Shankh project


Shankh is a small and isolated community in central Mongolia near Kharkhorin, Ovorkhangai Aimag. While the monastery is visited by many foreign tourists during the summer months, the community has not been able to create a revenue from this and there is very little employment in the community.

Asral NGO and Kunchab Jampa Ling have been supporting the Monastery and its active abbot in initiating projects locally in order to help prevent the disintegration of the community. Asral has provided accommodation to youths who wish to become monks, is providing grant aid to purchase and renovate a disused building into a school. Shortly, Asral will start providing training in handicrafts; the products thus produced will be sold in a tourist shop to be set up in the monastery grounds.

Supporting education

A ger was donated at Shankh for the young monks at the monastery. The monastery is the only place where youths can receive education in the area; they receive both a secularly and a religious education. The ger was transported from Ulaanbaatar, set up and then fully furnished with a stove, beds and bedding.

Asral has recently given grant aid for Shankh monastery to become the owner of a building which has, with Asral’s support, been renovated and turned into a school; this will be the only place where local children can receive education. Having a school in the community will help ensure children gain access to an education and can remain close to their parents. The building also houses the only local doctor.

Handicrafts – generating livelihoods

This spring Asral NGO converted a building in disrepair at the entrance of the monastery into a shop for tourists visiting Shankh monastery. The shop sells traditional handicrafts produced on the Asral handicraft projects. Those producing the goods are given a fair wage and any profit from the sales of goods is reinvested into Asral’s social welfare projects.

Asral has also started providing handicraft training in Shankh, making this the third location for our handicraft project along with Ondershil in the Gobi and Ulaanbaatar.