Strengthening Representative Bodies in Mongolia
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Project “Strengthening Representative Bodies in Mongolia” MID-TERM REVIEW Final Report December 2018 1 Project information Project Title “Strengthening Representative Bodies in Mongolia” project Country Mongolia Implementing Partner: Parliament Secretariat, Parliament of Mongolia, jointly with the UNDP and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Project Start date January 2017 Project End date December 2020 Total resources UNDP TRAC: $ 500,000 Donor SDC: $3,300,000 Total $3,800,000 Reporting Period January 2017 to November 2018 Contributing Outcome By 2021, governing institutions are more responsive and (UNDAF/CPD): accountable to citizens, while ensuring effective participation of young people and realisation of the rights of the poor and marginalised. Brief Description The promulgation of the new constitution in 1992 marks the beginning of the emergence of local self-governing bodies in Mongolia. Citizens Representatives Hurals (CRHs) have become a stable institution and played an important role in the consolidation of democracy. However, challenges remain in making them truly representative of local people, as a responsive and accountable institution. The legal framework established in the early transition period has not kept pace with the country’s social, economic and political transformations. Laws are approved without sufficient consultations with local authorities, thus making their implementation difficult at the local level. The organizational capacities of CRHs are constrained by limited resources available at their disposal, unclear mandates and lack of overall guidance. With significant turnover of the CRHs’ members, there is a continuous need to update the knowledge of their duties and responsibilities as elected representatives. At the same time, citizens’ ability to demand accountability from elected representatives is limited due to their low awareness about the functioning of local self-governing bodies, which make important decisions affecting their lives. The Project’s aim is to address the above challenges by adopting a comprehensive three-pronged strategy for capacity development of local self-governing bodies, addressing simultaneously the interrelated levels of legal and institutional environment, the organisational capacity of CRHs including individual competencies as locally elected representatives. In addition, the Project will assist the Parliament of Mongolia in translating recent laws and policies into concrete actions aimed at creating opportunities for meaningful citizen participation in decision-making, mobilising support of CRHs in awareness raising and monitoring the implementation of recently 2 approved laws. In turn, this would result in the increased effectiveness of laws by translating policy declarations to concrete impacts at the citizens’ level. The Project builds on the foundation laid by the “Support to Participatory Legislative Processes” and “Capacity Strengthening of Local Self-governing Bodies” projects, both implemented by the Parliament Secretariat with support from UNDP and SDC from 2013-2016. Outputs The project is articulated around four main “Outputs”: 1. Improved legal framework for local self-governance. 2. Citizens’ Representative Hurals have improved organizational capacity. 3. National training program for local elected representatives is institutionalized. 4. Improved capacity of the Parliament Secretariat to support representative bodies. UNDP Contact Person Daniela Gasparikova Deputy Resident Representative UNDP Mongolia Email: [email protected] Tel: 976-317585 (1111) Website: www.mn.undp.org Facebook.com/undp.mongolia 3 Acknowledgements and disclaimer The Mid-term review provided a ring side view of capacity development of local self-governing bodies in Mongolia. It was an engrossing experience. I thank all project stakeholders who met with the MTR team for one on one discussions, group discussions, for sharing with us their thoughts and perspectives. In particular, I thank all the representatives from the Aimags, Soums, Districts that we met and the citizens who travelled (some long distances) to meet with us for a couple of hours. These were very valuable exchanges and informative. We are particularly thankful to Mr. Tsolmon Tsedev, the National Project Director for making time for us in the midst of his heavy parliamentary schedule. Our special thanks to Mr. Byambasuren Urgamal, Deputy Chief of the Cabinet Secretariat for meeting with us. The project team provided outstanding support; from taking care of logistics, to explaining different facets of the project, updating information, providing all possible documents available in English, and consistent back up for preparing this document. Barkhas Losolsuren, Zoljargal Gantumur and Camille Barras, a big thank you for the professional manner in which this was done. And also, to the other staff of the team who supported this entire effort. A very special word of thanks goes to our translator Batjargal Khishigsuren. I thank my colleagues of the MTR team, Liliane Tarnutzer and Patrick Duong for the perceptive and simulating discussions that we had and for educating me in the process. The content of this report is the sole responsibility of the consultant and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the United Nations Development Programme, authorities in Mongolia, nor those of any other party. All efforts have been made to ensure that the information presented here is correct, and any factual error that may appear is unintended and is the sole responsibility of the consultant. Dr. Cherian Joseph New Delhi 17 December, 2018 4 Table of Contents Title Page Project information 2 Acknowledgements and disclaimer 4 Table of contents 5 List of abbreviations and acronyms 7 Executive summary 8 1 The background: the country and the project 15 1.1 Country background 15 1.2 The past foundations 17 1.2:1 Strengthening Representative Bodies in Mongolia (SRBM) 17 1.2:2 SRBM objectives 17 2 MTR objectives 18 3 MTR methodology 18 3.1 Limitations of the MTR 20 4 The evaluation principles 21 5 Project findings 21 5.1 Output 1 Improved legal framework for local governance 21 5.1:1 Progress results 22 5.1:2 Challenges 23 5.2 Output 2 Citizens’ Representative Hurals have improved 23 organizational capacity 5.2:1 Progress results 24 5.2:2 Challenges 26 5.3 Output 3 National training programme for local elected 27 representatives is institutionalized 5.3:1 Progress results 28 5.3:2 Challenges 30 5.4 Output 4 Improved capacity of the Parliament Secretariat to support 30 representative bodies 5.4:1 Progress results 31 5.4:2 Challenges 32 6 Critical cross cutting themes 33 6.1 The marginalised, rural poor, youth and women 33 6.1 :1 Progress results 33 6.1:2 Challenges 34 6.2 Project communication 34 6.2:1 Progress results 34 6.2:2 Challenges 34 6.3 Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) 34 6.3:1 Progress results 34 6.3:2 Challenges 34 7 Conclusions 35 7.1 Some distinct features 35 7.2 Project relevance 36 7.3 Effectiveness 37 7.4 Sustainability 38 5 8 Recommendations 39 8.1 Citizen engagement 39 8.2 Strengthening training for hurals 40 8.3 Small grants scheme 40 8.4 Youth, vulnerable and marginalised 41 8.5 Institutionalisation of www.khural.mn 41 8.6 Project communication 41 8.7 Project management 41 8.8 The Parliament Secretariat 42 Annexures Annex 1 Theory of change 43 Annex 2 Guiding questions 44 Annex 3 Documents accessed / List of persons interviewed / MTR Team 47 Annex 4 Responses from group exercises 49 Annex 5A Key results of CRH grant projects, 2017 53 Annex 5B Citizens’ Representative Hurals and NGOs that received grants, 2018 56 Annex 6 Women’s leadership in local government training report by 59 MonFemNet 6 List of abbreviations and acronyms Abbreviations / Acronyms Expanded form AMLA Association of Mongolian Local Authorities CSLSB Capacity Strengthening of Local Self-Governing Bodies project CRH Citizens’ Representative Khural LATUG Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and their Governance LDF Local Development Fund MALA Mongolian Association of Local Authorities MOJHA Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs NAoG National Academy of Management NAMBS National Association of Mongolian Baghs and Soums NPD National Project Director : Secretary General, Secretariat of the Great State Hural PS Parliament Secretariat PIU Project Implementation Unit SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SSCS Standing Committee on State Structure of the Parliament of Mongolia UNDP United Nations Development Programme 7 Executive summary Introduction The Strengthening Representative Bodies in Mongolia (SRBM) project builds on the groundwork laid by the “Support to Participatory Legislative Processes” and “Capacity Strengthening of Local Self- governing Bodies” projects. The two projects were implemented by the Parliament Secretariat with support from UNDP and SDC from 2013-2016. The projects provided technical support for local khurals to improve their role as overseers of local authorities and public resource utilisation and assisted Parliament in improving legislative drafting processes through policy analysis and stakeholder dialogue and the increased access of citizens to their elected representatives. The SRBM project has adopted a comprehensive three-pronged strategy; capacity development of local self-governing bodies- addressing simultaneously the interrelated levels of legal and institutional environment, and enhancing the organisational capacity of Hurals as well as