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Pre-Departure Briefing Intake 1, 2018

Posted: 1 January 2018

A Pre-Departure Briefing (PDB) for Intake 1, 2018 was conducted on 24-25 November 2017 at the Australia Awards Mongolia (AAM) conference room and attended by 15 awardees and 10 family members.

15 awardees and their families attended the Australia Awards Mongolia Pre-departure briefing November 2017.

Neville Saunderson, Program Manager, AAM congratulated the awardees on their success on behalf of AAM team.

Mr. McKenna expressed his delight at the awardees’ achievements from selection to their departure. He was involved from the beginning and hoped to be able to welcome them on their return. He emphasised that awardees are ambassadors for Mongolia and reminded them that study should be their priority and they should be aware of their obligations and responsibilities as explained in their Agreement and the Policy handbook. He gave a brief overview of each city where awardees will be located. He said that successful study is a great start for their contribution to development in Mongolia in their diverse fields and he asked the awardees to talk about their reintegration and career goal.

Awardees discuss DFAT’s information kit about living and studying in Australia during the Pre-departure briefing.

He invited the awardees to the Australian Embassy event on inclusion on 5 December 2017.

Mr Bulgantamir, MOF, stated that he was very impressed with the selected awardees with their achievement and success. He thanked the Australian Government for their commitments to the Australia Awards Mongolia program, acknowledging that Australia is an exceptional development partner through its direct contribution to Mongolia’s human resource development and the relationship and expanded cooperation between the two countries. He noted the awardees are the future young leaders of Mongolia and encouraged them to build linkages and expand networks at individual, organisational and international levels. He wished them and their spouses well and hoped they enjoyed living in Australia.

The first day of the PDB focused on DFAT’s information kit about living and studying in Australia. A number of returned graduates shared their personal experiences in areas such as finding accommodation, bringing family, settling into a new environment, studying and working in Australia. New awardees found this information especially useful.

The second day began by the speech on the “International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women”, emphasizing its priority for the Australian Government and Coffey International Development.

The day was dedicated to cultural orientation and sharing experiences. Awardees were grouped into the cities where they would be living and learned from graduates and Australian Volunteers for International Development from those cities.

Representatives from the Mongolia-Australia Alumni Association and Women’s Leadership Program made presentations and shared their personal and professional experiences.

In total, ten alumni, seven Australian volunteers, a Mozzies executive director and a WLP participant contributed to the PDB.