No child benefit, no school supplies

5-year-old twins from Gurvanbulag soum in south-western Mongolia. Their parents depend on child benefit, which is the family's only source of income.
©UNICEFMongolia/2018/Sabina Netrvalova  

“One litre of vegetable oil… 500 grams of flour… and some potatoes.” The owner of the grocery store in Gurvanbulag, a small soum (village) in south-western Mongolia, is going through her notebook. Every page is for one local family – a family who cannot afford to buy basic groceries and has to get them on credit. 

“Almost everybody in the village borrows from us because they have very little money. They usually pay us back once a month but not always – the herders often pay only once a year, after they sell cashmere wool,” the shopkeeper explains.

Faces of UNICEF: Ulziisaikhan Sereeter, Early Childhood Development Officer at UNICEF Mongolia

Ulziisaikhan Sereeter, Early Childhood Development Officer at UNICEF Mongolia.
©UNICEFMongolia/2018/Sabina Netrvalova

What do you do in UNICEF Mongolia?

I work as an Early Childhood Development Officer and I oversee young children’s issues. I mostly focus on young children aged 0 - 5. For the age 0 - 2, I cooperate with other sectors like health, nutrition, and child protection as part of the integrated Early Childhood Development (ECD) program. For the age 2 - 5, I usually work with kindergartens and preschool education services.