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

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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July 2009

posted: 10/22/2009

U.S. Senate hearings to consider the nomination of former USAID/Mongolia Mission Director Jonathan Addleton as the new US Ambassador to Mongolia were held in July. Ambassador Addleton was subsequently approved by the Senate, and should be arriving at post this fall.

Massive but localized floods in late July did heavy damage in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, and also in the far-west aimag of Bayan Olgii. Twenty-eight people were killed, along with thousands of head of livestock and the loss of housing and personal effects. In response, US Ambassador Mark Minton authorized the use of $25,000 from his discretionary disaster fund to provide assistance to the victims. The money, as with past disasters, was given to the Mongolian Red Cross, in this case to provide food for the victims in the far west of the country.

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June 2009

posted: 10/21/2009

On June 18 the newly-elected President of Mongolia, Tsahiagiin Elbegdorj, was sworn in at the Parliament in an inauguration ceremony that included many foreign guests, including special representative from the White House, Mr. Stanley Roth, Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and current Vice President for International Government Relations at Boeing International.

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May 2009

posted: 6/11/2009

Barry Primm went “wheels up” the first week of May, and at the end of the month a new USAID Representative to Mongolia was named. Chuck Howell, currently the Country Coordinator for Belarus working out of Kiev, Ukraine, is scheduled to arrive in September after a swearing-in ceremony in Washington. Chuck is well-known in Mongolia. He was the Peace Corps Director here from 1991-93, and he was subsequently the USAID Representative from 1995-96. After leaving Mongolia, Chuck worked in Eastern Europe, serving in the field in the former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Belarus. Chuck holds a Masters degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of International Affairs in Chinese Studies, and speaks—in addition to Thai—basic Russian and Chinese. We’re looking forward to welcoming Chuck back to the fold.

Jon O’Rourke returned to USAID/Mongolia in May, to fill in as Senior Program Manager. Jon's consummate professionalism and familiarity with some of the more complex aspects of the Mission's portfolio has already made him a very welcome addition to the USAID/Mongolia staff.

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