ABOUT
Our Success and Experience
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The Sant Maral Foundation (SMF) was established in September 1994 as a public benefit, self-governing, non-profit non-government organization.
The goal of the foundation is to contribute to Mongolia's social development geared towards the creation of a society based upon the principles of freedom, justice, and democracy. Since its formation, SMF established itseld as the premier Mongolian polling institution in the country.
Since knowledge is regarded as one of the most democratic driving forces of today, SMF pays special attention to free information flows. Activity of SMF and its board members focuses also on such issues as political education, self-reliance and self-governance initiatives support - to assist people in a volatile time of transition.
The Foundation's role is to provide unbiased and reliable information on changes occurring during the transitional time of Mongolian Society. In our surveys we investigate public opinion on various political, economic, and social issues. With the help of other democratic organisations in Mongolia the Foundation encourages civil participation in the democratisation process in Mongolia through opening new information channels and strengthening civil participation in decision-making process.
For this purpose, in spring 1995 the Foundation created a working group for public opinion research. Since then, the SMF Research Centre has conducted a wide range of opinion polls and research studies. The reports from these surveys are widely published and distributed.
SMF has developed a reputation as one of the most reliable and politically unbiased polling organizations, and has made accurate predictions on the outcome of Parliamentary and Presidential Elections through 1996-2017.
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Our Team
Sumati Luvsandendev, Director
Luvsandendeviin SUMATI was born in 1956 in Moscow. In 1979 he graduated in Computer Science and Mathematics at Moscow State University’s faculty of Cybernetics and Applied Mathematics. From 1979 to 1994, he was a researcher and systems analyst at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
Sumati has led the Sant Maral Foundation since 1994.
Sergelen Tsogt-Ochir, Research Director
Sergelen Tsogt-Ochir was born in 1958 in Ulaanbaatar; she graduated as Diploma-Mathematician from the Humboldt University, Germany in 1981. From 1981 until 1992, she was a researcher at the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia. Sergelen has worked at the Sant Maral Foundation as Research Director since 1995
Mina Sumati, Senior Researcher
Mina was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She started working at Sant Maral Foundation in 2010 and is currently a Senior Researcher. She received her MA in Political Science with focus on Political Research Methods and Social Analysis from Central European University in Hungary and BA in Political Science from Dickinson State University in the US. In 2019 she received her PhD at the Graduate School of Global Politics at the Free University of Berlin in "Chinese Foreign Aid: Volatile Evaluation".
Prohl Werner, Advisor
Werner Prohl was born in 1947 in Germany; he studied Business Administration and Development Economics in Germany and England. From 1993 until 1999 he was the first representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Mongolia and implemented programmes for the strengthening of democracy through political education and empirical research.
Werner occasionally carries out short-term international consultancy assignments and through such endeavours he has maintained contacts with the Sant Maral Foundation while keeping up-to-date with the research carried out in Mongolia.
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Jim Dwyer, Consultant
Jim Dwyer was born in the U.S. He received a BBA from University of Notre Dame and a MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Jim was a New York-based investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions for 30 years. He was founder and head of M&A departments at two major investment banks and served as Global Head of M&A for Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS).
Mr. Dwyer first visited Mongolia in 2001 to represent the Government of Mongolia as lead investment banker for the privatization of its largest bank, Trade & Development Bank. Thereafter, he served as lead investment banker for the privatization of the largest Government-owned retail bank, Khan Bank. Jim co-founded the Business Council of Mongolia (BCM) and served as Executive Director from its formation in 2007 to April 2016. He is an independent director of several Mongolian-based entities including Golomt Bank and Mandal Insurance.