Background

Mongolia supports and endorses the Millennium Declaration adopted at the UN Millennium Summit. To implement the high level commitments and enhance poverty monitoring and MDG achievement the Parliament of Mongolia assigns the government to align the existing policy and resource allocation tools such as the Government Action Plan, annual Socio-Economic Guidelines, the Medium Tem Fiscal Framework and annual budget. Moreover, the head of the state has committed to prepare the MDG-based National Development Strategy (NDS), which will serve as the basis to formulate medium-term programs, sectoral strategies and cooperation programs with the donor community. Moreover, the UNDP project recognizes the gaps in the processes for formulation, integration, implementation, monitoring and assessment of government policies and programs and feeding the results back into the process for improved results and policies.

Objectives

The objectives of this 3-year pilot project are: 1) To support the establishment of a comprehensive, integrated and decentralized system of monitoring and assessment for achievement of poverty reduction goals and MDGs; and 2) To promote the use of monitoring information for improving implementation and policy reform.
The interventions will focus in the following key areas:

• Inter-sectoral coordination mechanism for poverty / MDG monitoring and assessment;
• Assisting in preparing the MDG-based National Development Strategy
• Building capacity for implementation and result monitoring and impact assessment;
• Localizing MDGs through local-level participatory monitoring and reporting mechanisms;
• Aligning domestic and international resources in the framework of MDGs; and
• Developing an integrated and decentralized poverty and MDG monitoring information system based on statistical and administrative data.

On-going activities

1. The MDG Needs Assessment (NA) will serve as a basis for the MDG-based long-term development strategy. The first significant event to start the process was Roundtable discussion in February of 2006 where the national and external experts have exchanged their views on the technical aspects of this exercise, and the government adopted an Integrated approach for the MDG costing. The NA was carried out by the government staff in consultations with other non-governmental experts. Since MDG is multi-sectoral, the Thematic Task Forces (TTFs) were set in line with the MDGs and comprised staff from different ministries, agencies and NGOs. The TTFs main task was to identify investment requirements for each MDG, develop MDG-consistent macroeconomic framework and propose an option for financing strategy. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is a main coordinating agency to undertake the needs assessment. This NA exercise enables the government the first time formulate the national level priority interventions based on sectoral needs, cost and support them by the financing strategy option (2007 – 2015). The NA was completed by the end of 2006.
2. To ensure a wide public participation in this process UNDP supported a newspaper information-sharing initiative aimed at providing information to the public about the process of a preparing the MDG-Based National Development strategy. This exercise created additional rooms for policy-makers, researchers and fellow-citizens to maintain oversight of the process and provide their feedback.
3. To fulfill provision of the Parliament Resolution, the Ministry of Finance started to prepare the 2nd National Report on MDG implementation. The report will enable the policy-makers to track progress towards MDG achievement and align the priorities to meet targets by 2015.

UN Assistance

The UN agencies, such as UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO in Mongolia have been strongly supporting this process through technical guidance on needs assessment approach and procuring the generalized macroeconomic framework licensed for Mongolia. During the entire process the UN advisors and experts have conducted a number of training on Integrated approach, hand-on training on specific issues and extended comments to various drafts of report. Ensuring the consultative process was one of focuses of assistance.

Future activities

The project will focus on the following key areas:

1. Localization of MDGs in selected pilot sites
2. Production of the 2nd MDG Implementation Report
3. Creation of a comprehensive MDG monitoring system
4. Communication and Advocacy of MDGs