Newsroom

UNDP Goodwill Ambassador HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Governor Jargal of the Khentii province are greeted by nomadic herder Gantuya. Photo: UNDP Mongolia

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway began his three-day visit to Mongolia Monday. As a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), he visits a country that is debating how to best use its increasing wealth for a better future for all.

“Today Mongolia stands at a crossroads to decide whether it will make full of use its economic growth to reach the Millennium Development Goals,” Crown Prince Haakon said.

The Crown Prince will meet Mongolians who contribute to the country’s development on different levels. Today he visited a Community Development Centre in the Khoroo district in Ulaanbaatar, where many families have moved in search of new opportunities. The people living in these settlements are facing massive problems with unemployment, poverty, poor sanitation and lack of basic social services.   Under these difficult conditions, the Community Development Centre provides children, some of whom have to work, with education. Our Home Ger School, a school in a traditional Mongolian tent called a ger, is located on the major waste disposal site in Ulaanbaatar.

UNDP has provided leadership training for the people instrumental in establishing this local centre. The centre offers training based on the families’ different needs, such as vegetable growing, nutrition training, and classes for school drop-outs, children living on the dump-sites and children with disabilities.

The Crown Prince had the chance to interact with children benefiting from this school, where they are empowered to look ahead to a brighter future.   Chairperson Ms. Terbish Amgalan and Programme Manager Ms. Natsag-Yunden Bayasgalan from the Gender Centre for Sustainable Development introduced their work to the Crown Prince before he met with trainers and participants taking nutrition classes, and was offered a taste from the kitchen.  

While in Mongolia, Crown Prince Haakon tested his archery skills. Photo: UNDP Mongolia

“Active communities where all men, women and children participate, is the real ingredient of democracy,“ Crown Prince Haakon concluded after his visit.

UNDP supports Mongolia’s efforts to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which cover issues of poverty, health, gender equality and sustainable development.   Mongolia has set an additional development goal focusing on democratic governance, human rights, media freedom and zero-tolerance for corruption.

HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador in 2003 and has worked with UNDP in several countries, including Burundi, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Tanzania. Advocacy for the MDGs is at the core of Crown Prince Haakon’s UNDP engagement. He has used his ambassador status to express that even though development is a long-term process, the international community has to live up to the promise of achieving the MDGs by 2015.