Soccer protects public land
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>View discussions about this entry Country: Mongolia
Organization: Local Solutions Foundation
Sport: Soccer
Year the initative began (yyyy) 2007
Project URL: http://www.oyungerel.org/soccer.html
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence? We are raising funds and sponsoring community soccer as a means of blocking the illegal taking of public open space by predatory development in Ulaanbaatar.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field? Insofar as I am aware, my project is unique in that it uses soccer as a means of mobilizing the communities to protect public open spaces. In Ulaanbaatar, many children's playgrounds, parks and other public open spaces including soccer and basketball fields have been illegally usurped by predotary developers for last few years. Each time communities demonstrate for their open spaces, but eventually lose when public attention lags. Contrary to the typical sad outcome, the soccer field that I am supporting has not been destroyed by developers thanks to a dedicated soccer coach and activist, Mr. Enkhtaivan. I and my husband raised funds to Mr. Enhtaivan's salary and for equipping and organizing and training boys and girls soccer teams who practice and play on the field all year around. Those children and their coach have successfully repulsed attempts by corrupt developers to convert that open land into bars and karaoke clubs. This risk of losing public open space in Ulaanbaatar requires constant vigilance.
What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change? Ulaanbaatar was built during communism. The city was constructed with open spaces for the enjoyment of the public. However, these lands have not been legally protected by city codes. There is no city code and no zoning law, no open city plan and no mechanisms for public participation in city law formulation. Democracy is in its infancy here. However, by tradition, many lands are set aside for public use. Developers take adventage of the absense of regulations, however, to usurp public land.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing? I implement my idea by identifiying and supporting a key individual, who is determined to protect his neighborhood's last soccer field from corrupt developers. I have written articles about Ulaanbaatar's land grabbing problems, spoken on television. From my public appearance, Mr. Enhtaivan contacted me with his story how he has been using soccer to protect the land. Together, we developed a proposal by which we would fund him to establish soccer teams and keep the field occupied and safe from predatory developers. On more than one occassion the children actually faced down tractors sent by predatory developers to the field. With the money we raised so far, Enhtaivan is equipping and training 90 children of five teams and establishing the sixth in his community. Also, I speak about this project in order to inspire its replication in other areas of the city facing the same problem. Politicians and public are now starting to understand the importance of public participation in city planning
How do you plan to grow your innovation? My ultimate objective is to see that all Mongolian cities and towns have city codes, zoning regulations with public participation in all aspects of city planning. I want to use the success of this project to persuade lawmakers to enact laws to preserve and protect public open space from predatory development. I also want to use the success of this project to inspire communities throughout Mongolia to act proactively and creatively to protect their open spaces. Also this project enables me to write stories, articles, position papers and suggest law drafts and speak out for public lands.
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact. Supporting the efforts of Mr.Enhtaivan has resulted in preservation of an important public space in city of Ulaanbaatar and called public attention to this issue.
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries? To date, the land is protected and more than 40 children play soccer everyday in winter time and over 100 children during summer time. This is a benefit to the entire community of 142 families of Songinohairhan district of Ulaanbaatar because the children have a place to go and participate in organized sport after school and on weekends. The success of this project is starting to convince the public that they can act to preserve public open space. People are inspired that they finally have a method of public open space protection that works. This growing determination on the part of the public will help protect open space until appropriate laws, regulations and procedures are put in place.
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation? - I am writing articles on newspapers and magazines on importance of city codes, zoning regulations and public participation in city planning.
- I am also giving lectures on the same topic through television, radio and to politicians. - I am publicizing Enhtaivan's example in the media which inspires community leaders and volunteers for social activism. What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact? Lack of laws and regulations, lack of tradition of having public participation in city planning, and growing money and development in Ulaanbaatar city.
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)? My initiative is financed through my fundraising. I, as the head of the Local Solutions Foundation which my husband and I established in 2007, publicize Enhtaivan's story on my website www.oyungerel.org/soccer.html. So far we have partly secured the salary of the coach and equipment for 2008. I continue to look for funding for children's uniforms.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization. My organization is a Ulaanbaatar based NGO, Local Solutions Foundation which was established in April 2007. Local Solutions Foundation raises money for, spreads ideas of creative local solutions to problems that are also global issues like poverty, corruption, illiteracy and environmental degradation. Our foundation raised over 40,000 dollars for various local small projects since its inception and published a Mongolian-English dialogue book "Nomadic Dialogues" to help mongolian nomadic herders increase their income from tourism. Also, Local Solutions Foundation was awarded $10,000 World Bank grant to compile an Occupational Directory for Mongolian high-school students and job-seekers. We have one full time staff, and three part-time project staff members in a small office in down-town Ulaanbaatar.
What is the potential demand for your innovation? Political demands for public participation in city rule-making is starting to increase. Demand of having public space is going to be one of hottest issues of the local elections of 2008 as Ulaanbaatar's wild growth is affecting communities, children and their health.
Soccer project success is inspiring young people to play more soccer. Enhtaivan is already having challenges how to meet his community members' growing demand to play soccer on the only field remained in the territory of whole district of 300,000 people. What are the main barriers to financial sustainability? There is no budget dedicated to public open spaces. There is not a Parks and Recreation Commission for Ulaanbaatar. Until the city dedicates budget and attention to preserve its public open spaces, the financial barriers will exist and will require proactive response from the public. Paradoxically, Ulaanbaatar's private sector unregulated development is thriving to the extent that public lands are at risk. City government, that should provide money and legal protection to the land, is part of the problem because of corruption.
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. In August 2007, I was interviewed on a live television show talking about importance of public participation to the construction of democratic institutions and Local Solutions Foundation's role in promoting local activists. Mr. Enhtaivan happened to call in to the studio and asked to meet me. Later, he came to my home with his album of soccer playing children and his story of his long struggle to protect the field from predatory developers. I decided to help him and wrote a story about him. The story raised enough money to fund his full time coaching since September 2007. My story was in English, and I spread it to my friends in my mailing list. Several american friends responded with donations. People their support because they loved soccer and wanted to save public space for Enhtaivan's community.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, 41, president of Local Solutions Foundation. She served as an advisor to Elbegdorj Tsakhia during his term as prime minister. During her 12 years in public service, Tsedevdamba has worked on the country’s democratic reforms.
Oyungerel authored a local bestseller Note on My study in America, co-authored Nomadic Dialogues. She earned B.A. in planning economics from Soviet Union, M.B.A from the Moscow International Business School, M.A. in international policy studies from Stanford University and was a Yale World Fellow. Contact Information:
Oyungerel Tsedevdamba
President Local Solutions Foundation (NGO) Discussions about this entry |
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Dear Oyungerel:
Thank you for participating in this collaborative competition. We value the time and effort you’ve put forth and we would like to offer you feedback and some thought provoking questions from our Evaluation Team.
The concept of using organized soccer and the tradition of setting aside land for public use to counter overdevelopment and preserve open spaces for child recreation is unusual and interesting. While there were no clear plans to scale the project, it would be easily replicable elsewhere. Finally, the funding sources for this proposal were somewhat unclear, as was the source of future funding, and by relation, long-term sustainability.
Please use this input as both potential insights into your innovations, as well as constructive ideas for how to improve or grow your organization.
Warm regards,
The Changemakers Team
Tany temtsliig demjij baina!
Niigmiin sain saihny tuluu hiij baigaa
tanai sangiin ajil uilst amjilt husye!
That's great idea! I support you!
We are together for that goodness for kids!
Munkhtur from Los Angeles,
A project to ensure 90 kids a safe place to gather and train a collective sport like soccer;
A project to help a community secure public space and enhance its cohesion;
A simple project as another step toward public regulation making and against corruption;
This is a wonderful idea and we are greatful to get a chance to support it.
I suppose boundary markers and signs can just be torn down. But kids and adults (communities) who own the space and use it are much more difficult to deal with. Eventually you will get your laws to protect the parks, but in the meantime I think sports is a wonderful way to organize.
Hi Oyungerel,
One of the great things about this competition is how makes me think about how sport ties in with other areas of public and social life. It never occurred to me that sport also connects to the growing deabte on public space, city development and gentrification, but of course it does, as your project shows. Thanks for letting me see this! I found an article you might find interesting:
Public space, sports, and the city of Toronto
http://spacing.ca/play-ed.htm
It´s - just like your project- a great starting point for a discussion on sport and social entrepreneurship, in fact. Just as in you case, much is made here of the clash between financial and private/non-profit interests. Central lines there:
"You can’t make play time — for grown-ups and kids alike — appear valuable on a balance sheet. It doesn’t bring in any money. Yet it is important."
Agreed, certainly, to the importance, even in absence of any financial gains. I wonder, though, whether the SE community and the tools developed there do not provide more strategies than just claiming (however rightfully) that money isn´t everything. Some have been pointed out, but what comes to my mind in general, especially when dealing with state authorities, is the value of pointing to the many ways in which free public recreational spaces indirectly help attracting money into a city or saving the authorities money, i.e. how for example it is easier to attract bright and skilled people to a city in which they and their kids can actually play or how healthy kids cost less in health care, plain and simple. I´m also sure there are studies available demonstrating the positive effect of youth programs (which require free public spaces) on crime and drug abuse. All in all, I guess, it´s about mobilizing reasearch from areas like crime prevention, healthcare, workforce development etc., and getting them to the authorities = valuable even on a balance sheet.
Best wishes,
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University
Here are a few relevant case studies from Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiative illustrating how other organizations have tackled financial barriers in similar situations:
http://www.citizenbase.org/en/node/2769
http://www.citizenbase.org/en/node/2896
http://www.citizenbase.org/en/node/2863
http://www.citizenbase.org/en/node/3017
"I continue to look for funding for children's uniforms."
The ultimate would be to get the developers to sponsor the teams and tournaments.
Would teams from around the city pay to compete in a tournament?
If you secured the material, would the families surrounding the open space sew the uniforms? That would build in deeper commitment from the surrounding community, the little team would become their home team.
Could you use part of the land for a community garden and sell the produce to finance the sports teams?
I'm just tossing out ideas.
Hi, Oyunderel! Your initiative reminded me of another one that has been usualy taken down here in Brazil regarding public spaces for comunity use. A traditional football Brazilian practice called "futebol de várzea" which dated back the early 1930's, was runnig the risk of desapearing in São Paulo due to the estate market growing in the 1990's. Fotebol de várzea is not played in a regular square, but in the "wilde", alongside river flooded areas, specialy when it appeared. The football players and a circus stand up for the rigth to have this kind of game being protected as a cultural heritage of the city and the lands are protected nowadays by cultural laws and the area was included in the city zoning. Don't you have any kind of legal disposition like this? It may be a possibility.
Best,
MArta
Dear Oyunaa,
our Tsahimurtuu NGO strongly supports your initiative and will be happy, if you win the contest and can implement this project and make rural Mongolian children happy by providing them possibility to play soccer and to feel the spirits of the sport!
All the best,
Enkhe
Thank you. We support you
Ziba, thank you for your immediate response. I will check letmeplay.com! Thanks a lot for good ideas. oyuna.
Oyunderel!
This is so interesting! There are so many other groups in this competition that I could imagine using a similar strategy...from the more benign examples of communities where public space is at a premium - we had a similar example with a court the NBA was hoping to support in the slums of Sao Paolo - to more extreme examples......Palestinians and bulldozers?! Also, check out letmeplay.com - its a bit american-centric, but communities in Los Angeles and New Orleans are using a tape that is similar to that used by police at crime sites to demarcate areas that they would like to be set aside for public places to play. That might be another interesting addition to your strategy!
Best of luck
ziba