Supporting Mongolia’s Diversified and Sustainable Economic Development Leveraging Rural Herder Communities

For the fourth consecutive year, the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNRCO) in Mongolia partnered with Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) to support Mongolia’s long-term development goals outlined in Vision 2050 and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2023–2027). This year’s initiative focuses on Mongolia’s rural herders, who make up nearly one-third of the population, and explores strategies to integrate them into the national economy’s diversification.

Commissioned by the UN Country Team, the report analyzes structural barriers facing herder communities, including limited financial literacy, gender and urban-rural divides, market access, and exposure to climate shocks. It emphasizes the potential of cooperatives to drive inclusive development, and identifies textiles (cashmere, camel wool) and eco-tourism as promising diversification sectors. Encouragingly, herders are already shifting toward more climate-resilient practices like raising Bactrian camels.

To unlock herders’ potential, the report proposes a three-tiered policy strategy: (1) foundational education through region-specific herders’ manuals, (2) scalable digital incentives linked to sustainable practices, and (3) transformative regional cooperative hubs for fiber processing, training, and tourism. Together, these measures form a flexible roadmap toward inclusive, climate-resilient development, aligned with Mongolia’s national aspirations and the Sustainable Development Goals.