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Community-Based Partnerships Lift Up Mongolia’s COVID-19-Affected People

By Asian Development Bank

February 7^th, 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected low-income households in Mongolia, particularly women, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Measures adopted to limit the spread of COVID-19, such as border restrictions and country-wide lockdowns, caused significant loss of income and raised food security concerns.

Community-Based Partnerships Lift Up Mongolia’s COVID-19-Affected People

Partnering with local experts

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), with support from Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (JFPR), worked with community-led civil society organizations (CSOs) to provide livelihood programs for these groups.

In 2021, the Mongolian Remote Sensing Society, an ADB CSO partner, provided community training and business support, which included sewing, vegetable gardening, building greenhouses, chicken farming, food storage, dairy production, and baking. These are some of the beneficiaries’ stories.

39-year old Oyunchimeg’s additional income allows her to buy more food and school supplies for her children.

65-year old Ganzorig built an improvised egg incubator so that he can offer healthier food to his family and also share it with his neighbors.

After receiving gardening tools and packets of vegetable seeds, Bat-Erdene turned his backyard into vegetable gardens. He also built a greenhouse to grow better crops.

Nyamajav reopened and expanded her small business after receiving baking tools and livelihood trainings through an ADB grant. She also hired female neighbors who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

Bat-Erdene and his wife Agartuvshin, who are both hearing impaired, work at their sewing business. They received sewing equipment and a vegetable gardening set through an ADB grant.

Delgertsetse's family grows a variety of vegetables that they sell to supplement their income.

52-year old Erdenetsetseg makes and sells ice cream and yoghurt at the local market.

75-year old Dagvadorj leads a CSO that provides training for local communities on various topics including vegetable farming and poultry production.

A new start during the pandemic

Tungalagnamir Namsrai, 38, is a single parent to a child with autism. She herself is a hearing-impaired person and lives with both her child and her mother in Ulaanbaatar.

Because of COVID-19, she lost her job, and her hearing impairment prevented her from securing income to feed her family. While the government provides small grants for persons with disabilities, the money barely covered food and only a part of her medical bills.

As an ADB grant beneficiary, she was given an opportunity to take on new skills. The project gave her sewing tools and training that allowed her to start her own tailoring business and build a source of steady income. Now she earns a million tugrik ($330) each month, which has enabled her to buy a new hearing aid, pay for medical bills, and feed her family.

More than a sewing machine

Tungalagnamir didn’t stop there – she shared her success. As a mother of a child with autism, she sympathized with mothers whose children struggle with similar challenges. Due to the lack of specialized schools in Mongolia, many children with disabilities remain at home, and their mothers care and educate them full-time.

She trained and hired fellow mothers so that they too could have additional income for their families. Together, they improved their craft, attracted more clients, and earned higher incomes – even expanding to online services.

“I want to give back, to share with others, as I once received help when I needed it the most.” - Tungalagnamir

Sharing food during COVID-19

Even before the pandemic, Ulziidelger, a 73-year old retired mechanical engineer, and his wife Narantsetseg, 68, were planting vegetables outside their home in Ulaanbaatar. This provided their family with needed vegetables to complement Mongolia’s traditional dairy and protein-based diet.

The pandemic impacted their vegetable gardens, as most of the seeds and planting supplies were imported from neighboring countries, whose borders were closed during lockdown.

Under the livelihood program, they received planting tools and 14 types of high-yielding vegetable seeds, prompting Ulziidelger to clear additional land outside their house so they could expand and plant more vegetable crops.

They also opened their gates for their neighbors to share their bounty. Ulziidelger took young neighbors under his wing and taught them how to plant and care for vegetable crops. He also made his land, tools, seeds, and knowledge available to his neighbors so that they, too, could better feed their families.

“The COVID-19 pandemic made it more difficult for young poor families to buy and enjoy healthier foods. Planting our own vegetables not only secured food on the table for our families but also allowed us to generate additional income. This is especially helpful as most of my young neighbors lost their jobs during the border lockdowns,” Ulziidelger said. The couple’s vegetable garden now feeds and supports 10 households in their community.

With the help of his young neighbors, Ulziidelger also built two greenhouses to cultivate additional crops and increase their yield. Together they also harvest and save seeds for the next planting seasons.

An alternative livelihood for the pandemic and beyond

Batsukh Lkhamaa is a 70-year-old horse and cattle herder who lives in a small ger community in the countryside of Mandal soum. The community also plants vegetables and grains to feed their families.

The pandemic heavily impacted the livelihoods of herders like Batsukh. The sale and export of horses, cattle, and meat declined significantly as borders closed and customers, such as restaurants and schools, shut down.

“The pandemic hit us economically and isolated us. Although we get our milk and meat products from our herds, we could not go to other communities to sell and exchange goods or buy other food and crops,” Batsukh said.

Batsukh was given three beehives to raise and cultivate. Armed with her beehives and the comprehensive training from the grant, Batsukh was able to grow her beehives quickly. She now has ten beehives and shares one with her neighbor and friend — Oyunchimeg — so she, too, could learn an alternative livelihood and earn additional income.

In a span of 6 months, Batsukh was able to earn 800,000 Mongolian tugrik (approximately $250) from her honey and bee products. To further improve their collective livelihood, she continues to learn more about beekeeping, including online sessions on packaging and marketing honey and bee products.

Batsukh now shares her knowledge with her community, especially young families. She believes that sharing is a way to ensure that everyone benefits from the program so that they can together recover from the setbacks of COVID-19.

Footnotes

Text by Pailyn Tan/ Photos by Luubaht Gansukh and Pailyn Tan. This project is part of ADB’s work with civil society organizations under the Technical Assistance on Mitigating the effects of COVID-19 through Community-Led Interventions.

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