USAID/Mongolia :: Updates

April 2009 will go down as a watershed month for USAID/Mongolia. For the first time in nearly a decade, the Mission's development assistance program did not include some of the best projects ever implemented in Mongolia: the Judicial Reform Project (JRP), the Gobi Initiative, and GER. While it is the end of an era, the Gobi and GER infrastructure will fortunately remain largely intact for the next few years as Mercy Corps and CHF, respectively, continue their field operations under USDA funding with a somewhat narrower agricultural focus.

April was also the final month for IRI operations in Mongolia using bilateral funding, although IRI will continue to work here for a year under a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). NED has also given the National Democratic Institute (NDI) a grant to work on political party and Parliamentary reform in Mongolia for a year, and Paul Rowland--NDI's Resident Representative in Indonesia--briefed USAID in April on NDI's proposed operations here.

Going forward, USAID will focus primarily on private sector-led economic growth through our Economic Policy Reform and Competitiveness Project (EPRC), with a special emphasis this year on (1) financial sector reform in the wake of the global financial meltdown, and (2) building a national consensus in the mining sector. We will also continue our work on anti-corruption through TAF, and fund a small new activity that will improve the ability of the judiciary to adjudicate commercial cases--including mining and mining-related cases.

April also saw the convening of the Eisenhower Committee. This is the last year of funding for the Eisenhower Fellowship program, which has selected one exceptional mid-career candidate per year over the last ten years for specially tailored training in the US. This year's theme is “Extractive industry revenue management and investment”.

The Mission Operational Plan (OP) for FY'09 was developed and submitted on time in April, thanks to exceptional TDY support from Ms. Dany Khy in Washington. Dany, a Presidential Fellow, spent two weeks with us and oversaw the monumental task of pulling all of the pieces of this planning document together from the various USG agencies operational here.

Finally, April saw the end of the Barry Primm era at USAID/Mongolia. Barry was the latest in a long string of exceptional Mission Directors and AID Representatives at Mongolia--including Ed Birgells, Jonathan Addleton, and Skip Waskin. During his two and a half year tenure here, Barry was instrumental in keeping the program alive when plans were afoot to "zero it out". He also oversaw the transition of the program across the threshold from a decade of long-running and highly successful projects (i.e., Gobi, GER, JRP, IRI), to a new era of transformational development focused on private sector-led economic growth, with special emphasis on the minerals sector and financial sector reform. Barry will be sorely missed here, and we all wish him godspeed on his next assignment in Pakistan.

The deadline for applications to take on AID Representative responsibilities in Mongolia also closed in April, and Mission staff look forward to the arrival of Barry's replacement. In the interim, Senior Program Manager Jeff Goodson will serve as Acting AID Representative. The Mission is very fortunate to have Jon O'Rourke scheduled to return to Mongolia for up to six months to help out as Senior Program Manager, a job he took on in 2006-2007 when Jeff was seconded to Afghanistan as USAID Chief of Staff. Jon's consummate professionalism and familiarity with some of the more complex of the Mission's activities will make him a very welcome--albeit short term--addition to the USAID/Mongolia staff.