Peace Winds Japan
2-11-5 Sakurashinmachi,
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154-0015
Japan

Telephone: +81-3-5451-5400
Facsimilie: +81-3-5451-5401
www.peace-winds.org
meet@peace-winds.org

Photo credits:
PWJ, The Mainichi Newspapers,
Japan International Cooperation Agency

Special appreciation to volunteer translators:
Noriko Inaba, Natsuko Tokai, Mike Nix

Top
Message from chairperson
Summary of 2004
Iraq
Mongolia
Indonesia
East Timor
Sierra Leone
Liberia
Afghanistan
Iran
Nigata
Strengthening Ourselves and
Our Civil Society

Major Activities in FY2004
Organizational Time Line
Organizational Structure
Financial Statement


PWJ English Top
Mongolia

The issue of street children in Mongolia emerged amidst the social confusion that followed the collapse of the socialist economy. The situation is said to have improved somewhat, due to support from international NGOs, however, in the urban areas, there is an unrelenting influx of people from rural areas, unemployment rates remain high, and poverty is growing. There are families living on the streets and children wandering from one support facility to the next. The collapse of the economy has meant the Mongolian Government is unable to support these socially vulnerable children and families.

In response to this situation, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) has operated refuges in Ulaanbaatar for street children and the children of poor families, under the name gKhot Ailh since 1997. In FY2004, a total of 72 children lived in two Khot Ails while attending schools and vocational training facilities. In addition, social workers are investigating the situations of the children's families and supporting them so that they can return to their families.

In Mongolia, poverty and poor family environments are preventing many children from attending schools. Furthermore, in order for child drop-outs to return to school, they must take supplementary classes and pass an examination for admission as a transfer student. PWJ has conducted non-formal primary education classes in four localities, including the so-called ggarbage hillh , an impoverished district in the city of Erdenet. In Ulaanbaatar, PWJ conducted non-formal education classes for children who were hospitalized for long periods in the tuberculosis ward of the National Research Center for Infectious Disease.

In FY2004, in addition to support in the urban areas, PWJ also endeavored to alleviate regional disparities by providing support to rural areas. It distributed 30 mimeographs to a total of 16 schools with little or no electricity in Omnogovi Province and Dundgovi Province in southern Mongolia, and trained teachers to use them. Until now, in schools without copying machines or with copying machines but no electricity, teachers could not create distributable teaching materials such as homework or test papers, which hindered children's ability to learn.

Use of mimeographs means that teaching materials can easily be created for subjects such as Mongolian language, arithmetic, art, and traditional Mongolian characters (written vertically), with further unlimited applications possible. At the same time, the psychological counseling activity
that had been conducted by PWJ in a juvenile reformatory center in Ulaanbaatar was transferred to the Ministry of Justice of Mongolia at the end of 2004. From now on, the counseling activities, which have been highly praised for their great effectiveness in the social rehabilitation of juveniles, will be conducted by the government.

©2004 Peace Winds Japan, All rights reserved
Copyright materials may not be redestributed without the prior written permission.