Digital BABA

BABA Personal Statement:
My name is Ulziibayar Vangansuren (Ulzii in short) and I was born in Zavkhan province of Mongolia.

Academy of Management where I teach is an official training and research institution of the Government of Mongolia. It conducts degree and non-degree postgraduate training and made and continues to make major contributions to the spread of new public administration and market economy knowledge in Mongolia. The school provides me with wonderful opportunities to work on collaborative research, projects, publish articles, books and manuals, and present my findings at conferences/workshops.

During this period, I studied in the US for 2 years and got Master of Public Affairs degree from School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington and was a short-term research scholar at University of California, San Diego.

In addition to my teaching job, since 2003, I have been affiliated with a Ulaanbaatar-based think tank, Mongolian Development Research Center which specialized in development economics research and training.

In short, I would like to take part at BABA retreat due to the following reasons:
- I like the mission of the retreat and also this year topic is close to my teaching and research activities.
- I enjoy interacting with international people as I gain a great deal of information, knowledge and insights from them.
- I am sure that I will be able to share my experience with other participants and contribute ideas to discussions.

BABA Leadership Statement:
Although my main métier is teacher and researcher, I have been working on a number of activities and projects which required from me leadership abilities.

First, teaching is a work where you need to lead your students. Especially, as my university conducts post graduate training, I deal with adults and it requires a higher level of personal and intellectual leadership.

Second, I have been working as executive director of Mongolian Development Research Center since 2003. In spite of its small permanent staff, MDRC has a big pool of affiliated national researchers/policy makers and international scholars and it organizes big scale events. Another issue is that as you can imagine, it is hard to survive for a NGO without a competitive strategy. Therefore, the biggest challenge of managing MDRC is ability to develop strategic objectives and plans. I think I have been able to contribute to MDRC successes.

Third, among my project work, I would like to distinguish projects on Preparations and Support to Fifth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies held in 2003. The Fifth ICNRD under the themes of Democracy, Good Governance and Civil Society is the biggest event ever hosted by Mongolia, which was attended by 119 countries of the world. My managerial work was highly appreciated by organizers of the event: UNDP and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia.

Fourth, I expect BABA retreat will be an opportunity to learn from international young leaders which will help me meet future challenges.