PWJ set up a shoemaking factory in Bayanzurkh district in Ulaanbaartar, a baking factory in Songino-Khairkhan district in the same city, and a sausage factory in Dornod prefecture in the eastern Mongolia.

At the shoemaking factory, PWJ employed people who had experience in working at other shoemaking factories in this area. At the baking factory, PWJ hired inexperienced people and provided them with the training necessary for baking bread and cakes before the factory started its operation.

At the sausage factory, PWJ aimed to restore the desolate ex-state owned and run factory by utilizing local salt and meat from Dornod. The factory was managed in cooperation with the provincial government, and its profit was added to the welfare budget of the prefecture.

The management and operation of all the factories have been taken over to local companies because the business stabilized, and the support by PWJ is not needed anymore .

Education and Support for Children

The main focus of PWJ's activities in Mongolia is the support for children. PWJ has established and manages "Khot Ail", shelters for children of poor families. PWJ also provides supplementary classes for children in poverty stricken areas, and implements vocational training for youth.

Ulanabaatar: Khot Ail, Homes for Street Children (Dec/1997~)

Khot Ail is a Mongolian word meaning a village composed of a cluster of nomadic portable houses called "Ger". The Khot Ails run by PWJ aim to provide a place where children can help each other like nomadic people living in Ger.

Two Khot Ails, managed by PWJ since December 1997, were home to approximately 40 children as of April 2003. They are children who cannot live with their families because of poverty and/or a bad family environment. The children not only go to school but also share duties such as cooking, cleaning, washing and taking care of younger children with staff members. PWJ provides a secure place, medical services and educational opportunities for children in order that they can secure independent future.

Children in the Khot Ails
Since street children have had to protect themselves in their street life, many children at the Khot Ails tend to be more aggressive, and display more antisocial behavior than other children of the same age. Therefore, PWJ provides psychiatric counseling services for those children so that they can swiftly adapt themselves to the new community life.

Street children, especially the manhole children, who are living in manholes during winter, are exposed to an unhygienic environment and often suffer from malnutrition. PWJ arranges doctors for children in Khot Ail, who take care of children's health condition. Some children can not receive free medical services covered by social insurance because their birth registration was not carried out .

Summer Camp
Children at Khot Ail do not get any chance to visit the countryside with their families. Due to this, PWJ carries out summer camps in an outer suburb of Ulaanbaatar during every summer vacation from June to August. Children enjoy taking care of livestock and making jam made from wild fruits.

PWJ also gives a seminar on "The Development of Teenagers' Body and Mind" for elder children as well as conducting review lessons of the last term. It is a good opportunity for them to think about various issues such as relations between man and woman, sexual issues, alcohol and smoking, and the life of street children.

Day Care Centre for Children (Apr/2003~ Jan/2004)

It is a big decision for street children to leave their friends on the street and step into a new environment. Even though their street life is severe, they are still anxious about starting a new life in the Knot Ail.

Concerned for their situation, PWJ established a day-care centre for street children in the spring of 2003. Children who visit the centre can have meals, take showers, and wash their clothes. They can also receive medical services and literacy education. Children who experience the life in the day-care centre and decided to leave their street life can move in to a Khot Ail. PWJ respects children's will and assists them in achieving their self-reliance.

Supplementary Classes for Poor Families (Sep/2000~)

PWJ arranges supplementary classes for children who had to leave school because of poverty, or for those who work for living as rubbish collectors. Children try to acquire the basic knowledge for their living such as writing, reading and arithmetic, and, the skills necessary to return to formal education.

PWJ has started the supplementary classes in Govil district and two "garbage mountains" in Erdenet in Orkhon province, where the migration to cities has further accelerated poverty. At the garbage mountains, children pick up iron scraps, tins, glasses and bones of livestock for their living. Children who learn at the supplementary classes gain the chance to return to formal school. PWJ also supplies stationeries, clothing and shoes for children coming to the classes. We are planning to open new supplementary classes in the suburb of Erdenet.

Vocational Training for Children (Sep/1998~Jun/2002)

PWJ conducted vocational training in Darkhan Uul town of Darkhan Uul province, the second largest city of Mongolia, for children who finished compulsory education or have withdrawn from school.

In this vocational training, children received 10-month-training in sewing, carpentry, carpet making, cooking and architecting. In the sewing class, for example, there was one-and-a -half-month field training. Upon completion of the courses, students received a diploma, which will improve their chances at job hunting.

This vocational training was been managed by both PWJ and local NGO "Mongolian Children's Right Centre (MCRC)". After June 2002, MCRC started managing this vocational training as its own project.

In addition, PWJ carried out the similar vocational training in Arkhangai province. This project is now undertaken by local schools and government .

Social Care

PWJ continues to support a juvenile reformatory in Ulaanbaatar. The reformatory is the only one in Mongolia.

Support for a Juvenile Reformatory in Ulaanbaatar (Oct/2001~)

This juvenile reformatory accommodates around 120 children who committed crimes often due to the influence of sudden social transition and increasing poverty. Though there is a public primary school in the reformatory, official services are inadequate, and external assistance is necessary for rehabilitation of juveniles.

PWJ started assisting the juvenile reformatory in 2001, and established a library in the reformatory in May 2003. PWJ supplied bookshelves, desks, chairs and 1500 books including the books provided by Mongolian Ministry of Culture. PWJ also carried out workshops on library services. Furthermore PWJ implemented cultural activities such as lectures by writers and poem reading parties. Through these activities, PWJ aims to foster a rich mind in the children.

PWJ also conducted professional psychiatric counseling at the juvenile reformatory. Since research showed that those children tended to be violent and have oppressive attitude, we divided children into groups based on their situation, and keep supplying appropriate care for each group .