The Itgel Foundation - May 2008 Newletter

In This Issue:

2008 Fundraising Campaign

Itgel Advocates for Tsaatan Interests in a Government Program Aimed at the Community

Tsaatan Form Legal Entity, Gain Legal Representation

Capacity Building at the TCVC Attended by Enthusiastic Tsaatan Community Members

News Briefs

Contact

The Itgel Foundation

igelfoundation
@yahoo.com

www.itgel.org

In Mongolia:

The Itgel Foundation
Ulaanbaatar-211213
P.O. Box 2142
Mongolia

Mobile:
(976) 99-722-667

In the US:

The Itgel Foundation
53 Joan Dr.
Chappaqua, NY 10514

Telephone:
(303) 241-4411

2008 Fundraising Campaign

Itgel’s 2008 fundraising campaign is underway. In the month since our annual mailing was distributed, Itgel has received nearly $10,000 in donations. Please help us magnify this figure by joining the many individuals and organizations that generously support our important work.

Donate online by clicking here, or mail a check to Itgel’s New York correspondent (address listed at left). Your support is critical in supporting Itgel’s current activities aimed at transferring project leadership roles to local individuals.

Itgel Advocates for Tsaatan Interests in a Government Program Aimed at the Community

In late 2007, the government of Mongolia announced a program to direct nearly 1.5 million dollars in funds to support the Tsaatan community and their reindeer herds. While this was very exciting news, we soon learned that the government program was being developed without any involvement of Tsaatan community members themselves. Program proposals included activities that would have little to no benefit for the community, or which overlooked urgent needs of the struggling herders.

Tsaatan herders take a leadership role in developing community action plans
during a PRA excersize at the January conference.

In an effort to enhance the success of the program, Itgel proposed to host a conference to bring together government program representatives and the Tsaatan community for a collaborative planning session so the Tsaatan could share information about their needs and priorities with government officials. Itgel hosted this conference on January 25-26 in the Tsaatan’s home of Tsagaan Nuur village. The event was attended by more than 100 Tsaatan community members and two representatives of the government program, and facilitated by the neutral Mongolian NGO People Centered Conservation using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques. The outcome was ground-breaking. For the first time ever, the Tsaatan worked together to develop a long term community development action plan, with specific activities, goals, and strategies in four sectors: education, livelihoods, health, and environment. The action plans were then formally submitted to the Mongolian government, and a request from the community was made to develop the government program based on the action plans put forth by the community. Itgel is closely following the progress of this program, which has yet to formally recognize the recommendations put forth by the community.

Tsaatan Form Legal Entity, Gain Legal Representation

Itgel successfully supported Tsaatan community leaders in their pursuit to form a legal entity, called a “nohorlool” or “community association,” giving the Tsaatan legal rights as an officially-recognized entity.

Nandintsetseg, a representative from the law firm Bonalex, presents Tsaatan community member Bayanjargal (in green) with the official stamp and registration papers for the newly formed Tsaatan community association, "Tsaatan Zon."

Founded by community leader Bayanjargal, the nohorlool was named “Tsaatan Zon” (Tsaatan Nation), and has since grown to include dozens of Tsaatan members. Soon after its formation, the entity gained pro-bono legal representation by the Mongolian law firm Bonalex, giving the Tsaatan community legal representation for the first time ever! Tsaatan Zon has assumed the role as the managing entity of the Tsaatan Community & Visitors Center (TCVC), fulfilling the TCVC project’s goal of being 100% owned and operated by the Tsaatan community.

Capacity Building at the TCVC Attended by Enthusiastic Tsaatan Community Members

As part of the Tsaatan Community & Visitors’ Center (TCVC) project’s plan to prepare the Tsaatan community to assume 100% operational control of the full-service Center, capacity building events were held last month. Guide and cook training courses for Tsaatan wishing to be employed through the TCVC drew enthusiastic participants from East and West Taigas, and the village center. 16 guides, including 13 Tsaatan men and 3 Tsaatan women, were trained by the Mongolian Tour Guides’ Association (MTGA), the nation’s recognized leader in training professional guides. The three and a half day course featured classroom and field training.

Simultaneously, 30 cooks were trained by a professor from Mongolia’s College of Food Technology during a hands-on training course that participants said “changed their life” by empowering women to build self-confidence, gain skills, and earn income. Participants of both courses were awarded certificates, recognizing them as official TCVC service providers. These 46 individuals will now have the opportunity to earn greatly-needed income by providing services for trips coordinated through the TCVC.

News Briefs

TCVC Information Kits for Tour Operators are now available. If you are an in-bound or out-bound operator running trips in Mongolia’s taiga region, please contact us to obtain your copy of this important packet of information.

Thanks to the generous donation of 2007 TCVC clients Larry Pixley and Robin Ratcliffe, two iCom long distance two-way radios were provided to the Tsaatan community in January. One was installed in the remote West Taiga region, giving herders in this area the first-ever access to two-way communications technology. The second unit was installed at the TCVC, enabling the Center to function efficiently as the Tsaatan’s hub for news and information exchange, trip coordination, and community-wide decision-making. These radios will also serve the life-saving function as the community’s means of calling for emergency medical and veterinary care.

East Taiga community member Solongo is the first to use the newly-installed radio at the TCVC. Solongo, who attends university in the distant capital city, was thrilled to now have a means of keeping in touch with her community while away at school.

Itgel volunteer and Fulbright Fellow Jessica Schutz hosted two community-wide meetings with the Tsaatan in mid-March to refine operational and financial policies of the TCVC. Community members outlined duties of the TCVC’s elected managers, drafted a list of rules and responsibilities of service providers, and determined a strategy for utilizing the Community Fund, a Tsaatan-controlled account to which a percentage of all TCVC revenues are deposited for community improvement projects.
Itgel’s Community & Herd Health Team departed on April 13th for spring field work in the Tsaatan community. Planned activities included screen testing for infectious diseases, ecosystem surveying and herd management consultations. Itgel was joined by a representative from Mongolia’s Institute of Veterinary Medicine, the nation’s leading research laboratory.