Assessing Democratic Governance in Mongolia

1
Assessing Democratic Governance in Mongolia

• Mongolia hosted the Fifth International
  Conference of New or Restored Democracies
  (ICNRD-5) 2003.
  
• The Conference adopted the Ulaanbaatar
  Declaration and Plan of Action that committed
  participating governments to implement action
  plans to strengthen democracy along with concrete
  tools such as DGI databases to monitor
  democratic progress over time.
• A UNDP project on Follow-up to the ICNRD-5
  implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  (June 2004 Nov 2006).
  

2
Basic Factors Reflecting Mongolias
Specificities

• Small population, small-scale economy, dependence
  on external factors, low level of development
  
• Pastoral cattle-breeding, nomadic lifestyle
• Gap between urban and non-urban areas, migration
  from non-urban areas to urban areas
  
• Tendency to depend on the cult of the state,
  state paternalism
  
• Nomadic world view, nomadic mentality
• Non-formal factors in social relationships

3
Specifics of Methodology

• Based on State of Democracy methodology by IDEA
• Incorporates participatory approach
• Poverty and gender sensitive
• Based on bottom-up approach
• Reflective of Mongolias specificities
• The assessment includes qualitative evaluation of
  positive and negative trends and quantitative
  evaluation.
  
• The evaluations and standards are produced by
  national experts
  
• Public opinion is reflected in the process of
  assessment.
  

4
Satellite Indicators

• Civil, social and economic rights by migrants
• Registration of migrants, number of migrants not
  registered.
  
• Political affiliation of members of election
  organization
  
• Fairness of election committees and
  subcommittees
  
• Is there legislation providing for party
  discipline of parliamentary parties?
  
• Public perception of internal democracy within
  parties
  
• Can the growth of mining industry make a real
  contribution in country development?
  

5
Assessment June 2004 Nov.2006

• Main products NPA, DGI, CIN
• Democratic Governance Indicators Assessing the
  State of Governance in Mongolia
  
• Country Information Note
• National Plan of Action to Consolidate Democracy
  in Mongolia
  
• Desk study on the State of Democracy in Mongolia
• Desk study on the State of Democracy in Central
  Asia
  
• Urban Governance Index (UGI)
• Civil Society Index (CSI)
• National and international conferences for
  validation of methodologies and findings of the
  studies

6
Key Stakeholders

• The activities were state-led but broadly
• inclusive
• Parliament
• National Statistical Office
• Civil Society Organizations
• Local Municipalities
• Academia
• Media
• Judiciary

7
3.6. Sample of Focus Group Discussion
8
Key Lessons Learned

• Mongolias initiative on DGI, Country Information
  Note and the National Plan of Action to
  Consolidate Democracy are new steps towards
  consolidating democracy.
• Contributed to developing a culture of
  evidence-based decision-making and awareness
  raising on governance issues and challenges
  through public forums, national conferences and
  individual interviews.
• Sustainability and institutionalization of the
  process remains as the main challenge considering
  the methodological aspects as well as cost
  implications
• The success of the pilot was dependent on a few
  stakeholders, Ownership by the general public,
  civil society involvement in the governance
  measurement remains weak, which is the very
  purpose of DGIs

9
Millennium Development Goal 9

• Parliamentary resolution 2005 on human rights,
  anti-corruption and democracy
  
• MDG9 interventions defined as part of the
  National Development Strategy and MDGs costing
  exercise was carried out in 2006-2007, which is
  unique to Mongolia.
• Independent monitoring and reporting system on
  the implementation of MDG-9 is designed,
  implemented and institutionalized
  
• DGIs streamlined and a set of specific target
  indicators developed and approved by the
  Parliament of Mongolia