"Because of the cash support we received in 2021, we were able to manage our family's finances without taking out a high-interest loan to overcome dzud," says Otgonsuren, a herder in Uvs province.

Representatives of People in Need (PIN) Mongolia, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Mongolia (FAO), the Disaster Risk Reduction Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Red Cross Society, and the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Organization (EU ECHO) are working in Uvurkhangai, Zavkhan, and Uvs aimags on March 10-14 to conduct post distribution monitoring, and spring needs assessment.

During the assessment work, the People in Need team visited Mr. Otgonsuren’s family, a beneficiary herder household of the CashEval research project implemented from 2021, to understand and assess the cash assistance delivered in 2021 aimed at supporting herder households in overcoming livestock mortality with no or low loss and reducing the dzud risk. Mr. Otgonsuren explained, "The cash assistance received in 2021 helped us a lot in overcoming the dzud risk of that year and managing our family finances without the high-interest loan, leveraging the child money of our three children.”

 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, People in Need (PIN) INGO, and the Potsdam Climate Impact Research Institute provided funding for the CashEval study project, which aims to determine the most appropriate assistance that can be given to pastoralist families to overcome the dzud disaster in partnership with the National Statistics Office (NSO).

 Some 381 beneficiaries households received cash assistance totaling 249,000,000 MNT in 2021, ranging from 510,000 to 850,00 MNT, as part of this survey project. According to the study’s findings, to determine the project's direct results, beneficiary households used the cash assistance to purchase more animal feed, invest in the health of their family members, and provide for their nutritional needs. Furthermore, the preliminary result shows that financial assistance has a positive effect on avoiding the livestock mortality of the beneficiary herder households during the harsh periods of the winter and spring seasons.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

EU Delegation to Mongolia

Монголын улаан загалмай нийгэмлэг /Mongolian Red Cross Society/

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

EU Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid

Хүнс, хөдөө аж ахуй, хөнгөн үйлдвэрийн яам

PIK Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research