News
Read about the grant received from CISU and the building progress here
Khovsgol Dairy Project Annual Report 2016
Small Scale production in progress
SSKh have received a curd drier donated by KDP. The funds was generated by kind donates from a crowd funding campaign.
The dried curd produced on the pictures are for the new year celebration called Tsagaan Sar (White moon) in Mongolian. The White Moon festival is celebrated on the first through third days of the first lunar month. Tsagaan Sar is one of the most important Mongolian holidays.
White Moon description from Wikipedia
In Mongolia around the New Year, families burn candles at the altar symbolizing Buddhist enlightenment. Also people greet each other with holiday-specific greetings such as Амар байна уу? (Amar baina uu?), meaning “Are you living peacefully?” Mongols also visit friends and family on this day and exchange gifts. A typical Mongol family will meet in the home dwelling of the eldest in the family.
Many people will be dressed in full garment of national Mongol costumes. When greeting their elders during the White Moon festival, Mongols perform the zolgokh greeting, grasping them by their elbows to show support for them. The eldest receives greetings from each member of the family. During the greeting ceremony, family members hold long, typically blue, silk cloths called a khadag. After the ceremony, the extended family eats sheep’s tail, mutton, rice with curds, dairy products, and buuz (Mongolian dumplings). It is also typical to drink airag (fermented mares milk) and exchange gifts. Dairy products plays a essential role in the White Moon celebrations as they are “White food” and considered sacred and pure.
Distinguished visitors from Mongolia
The Khovsgol Dairy Project hosted distinguished visitors from Mongolia Thursday 10th November and Karl Simonsen (DwB) and his wife invited the delegation for lunch at their home in Osted.
The delegation consisted of:
Mr. Munkhbaatar, Mongolian Parliament member
Mr. Batchuluun, Director of Khuvsgul Development Fund and the Mongolian Reindeer Association
Mr. Bulgan, Consul from the Mongolian Embassy in Stockholm,
Michael Haslund-Christiensen, Danish consul to Mongolia
Sten Sørensen Holmgaard and Isabel Sande Frandsen representatives from Dairy Without Borders (DwB)
The delegation was offered a traditional Danish Christmas lunch, where everything was homemade – except for the obligatory Snaps. And it was with great pleasure the Mongolian guests tried the pickled herring, rye bread and various cheese specialities.
The primary purpose of the meeting was to present the Khovsgol Dairy Project to the guests and explore opportunities for cooperation. Dairy Without Borders representatives presented the overall idea behind the project and explained key components and in what areas the Khovsgol cooperative Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig need support.
Parliament member Mr. Munkhbaatar, who himself comes from the Khovsgol region was very interested and expressed a strong agreement in the project approach and scope. He also told that he would ask local authorities to be aware of the project and provide the administrative and promotional support. He would also recommend the project with a personal letter, that the Khovsgol Dairy Project could use to seek funds or otherwise promote the project. Last but not least, he stated a desire to facilitate the potential import of dairy equipment, if needed.
Also, the Danish consul and the Mongolian consul in Sweden were very supportive of the project and expressed a desire to assist the project.
After the formal part of the meeting and lunch the delegation went and visited a farm, Mannerup Møllegård, located in Osted. Farmer Peter Sivertsen showed around on the farm, which also includes chickens and beehives. He explained how milking robots are milking the farm’s 160 dairy cows. He also explained about organic farming in Denmark. Peter Sivertsen is selling fresh farm milk that can be drawn directly from a machine on the farm and the Mongolian visitors were allowed to try the machine before heading back to Copenhagen and Mongolia.
Global Communities annual meeting in Dugan Had, Bornuur soum, Tov province 27-28th October 2016
Khovsgol Dairy Project are sponsoring and supporting the capacity building of Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig Cooperative in Khatgal, therefore we are paying for transportation and accommodation costs for 4 members from Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig Cooperative to join the annual meeting of Global Communities in Dugan Had.
33 cooperatives participated in the annual meeting. From SSKh Chairwoman Anhmandakh, boardmembers Khukhii and Dalaimyagmar, members Baigalimaa, Tsenddavaa and Maya Dorjnamjin participated.
Here are the topics of the workshops and lectures:
Main challenges and problematic matters of cooperatives
- Laws and legislation
- Economy
- Developing a business
- Marketing
- Membership and responsibility
Here is the agenda of Global Communities cooperatives annual knowledge share workshop in English.
Read more here
Report of Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig Cooperative activities summer 2016 in both English and Mongolian
Thanks to Nurjan Khavdselem for her big help producing and translating the report
Summary study trip 3rd July – 1st August 2016
Participants
Chalotte Vad, project leader and architect, Architects without Borders
Peter Ulrich, Dairy technologist, Dairy without Borders
Karl Simonsen, Dairy technologist, Dairy without Borders
Nurjan Khavdselem, Interpreter
Shuree Sukhbaatar, Country Manager Mongolian branch, ecoLeap Foundation
Joanna Ryter, Intern, ecoLeap Foundation
Read the summary of the study trip to Mongolia July 2016
Dairy Education of young people from Khatgal as future staff for the Dairy facility
Read more about the dairy education here
Khovsgol Dairy Project is paying for the education of two young girls, Nyamdelger and Enkhtuya, from Khatgal soum/village as Dairy Technologists at MUST, Mongolian University of Science and Technology. The education takes 4,5 years and Nyamdelger and Enkhtuya will also take intensive English classes during this period. Khovsgol Dairy Project plan to send more young people to be educated as dairy technicians over the next years.
The tuition fee is 1.987.500 MNT and dormitory cost is 550.000 MNT pr. year. Khovsgol Dairy Project also pay 100.000 MNT per month for the food and book expenses. The total cost the educate Nyamdelger and Enkhtuya as Dairy Technicians will be 3.737.500 MNT pr. year. This is approximately 1.800 US$.
Read more and donate here. Education fundraising
Itinerary study trip July 2016
Senior-rejse til Khovsgol, Mongoliet – juli 2016
Arkitekter uden Grænser er i gang med at definere detaljerne i vores projekt i Mongoliet i samarbejde med Mejerifolk uden Grænser. Vi har for nylig indgået aftale med Ingeniører uden Grænser om også at indgå i samarbejdet.
I den forbindelse har vi brug for at sende en delegation til Mongoliet de to første uger af juli måned 2016. Vi søger derfor 1-2 seniorer (pensionerede/efterlønnere), som vi kan søge rejsepenge til.
Da vi sender en tværfaglig delegation af sted, vil der være en del tværfaglige møder undervejs. De overordnede opgaver på studieturen er:
Workshop med vores lokale partner Saikhan Saikhan Khishig khorshoo, samt afdækning af arbejdsopgaver ved byggeri af mejeri.
Møder i Ulaanbaatar
Møde med lokal arkitektforening. Byggesæson, permafrost, anskaffelse af materialer og håndværkere. Lokal byggestil. Kan vi få en lokal arkitekt tilknyttet projektet?
Møde med byggesagkyndig omkring byggeregler i Mongoliet.
Møde med landmåler
Besøg på byggeplads, registrering af byggemetoder i storbyen.
Møde med lokal ingeniørforening.
Møde med fagkyndige vedrørende spildevandsløsninger
Møde med fagkyndige vedrørende boring af brønd. Priser, udfordringer etc.
Workshop/møder/registrering med SSKK i Khatgal
Afdækning af nomadernes migrationsmønster. Hvordan udvælges stedet til en ny lejr. Hvilke kriterier skal opfyldes. Hvilke traditioner er vigtige når nomaderne migrere.
Hvordan definerer nomaderne selv et godt nomadeliv, hvordan bibeholder vi dette i projektet
Registrering af lokal byggetradition på landet, materialer, traditionel indretning, permafrost, vandforsyning, kloakering, elektricitet.
Hvordan definerer nomaderne et smukt byggeri.
Hvordan løser vi udfordringen at ånderne ikke kan lide at man graver i jorden.
Udfærdige partnerskabs aftale med SSKK
Jævnfør ovenstående søger vi 1-2 personer, der har erfaring med og viden om:
- Projektering
- Overblik og forståelse for processer og projektarbejde
- Allround byggeteknisk indsigt
- Er velfunderet i engelsk
Ydermere skal du af personlige egenskaber:
- Være imødekommende over for fremmede kulturer
- Kan se løsningsmuligheder i et interimistisk miljø
- Kan rapportere observationer og forslag til løsninger
Ved udvælgelsen vil vi derfor lægge vægt på, at du:
- Kan indgå i en projektgruppe om at udarbejde et samlet projektforslag, budget, tidsplan mm.
- Kan afdække hvilke ressourcer og kompetencer Arkitekter uden Grænser skal stille til rådighed for projektet
- Kan videreformidle din viden og erfaring til de lokale på et lavpraktisk niveau.
Khovsgol Dairy Project kort
Formålet med Khovsgol Dairy Project er på sigt at bygge et velfungerende andelsmejeri, som andelskooperativet Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig skal varetage. På den korte bane skal vi forbedre de lokale nomaders mulighed for at producere mælkeprodukter af høj kvalitet, der kan afsættes til tredje part. Derudover vil nomaderne blive uddannet i hygiejne og råvarehåndtering af mælken, hvilket vil øge den almene sundhedstilstand hos befolkningen og forebygge sygdomme. Mejeriet vil skabe lokale arbejdspladser og give et løft til hele regionen, hvilket kan hjælpe med at vende tendensen for migration fra landområderne til storbyerne.
Hvis ovenstående har vakt din interesse, så skal vi modtage CV og kort motivationsbeskrivelse inden d. 1. juni 2016.
Sendes til: Projektleder Chalotte Vad cv@khovsgoldairyproject.org
Da projektet stadigvæk er i opbygningsfasen har AuG desværre ikke midler til at betale kost og logi for deltagerne på rejsen. Der skal beregnes ca. 5000 kr for kost og logi i 16 dage. Det er ikke nødvendigt at blive vaccineret for rejser til Mongoliet.
Training workshop for Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig khorshoo / Blessed by Yak Cooperative
Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig khorshoo (Blessed by Yak Cooperative) is a cooperative consisting of nomads living in the surroundings of the small village of Khatgal, situated in the northern Mongolian province of Khovsgol. The cooperative was established in the summer 2015 and consist of 68 members.
However, the cooperative still needs to constitute itself through a General Assembly and write their own bylaws, in order to obtain a legitimate identity. This is an essential step in order to count them in as partner and target group for an upcoming project that aims at building a dairy facility, with international standards run by the local newly established cooperative. The goal is to improve the local nomads’ possibilities of producing dairy products of high quality that can be sold to third parties.
The nomads have a tradition to help each other in small family groups or individually, however they have very little or no experience in organizing themselves in cooperatives, and many have very low formal education, so they need support in order to establish themselves formally, constitute a Board of Directors, and learn how to write minutes, etc.
To help alleviate this challenge a national Civil Society Group, Global Communities, has offered to train the cooperative. Global Communities has helped more than 800 Mongolian farmers establish themselves in cooperatives. http://www.globalcommunities.org/mongolia
Global Communities are sending 5 cooperative leaders and members of the organization to Khatgal 29 February – 4 March 2016 to conduct a training for the Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig khorshoo members on the cooperative basic concept and principles.
The workshop will consist of the following training (not exhaustive):
• Cooperative board and board members’ rights and duties
• Membership agreement
• Cooperative risk and savings fund policy
• Business plan and budget
• Minutes writing
Furthermore, Global Communities will assist the cooperative in carrying through their General Assembly and constitute their Board of Directors, as well as drafting minutes from the General Assembly. It is expected that approximately 65-70 nomads will participate in the workshop.
Global Communities has offered to bring up 5 people for a 7-days training for free, but they do not have funding for travelling expenses, accommodation and food.
Workshop budget
Accommodation and food for 5 people, (7 days) 1.135 $
Transport 5 people from Ulaanbaatar to Khatgal and back
(2 X 670 km) 300 $
Rent for the premises for the workshop (7 days) 150 $
Tea, coffee and snacks (7 days) 115 $
Total 1.700 $
Help us raise funds for the workshop: Training workshop for Sarlagiin Saikhan Khishig khorshoo
Workshop schedule
Feasibility report in English
The Danish dairy team from Danish Dairy Technology without Borders, Lisbeth Knarreborg, Sten Holmgaard Sørensen and Uffe Mortensen has produced this thorough report from the data collected on the feasibility study trip 4th July- 8th August 2015.
Global Community Conference October 2015
The Conference was held 29 – 30th of October in “Dugan Khad” tourist camp, near Bayan Chandmani Soum/Town 130 km from UB.
From Khatgal “Sarlagiin Khishig Khorshoo” (Blessed by Yak cooperative), B.Badamkhand, B.Dalaimyagmar and N.Tsenddavaa attended the conference.
The conference was attended by108 participants from 26 cooperatives, predominantly from the provinces of Ulaanbaatar, Töv and Selenge. The participating cooperatives were also from different industries or trades such as agriculture, dairy production, wool/felt or handcrafts.
The conference included lectures on a multitude of topics such as: marketing, selling, development, success, communication and how to best share knowledge among the cooperatives.
The different cooperatives also had a chance to share their stories and experiences with the other members. Including case studies about: how to package, what is the best way to ensure milk quality, marketing strategies and online accounting systems.
The members of “Sarlagiin Khishig khorshoo”, learned a lot from the lectures and it was very insightful to hear about the experience of others cooperatives. During the evenings there was a lot of networking and knowledge sharing both in groups and one to one.
Director G. Tsoggerel, of ”Zamtiin Negdel Khorshoo”, who has advised during the establishment of “Sarlagiin Khishig Khorshoo” introduced the members to many other cooperatives and their directors among others: “Tansag Tsagaan Idee Khorshoo, “Saikhan Suunii Uildver”, “Sod Ach Khorshoo” Director Tungalag, “Suun Dalai Khorshoo” Director Batjargal and Dairy Technolgist B.Maygmarsuren.
Next steps will be to arrange a general meeting for “Sarlagiin Khishig Khorshoo” to share the learning’s of the conference and develop a plan for future activities.
28-29th October 2015 Building Green exhibition in Copenhagen
Khovsgol Dairy Project displayed at the Architect without Borders exhibition stand.
The Danish dairy team from Danish Dairy Technology without Borders, Lisbeth Knarreborg, Sten Holmgaard Sørensen and Uffe Mortensen has produced this thorough report from the data collected on the feasibility study trip 4th July- 8th August.
This version is in Danish, but we are working on a version in English and Mongolian that will be posted on this page as soon as possible.
This diagram is a proposal produced by the dairy team for the local needs in order to produce traditional Mongolian dairy products.
Summary of feasibility study trip 4th july-8th August 2015
Articles from Mælkeri Tidende nr. 8,
17. april 2015. 128 årgang