MONGOLIA :  UDRC in Ulaanbataar wins the IYSH Memorial Prize

The good news from Mongolia is that in July, the 3rd IYSH Memorial Encouragement Prize (given by the Japan Housing Association) was awarded this year to the Urban Development Resource Center (UDRC) in Ulaanbaatar, with whom ACHR has developed close working and sharing links in recent years through a series of exchange visits, seminars and joint ventures in savings and credit and community fund activities.  UDRC is an NGO that was set up in August 2005 with the aim of reducing poverty in Mongolia by improving the living environments in Ger areas (informal communities of nomadic dwellings on the outskirts of cities) based on active community participation and people-driven efforts.  More here

UDRC, which consists of civil engineers, architects, urban planners, and financial managers, provides services including consulting, research, training, assistance to the planning, designing, and construction of the urban environment, and sharing of information on urban development, building, infrastructure, and housing.  But the organization's special emphasis is on helping low-income households and communities to improve their living environment and to build affordable and energy-efficient houses, as well as to form savings groups in order to gain access to housing loans.  The UDRC's major achievements for the past two years include:

• Establishment of more than 100 community savings groups with 1,000 members in twelve provinces and Ulaanbaatar City.
• Total amount of savings accumulated by savings groups: 23.8 million Tugrug (US$20,400).
• Total amount of loans made to savings groups for improving their living environment: 18.2 million Tugrug (US$15,700).
• Eighty training sessions conducted for about 6,000 residents to encourage their active participation in improving the living environment and savings activities.
• Forty-two small-scale Ger-area improvement projects initiated.
• National Forum on Community-based Ger-area Development organized in collaboration with the Government of Mongolia, ACHR, UNDP, and UNESCAP.