S. Oyun has been a Member of Mongolia’s Parliament since 1998. She was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and is presently the outgoing Minister of Environment and Green Development. She is one of the country’s highest-ranking officials, and has had a long history of supporting cooperation with SDC in Mongolia, dating back to 2005 when she headed the Swiss-Mongolian Parliamentary Group tasked with further strengthening Swiss-Mongolian relations at the parliamentary level. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs, she contributed to the advancement of bilateral relations between the two countries in the sphere of foreign policy. As the Minister of Environment and Green Development, she has frequently engaged with SDC in relation to Mongolia’s environmental agenda.

Oyun is also the founder and head of the Zorig Foundation, a Mongolian NGO that advocates for democracy and youth development that is named after her brother – murdered pro-democracy leader S. Zorig.

SDC has been supporting the Zorig Foundation’s youth programme since 2007 through funding for its Scholarship Programme. The programme has made it possible for more than 800 academically gifted students from low-income families to pursue university studies. Recent studies have found that more than 80 percent of scholarship recipients were employed after graduation.  

To mark the 10th anniversary of Swiss Development Cooperation with Mongolia, ‘Onsite Insights’ invited Minister S. Oyun for an interview to highlight SDC’s presence in Mongolia, particularly her impressions of SDC’s environmental work.

You know that SDC is this year celebrating the 10^th anniversary of its cooperation with Mongolia. What are your thoughts on the Swiss-Mongolian partnerships? Is there anything specific that you would like to highlight?

In general, SDC projects are well targeted, and I greatly appreciate what SDC does in Mongolia. It sees the needs of local communities and responds to them with timely and targeted support. Specifically, desertification is one of the most pressing environmental problems we face in Mongolia. I can only comment on the significance of SDC’s support in advancing our policies and approaches to prevent further desertification. We have greatly valued the studies and recommendations from SDC’s Coping with Desertification Project throughout the past eight years. We have received a lot of information that is of great value. Mongolia has been more affected by the negative consequences of global climate change. Ever-expanding desertification is clearly one of the negative impacts on our country. SDC’s project was successful in dealing with these issues, particularly in reversing trends in arid areas and pasture degradation. This is an important issue for Mongolia’s long-term priorities.

You are also familiar with the SDC-financed eco-schools – a youth environmental movement aimed at promoting green development in Mongolia. What are your thoughts?

Soon after I became the Minister of Environment and Green Development, I visited the eco-schools. I understood that environmental education for young children is the foundation for Mongolia’s future green development. After becoming acquainted with eco-schools and the concepts of eco-education, we named 2013 the Year for Eco-education, advocating environmental education for youth and the public as the basis for building green and eco-friendly communities.

Our cooperation with SDC has further developed into a broader programme on Education for Sustainable Development. This is a joint programme between our ministry, the Ministry of Education and Science and SDC which will incorporate environmental education into the secondary education curriculum. This will lay a strong foundation for Mongolia’s future green development. I see an even greener future when youth are educated through environmentally friendly curricula in their schools.

What is your impression of SDC’s cooperation in terms of the Scholarship Programme?

SDC and the Zorig Foundation have been cooperating for nine years, providing well-targeted scholarships for more than 800 university students from low-income households. This programme is unique and significant in the way that it also provides the scholarship awardees with an opportunity to implement social projects that contribute to communities. The awardees are encouraged to work in teams to undertake research and implement a small-scale community project. Through these projects, they are also paying back what they have received, and it also contributes to the strengthening of their social skills.

I strongly believe that intellectual investment is more valuable than any other investment. Natural resources are important for our nation’s development, but intellectual resources are the key to our development.

Thank you.

What events and measures are being organised to mark the double anniversaries?
I think the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Switzerland is an important event to be widely celebrated. It has also been 10 years since the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) officially opened its Cooperation Office in Mongolia.

To celebrate these anniversaries, SDC is holding a number of cultural events. To start with, we organised a reception for high-level delegates from the two countries on 21 May in Ulaanbaatar.

The next event was a photographic exhibition held on 23 May illustrating the similarities in nature, landscapes and the lifestyles of the people of Mongolia and Switzerland. The exhibition remained open for the public in Chinggis Square for three days. The exhibition then travelled to western aimags, where our main activities are concentrated.

I heard that a significant cultural programme is to be presented in cooperation with the Arts Council of Mongolia.
Yes. Among all the planned activities, we give high priority to the “Agula” music event, organised in partnership with the Arts Council of Mongolia. As part of the event, Switzerland’s Heiri Kaenzig Quintet and Mongolian ethno-jazz band Arga bileg held a joint performance on 29-30 May at the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ulaanbaatar. We were keen to see how Swiss and Mongolian artists performed new compositions featuring a fusion of modern and traditional music. The groups will also perform in Switzerland in September and October.

I heard that a joint album will be produced.
The Swiss and Mongolian groups will record an album at the “White Arch” studio in Ulaanbaatar, which will be produced in Switzerland. It will consist of six musical compositions by the Heiri Kaenzig Quintet and T. Purevsukh from Arga bileg, as well as four newly arranged compositions of their best musical works.

Does the Swiss quintet also perform this style of music? Is it a famous group in Switzerland?
The band also performs ethno-jazz music. In western countries, Mongolian art is generally known for its traditional style. But this time, Arga bileg is performing with these Swiss artists and will have a unique opportunity to show the western world that Mongolians are developing both their traditional and modern arts.

It’s great that this cultural programme has opened a gateway to connect Mongolians with the people of Switzerland through culture and the arts. What other activities are planned?
As you said, one of the objectives of our cultural programmes is to connect the people of our two countries through cultural exchanges. In order to do this, we look for opportunities to support the development of Mongolia’s art and culture sector, supporting artists with more opportunities.

Have you seen traditional Mongolian artistic performances? What is the Swiss-Mongolian joint performance like?
The performance is unique, interesting and innovative, and generates good feelings between people from both countries.

Mongolians are familiar with SDC’s work in Mongolia. I personally knew of a number of projects on combating desertification, supporting sustainable artisanal mining and agricultural projects, all aimed at solving critical problems in Mongolia. I hope this art and culture project will also generate tangible results.
SDC allocates one percent of its total budget to support the cultural sector in its partner countries. This means we are open to financing projects that contribute to the development of art and culture in Mongolia. This year, we are financing the joint Swiss-Mongolian musical event to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In June, we will also announce a call for project proposals in the art and culture sector.

Does that mean that artists who want to undertake artistic works but who face financial difficulties will be able to approach your organisation?
Yes. If people have proposals and projects, they can approach us. We will review the projects via an open selection process and then finance selected projects that have the potential to represent Mongolia to the world.

How do you see the development of SDC’s activities in the future? Are you moving into other priority sectors?
As of now, our programmes are planned until 2020. We are currently working on three main domains. We focus on food security and agriculture, and providing support for the effective and sustainable use of pastureland through herders’ self-governing bodies. We also have a very successful project in the potato sector, implemented in partnership with the Government of Mongolia. As a result of the project, Mongolians are now self-sufficient in domestic potato production.

We also implement projects targeting vocational education and training, focusing on the training of unskilled workers to match labour market demands. The third area is supporting good governance and decentralisation reform in Mongolia.

Mongolia’s economy has grown rapidly in recent years. This means that there might not be a need for international development and cooperation in the future. At that time, Switzerland might cooperate with Mongolia in the fields of science, trade, commerce and industry.

Thank you. Happy anniversary to SDC!
L. GANCHIMEG

Source: http://mongolnews.mn/i/52275