AMURT is an international non-profit NGO, formally recognized as such by the United Nations.
AMURT Mongolia has been active in for the last 16 years; providing food, clothes, medicine, education and shelter to those most in need.
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Surviving Poverty in Mongolia - short video
Before 1991 Mongolia was a satellite republic of the former Soviet Union and as such its population fared well. It had a comprehensive welfare system which provided free education, healthcare, housing, job security and welfare benefits for women and children. However after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Mongolia shifted to a free market economy and became a democracy. The withdrawal of large Soviet subsidies resulted in the collapse of the welfare system and increased hardship. One-third of Mongolian children live in poverty, exacerbated by the country’s harsh winters.
Mongolia has a population of 2.5 million people. Half live in the countryside, as rural nomads and the rest are concentrated in Ulaanbaatar. The wealthy and middle class residents live in apartment buildings in downtown Ulaanbaatar. The rest, almost 300,000, live in sprawling shantytowns known as the "Ger districts", named after Mongolia's traditional round felt tent. These shantytowns are a maze of tents and shacks which do not have central heating, running water or basic hygiene facilities. Hygiene standards in Ger districts are very low due to the lack of running water and pollution. |
