Business Roaming in Mongolia and China
Mongolia faces the challenge of managing a huge, under-developed rural territory that houses 45 per cent of its population. Integration of its rural economy is key to its own development but rural entrepreneurs find themselves disconnected from the Mongolian economic network, leading to massive rural migration. Access to information is crucial for better assimilation of rural Mongolia. However, this remains complicated issue: herders and rural SMEs (small and medium enterprises) often have difficulty in securing local, up-to-date and relevant information critical to the decision-making and running of their businesses. In addition, accurate business reporting is often confused with advertising by journalists, which results in unreliable flow of poor quality business information in rural areas. ICTs (information and communication technologies), chiefly, Internet and mobile telephony, offer great hope in overcoming distances and bringing marginalised populations closer to the local, regional and national markets. But the use of ICT in rural Mongolia remains low despite efforts by the government and service providers to develop the necessary infrastructure. Therefore, raising awareness on ICTs and increasing the content available on these new media platforms is essential.
The project's key goal is to improve access to quality business content and economic data critical to decision-making for rural entrepreneurs in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. To this end, an editorial service, the 'Business Information Agency' (BIA), has been created in Ulan Bator to collect data, produce content and provide economic information to herders and rural entrepreneurs. Information is disseminated via radio stations, online portals, CDs and cellphones. In mobile telephony, SMS alerts are sent out for weather reports, announcements of events and emergency warnings, while the audio menu delivers business news, tips and useful economic data. The project co-produces and broadcasts weekly radio programmes dedicated to herders and SMEs in collaboration with the Mongolia National Radio and eight province-level radio stations. It also produces and distributes business tips as audio content on CDs, maintains a rural business directory, has created and trains a network of business reporters, and organises rural workshops to raise awareness on the role of information in business development, the availablility of local sources and means of access. The project's activities include practical training on the Internet and mobile phone. Events are organised with local actors for discussions on how to improve the flow of information to the rural areas of the region and the role of ICT in rural development.
The participants and beneficiaries in Mongolia are herders and rural SMEs. The 300,000 herders who benefit from the project in Mongolia are mainly from the five provinces of Uvurkhangai, Dornogobi, Hentii, Khovds and Khuvsgul. The Mongolian rural entrepreneurs who participate and benefit from the project live in the aimags (provinces) and soums (district centres). Mongolian entrepreneurs and enterprises cooperate with herders and rural entrepreneurs. Other participants and beneficiaries include academics and students of agriculture, herding and rural development, and rural development organisations and chambers of commerce. Media professionals involved in the action are among the participants and beneficiaries as are eight local radio stations that are involved in the co-production of business-related programmes for SMEs. In China, the project's activities benefit herders and farmers from Inner Mongolia, especially from the Chifeng, Xilinguole and Hulunbeir leagues as well as herders' associations and rural business development associations, and local NGOs. Local governments and providers of information services benefit from better flow of information in their respective areas.
In Mongolia, apart from creating the Business Information Agency (BIA) to provide economic content to rural entrepreneurs through radio stations, online portals, CDs and mobile phones in January 2009, over 100 herders have been trained in five rural workshops. Furthermore, more than 20 journalists trained in economic reporting have been involved in a national network of business reporters. Since January 2009, weekly 20-minute radio programmes have been co-produced and broadcasted on the Mongolia National Radio and eight province-level radio stations, reaching a potential audience of 420,000 herders and SMEs. An online database that allows data collection and production, content management and localisation, and online publication and phone-based content distribution has been developed. Content distribution is achieved through SMS for weather, emergency and event alerts and through an audio menu for business tips, useful economic data etc. In China, a conference attended by local government officials, media professionals, local NGOs, herders' associations and academics in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, focused on the role of information in economic development. Three rural workshops were held for herders and farmers, and two workshops were conducted for 'information officers' to improve the professionalism of rural agents involved in data collection and local distribution.
