Designed by PCV Tia Farrell and Peace Corps Health Project staff and led by a team of Mongolian and Peace Corps Trainers, the Children's Camp Training Conference taught HIV/AIDS & Life Skills and Project Design & Management skills to Mongolian social workers, teachers, health providers and their Peace Corps Volunteers colleagues across Mongolia. The educational and leadership skills learned during the week-long conference are now being implemented in Children's Camps in 10 provinces across Mongolia during the summer of 2010.

The thirty participants had a chance to not only learn new skills which they will use in teaching and leading summer camps for children, they also gained the knowledge and opportunity to apply for grants to create development projects for children which the conference then funded (around $1,000 each) during the summer. It is an ambitious program that will impact the lives of tens of thousands of children and communities throughout the country.

As just one example of the many incredible projects being implemented this summer by Peace Corps Volunteers, in Sukhbaatar Aimag PCVs Travis Hellstrom and Alex Yang have created a Summer Camp Toolkit  (PDF: View, Download) that will be shared across the country, obtained a grant for over $1,000 to improve summer camp curriculum, purchase additional equipment, boost ongoing school, hospital and children's center clubs and provide scholarships for disadvantaged children to attend Summer Camp and also obtained a grant for $500 to improve water quality for the children. Camp attendance this year has jumped from 60 children in Summer 2009 to 225 children in Summer 2010.