Developmental discrepancies between rural Mongolia and its capital city, Ulaanbaatar, have become the root cause of a dramatic flow of rural-to-urban migration. Internal migrants move to Ulaanbaatar in search of better employment opportunities and increased access to public services, including health and education. In recent years, however, there has been a growing trend of reverse migration (urban-to-rural), especially among young families.
Tsend-Ayush, 29, left Govi-Altai Province to pursue her university degree in psychology in Ulaanbaatar. Even though she had a chance to shadow psychologists at NGOs after graduation, she was never able to work as a psychologist. Three years after moving back to Govi-Altai with her husband and son, she is now one of a few psychologists in the entire province, working at two organizations simultaneously. She has delivered psychological counseling to over 20 families in less than a year through her job at the local Family, Child and Youth Development Center, and six of those families have reunited.
"When I heard that six of the families that I counseled had overcome their challenges and happily reunited, I thought that I was finally a psychologist," said Tsend-Ayush, "If I hadn’t participated in the project and gained the confidence to work in my profession, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love and to help these people."
Gaining employment and increasing her household income after participating in the project, Tsend-Ayush is one of more than 10,000 direct beneficiaries of the project component that supports the delivery of direct services to internal migrants by local NGOs, part of the four-year Understanding and Managing Internal Migration in Mongolia project implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in cooperation the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and supported by the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC). Launched in September 2019, the project aims to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of internal migrants through evidence-based, migration-inclusive policies, and concrete interventions on the ground. The project has so far established the MigNet, a network of 30 NGOs across 11 provinces and Ulaanbaatar delivering concrete services to migrants, and informed approximately two million people through an information campaign about well-planned and responsible migration. IOM maintains close cooperation with the Government of Mongolia and its institutions, working with the General Authority for State Registration to digitalize residency registration into E-Mongolia, the government’s integrated online service platform, and help over 800 target group migrants with their documentation. In collaboration with the National Statistics Office, IOM started capturing real population data for the entire country using the IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix methodology to improve the quality of national internal migration data. IOM has also conducted two thematic studies on internal migration, delivering concrete recommendations to key stakeholders and contributing to mainstreaming migration into policies.
For both urban and reverse migrants, supporting their social and economic integration through improved access to services and information, tailored psychosocial support, and sustainable employment is crucial to enable them to contribute to the development of their communities. IOM is currently implementing the second phase of the local NGOs component of the project to alleviate the burden on local administrations that face capacity and resource limitations and thus, improve outreach to migrants across the country. Thirteen NGOs in nine provinces and Ulaanbaatar are currently working to improve the employability of more than 500 migrants and to deliver psychosocial support to an additional 700 migrants. To expand the scope of the project and reach migrants across the entire country, IOM is going to cooperate with more NGOs in the second half of 2022.
"I was lost," Tsend-Ayush said, describing her struggles in the new community and the two years that she stayed home looking after her son. But she was able to receive tailored psychosocial support and job-hunting advice through the project, which changed her life, according to Tsend-Ayush. As a psychologist, migrant, and project beneficiary, Tsend-Ayush is delivering psychosocial services to migrants through the Govi-Altai Red Cross, where she is contracted hourly, as part of the local NGOs component of the project. She believes that she is equipped to support current and prospective migrants, as she understands the struggles migrants face during the stages of migration: preparation, migration, and integration.
Moving back to rural Mongolia benefited not only Tsend-Ayush and her health but also her husband, Barkhasbodi, who started his handcrafted goods business, creating saddle stands and airag ladles, and recently hired his first employee. Due to the small local market, they started selling their goods online and delivering them through Mongol Post.
Tsend-Ayush and her family are a portrait of how promoting reverse migration, not only a growing migration trend but also a highly prioritized policy direction from the government, can advance local development. "While there might be many shortcomings in rural Mongolia, I see many opportunities to live a healthy life and do what I want to do," Tsend-Ayush said.
More on IOM Mongolia website
