Progress update - 31/05/07

Urnaa and I had a meeting with the manager of the conference Ger camp to sort out a few details, food, accommodation etc.

All looking mostly good,

1. Toilets will be ok but showers might be a bit flaky. Some times cold.
2. Hand towels are provided in the gers
3. Some renovation work will be going on in the games room and is not likely to be finished.
4. We have asked if there is a local person who could lead the mediation sessions but it isn’t looking good for this activity. Is anyone out there able and willing to do the job? Or can anyone suggest something equally calming to do in the time slot?
5. We will have a disco till 11 pm on the first night and a khorkhog(?) with a DIY entertainment on the second night.

The timetable for the event is nearly sorted and will be sent to you nearer the date.

June Conference 2007 - where

Boy, did we suffer for you!!!! Sods law dictated that one of the days we chose to go searching for a conference venue was wet, windy, damned cold and then SNOWY. At the bottom of this post is a very brief summary of the places we visited, but we are going for,

Bayan Khongai

A typical ger camp layout with accommodation gers, sleeping 4 to a ger, grouped around a larger restaurant ger. With 38 of us, we will most probably have the whole camp to ourselves. That should destroy the silence!!!!

This camp is near the top of a hill 1 hours drive from VSO to the north west of UB. The off road bit to the camp is a little rough but mercifully short, passing by farms growing potatoes and other veg,

Showers and toilets are housed in the end section of this new-ish looking block. The charming lady we met at the camp declined to show us inside the block because the showers are under repair. But we were told that they would be ready for our visit.

The new block also has houses a smart bar which we can use a conference room when we all need to be together

The restaurant ger is large enough to take us all at one sitting. The quality of the food is untested as it has not being practical to visit any camp for a food tasting session. Shame really, that is usually a perk of this sort of job!!

Loads of space outside, including a hard court for ball games. Depending on the weather, most of the meetings etc can be outside.

So, there you have it, Volunteer Conference, Mongolia, 2007 - venue.

The Runners

We visited 10 ger camps, of which 4 were either under total renovation or new builds, not completed. Places to avoid, I think!!! Of the others.

• per person conference, (ie total cost divided by number attendees), costs based on the item costs given on the visits.
• times based on VSO jeep times

1. Gatchuurt Ger Camp – came in at $37/person conference. Nice location by the river and plenty of space. The camp for 180 people had one shower. The camp is used by weekend revellers from UB. Ok….where is the gate!!!! – 30/40 mins to UB
2. Batan Khongai – came in at $48/person conference. Great location on a hillside with no other camp insight. Good facilities and accommodation. Flexible and good conferencing facilities. – 60/70 mins to UB
   
3. Ovoogiin Enger – came in at $51/person conference. Known to some of you as the country side visit on our first day in Mongolia. Nice setting and facilities very good. Conferencing facilities a bit limited. – 50/60 mins to UB
4. MIAT Camp – came in at $65/person conference. Gers with own ensuite bathroom and toilet. Conference facilities flexible and good recreation options. – 20/30 mins to UB
5. Terelj (Cannot remember the name) – came in at $80/person conference. Traditional camp with good accommodation. Typical of those in the Terelj Park,. No roof on the toilet/shower block!!! The season starts in a couple of weeks, doesn’t it? - 90/110 mins to UB
6. Terelji (Ayanchin) – came in at $85/person conference. This was nice. And I mean very nice. Just opened last year. An American/Mongolian venture. We would have had the place to ourselves………but too much for our budget. Gek and I vowed to return (I will do a post on it soon.) - 90/110 mins to UB

The Where, an update -15th May 2007

Well, it is still in flux. We did a day out visiting 8 ger camps from the south west, along the river south of UB, round to Gatchuurt and ending in Terelj. The challenge is to find a place with conference friendly facilities (as opposed to conference facilities), within a 2 hour drive from the VSO office, at price we can afford, with accommodation for 35+ and reasonable facilities. Struck out.

We have a couple of new out of town options to pursue but we are now looking at conferencing facilities in UB for the first two days and spending the third day out of town. This will mean switching the agenda days around a bit. Ideally we need to resolve ‘The Where’ ASAP this week. So, if you have a view, please let me know. I have had nearly 70 emails so far about VolCon2007………never had such an active in box. Keep them coming.

Suggested Topics

Some suggestions for the blanks in the planned events. Green indicates already acted on. Please let us know likes and dislikes from the list or suggest new sessions.

Sessions on,

• Adult learners and the cultural issues. (from Cielo)
• Like skills training for socially disadvantaged (from Cielo)
• Distance learning in Mongolia, now and the future (from Hazel)
• People management in Mongolia, Hare and tortoise, go for the immediate before the important. (from David)
• People Management, motivation, team building (from Zoe)
• Hello/goodbyes?? (Formal welcome to all the people who came in Feb. and goodbye to those going in the next few months) (from Pam)
• Have some of the sessions outside? (from Pam)
• Some kind of session/activity (do not ask me what!) to integrate PO and vols: team building or some such like. (from Pam)

• Objective/outcome: maybe change to: disability session is to make vols and PO want to do something about mainstreaming disability (from Pam)
• Policy on exchange / joint working of volunteers ( From Maarten)
• Policy on visiting conferences and attending trainings. ( From Maarten)
• We would like to know the roles and responsibilities of the PO staff. As we understand there is some information in the vol room on this, but this does not help us, being 650 km away. ( From Maarten)
• We would like to know when new volunteers arrive, their names and where they are to work.( From Maarten)
• There has been a long delay in the supply of medical equipment and water filters. Because this concerns our health we would like to know what procedures have been put in place to prevent the actual problems happening again. ( From Maarten)

Fun

• Maybe some game- time (I’m thinking Frisbee nothing over exerting) in the afternoon before we start afternoon sessions or just some free time might be nice. (from Pam)
• Horse riding time?! (from Pam)
• Have one of the lunches as a picnic? (from Pam)
• Evening fun- pub quiz/ karaoke? (from Pam)
• Definitely some free time to relax together in afternoons. (from Pam)
• something fun and creative- like zoe could teahc us weaving or gek painting? (from Pam)

And more?

Conference Aims

We should apply the KISS principle to this.

Conference Aim

Promote communication within VSO Mongolia.

Conference Objectives

• Facilitate volunteer to volunteer, volunteer to programme office and programme office to programme office networking.
• Promote cross programme area working.

Conference Outcomes.

• Work towards mainstreaming disability in all placements. (Promote cross programme area working)
• Review and develop placement management support documentation. (Facilitate volunteer to volunteer, volunteer to programme office and programme office to programme office networking)

What we have and what we have to do.

Resouirces available

• 4 facilitators, Rolsalyn, Gek, Urnaa and David
• VSO Office support
• Email
• Blog
• Mobile phone
• Budget - Travel, 2 nights accommodation, 2 dinners, 3 lunches, 2 breakfasts, stationary.
• >40 participants

What is needed.

• Venue, Ger camp close to UB won the vote. (4 to 9 to 1 )
• Conference aims – ICN seems to be the nature of the proposed agend so far.
• Entertainment
• Workshop facilitators
• Guest speakers
• Who is coming?

How to organize.

Given the short time till the conference, 6 weeks, and the number of person hours available, we need to try a different approach. If a collective effort can be used to put detail on the “What is Needed” the 4 facilitators will endeavour to make it happen!! Royslan, Gek and Urnaa volunteer to help facilitate. Gek did volunteer honest.

The four of us live/work close by each other which will help. So, the approach is you guys help with proposals and the diecision making using texting, emailing and bloging. We will implement your proposal/decissioins, using email and the blog to update you on are progress and asking for help.

Ok, this should be interesting.