Events
What young professionals can learn at capacity-building workshops
2017-09-12
By Mendee, Jargalsaikhan /PhD candidate, UBC/ and
Marie-Luise Ermisch / PhD, Program Manager, Canadian International Resources Development Institute
Young professionals perform the bulk of the work in many organizations and institutions in Mongolia, including in the mining sector. In the government bureaucracy, young professionals are often the first to draft policy documents, thereby contributing to the process of policy discussions and changes. Given that the median age in Mongolia is 28 years, this should not be surprising. Yet, despite their number and contribution to the economy, young professionals are often referred to as inexperienced and less knowledgeable, and are offered only limited access to professional development opportunities.
To address this, the Canadian International Resources and Development Institute (CIRDI) teamed up with its Mongolian partners – the Natural Resources Governance Institute, and the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry – and others in other countries to devote a five-day resource governance workshop to young professionals working within government, the mining industry and civil society on natural resource policy issues. Mongolia was chosen as the venue for this international workshop, as the Mongolian context provides a rich store of resource governance case studies.
Mining became Mongolia’s key industrial sector through three main developmental stages: 1) Soviet assistance and a centralized economy (1924-1990); 2) the political and economic transition of the 1990s to a free market economy; 3) a full commodity boom and bust cycle in the early 2000s. These shifts are also reflected in the changing educational opportunities of policy makers and professionals within the mining sector. For example, many of the older generation received their education in communist bloc countries in the 1970s and 1980s, whereas those of the younger generation now attend universities in OECD countries, as well as in Russia and China, thus getting exposed to diverse educational and training approaches.
Mongolia’s young professionals can be divided into three groups, according to their educational background. The first includes those who obtain their undergraduate and graduate education abroad. While their education provides them with excellent technical knowledge and familiarity with international best practices, they often lack an in-depth understanding of the Mongolian context.
The second group consists of those who attended domestic universities and colleges. This may limit their exposure to global or regional standards and practices, but they do develop a sound understanding of the local context, with many acquiring hands-on experience in the mining sector. The last group includes those who have studied both in Mongolia and abroad. They generally have a more comprehensive perspective of the Mongolian mining sector than the two other groups.
Given this range of educational experience and knowledge, young professionals would benefit from interaction with their peers, allowing them to learn from one another, test the applicability of their knowledge and, most importantly, critically analyze past policies together. Senior policymakers and resource governance experts could use such events to pass on their experience to future leaders and policy makers. This kind of dialogue, exchange and networking builds capacity and facilitates improved decision-making. Unfortunately such forums and training opportunities for young professionals are not very common in Mongolia. This directly impacts the institutional capacity of the resource sector because these young people are the ‘gatekeepers’ of the quality, continuity, and stability of mining policies, and are the future of the sector.
For the CIRDI workshop, a young professional was someone under 35 years of age, with at least one year of experience working in a mining-related job in the government, industry or civil society. The participants included 15 Mongolians (five each from the government, industry, and civil society), four from the Kyrgyz Republic, and one from Afghanistan. The workshop was designed to be hands-on and participatory, with a focus on experiential learning. This decision to depart from the academically oriented discussions followed in CIRDI’s two previous workshops in this series was based on participant feedback.
This workshop was the final in the series and focused on natural resource governance and peer-to-peer learning among newly democratized countries with resource-based economies. The previous workshops were held in Mongolia (May 2016) and the Kyrgyz Republic (November 2016), and included mine site visits for selected participants to Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia,and Kumtor in the Kyrgyz Republic. These first workshops were organized in collaboration with the International Cooperation Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, which had spearheaded this initiative.
The abandoned mine of Nalaikh – looking back to the future
The workshop started with a first-hand examination of what happens in the absence of a formal mine closure policy. Established in 1922, Nalaikh was Mongolia’s first-ever large-scale coal mine. By mid-century, the mining had contributed to good infrastructure, including railroads, roads, and electricity grids in the surrounding area, as well as bustling urban settlements. During the mining boom of the 1970s and 1980s, Nalaikh was known for its mining experts, products of both work experience and an adjacent vocational school.
The mine was abandoned in 1995 after a deadly explosion, which had killed over 20 people in 1990 and, more importantly, the withdrawal of Soviet subsidies following the collapse of the USSR. No mine closure plan was ever implemented. Since then illegal small-scale mining activity has transformed Nalaikh into one of the world’s deadliest underground coal mine sites, with 20 to 25 deaths recorded annually. This illegal mining has also had a devastating impact on the surrounding environment, creating socio-economic risks for Nalaikh’s communities. Many blame the lack of a closure policy for the region’s fate.
Workshop participants learnt this history, as well as how the local government is now addressing the socio-economic and environmental challenges associated with the mine, through a panel facilitated by the Nalaikh District’s Governor’s Office. Ultimately the local government is seeking to formalize the illegal mining activity in order to improve health and safety standards for the miners, as well as to increase tax revenues for the government. One of the main challenges here is coordinating this effort with the national government, which is responsible for the relevant legislation. In the meantime, the local authorities are also considering alternative income generating activities for the miners. One such idea is to set up a museum dedicated to showcasing Nalaikh’s role in transforming Mongolia into an industrialized, mining-dependent country.
We were taken on a guided tour of the abandoned mine by Mongolia’s Mining Rescue Unit, which is based in Nalaikh, and saw the decaying structures of the once successful mine, now surrounded by artisanal mining pits and holes. With two-thirds of its deposits still unexploited, Nalaikh continues to offer attractive income generation opportunities. According to the Nalaikh District’s Governor’s Office, 1,086 people worked illegally in the mine in 2016, particularly in the winter months when demand for coal increases. With the consequences of not doing so all too evident, we clearly realised the importance of preparing and implementing a comprehensive mine closure plan.
Tavan Tolgoi - two ownership models
The next visits were to two operating coalmines – the state-owned Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT), and the privately owned Energy Resources, both in Tavan Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest coking coal deposits. We had earlier watched a presentation focused on the history, governance structure, and challenges and opportunities of ETT. The back-to-back visits allowed participants to see how two different ownership models had been realized at the same deposit. State-run ETT contracts operating companies to extract and export the coal, and even with limited resources, is dedicated to corporate social responsibility, contributing to the local economy, and building infrastructure. In contrast, the privately owned Energy Resources runs a more integrated mining operation, including a thermal power plant, roads, a housing complex, a water treatment facility, and a coking-coal processing facility.
The tours not only conveyed to the participants a sense of the scale of mining activities, but also allowed them to engage with people working at the mines. Through the escorts made available to us, we learnt about the key challenges faced by such large-scale mining operations, including environmental and social ones, whose impact they need to manage. One such challenge, for example, is the transportation of coal to the border with China. Thousands of high-speed overhaul trucks from three different mines regularly carry the coal for the 250 kilometers to the border. There they stand in a queue over 50 kilometers long, and throughout the day and the night unload the coal at the Chinese receiving station. This has had a major environmental impact, posing health hazards for those living in the Tsogt-Tsetsii soum centre, particularly from the dust raised and emission of exhaust fumes.
Interactive learning: Oyu Tolgoi Community Benefit Agreements
The final day was devoted to an interactive exercise on community benefit agreements (CBAs) designed and facilitated by Eric Werker, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, and Dalaibuyan Byambajav, a Mongolian researcher and expert on sustainability challenges in the resource sector in emerging economies. The day started with Dr. Werker describing the recent community engagement process between the Tk’emlups Indian Band, the Skeetchestn Band and New Gold’s New Afton Mine Project near Kamloops, Canada. Canada has over 30 years of experience in enacting CBAs, many of which have been successful in meeting their objectives in relation to delivering benefits. These case studies thus allowed participants to study the CBA process in a resource-based country, with a developed democracy.
We were then provided with background information on a fictional case based, however, on an actual CBA between Oyu Tolgoi and the Umnugobi Province. In this scenario, a large copper mine was entering into negotiations with a local community before it could start operations. Participants were divided into three groups, representing different interests – the mining company, the government, and the local authority -- and had to negotiate among themselves and reach a community benefit agreement.
This exercise allowed us to directly experience the complexities of working in a scenario where multiple and sometime contradictory stakeholder interests have to be reconciled and accommodated in a consensus. The discussions got heated as the participants actively engaged with one another, correcting others’ assumptions while passionately defending the interests of their own “group”. After each stage in the negotiation, the groups reported on the status of the agreement, identifying the opportunities and challenges they had faced. Dr. Byambajav provided immediate feedback, grounding his comments in the actual negotiation proceedings that had taken place between Rio Tinto, the Government of Mongolia, and the local community.
To conclude the exercise, a roundtable was held with representatives who had participated in these actual negotiations, such as Sh. Baigalmaa, General Manager for Social Performance and Regional Development at Oyu Tolgoi, who had represented Rio Tinto, and J. Sukh-Erdene, who represented the local community as a provincial government official. The Director of the Gobi Oyu Development Support Fund, S. Erdenebat, was also present to talk about the work of his organization, which was set up as a direct outcome of the agreement. Finally, Ganzorig Ochirbat, a representative of the Umnugobi provincial government, outlined the government’s developmental vision for the province, including how exploitation of natural resources would be integral to its future. Following these presentations, a multitude of hands shot up to ask questions of this panel, demonstrating eagerness on the part of the young professionals to learn and understand the work of their seniors.
Conclusion
Peer-to-peer learning was a major focus of this workshop. The 15 Mongolian participants not only engaged with one another, but also with the five international participants. Comparing the Mongolian, Kyrgyz and Afghan experiences in resource governance, as well as the Canadian experience in CBAs, was central to moving the discussions beyond a national focus to include leading international practices and standards. The dialogue and debate that ensued among the participants continues to this day, two months later, through an online platform where we have been sharing the follow-up reports drafted for our respective organizations on what we had learnt, as well as other information.
The workshop also increased participants’ access to case studies and information relating to natural resource governance. Mongolia is rich with learning opportunities beyond what this workshop could cover. Many past policy decisions – the Windfall Profit Tax, the Law with the Long Name, decisions related to artisanal and small-scale mining, and so forth – are good subjects for critical review.
Familiarity with past decisions and their implementation will make the workforce more informed, and add to the young professionals’ confidence about how to interact with outside consultants and experienced government, industry and community representatives, fostering intergenerational coordination. This is also true for mine site visits – many of us working in natural resource governance had never seen firsthand how a mine works, and the visits offered us new perspectives on such work and its impact.
Strengthening governance institutions is at the heart of many development programmes. Young professionals, who often form the bulk of the workforce of these institutions in developing countries, need to participate in such capacity-enhancing workshops to be more knowledgeable and confident decision-makers who can lead their countries on the path of sustainable and equitable development. It is our hope that more such learning opportunities will be made available to Mongolia’s young professionals.