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    <title>Mercy Corps Peaceful Change Features</title>
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    <description>The Latest Mercy Corps Peaceful Change Content</description>
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<item>
	<title>A Welcome Harvest</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/peacefulchange/2735/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[It would be hard to overstate the importance of rice to the people of Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta: it is the staple food, cash crop and livelihood of this entire region.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:53:59 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Bold Woman Makes a Difference</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/agriculture/2745/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[When the cyclone hit, Mra Sabai Nyun was taking a break from a 30-year career in public service &amp;mdash; but right away she decided that she had something to offer the devastated region.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:38:35 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Navigating Change in the Delta</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/agriculture/2772/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[A little more than seven months after the storm, Mercy Corps is transitioning from humanitarian relief to a longer term recovery effort in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta. Jeremy Barnicle recently spent a week in the region to monitor progress and report back successes and challenges.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:20:25 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Taking Charge of the Recovery</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/civilsociety/2773/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[In Jeremy Barnicle's four years at Mercy Corps, he often heard colleagues talk about &quot;community mobilization&quot; as something central to our approach in the field, but never really understood it &amp;mdash; until Kan Bet.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:05:21 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Miracle Growth</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/peacefulchange/2733/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[This is a story about how political transformation, tourism and tomatoes created an oasis in the southernmost reaches of the Gobi. It begins with a man named Poli.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:48:32 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Better School Lunches - No, Really</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/mongolia/2736/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[Throughout much of Mongolia, school meals are the only nutrition that students receive. Mercy Corps helped make them more nutritious.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:34:53 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Shepherding Tradition</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/women/2744/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[Here in a nomad camp in Mongolia's southernmost province, the Master Herder is dressed in a black velvet jacket, grey corduroy pants and blue hiking boots.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:21:06 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Boundless Horizons</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/mongolia/2768/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[A couple dozen miles outside of Mongolia's capital of Ulaanbaatar, the paved road ended and gave way to the Gobi Desert. A few dozen miles after that, we had our first flat tire of the day. I stepped out of the car and found a sun-bleached camel skull at my feet. 

Thus began our first day of documentary fieldwork in Mongolia. 

As I stood outside with photographer Thatcher Cook and our interpreter Bayar &amp;mdash; taking shelter, as best we could, from stinging sands hurled by whipping winds &amp;mdash; our driver Ochir began pacing, murmuring in Mongolian and gesturing in an agitated way. I asked Bayar what was going on. 
&quot;Ochir says that his damn brother-in-law put the wrong tire iron in the car,&quot; he explained. &quot;He can't remove the spare tire from the back door.&quot; 

And so there we were, in the Gobi &amp;mdash;  Asia's largest desert &amp;mdash; with a flat tire and no way to replace it. Our cell phones were out of range. There were no settlements to be seen anywhere across the broad horizon. So Ochir started walking in the direction that he thought, or rather guessed, was most hopeful. 

About three hours later, a cargo truck pulled up and stopped next to our car. Two men in traditional Mongolian herder clothing got out and pointed to the truck bed, which was covered with a piece of canvas. 

&quot;They say Ochir's in there,&quot; Bayar plainly stated. And so he was &amp;mdash; when the canvas was untied, he popped out with a metal file procured from parts unknown. Ochir proceeded to file down the business end of the tire iron until it was small enough to unscrew the lug nuts holding the spare tire in place. The tires were then swapped; we thanked the two men for bringing Ochir back to us and were back on our way southward through the Gobi, navigating our way to the city of Mandalgovi by the GPS mounted on the dashboard. 

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy CorpsAnother tire went flat less than two hours later, requiring taking out the busted inner tube, then inflating and installing a new one since we'd gone through our daily supply of spare tires. It was mid-afternoon by then; we'd already missed three interviews with Mercy Corps clients, all of which we'd have to somehow slot into the already-packed next day of field work. 

Travel in Mongolia is some of the toughest I've ever experienced: it's a place where extreme weather conditions, areas of permafrost and a dearth of permanent settlements render a network of paved roads not only impractical but also fairly impossible. Regardless, we rumbled more than 1,600 miles across desert, steppes and mountains over the course of two weeks despite several more flat tires, gale-force winds and sandstorms that looked like tidal waves. 

Just about the whole time, I was thinking, &quot;people survive out here.&quot; I was in awe. After all, this is a place where temperatures range from subarctic lows around -40° F to scorching desert heat that soars to 104° F. Across Mongolia, there's an average of just five people per square mile - only three countries or territories in the world, one of which is Greenland, have a lower population density. More than a third of the population lives in Ulaanbaatar. You can honestly travel for a few hours in the Gobi without seeing one settlement or person. 

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy CorpsAnd still, despite all that, nomadic families maintain their centuries old ways of life. They tend enormous flocks of livestock to satisfy household needs and provide raw materials such as cashmere and felt to sell at market. They live in round, portable houses called gers that they can put up or take down within an hour's time. They are fiercely self-sufficient, living in small family settlements on some of the world's most extreme &amp;mdash; and beautiful &amp;mdash; landscapes. However, the last century has tested their way of life more than ever before. 

In 1924, Mongolia became the world's second Communist country, adopting the philosophy soon after the rise of the neighboring Soviet Union. It remained that way until the early 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a successful democracy movement. The transition from a state-run, centralized economy to free enterprise has been fitful; Mercy Corps has been helping speed that transformation by lending its expertise here since 1999. 

Each of Mercy Corps' three current programs here &amp;mdash; the Gobi Initiative, Rural Agribusiness Support Program and Training, Advocacy and Networking project &amp;mdash; provides financial and technical support for families, small businesses and organizations that are seeking to find their place in Mongolia's nascent market economy. Simply put, it's about giving families the chance to strengthen their livelihoods and expand their business opportunities while protecting their traditions. Mercy Corps Mongolia's programs currently boast 640,000 beneficiaries &amp;mdash; more than 20 percent of the country's population. 

Among those that Thatcher and I met were traditional herders seeking new markets for their cashmere, wool and dairy products; teachers who have lobbied the government to provide more money for healthier student meals; a traditional furniture maker who has begun an export business to Holland; and a retired mayor who somehow makes award-winning tomatoes sprout from the inhospitable desert. 

When I stepped out of the car that first long day in Mongolia, miles from anywhere or anyone, there was little to consider but the vast expanses and ceaseless blue skies. By the end of my travels, though, I realized that the most boundless horizons of all were the futures of the people I met.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:52:04 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Preserving Nomadic Life</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/peacefulchange/2769/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[In the sometimes-splendid isolation of the Gobi, Tumurchuluun knows that herding is good work, important work. And Mercy Corps knows that, too.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:54:52 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Slideshow: Faces of the Gobi</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/economicdevelopment/2770/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[Here are some of the people and landscapes we encountered on a two-week, 1,600 mile journey over Mongolia's deserts, mountains and steppes.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:49:27 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>A Fresco in Gaza</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/peacefulchange/2628/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[An Italian painter and teacher noted for melding art and humanitarianism recently helped 100 Palestinian youth express themselves in a Gazan fresco.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:01:05 -0700</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Six Stories from Kosovo</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/peacefulchange/2207/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[With independence now declared, Mercy Corps has captured a snapshot of how long-delayed status impacted the lives of people living in Kosovo.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:30:41 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Ethnic Minority Families Return Home</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/kosovo/2184/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[For almost a decade, Mercy Corps has been working with families, communities, local government agencies and partner organizations to facilitate the return of families who wish to go home.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:59:56 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Helping a Failed State Succeed</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/civilsociety/2137/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[Mercy Corps' work in Somalia ranges from helping fishermen increase their yields to teaching new conflict-management skills to building vital transportation links. In three districts of southern Somalia, a major Mercy Corps &quot;cash-for-work&quot; program is giving people the opportunity to earn money; helping communities build and repair infrastructure; and teaching local groups to set priorities, make plans and implement projects in the absence of strong government support. 

Inherent in all this work is a fundamental question for all international actors in Somalia: How do you help a failed state succeed?

Since the collapse of President Siad Barre's government in 1991, Somalia has been seen as the quintessential failed state. The country, a boomerang-shaped rim along the Horn of Africa, has struggled to establish a stable government, maintain law and order, and improve the difficult living conditions most of its inhabitants endure. Economic growth is anemic outside the country's surprisingly strong service sector in urban areas. Infrastructure has been decimated. Only about one in 10 Somali children attend school.

For many Americans, mention of Somalia conjures up images of &quot;Black Hawk Down,&quot; the 1993 incident — chronicled in Mark Bowden's bestselling book and later adapted into a Hollywood movie — where Mogadishu militias killed 18 U.S. soldiers who were part of a multinational peacekeeping operation. International attention went elsewhere, but the chaos continued. Today Somalia can be considered one of the world's &quot;silent disasters.&quot;

What is labeled &quot;Somalia&quot; on today's world map is actually composed of three relatively autonomous regions:

Somaliland, a former British colony in the northwest of Somalia, has declared that it considers itself distinct from the rest of Somalia. The region has its own system of governance and is seeking recognition from the international community as an independent nation.

Puntland, in the northeast of the country, has also established its own political system, though it considers itself part of a federated Somalia and its elected leader serves as part of the country's Transitional Federal Government. 

Then there's the rest of Somalia, the south and south-central parts of the country.  It is this area where competing clans struggle for control, where kids only dream of attending school, where infrastructure is crumbling from 15 years of war and neglect.

And this is where this story of Mercy Corps' newest project in Somalia begins.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:48:25 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Q&amp;A with Abdikadir Mohamed</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/tsunami/2138/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[An ethnic Somali, Abdikadir Mohamed has served as Mercy Corps' top representative in Somalia since June 2006.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:22:44 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Aceh: Rising from War and Disaster</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/topics/tsunami/2120/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[With collaboration from communities, local organizations and government, Mercy Corps helped Aceh's tsunami survivors quickly move on with their lives.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:15:29 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>After Slavery, Unshackling Potential</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/nepal/2062/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[Conflict, ethnic discord and slavery have long kept western Nepal poor and hopeless. Mercy Corps is helping youth unite and change society.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:19:26 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>The Last Girl In School</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/nepal/2065/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[For the last few years, 12-year-old Anita has stayed home while her peers walked to the village school. But not today]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:32:43 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Optimism and Action Transform a Village</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/nepal/2066/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[In the village of Bichpuri, trees and vegetables are part of the reason that no one is without the possibility of an education.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:18:21 -0800</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
	<title>Rising From Violence</title>
	<link>http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/nepal/2067/</link>
	<description><![CDATA[On a hot August day, violence and ruin came to the Geti camp. Less than a week later, good neighbors were helping shaken families rebuild their homes.]]></description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:33:50 -0800</pubDate>
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