YES4GREEN: A teenager wins seed fund for her wildlife comic book
The "Od Takhi" Comic Book
UNICEF Mongolia is proud to announce the winner of the YES4GREEN competition - ENKHJIN Shinebaatar for her project The Od Takhi Comic Book (The Star - The Wildhorse) for environmental conservation and wildlife awareness.
YES4GREEN or YOUTH ENTREPRENEURIAL SOLUTIONS (YES) is a contest focused on Greening, Renewable Energy, Environment and Nature (GREEN) among adolescents and young people with the aim to unlock their entrepreneurial potential and creativity and demonstrate leadership abilities to cultivate initial ideas into green start up with the UNICEF’s seed funds. Enkhjin is one of three young people who got seed funding for their project’s ideas. In total, 71 project ideas were received and final 8 projects went through mentor training.
Known to the world as Przewalski’s horse, the Takhi is the last remaining wild horse species. Enkhjin’s comic book tells the compelling story of a young boy who initially wishes to grow his family’s herd to 1000 animals but turned into Takhi. Through his journey, he learns about the Takhi’s wildlife and survival, the threats they face due to competition with humans for grazing land and water. He empathizes with Takhi’s sadness when they must leave the homeland and their joy when they return home.
The story also shows animals’ sense of belonging to their roots and feeling of reconnection with local people, soil, water and air. The story takes young readers through the original history of Takhi from living in harmony with nature to extinction and reintroduction to Mongolia’s wildlife. The comic book will feature colorful visual complemented with a variety of educational tools like puzzles and board games, and Augmented Reality (AR) experiences to engage children of all ages and cater to their various learning styles.
Enkhjin’s project idea started during her senior year when she got a chance to do an internship at Khomyn Talyn Takhi National Park. She noticed there were many misunderstandings, confusions, or false rumors about Takhi among local communities. Local people were saying that the Takhi herds in the National Park occupied pastures, causing herder families to lose grazing areas and water access, which put pressure on their livelihood. Enkhjin decided to create educational posters to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the re-introduction of Takhi-Przewalski’s horses to Khomyn Talyin Takhi National Park. After engaging in discussions with experts and instructors at the park, she reached out to communities with a key message “every wildlife matter” and to raise awareness about the importance of wildlife conservation. At that moment, she found out about YES4GREEN competition initiated by UNICEF Mongolia.
Enkhjin and her team are planning to design, produce and publish the first series of the book by the middle of 2025 and sell at least 1200 books within a year. “The Takhi herds were hunted to extinction in the 1960s and in the 1990s the descendants of eighty-four Takhi were brought from European zoos to Mongolia. The Star, the Takhi project, aims to educate elementary school children about the vital role of wild animals in ecosystems and promote an understanding of how-to live-in harmony with wildlife. The stories will inspire young children to appreciate and value habitats and wildlife and care for sustainability. With each comic book sold, we want the children to understand that animals and plants, just like us, need homes, air, water and food, develop emotional attachment to nature, cultivate deep connection with the surrounding environment and inspire them to care and protect the nature. The journey of Star, the Wild Horse is just beginning, and it holds incredible promise” says enthusiastically Enkhjin.
