Internet and its applications, as well as the different impacts that they have on the world, are among our interests as an organization that brings together cultures and people from all around the planet through language and communication. In this article, we offer you information about one of the many examples in which Internet has become an essential development tool for a remote community.
We’re talking about Mongolia, an Asian country in which several groups of people have traditionally endured multiple problems when trying to satisfy their basic needs mainly due to the difficulty of communicating with urban centers and accessing products and services that are only found in those places. Mongolia is a good example in which Internet has become a tool that can improve vital aspects such as health and education.
Mongolia has turned into one of the pioneering countries in the implementation of Internet as a tool that supports and contributes to the development of far away villages, making the reception of crucial information that helps them improve their health and education possible. With the help and support of the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Mongolia, since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, has slowly rebuilt its democracy, opened its economy to other countries and overcome the geographical obstacles so that its inhabitants can have their basics services and needs satisfied. Mongolia is currently building its own information society.
There’s no doubt about the benefits and possibilities the Internet can offer to the citizens of the world. From a faster and less expensive communication, to a space for debate and interaction, as well as an infinite source of knowledge and information, the web has become a tool that brings together the human beings of our planet, providing them with opportunities that would have been inconceivable some time ago.
While some use the Internet, mainly, as a space for entertainment and communication with family and friends, there’s an increasing number of regions of the world that are starting to see the positive results of believing in the web as a development tool for remote communities that don’t have an easy access to the rest of the society and to certain basic services.
Mongolia is a great example that illustrates the possibilities offered by the Internet when it comes to improving a community’s quality of life. Located between China and Siberia, this country consists of territories that are difficult to access, excluding numerous groups of people from that kind of life that we know as “civilized”, which is enjoyed by others that live in more central and developed places. But, since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Mongolia started a process that is currently transforming the country and has considerably improved the quality of life of many of its inhabitants.
Information Society of Mongolia
Since 1996, and with the help and support of the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Mongolia started using its first Internet connection and web-based services, which led to the first stages of the construction of the country’s information society. Mongolia has become a pioneer in the use of the Internet as a development tool, to the point that today the web plays a determinant role in the access that many far away communities have to basic services –and rights- such as education and health.
There are very important specific examples of Mongolia’s current situation that should become good examples to other communities of the world that can’t satisfy their fundamental rights due to principally, the geography on which they are located.
Batpurev Batchuluun is the executive director of InfoCon,a company dedicated to promoting the use of information and communication technologies in order to contribute to the development of communities around the world, and is, as well, one of the people that has been working with the IDRC on the development of specific applications that make the contribution of the information possible, augmenting the social, economic and cultural development of diverse regions.
“Mongolia is abig country. Creating an information society is abig challenge”, says Batchuluun in an article while talking about the process that Mongolia is currently experiencing. But the truth is several communities are already seeing the benefits and results of what has been done.
For instance, in the health aspect, the leaders of the project have started to do some online training for therural physicians of Mongolia. Also, they have helped the Health Sciences University of Mongolia to create and develop “Doctor System”, a tool for online medical diagnosis in which therural physicians can send ultrasound images, x-rays and other medical exams to the urban centers where better qualified health professionals can analyze them and express their opinions, concepts and recommendations regarding diagnosis and treatments for the patients.
Developing a Community's Mentality
Apart from the health aspect, the Internet is also playing an essential role in the coverage and the quality of education in Mongolia. With the help of the Soros Foundation and the Mongolia’s English for Special Purposes Institute, Batchuluun and his colleagues have started working with teachers and with those who plan the national education strategies in order to integrate distance learning programs with the education system of the country.
As Batchuluun says, “The Internet has really helped people broaden their thinking and their activities. There’s still some work to do with the e-governance, with learning services and with business. For example, people in the countryside need to be able toeasily find the market prices for their cattle or wool or cashmere”. Situations like the one in Mongolia are very positive and encouraging in a world with so many differences. It is of paramount importance that these examples are taken into account by the leaders of all countries so that the benefits are not limited to just a few.