Basic regional workshops in Gobi Sumber and Arkhangai, Mongolia

On June 17^th and 18^th  2009 following workshops were held in the province of Gobi Sumber (in the South of Mongolia):

- Role and Function of an EO;

- Lobbying;

- Governance;

- Attracting members

Regional organisations of the Mongolian Employers Federation MONEF were invited. In total 6 provinces participated in this workshop (30 participants). The opening speech was given by the governor of the province

The bureaus of the regional branches are quite small, mostly 2 to 3 people. Some of them have been established only a couple of years ago, so it is all very basic (e.g. only 10% of the regional members have an internet address and many of them go to an internet café to check their e-mail and use internet). The presentations, given by DECP's country manager Thieu Korten, were therefore aimed at giving basic information.

The participants, from their side, also offered some good examples e.g. of lobby successes in their province. Most interest was shown in the subjects of  'attracting members' and fees.

The situation in Mongolia is to a large extent comparable with the situation in Eastern Europe: no tradition of  joining an EO, members which are very reluctant to pay the fee and most companies think the EO should support  all companies whether they are a member or not.

A second workshop was held on 22^nd & 23^rd June in the province of Arkhangai (South western region of Mongolia). Also here a total of 6 provinces participated in the workshop, with a total of some 30 participants. The training was opened with a speech by the deputy governor of the province.

During this workshop also some regional branches gave presentations.
Non-paying members are the biggest problem for the EOs; only 30% pays the fee. A commonly applied method to persuade members to pay their fee is to appoint them as an honorary member. Most EOs try to get an office in the governors building because it gives them prestige. Corruption, especially from the inspectorates, was another problem which was widely discussed. Thieu Korten gave some examples how they cope or try to cope with this problem in other countries.

The workshop was closed by a good presentation of Mr. Jantsan of MONEF in which he emphasized the importance of attracting more members, the necessity that members should pay the fee and to use modern communication tools. The IT-specialist gave a presentation how to use their e-mail addresses and the MONEF website.

The participants appreciated the workshop very much and they also considered it useful, because it stimulated the contacts between MONEF and its regional branches. The networking amongst the branches themselves was also considered important.