, as there is no guarantee of water quality. As such, only eight projects were ultimately able to Figure 1. LTS3 aimags with infrastructure rehabilitation move forward through procurement and projects: Bayan-Ulgii, Khovd, Uvs, and Khentii implementation. After evaluating and selecting the best proposals, Mercy Corps signed a tripartite letter of commitment with the soum governor and the leader of herders’ group who are responsible for the future maintenance of the infrastructure. This commitment letter states the financial contribution, roles and responsibilities of the respective parties.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale rehabilitation projects- September 2020 3 There was some hesitancy from contractors to work with soum governments and herders’ groups because there had been some issues with follow-through in the past. However, Mercy Corps aimag coordinators deftly managed the relationships between the two parties, and the signed letter of commitment helped ensure each entity knew exactly what they were responsible for. The combination of these two factors led to a transparent and smooth implementation of the rehabilitation projects. All projects were completed by the end of July 2020; a total of four natural springs in two soums were fenced, one hay storage shelter was expanded, and five wells were fully rehabilitated. All the wells were tested for water quality and potability by the State Inspection Agency, and then handed over to the soum government along with the well passport1 by the contractor. No such process is required for handover of fences and hay storage facilities under Mongolian law.
METHODOLOGY Sheep head units • 1 camel = 5 head of sheep • 1 horse = 7 head of sheep • 1 cow = 6 head of sheep • 1 goat = 0.9 head of sheep Example: A herder has 10 cows, 5 horses, 20 goats and 30 sheep. Using the conversion above, this herder has 143 sheep head units. Rangeland Protection Methodology Example from Erdeneburen soum of Khovd aimag. This area is in a steppe eco zone, where a well was rehabilitated. Well rehabilitation is allotted a standard radius of 5.2 kilometers around the well that is Figure 2. Metal fence in Bayanmunkh soum, Khentii aimag considered to have improved utilization of pastureland. This area is then converted into hectares (area/km=P*r2) in this case the area of improved utilization is 8,382 ha. Impact
Mercy Corps employed different methodologies to measure impact of the rehabilitated wells, protected natural springs, and hay storage. Impact was measured at the household, individual, livestock, and pasture level.
1 This is a document which shows the history of the well, such as when it was built, rehabilitated, water availability
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale rehabilitation projects- September 2020 4 The number of households and herders who receive benefits from this project were easily calculated as these are the number of herder households which are directly dependent on and benefit from rehabilitated wells, springs, and hay storage. The number of livestock impacted was calculated using the Sheep Head Unit method. This methodology converts different types of livestock into a standardized unit of measurement called “Sheep Head Units.” The number of livestock to be translated into Sheep Head Units comes from the number of livestock herder households own, which depend on the well, spring, and/or hay storage. This calculation, commonly used by the Government of Mongolia, was used for each soum and for each type of rehabilitation project. The total area of protected rangeland was calculated using the methodology approved by the Mongolian Administration of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography (Region development plan, 2015) which shows how much rangeland can be protected, or better utilized, as a result of the well rehabilitation and springs depending on the different eco-regions. The methodology is founded on the understanding that if a new source of water is available, then livestock will be moved from overstocked pasture areas to the newly available area, thereby relieving the pressure on the previously overstocked pasture by evenly distributing livestock over a larger area of land. The rehabilitation of the wells and fencing of springs has made a valuable contribution to rangeland recovery, and has decreased rangeland degradation by decreasing stocking rate around the wells which were previously the only source of water in the area. This will facilitate seasonal rotation of pastureland and more evenly distribute the livestock grazing pressure on the pastureland. Results The small-scale infrastructure rehabilitation projects were successfully completed in eight soums of four target aimags. Five wells were rehabilitated, fencing for four natural springs was repaired, and one hay storage shed was expanded. In total, Mercy Corps contributed 78 percent (68.9 million MNT/24,494 USD) while soum government offices and herders themselves cost-shared 22 percent (19.8 million MNT/7,500 USD) of the total cost. In addition, across the 8 rehabilitation projects, 47 herders worked for approximately 20 days providing unskilled labor for their successful realization. The following aggregated results were Figure 3. Renovated hay shelter in Tolbo soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag achieved and are an important contribution towards better rangeland management practices in Mongolia. These include: • Herder households: 980 herders from 348 herder households directly benefit from the project • Pastureland: Improved utilization of 85,970 ha of pastureland and reduced the grazing pressure on a similar area of pastureland • Livestock: A total of 157,964 livestock (measured in sheep head units) benefit from improved animal welfare and access to water, hay, etc. Each of the soum governors and many of the herders who were involved have said that, without the help of Mercy Corps and USAID/OFDA, these projects would not have been possible. Some soums even had local
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale rehabilitation projects- September 2020 5 television stations attend the “opening” of the infrastructure projects. For example, in Bayan-Ulgii, in a television interview one herder expressed his gratitude because the well that was rehabilitated was very old, and no one felt motivated to repair it. But with support from Mercy Corps and USAID/OFDA, they can now access water and they can keep their livestock in the area instead of overstocking other areas. The soum governor and the deputy governor both said that Mercy Corps really helped them, this was a priority in their Pasture Management Plan, but they lacked the resources necessary to make it a reality.
I AM VERY HAPPY THAT OUR WELL HAS BEEN REPAIRED AND WE HAVE WATER. KAZAKHS SAY THAT "THE WORST SUFFERING IS THE LACK OF WATER." THERE ARE MORE THAN 30 HERDERS HERE. HERDERS IN BUYANT SOUM
CAN ALSO BENEFIT FROM THIS, AS IT BORDERS ALTAI SOUM. WE ARE 8-9 KM AWAY FROM THE RIVER. THE COMPANIES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY CALLED TO REPAIR THE WELLS HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO SO. ON BEHALF OF OUR HERDERS, I WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL THE BEST TO MERCY CORPS AND
NARMARJAN (WELL COMPANY), WHO PROVIDED US WITH CLEAN WATER - HERDER S. AITUGAN, ALTAI SOUM, BAYAN-ULGII AIMAG
The following table details the rehabilitation projects, the contributions made, and impact.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale rehabilitation projects- September 2020 6
WELL REHABILITATION
Soum / Results Mercy Corps Soum Impact Aimag Contribution Contribution
Naranbulag, Background: The well, 60 meters deep and located in 10,029,816 MNT/ 4,080,000 MNT/ Reduced grazing Uvs aimag Gunburd bagh, is called “Farmers’ Well.” The well was built $3,565 USD $1,617 USD pressure and improved during the socialist era at a state farm, which has since land use for 16,886 ha dissolved; the land is now owned by the soum. Prior to Well contractor, Well house of pastureland rehabilitation, the generator, pump, pipes and tubes, well QJ1.5 kWatt pump construction 171 herders from 55 house and trough had fallen to disrepair. In addition, the and 6.5 kWatt material, herder households borehole was obstructed by mud. electric generator transportation and more than 13,750 cost, and Rehabilitation: As part of rehabilitation the well company livestock (sheep head unskilled labor cleared the borehole of obstruction, and installed a new pump units) have access to and generator. The soum and herders helped to construct the water well house and trough. Challenges: There was some doubt that this well would have any water, the bore hole was completely obscured, and it was difficult to know if water would still flow. However, after clearing the mud and debris, after two days water was flowing very easily. Well Specifications: 1 L/sec yield, 19m statistical level, 25m dynamic level was rehabilitated into electric generator well and handed over to the soum:
Davst, Uvs Background: The well is called Khar del’s well, and it is 10,205,000 MNT/ 2,100,000 MNT / Reduced grazing aimag located in Khandgait bagh in Davst soum. The well, built in $3,628 USD $826 USD pressure and improved 2013, is 50 meters deep. Prior to rehabilitation, the generator, land use for 16,800 ha pump and well house had fallen to disrepair. Installation of new Fence netting, of pastureland solar panels, solar transportation Rehabilitation: The rehabilitation of this well included cleaning inverters, solar cost, unskilled 65 herders from 18 and repair of the borehole, procurement of new and pump, control panel, labor herder households appropriate solar powered smart inverter with control board, and environmentally and 12,000
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale infrastructure projects 7 Soum / Results Mercy Corps Soum Impact Aimag Contribution Contribution
solar panel which controls the water flow/pumping, solar friendly long-term livestock (sheep head pump2. cost-effective solar unit) have access to powered generator potable water Challenges: During rehabilitation the well company confirmed that the well was in fact 50m deep, in the original proposal the soum stated that it was 70m deep. This is a good illustration of why it was important for the soums to have certified contractors come and survey the well before they began rehabilitation. Well Specifications: 50m depth, 0.18 L/sec yield, was rehabilitated into fully automatic solar powered well and handed over to the soum.
Khovd, Background: The well is called Shar Hargana, and it is located 10,325,208 MNT/ MNT 1,705,000 / Reduced grazing Khovd aimag in Namarzan bagh. The well was built during the socialist era, $3,671 USD $793 USD pressure and improved and was deepened to 95 meters in 2004. Prior to land use for 8,382 ha of rehabilitation the generator, pump, and well house have fallen Contractor for well Transportation pastureland to disrepair. rehabilitation, pump, cost, unskilled generator labor, well house 60 herders from 15 Rehabilitation: To repair these issues the well company construction households and more cleared the borehole, installed a new pump and a new material than 14,900 livestock generator. The soum repaired the well house and a trough for (sheep head units) have animals to drink out of. access to potable water Well Specifications: 110m depth, 1.1 L/sec yield, 25m statistical level, 85m dynamic level was rehabilitated
2 Most wells in Mongolia are connected to generators, and herders have to carry their own gasoline to run the generator. But, with solar power that’s not necessary.
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale infrastructure projects 8 Soum / Results Mercy Corps Soum Impact Aimag Contribution Contribution
Erdeneburen, Background: The well is called Ulaanii Ar, and is located in 10,333,566 MNT/ 3,080,000 MNT/ Reduced grazing Khovd aimag Bayanbulag bagh, 25 kilometers away from Khovd soum $3,674 USD $1,130 USD pressure and improved center. The well was built during the socialist era. Although land use for 8,380 ha of the pump was fixed once in 2018, it was broken again Well rehabilitation Transportation pastureland because pump is not capable of pumping water from the contractor, pump, cost, unskilled depth of 110m bore hole. and generator labor, well house 21 herder households construction and 15,660 Rehabilitation: To address these issues the well contractor material livestock (sheep head cleared the bore hole, installed a new pump and a new unit) access to potable generator that are both appropriate for the depth of the well. water The well house was rehabilitated by the soum and community members. Well Specifications: 95m depth, 2.6 L/sec yield, 70m statistical level, 25m dynamic level was rehabilitated
Altai, Bayan- Background: The well is called Tunkheet, and it is located in 9,126,000 MNT/ 1,300,000 MNT/ Improved water flow and Ulgii aimag Kharnuur bagh. The well was built during the socialist era in $3,245 USD $467 USD yield from the well, 1988, and is 30 meters deep. Previously, the generator, pump, reduced grazing For well For well house and well house had fallen to disrepair. pressure and improved rehabilitation construction land use for 5,451 ha of Rehabilitation: To repair these issues the well contractor contractor, pump, material, pastureland. cleared the borehole, installed a new pump and a new and generator unskilled labor generator, as well as install a pipe for water flow. 50 herders of 8 herder households and 12,000 Well Specifications: Installation of 159 mm pipe, QJ-0.5-50 livestock (sheep head model pump, LEROBS - 3500 model generator unit) have been provided with access to potable water.
Bayanmunkh, Background: In Bayanmunkh soum, Khentii aimag, the soum 4,680,000 MNT / 1,970,880 MNT / Protected 14,000 ha of Khentii aimag wanted to fence two spring sources. The springs were often $1,672 USD $708 USD pastureland from
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale infrastructure projects 9 Soum / Results Mercy Corps Soum Impact Aimag Contribution Contribution
obstructed by livestock, and the water quality was poor Procurement of Workers to help degradation by because of the erosion and the litter that came into the spring. steel fencing and install the fence, improving land use, cement meals, and Rehabilitation: Two natural springs were fenced with steel transportation for 72 herders from 19 fences to protect natural spring sources. This improved the the fence herder households water quality and clarity, and the water now flows faster and including truck and 24,000 livestock there is more water coming from the source, which is no rental and fuel (sheep head units) have longer obstructed by cattle. costs access to clear water Technical Specifications: The metal fences were procured, in a fair and transparent process, from a company that is a Mercy Corps partner under the Resilient Communities’ Program. The fence was installed by two herders’ groups with help from the company. The company, on their own volition, provided a bench and a trash can for the area, too.
Darkhan, Background: The purpose of the fence is to protect the spring 8,030,000 MNT / 2,570,160 MNT / Protected 7,600 ha of Khentii aimag origin so that it is not degraded and remains a reliable source $2,835 USD $923 USD pastureland from of clean water. A wooden fence was chosen because the degradation by soum government determined that using timber would be the Procurement of Labor to improving land use longest lasting, most environmentally friendly, and most fencing material establish the practical way to fence this area. fence 125 herders from 25 herder households, Rehabilitation: Almost 160 meters of fencing was built around and 14,650 livestock each spring. The fences were built out of timber, and because (sheep head units) with the bedrock is near the surface in this area making it difficult access to clear water to anchor posts in the ground, the fence is anchored by trestle poles. The fence used Mortise and Tenon joints, so there was no need for nails or screws. Challenges: There were some challenges when it came time to deliver the timber to the job site. The contractor that was hired could no longer supply the timber, so they took it upon themselves to locate another timber supplier. The contractor
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale infrastructure projects 10 Soum / Results Mercy Corps Soum Impact Aimag Contribution Contribution
then paid for the increased transportation cost, and the cost of three extra segments of fencing.
Tolbo, Background: The feed that is kept in this shelter acts as an 6,174,727 MNT/ MNT 3,000,000 / The new building allows Bayan-Ulgii emergency feed fund for herders and livestock during harsh $2,206 USD $1,077 USD an accommodation of 80 aimag winters. Previously there was only storage for 40 tons of feed tonnes3 of hay per year and fodder in the hay shelter. Procurement of Labor costs for and increases herders’ wood and materials the renovations Rehabilitation: The project supported the extension of the resilience to overcome to build the to the storage existing hay storage structure by 16 meters’ length x 6 meters’ harsh winter situations. extension to the width, a sloping roof with highest point being 5 meters from the As a result, 187 herder existing structure ground in the front and 4.5 meters at the back. The expansion households will have created space to store an additional 40 tonnes, now a total of direct access to 80 tonnes of livestock feed and fodder can be stored. emergency hay reserves in the winter. Regulations: As part of project implementation and operationalization the soum government agreed to develop regulations for utilization of hay storage by herders and farmers. These regulations will include rent price for using the hay storage, maintenance plan, and plan for how to spend the income from rent collected, it will be deposited in the soum development fund. The rental of the space will be approved by Soum Citizen’s Khural (local parliament). The soum government will also develop a maintenance plan for the hay shelter.
3 1 tonne= 1000 kilograms
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale infrastructure projects 11 “Before and After” Photos
Figure 5. Erdeneburen soum, Khovd aimag - the well after rehabilitation Figure 4. Erdeneburen soum, Khovd aimag -- the well before rehabilitation
Figure 7. Davst soum, Uvs aimag - the well after rehabilitation Figure 6. Davst soum, Uvs aimag - the well before rehabilitation
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Figure 9. Altai soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag - the well after rehabilitation Figure 8. Altai soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag - the well before rehabilitation
Figure 11. Khovd soum, Khovd aimag - the well after rehabilitation Figure 10. Khovd soum, Khovd aimag - the well before rehabilitation
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Figure 12. Naranbulag soum, Uvs aimag – the well before rehabilitation
Figure 13. Naranbulag soum, Uvs aimag - the well after rehabilitation
Figure 14. Bayanmunkh soum, Khentii aimag - the spring fence before rehabilitation Figure 15. Bayanmunkh soum, Khentii aimag – the spring fence after rehabilitation
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Figure 16. Tolbo soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag - the hay shed before rehabilitation Figure 17. Tolbo soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag - the hay shed after rehabilitation
CONTACT
Wendy Guyot Country Director | Mercy Corps Mongolia [email protected]
About Mercy Corps Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
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888.842.0842 mercycorps.org
MERCY CORPS LTS3: Small scale infrastructure projects 15 LEVERAGING TRADITION AND SCIENCE IN DISASTER RISK REDUCTION 3 (LTS3) PROJECT Soums selected for intensive support with operationalizing Pasture Management Plans (PMP)
Background Groups use 40 ha of land for haymaking. There is a strong need for better coordination and education of Changing climate patterns, combined with outdated local herders and a need to increase forage or inappropriate herder practices, have caused a production. degradation of Mongolia’s rangeland, affecting approximately 65% of the country’s grazing land and Uvs aimag continuing to call the future of the livestock sector into Davst and Naranbulag soums have PMPs and question. locally approved pasture regulations but haven’t In 2019 Mercy Corps partnered with the received approval from the Ministry of Justice. Both USAID/OFDA to design and launch the Leveraging soums border Lake Uvs, one of the largest lakes in Tradition and Science in Disaster Risk Reduction, Mongolia. None of the soums have feed production Phase 3 (LTS3). LTS3 is a one-year project that facilities. Both soums have around 30 ha each builds upon six years of investment by OFDA in DRR reserved for alfalfa cultivation to supply their needs and animal health through Mercy Corps in Mongolia. and that of neighboring soums as well. Working in consultation with aimag (province) Davst soum is located 160 km from aimag center officials, Mercy Corps selected the following ten with the Russian border to the north. Has a population soums (counties) in five aimags for intensive support of 1,687 residents, with 399 herders managing over in the operationalization of their Pasture Management 90,000 animals. 30% of the 162,000 ha of pasture is Plan (PMP). at various levels of degradation. Currently, there are 100 ha of irrigated crop land and 300 ha reserved for Bayan-Ulgii aimag hay and forage production with 100% of soum herder Bayan-Ulgii is the westernmost aimag in Mongolia. families having some level hay reserves. Herders are Bordering China and Russia, it has a predominantly willing to implement the PMP and, in partnership with Kazakh population. the soum government, have begun seasonal pasture rotations and well restorations. These efforts are Altai soum is located 112 km south of the aimag insufficient due to growing herd numbers and the center and borders China. The population is 4,241 community is very willing to work on a sustainable residents, with 966 herders managing over 127,000 long term solution. animals. It is estimated that 30% of the soum’s 269,000 ha of pastureland is degraded to some Naranbulag soum is located 100 km southeast of the degree. Though there is no irrigated crop land, 1,070 aimag center and has a population of 4,304 residents, ha are reserved for hay/forage production. All herder with 1,305 herders managing over 248,000 animals. families have some level of hay reserves. In 2018, Of the 505,000 ha of pasture, 35% is at various levels they were the first soum to have their local pasture of degradation. There are 50 ha of irrigated crop land management regulations approved by the Ministry of and 586 ha reserved for hay and forage production. Justice. Herders use a seasonal rotation approach on All herder households have some level of hay their pastureland, and have self-funded the repair of reserves. The local government organizes meetings old wells and fenced 2 km2 of hay plantation for the with herders about pasture rotation and well community. restoration and have a strong willingness to cooperate on the implementation of their plan. Tolbo soum is located 80 km southeast of the aimag center and encloses Tolbo, a saline lake. Out of 4,173 Khovd Aimag soum residents, 1,004 herders manage over 153,000 animals. Of the 283,000 ha of pasture, 47% faces Erdeneburen and Khovd soums have PMPs, locally various levels of degradation. Currently, there is no approved pasture regulations as well as the irrigated crop land, but 400 ha are reserved for hay opportunity for forage cultivation and hay making. and forage production. All herder households have some level of hay reserves, and 13 Pasture User
MERCY CORPS MONGOLIA: LEVERAGING TRADITION AND SCIENCE FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Khovd soum is largely inhabited by Kazakh and 29,500 ha reserved for hay and forage residents and located 30 km west of the aimag center. production. 80% of herder families have some level It has a population of 3,992 residents, with 411 hay reserves. The local government is currently herders managing over 180,000 animals. Of the implementing PMP activities such as herder training, 231,000 ha of pasture, 60% is at various levels of pasture rodent eradication and repairing water points. degradation. Currently there are 1,600 ha of irrigated And estimated 80% of herders get their hay from crop land and 560 ha reserved for hay/forage other soums, as there is no local production. production. About 90% of the herder families have hay reserves with 30 households capable of Sukhbaatar aimag producing and additional 50 tons of hay for market. Erdenetsagaan and Bayandelger soums have The soum government is very motivated to implement PMPs and locally approved pasture regulations. This their PMP. There are ongoing pasture disputes with is the most eastern region of Mongolia and is two of the adjoining soums. dominated by open steppe. Erdeneburen soum is located 61 km northwest of Erdenetsagaan soum is located 220 km east of the the aimag center. The soum has a population of 2,429 aimag center and bordered by Russia and China. Has residents, with 405 herders managing over 175,000 a population of 6,668 residents, with 1,878 herders animals. 30% of the 161,000 ha of pasture is managing over 381,000 animals. It is one of the degraded. Currently, there are 2,431 ha of irrigated largest soums with 1,294,000 ha of pasture, 62% of crop land and 673 ha reserved for hay and forage which is degraded to varying levels. Currently there production. All herder families have some level of hay are 15 ha of irrigated crop land and 20,000 ha reserves. The local government has submitted their reserved for hay and forage production. Nearly 70% local pasture management regulation for approval to of the herders have hay reserves. The soum herders the Ministry of Justice. There is one local cooperative and government are willing to protect their pastures that provides feed for its member-herders. There is and implement their PMP. Herders also agree that some pasture use conflict with Tolbo soum in Bayan- destocking is necessary to improve pasture Ulgii aimag. conditions. The soum has 5000 ha reserved for forage cultivation, but lack the irrigation infrastructure. Khentii aimag Bayandelger soum is located 160 km southwest of Due to the proximity to Ulaanbaatar, livestock levels the aimag center and has 4,958 residents, with 1394 of Bayanmunkh and Darkhan soums have been high herders managing over 508,000 animals. Of the and this has accelerated the pasture degradation in 726,000 ha of pasture, 34% is degraded. Currently the aimag. Both soums have locally approved pasture there are 2.4 ha of irrigated crop land and no land management regulations and PMPs but have reserved for hay and forage production. Only 50% of indicated that these need to be updated. the herder families maintain hay reserves. The soum Bayanmunkh soum is located 110 km southwest of PMP was approved in 2018, and there is a need to the aimag center. The soum has 1711 residents, with strengthen capacity of herders on implementation of 540 herders managing over 182,000 animals. Of the PMP, building wells and hay and fodder production. 244,000 ha of pasture, 75% is degraded. Currently About Mercy Corps there are 111 ha of irrigated crop land and 7500 ha reserved for hay and forage production with 80% of Mercy Corps is a leading global organization herder families having some level hay reserves. powered by the belief that a better world is possible. Government officials are willing to collaborate on In disaster, in hardship, in more than PMP implementation and improve linkages with 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold herder groups. The soum herders are actively solutions into action— helping people triumph over working on building five new wells, fencing pasture, adversity and build stronger communities from within. planting trees and making hay for their own use. Darkhan soum is located 150 km southwest of the Contact aimag center on the northern edge of the Gobi Desert. WENDY GUYOT The soum has a population of 1,950 residents, with Country Director | Mongolia 690 herders managing over 238,000 animals. Of the [email protected] 400,000 ha of pasture, 70% is at various levels of degradation. There are 46 ha of irrigated crop land