USAID/Mongolia Welcome!

Welcome to the USAID/Mongolia website. Mongolia is a fascinating and beautiful country, and those of us who are privileged to work here are doing so at a vitally important time in its history. I believe that our small, highly-focused program, in collaboration with the fine work of our outstanding partners, is helping to make a real difference in the lives of the Mongolian people.

The projects we fund are working on some of the most pressing issues facing Mongolia today – policy reform, development of the private sector, privatization, reform of the judicial sector, and strengthening this country’s nascent democracy. With funds from central and regional sources, we are also engaged in protecting biodiversity, in expanding the use of information and communications technology.

I think our portfolio is exciting, creative, and working in exactly the areas in which USAID is best-placed to assist Mongolia. To highlight our program, we always look at ways to improve our website and add appropriate links. I welcome your suggestions for additions to these pages.

Thank you again for visiting the USAID Mongolia website and be sure to put Mongolia on your list of countries to visit.

Best Wishes,

Chuck Howell,

USAID Representative

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

November 2009

posted: 12/20/2009

In November our Mission team celebrated: Veterans Day; Thanksgiving; the 100th Mongolia Monitor; the 15th anniversary of the U.S. Government/USAID economic policy work in Mongolia; and most importantly, the return of Jonathan Addleton, (USAID Representative to Mongolia 2001-2004) as U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia.

It was a busy month which passed quite quickly. We completed and submitted the annual performance report on time thanks to the expert help of USAID/Manila, Program Development Officer, Aaron Stern.

[Read the blog...]

October 2009

posted: 11/29/2009

Hello Everyone,

This is my first Mission News for the Mongol Monitor but it is far from my first experience in Mongolia. I am very happy to have returned to a position I occupied at a very different time with a very different program. Mongolia has changed dramatically in the thirteen years since I was last here. The most obvious changes are the multiple-lanes of chaotic traffic that mask Ulaanbaatar’s charm and the uncontrolled urban sprawl in areas of Ulaanbaatar that should have remained parks or open land. Mongolia’s economic success of the last 10 years stimulated growth and construction in Ulaanbaatar which has the unfortunate consequences of obscuring beautiful views of the sacred mountain to the south of the city. Of course, my opinion is colored by a 13 year absence.

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September 2009

posted: 11/17/2009

September was beautiful in Mongolia, the start of the fall season that many think is the best time of year here. Temperatures are cool but not cold, the air is clean, the wind is down, and the tourists are gone. Until November, when frigid air starts blowing down from Siberia, it’s a great time to go to the field and enjoy the fall colors, the wide-open spaces, the great fishing, and the healthy environment.

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August 2009

posted: 10/23/2009

August is “down time” for many Mongolians, who take vacation during the period between Nadaam (in July) and the start of the new school year (September) and fall Parliamentary session (October). Foreign tourists, meanwhile, are scattered to the four winds visiting the four corners of the country—the Hovsgol lake region in the north, the Gobi Desert in the south, the high Altai mountains in central and western Mongolia, and Serengeti-like steppe in the east. This August was no different, with spectacular clear days in the upper ‘60s (F) and everyone enjoying the crisp, clean central Asian air.

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