IDRC Presented the Friendship Medal by the President of Mongolia: International Development Research Centre

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IDRC Presented the Friendship Medal by the President of Mongolia

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IDRC Presented the Friendship Medal by the President of Mongolia

President of Mongolia, Natsagiin Bagabandi and IDRC President, Maureen O'Neil.

Ottawa, (October 21, 2004) – Maureen O’Neil, President of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), today received on behalf of IDRC, the prestigious Friendship Medal from the President of Mongolia, Natsagiin Bagabandi.

“It is a great honour for IDRC to receive this medal,” said Ms. O`Neil. “IDRC has been working in partnership with Mongolian researchers and communities for over a decade and we look forward to further collaboration in the coming years.”

IDRC-supported work in Mongolia yielded many great results. Notably, the collaboration with Datacom Co. Ltd., a Mongolian Internet pioneer, helped introduce the country’s first Internet connections and web development services. This early support contributed to the development of today’s vibrant on-line environment for business, government, educators, and non-profit groups.

IDRC’s support for Mongolian ICT began in 1994 as part of a Pan Asia Networking (PAN) Program aimed at laying the electronic infrastructure for general networking in the region. IDRC PAN worked with Datacom, a pioneer Internet service provider in Mongolia, to initially establish a successful pilot test. This led to a second phase of support focusing on finding an optimal configuration of wireless networking technology that could be implemented across the country’s 22 provinces.

Satellite-based Internet technology was found ideally suited to Mongolia’s large area, low population, harsh climate and poor existing infrastructure. The resulting wireless system was demonstrated during the First National Summit on Information and Communication Technology held in Ulaanbaatar in June 1999, and was used to provide the Internet connection at the Asia Pacific Symposium on Information and Telecommunication Technologies in August of that year.

More recently, PAN support has focused on the benefits Internet technologies can bring to the delivery of health and education services, particularly in reaching rural areas. PAN is working now with the Health Sciences University of Mongolia (formerly the National Medical University of Mongolia) on a “telemedicine” initiative that will support distance medical education, and a knowledge-sharing platform to assist remote diagnoses. Telemedicine tests had been carried out in Mongolia previously, but this is the first such effort led by Mongolians. The project will identify ICT tools useful for distance diagnosis, at lower cost than those used elsewhere.

Another project, in collaboration with the Soros Foundation (MN) and Mongolia’s English for Special Purposes Institute, will work with teachers, educational planners and ICT personnel to assist the integration of Web-based distance education within the national education policy framework. PAN has also helped MIDAS (Mongolian Information Development Association) conduct research on ICT policy in order contribute to the implementation of Vision 2010, Mongolia’s blueprint for ICT development.

IDRC also supported natural resource management research led by Mongolia’s Ministry of Nature and the Environment. More than half the population makes a living from herding sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and camels. Preserving the grasslands of Mongolia is key to maintaining its nomadic livelihood, central to Mongolians’ connection to the land. Our support aimed at involving local communities in managing the impact of extreme climate change, the overgrazing of livestock, and the legacy of urban-based heavy industrial growth. /ev_en.php?ID=30119_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is one of the world's leading institutions in the generation and application of new knowledge to meet the challenges of international development. For more than 30 years, IDRC has worked in close collaboration with researchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies.

2004-10-21

News 20 of 51