A little boy playing outside his house around the SOS Social Center in Ulaanbaatar…

A little boy playing outside his house around the SOS Social Center in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The sun is out and casts a hard white light on the north-eastern Bayanzurkh suburb of Ulaanbaatar - the capital of Mongolia. The soothing warmth of the sun does not hide that this is one of the poorest areas in town.

Children walk around not wearing much despite the below-zero temperatures, and that is exactly why the SOS Social Centre is located here; to target the needs of children and their families. The director of the SOS Social Centre, Jalgal Otgonsuren, explains that the children living here are mostly sons and daughters of migrant workers. Back in 2003-04, the winter was particularly harsh and many of Mongolia's rural population lost their livestock, and thereby also their livelihood and were forced to migrate to the bigger cities to look for work. The population of the area continues to rise as people living in the rural areas of Mongolia continue to migrate to the capital in hope of finding better facilities like kindergartens, schools, hospitals and work. More than 85 percent of the adult population is unemployed and more than 4,600 children are receiving the government child allowance of 2.50 USD per month. Due to lack of proper resources, papers and identification cards, most of them have not been formally registered with the authorities in Ulaanbaatar. The lack of registration makes it almost impossible for the children to attend normal schools open to the public and receive health care.

The SOS Social Centre provides targeted support to families headed by single women with more than five family members. In the selected district, more than 60 percent of all families living there have more than four children - of which more than half are trying to just manage below the poverty line. For those women, sources of income are very limited and the unemployment rate is extremely high. Finding work or starting income-generating activity with small children to look after is a big challenge. As a result, many children in this area are underweight and show signs of malnutrition.

Jalgal Otgonsuren and one of her colleagues are out visiting a single mother of four, living in the vicinity of the SOS Social Centre. 38-year-old Altan has been living in her small wooden shed for the last eight years. The linoleum on the floor is tattered and furniture is limited to two beds and a small chair. Newspapers and carpets are put on the wall for insulation, but that offers only insufficient protection against the elements as the tin roof is leaking. Altan's only source of income is the plastic, glass bottles and tin she finds in the nearby garbage pile and afterwards sells at the local market. There is no assistance by the father of her two youngest girls aged 3 and 6. He has re-married. Her first husband, the father of her 10-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy, is also not in contact with the family. Her oldest son has never been to school before he stared attending the informal classes offered to him at the SOS Social Centre, but he recently stopped going because he wanted to help his mother with collecting garbage for generating income. Jalgal Otgonsuren is here to talk to Altan about that. During the conversation, Jalgal learns that the 10-year-old girl currently lives away from home with some distant relatives in the countryside. The mother cannot afford transportation to bring her back home.

It is difficult for Altan to find work because she needs to be at home to look after her youngest daughter. She sleeps in her mother's lap while her older sister shyly clings on to her arm. Cracked, frost- bitten red skin is visible on the round cheeks of the 6-year-old.

"I'd like to be able to provide my children with opportunities for education and work - but I cannot afford kindergarten fees and I am not sure I could afford it even if I started washing cars, cooking or cleaning," she says. Altan grew up in an orphanage in Ulaanbaatar city and went to school until grade 8.

Currently, the SOS Social Centre is able to provide the family with clothes and medical check-ups. Jalgal sighs as she waves goodbye to the woman. "Sometimes it is frustrating to have a budget and schemes you have to abide by," she says, wanting to be able to do more for those families living near her place of work. The SOS Social Centre and the family strengthening programme have been active for less than two years now, reaching out to a total of 150 families - with 375 children and 125 grown-ups. In addition to providing education for a select number of children, the centre also organises educational programmes to help school drop-outs rejoin school or vocational training courses. A medical doctor does regular health check-ups for the kids and their families and coaches the parents on nutrition and hygiene. Soon, the Centre will be able to offer training and guidance on income-generating schemes.