Supporter: Sean Granville-Ross

Photo: Mercy Corps Indonesia

Yesterday was the anniversary of the West Sumatra earthquake. With the commitment of Mercy Corps' team, our relief and recovery programmes have done some fantastic work and achieved great impact for affected areas, families and economies.

As part of the anniversary events, Mercy Corps received a certificate from the Government of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency — a recognition of the team's hard work and excellent programming.

I wanted to share this honor with the entire Mercy Corps team around the world, as well as our generous donors and supporters. Thank you.

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Today is an intense day for the Mercy Corps team in Padang, with more team members arriving and emergency assessments of affected areas underway.

We currently have seven Mercy Corps staff on the ground in Padang — six from the local office and Malka Older, our Programme Director who's based in Jakarta — as well as 15 staff from Kogami, our local partner organisation. Over the next couple of days, they'll be joined by a monitoring and evaluation specialist from our office in Banda Aceh, a logistician, finance and procurement staff, an engineer, a programme officer and then a water and sanitation expert from our Global Emergency Operations team. Even though much of our team in Padang was assembled within 24 hours of the first earthquake, it always takes a little longer for the full team to get into position — especially when the local airport is operating at a lesser capacity and roads are blocked by debris.

A wide range of buildings in Padang, including hundreds of houses, were toppled or severely damaged by Wednesday's earthquake. Photo: REUTERS/Dadang Tri, courtesy of www.alertnet.org

This team will assess areas that were hit particularly hard by the earthquake, using specific tools and methods that Mercy Corps has used in many previous disasters, including here in Indonesia. These assessments will be used by a consortium of eight humanitarian organisations, which Mercy Corps is leading, to determine the most pressing needs of devastated communities and displaced families.

Since we've already had a presence in Padang for the last five years, conducting programmes that range from children's nutrition to emergency preparedness, we're already very familiar with the area and well-suited to lead this effort.

We're planning to distribute shelter supplies, hygiene items and clean water to displaced families who are surviving as best they can in this suddenly-changed environment. Soon after that, we'll continue working with those families through programmes that pay laborers a living wage to restore and rebuild their communities. The income they earn will help them support their households, as well as get money flowing to local businesses that are also struggling to survive.

An emergency response might look different from what a lot of people would expect; it's not about showing up and dropping off boxes of supplies. It takes a lot more to ensure that immediate needs are met in a thorough and timely manner, and also that long-term rebuilding is begun with the full support of the communities we serve.

There's too much at stake here to do any less than a complete response in Padang. Our team plans to do it right.

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In the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of its assistance to Mongolia, food was in short supply for most Mongolian families. Meat from a family's own herd of livestock was the main component of the diet, occasionally accompanied by potatoes and, when available, some variety of vegetable.

Although the Mongolian diet is based on meat, vegetables are well-liked - especially those grown locally. As a result of the country's new market economy, the demand for vegetables is on the rise. But customers don't wait just any vegetables: when they shop at the local market in the western province of Gobi Altai, they ask specifically for Sharga County vegetables instead of the more abundant vegetables from China.

Why the change in tastes? Just ask Mr. Bayambatogs.

Bayambatogs has grown vegetables in Sharga County for the last 33 years. The county, located 70 kilometers southwest of the provincial centre, Altai City, is a beautiful desert oasis - a welcome oddity in the surrounding stark landscape. This is where Mr. Bayambatogs has maintained his gardens and grown his reputation.

For the better part of three decades, he was employed as a gardener by the local socialist work group, which produced vegetables for the Gobi Altai province. After Mongolia's socialist period ended and Bayambatogs's work group ceased to exist, he realized that the demand for locally grown vegetables was not being met. So, in 1995 he decided to start his own business, Bayan Sharga - which means "The Rich Yellow Desert." Over the last ten years, he and his family have grown potatoes, cabbages, carrots, onions, tomatoes and watermelons on five hectares of land.

After a decade of watching the demand for vegetables steadily increase in Gobi Altai, Bayambatogs decided it was time to modernize and improve the efficiency of his business. He contacted the Gobi Regional Economic Growth Initiative, a herder diversification and business development programme funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Mercy Corps. The programme works throughout the Gobi Region in Southern Mongolia, assisting herders like Bayambatogs to achieve their business goals. The project focuses on developing cooperatives, expanding and diversifying small businesses, and improving the quality and accessibility of local business development and support services.

Since the programme began, Mercy Corps has helped to create more than 400 new businesses through the training of more than 3,500 entrepreneurs like Bayambatogs. Nearly 200 herder groups and cooperatives, comprising more than 6,000 members, are active Gobi Initiative business development clients.

In the fall of 2004, Bayambatogs received Mercy Corps assistance in developing a business plan to expand his operation. The business plan contained a summary of the proposed activities, the technical training, equipment and financing needs, the results of market research, and marketing and sales strategies. Bayambatogs applied for small business loan to buy a tractor and was approved based upon his years of experience and well-written business plan.

"We had wanted to purchase a tractor for many years, but it was difficult to receive a loan," he explained. "With Mercy Corps assistance, though, securing a loan became a lot simpler."

So far the tractor has saved countless hours of labour for Bayambatogs and his family. With the extra time, he has been able to plant more vegetables, which has increased his yields and profits. This year, he has planted three hectares of potatoes instead of the usual two hectares.

Mercy Corps has also provided greenhouse construction training to Bayambatogs. Next spring he plans to build a small greenhouse, which will give him a head start on the short growing season. Because of harsh winters in Mongolia, vegetables cannot be planted until the beginning of June and must be ready for harvest by early September.

Given his well-earned success, Bayambatogs will continue his cooperation with Mercy Corps and USAID. He plans to diversify his business by establishing a micro-dairy, which will keep him busy during the winter months when he cannot grow vegetables. He hopes that the next generation will continue the family business.

"If I can create a very successful business, I will be able to convince my oldest daughter, who is studying at the National Agriculture University, to return home and help me manage and continue to improve our business."

That way, a new generation of Mongolian connoisseurs will be able to enjoy Bayambatogs family produce.

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Vegetable growers and dairy producers in Mongolia's Umnugobi province (or aimag) have begun supplying local produce to one of that country's largest mineral exploration operations.

The Bat-Amgalan Khurkh herder cooperative in the town of Nomgon soum, the Ankh San cooperative in Bulgan soum and the Aduut Gobi cooperative in Khurmen soum have made their first deliveries to Ivanhoe Mines’ Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper exploration site in Umnugobi.

The cooperatives – who have received technical assistance and training from the Mercy Corps Gobi Initiative project, which is funded by USAID – are supplying the 400-strong workforce with fresh soybean curds and a range of freshly grown produce.

Their first delivery of 20kg of curds, 200kg of potatoes, 200kg of onions, 150kg of carrots, 100kg of turnips, 100kg of tomatoes, 10kg of beets and 10kg of peppers on September 23 netted them more than 400,000 MNT - equivalent to about £240

Mercy Corps Mongolia Country Director Steve Zimmerman said: “Since one of the main focus areas of our project is to link new and expanding rural businesses to local, regional and national markets, Ivanhoe, as a major Gobi-area consumer, represents a solid marketing opportunity for these rural businesses. Ivanhoe solidly endorses the practice of local procurement and Gobi-area producers are seeing the value of this business collaboration.

“The herders get immediate payment for their products, helping to eliminate an outdated barter system that has prevailed since the early 1990s.

“It’s all about linking producers to markets, where those markets pay them in real money and real time. Producer-consumer relationships like this benefit the small Gobi businesses and provide a large company like Ivanhoe with an opportunity to demonstrate very tangible support for the local economy.”

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