Digital BABA

My parents told me that when I was born i was a very small baby at only 2.6kg and i didn’t cry when at the moment of birth. Unfortunately, there is no photo to show, as that time a photo apparently was a rare and luxury thing. Now I’m a normal big girl and doing ok. I guess my parents are proud of their ‘little’ girl.

I was born in the capital city of Mongolia called Ulaanbaatar (Red Hero if i translate it). I had an ordinary childhood like most others and thanks to my parents I grew up in with a good life. If I can summarize myself, I would say that I’m a big dreamer (and thinker), a ‘permanent’ student and passionate person who wants to help others and make our country better.

Since my childhood, I‘m curious about almost everything (starting from my own personal future to country and global issues) and i think and dream about them. Therefore, I found myself as a continuous dreamer for my whole life. Although, some dreams are hardly achievable, I think most dreams lead me to be a constant forward-looking and active person. Dreams give me encouragement and strength when I feel down. They also let me look from outside of my everyday life and direct me towards bigger challenges. That is why I’m happy being the dreamer.

When I look back my life, I realize that I’ve been a ‘permanent’ student as seen by the fact that I’ve spent more than five-sixth of my entire life studying in formal education institutions. Probably, one reason is that I always enjoy learning new things and being different everyday as much as possible. Study gives me both joy of knowing things and curiosity to study more. However, now I’m eager to use my knowledge in the real life practice and challenge myself to be a part of the people who are trying to build a better society and help people and my country.

I would like to work in non-profit organization in near future and do more to encourage the development that concerns environmental and social issues.

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BABA Personal Statement:
I was born in the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. My well educated parents influenced me significantly by encouraging me to become highly educated, to have my own lifetime goals and to be passionate about doing right things for others and for my country.

Most of the years of my life are related to different levels of education. After doing my undergraduate and Master Degree studies with distinction in economic and finance studies, I started my lecturing career at the National University of Mongolia from 2003. I really like my career because I enjoy sharing and giving my knowledge to others and encouraging people to become both educated and developed for their lives.
During my three years’ teaching, I recognized that we need not only focus on economic issues and economic benefits, but also need to consider about our natural environment and social benefits to the local people. The mining sector boom in Mongolia for last few years and its caused social and environmental issues led me rethink about my future research interest.

As I support the notion of the sustainable development – a balanced way of development of economics, society and environment while considering future generations (UNWCED, 1987), I decided to do research on how effectively manage mining activities with less social and environmental negative impacts. Therefore, I applied to the New Zealand Government Scholarship to do my PhD study on my interested field.
Now I am studying my PhD in New Zealand and working on my research. My research topic is “Developing responsible mining through non-governmental organisations’ participation in Environmental Impact Assessment: NGOs’ information needs”. I hope that by doing so I will go one step forward to develop more socially and economically beneficial business with less damage to the people and the natural environment.

BABA Leadership Statement:
In my opinion, a person with leadership skills mean the person who is optimistic and active; who understand and listen to others; who encourages others to do right things for their lives; who is a good negotiator and decision maker; and who leads others for the good without directly controlling them.

Since my undergraduate years, I have actively engaged in various social activities. I was a member and then a board member of a student organisation which was a part of the Young Leaders’ Club of the Mongolian Democratic Party. During the two years of my membership, I actively involved with organizing numbers of activities among students of different universities. Being a member in that organisation, I learned a lot: improved my communication skills and developed my personality as I am.
During my teaching career at the Mongolian National University, I have also actively participated in many different activities besides my lecturing. In most activities, I have voluntarily engaged with the belief of doing good things for the students, the school and the broader society.

By understanding the importance of microfinance, I developed the first academic course on Microfinance for Master degree students with the help of a professor from the Seville University, Spain. Microfinance aims to deliver financial services to poor people and improve their lives by themselves, which means it encourages poor people do their own businesses rather than rely on direct aid money spent once. In the Year of Microfinance of Mongolia, 2005, I worked as the academic representative on the coordinating and judging committees of the Global Microentrepreneurship Award Mongolia, which was simultaneously held around thirty countries around the world and organized by the United Nations Development Programme. This helped me understand people more and improved my communication and analytical skills.

As I always try to be open for information and various social activities, I participated in the Young Leadership Forum 2007, organized by the Asia:NZ Foundation, which is initiated by the government of New Zealand. This foundation aims to improve the relationships between New Zealand and Asian countries and also prepare the young leaders who will perform important roles for the foundation’s goal. During the forum, I learned plenty of knowledge, such as who is the leader, what skills she/he needs to have, how to make a good presentation and what is personal branding.

By being an effective member of the society, I have noticed by myself and through other people’s opinions about me that I am an optimistic and active person willing to share my knowledge and joy with others and willing to improve myself in various aspects. Moreover, I have quite good communication skill and I try to understand people and always encourage them. As I understand people and in turn they believe and respect me, I could be considered as a leader in both formal and informal situations.

UNWCED. (1987). Our Common Future, the Brundtland Report. Oxford: Oxford University Press.