PREFACE - un- Web viewThis situation raises the question why such increase in GDP had brought no...

PARTNERSHIP FOR SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILTY IN MONGOLIA

MAPPING SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN MONGOLIA

Independent Research Institute of Mongolia

Copyright © 2010

Partnership for Social Accountability in Mongolia Democracy Education Center (DEMO)Aprt.#1, Baga Toiruu 44, Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

All rights reserved

This volume is a product of the researchers of the Mapping Social Accountability in Mongolia. The findings, in-terpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Partnership for Social Accountability and ANSA-EAP. Partnership for Social Accountability of Mongolia or ANSA-EAP does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work.

This study report may be copied and used for research, educational, academician or non-profit purposes without Partnership for Social Accountability in Mongolia permission. However, this material should be cited as the source of information as appropriate.

For more information:

Mapping study research teamIndependent Research Institute of Mongolia (IRIM)301, ‘Internom’ bldg, Prime Minister Amar’s street, Suhkbaatar district, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia www.irim.mn, telephone +976-70117101

Mapping study team

Team Leader:

ARIUNTUNGALAG Munkhtuvshin

Executive Director, Independent Research Institute of Mongolia

Researchers:

BAYARTSETSEG

MA, Researcher of Center for Social Responsibilities,

Lecturer, Department of Politics and Sociology, Mongolian State University of Education

ODGEREL Tserendorj

Director of “Infratest” Research and development center


ODONCHIMEG Tsevegmid

Researcher of Independent Research Institute of Mongolia

MOILTMAA Sarantuya

Researcher of Independent Research Institute of Mongolia

SARANGEREL Lhamsuren

MA, “Infratest” Research and development center,


TUMENDELGER Sengedorj

PhD, Director of Center for Social Responsibilities,


Advisor

BOLD Tsevegdorj

MA, Lecturer, Sociology and Social work department, National University of Mongolia

Translator

GANKHUYAG Demid

CONTETSCONTETS...................................................................................................................................3

PREFACE...................................................................................................................................4

ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................................................5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.........................................................................................................6

LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................................9

CHAPTER I.................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................10

CHAPTER II................................................................................................................................17

MAPPING OF SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN MONGOLIA...........................................17

2.1 Government Responsiveness...........................................................................................17

2.2.1 Overview...................................................................................................................17

2.1.2 Research findings......................................................................................................18

2.1.3 Conclusion and Recommendations...........................................................................29

2.2 Organized and capable citizen groups.............................................................................30

2.2.1 Overview...................................................................................................................30


2.2.3 Conclusion and recommendations............................................................................48

2.3 Access to information......................................................................................................52

2.3.1 Overview...................................................................................................................52


2.3.3 Conclusions and recommendations..........................................................................67

2.4 Social and cultural appropriateness.................................................................................71

2.4.1 Overview...................................................................................................................71


2.4.3 Conclusions and recommendations..........................................................................76

CHAPTER III...............................................................................................................................79

SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY: MAPPING CITIZEN GROUPS AND CITIZEN INITIATIVES.......................................................................................................................79

GOVERNMENT BEST CHAMPIONS.................................................................................86

STAKEHOLDER'S MAPPING…………………………… …………………………….88

REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................114

PREFACE

Partnership for Social Accountability in Mongolia (PSAM), Civil society network, was founded in November 2009 with a purpose to promote and exchange social accountability (SA) knowledge and experiences among the Mongolian civil society by sharing extended information and their building capacity in a partnership with Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP). After several meetings, eight Civil Society Organizations (CSO) which are working in the social accountability area in Mongolia and one initiative government official joined together in its first meeting and established a conveners group of the network ‘Partnership for Social Accountability in Mongolia’.

In order to set up and plan our work specifically to promote social accountability initiative success in Mongolia, we agreed to conduct a mapping study of the SA situation in Mongolia first. The study, designed to assess the present situation of social accountability in Mongolia and to identify the pressing issues and potential solutions, was mainly centered on the civil society organizations (working in the area of SA), the key subject for supporting and demanding the SA, and it was carried out by mainly using the qualitative survey method. A phone survey was conducted as well in order to validate effective CSOs working in a field of SA in Mongolia.

In this study we used four pillars of SA which were developed by the research team of ANSA-EAP in order to create a clearer picture of the SA situation in Mongolia. The four pillars are as follows: (a) ‘Government responsiveness’, which considers and assesses enabling environment of the civil society and government engagement (b) ‘Organized and Capable citizens group’, which assesses civil society’s capacity to organize SA activities in a field (c) ‘Access to information’, which considers availability and openness of channels that government and its agencies are using when sharing information with the citizens and other related stakeholders (d)’Social and Cultural appropriateness’ which refers to the basic social and political environment that supporting or eliminating SA works in a country.

The study was conducted by three research organizations of conveners group in PSAM between May and August of 2010. The Center for Social Responsibility (CSR) worked on the ‘Government responsiveness’ section, ‘Infratest’ Research and Training Institute worked on the ‘Organized and capable citizens group’ section, Independent Research Institute of Mongolia (IRIM) worked on the ‘Access to information’ and ‘Social and cultural appropriateness’ sections.

We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the research team of ANSA-EAP, and especially we would like to thank Angelita Gregorio-Medel, Project Director of ANSA-EAP, Adelfo V. Briones, Research and Knowledge Management Coordinator of ANSA-EAP and Cody S. Rabe, Research Officer of ANSA-EAP and others. Also we extend our special gratitude to the members of conveners group of PSAM who contributed by their valuable comments and recommendations. Finally, we would like to thank all participants from civil society organizations, government agencies, experts from donor organizations and others. Without your collaboration and contributions, this study would not have been possible.

ABBREVIATIONS

ANSA-EAP- Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific

CSO- Civil Society Organization

CSR- Center for Social Responsibility

CSC-Civil Society Council

GO-Government organization

GDP-Gross Domestic Product

DEMO-Democratic Education Center

MPRP-Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party

NGO-Non-Governmental Organization

OSF-Open Society Forum

IRIM-Independent Research Institute of Mongolia

SA-Social Accountability

PSAM- Partnership for Social Accountability in Mongolia

PWYPE- Publish What You Pay and Earn Coalition

WB-World Bank

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYA Poverty Measurement Survey carried out in 2005-2009 indicated that 36.1% of Mongolia’s populations1 live below the poverty line, with a serious shortage of food and non-food item supply (National Statistics Office, 2005). Conversely, per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2005-2009 increased 2.11 times2. This situation raises the question why such increase in GDP had brought no positive impact in poverty alleviation. This is especially to be questioned as the mining sector has continued to develop, with the recent commencement of investment agreements in strategically important large-scale mineral deposits. With the mining sector boom, government revenue will probably increase, demanding oversight and monitoring from civil society on expenditure. This has resulted in a need for the formation of social accountability mechanisms to reduce poverty, to fight corruption and to ensure sustainable development.

The basis for social accountability is considered to be monitoring by, and participation from citizens and civil society in, the operation of government. This should include civil society activity such as citizen engagement in policy-making, participatory budgeting, government expenditure monitoring, citizen monitoring of social service delivery, citizen consultative action, lobbying and advocacy. All of these civil society activities aim to ensure transparency in government policy-making and implementation, creation of responsive action,3 improvement of governance and its effectiveness, empowerment of citizens, as well as strengthening of government stability and political legitimacy by support from accountable and participatory institutions4.Civil society, international and private organizations have raised issues of good governance, citizen engagement, budget transparency, social accountability and social auditing for the last few years, with some positive initial action and outcomes in advocacy into government policy and strengthening of institutional capacity.

This study aims to identify social accountability initiatives that involve citizens and citizens groups in strengthening government accountability and covered the areas of capacity of citizens and citizens groups in supporting social accountability initiatives and their impact, current situations of social institutions, implementations and regulations, required needs and capacity demand for government and non-government organizations to develop good governance and proper social accountability mechanism in Mongolia. Regarding to this purpose some kind of researches such as legal and policy analyzes, documents review, in-depth interviews, phone survey and web analyzes was conducted by research team.

Considering social accountability situation in Mongolia, any affairs related to establishing citizens groups and getting registered as the legal body is regulated by Law in NGOs, General Law on State Registration and Law on State Registration of Legal Entities and there is no direct compression or constraints in a process of requesting to register by legal body for the

1 Total population of Mongolia is 2,735,8002 www.8x8.bz. (2010, 07 18). Retrieved from www.8x8.bz/freetime/index.php?mcmodule=wz&wzid=677

3 Responsiveness was translated into Mongolian as such. 4 World Bank. (2007). The enabling environment for Social Accountability in Mongolia . Washington DC.

NGOs. Even though the registration office requires additional documents (not stated in law) or rejects because the applicants failed in filling out forms properly and these are all administrative and procedural constraints in registering the NGOs. Moreover, transaction cost to register is higher for the local NGOs because they demanded to come by themselves to capital city, Ulaanbaatar in order to become legally accepted NGO.

Nowadays, civil society partnership with government is influencing in a positive way to social accountability mechanism in Mongolia. With initiative from Mongolian civil society organizations, Mongolian Civil Society Council (CSC) was established in 1 February which embodied around 300 NGOs, citizens’ movement, labor union and several nonprofit organizations. In 26 March, 2008, the council and Government of Mongolia signed the “Cooperative Agreement”, which reflected to implement particular services by contracting with NGOs, to make available enabling economical and legal environment for the civil society the joint actions monitoring the implementation of legislation, running monitoring on budget expenditure, cooperate on developing draft laws and policy documents, exchange information and support each other. Though there are some good initiatives like outsourcing the NGOs and inviting the civil society representatives for the working groups and councils, but it is uncertain how to select the NGOs and what criteria would be required from NGOs and how they making selection is still unclear.

As of today, 7300 NGOs officially registered at the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs. Of all NGOs that were covered with this survey, more than 80% work in the area of environment, mining, budget transparency, access to information, human rights and protecting the interests of population groups; all classified as the NGOs serving for the society.

One of the good efforts of the NGOs is that citizens’ groups are joining into networks in order to strengthen their efforts to mainstream the social accountability in recent years. 72,7% of the surveyed NGOs was joined to a civil society network in somehow. There are several networks that are working as effectively, for examples Citizens’ Oversight on Budget Coalition that working a area of budget transparency which embodied more than 30 NGOs, CSC of Mongolian NGOs which embodied about 300 NGOs, Coalition of Environment NGOs which embodied about 600 NGOs in nationally, Publish What you Pay and Earn coalition (PWYPE) which is working in area of extractive industry. In addition to it, the “Civil Hall” was opened at the President of Mongolia with initiative from the OSF (OSF) designed for collecting inputs from the citizens and other stakeholders for laws, rules and regulations through hearings, discussions and debates. The Civil Hall organized several open discussions on the Budget Law with participation of citizens’, civil society organizations and government organizations and the presentation on the conceptual framework of the law was extensively discussed.

Main tools that CSOs are use in their work to advocate or claim for being accountable from the government or its’ agencies are to conduct monitoring in a budget expenditure, public service delivery process and procurement process. In addition to this they organize promotion or some kind of campaign such as delivering recommendations, claim paper or requests by using the monitoring or research results. Also they are mobilizing effectively mass media organizations as well in order to disseminate related information to the citizens and other stakeholders.

The key constraint identified as the study to the citizens groups for effective operation is the lack of financial resources. The existing regulation over taxation and social insurance payments of NGOs do not bring positive impacts on the NGOs financial capability. Lack of funding likely makes the NGOs dependent on the funding agency including the government even leading to the case that final outcome of any activity is made favorable to the funder,

which is a concern from this survey. Almost half of the NGOs take fund from the international donor organizations when they conduct any activity in a area of social accountability.

Furthermore, lack of human resource is identified as one of the major difficulties for the NGOs. Very few number of NGOs whose human resource and technical capacity is sufficient to conduct social accountability initiatives for the long term, or capacity to build constructive engagement between government or its’ agencies are recognized and accepted by the government.

Accessing to information regarding to the activities of public organizations is limited. At a glance, the legal and ethical environment for government agency and officers to disclose information make it open and transparent looks like well-created, but in reality the availability of information is still not sufficient. Citizens encounter difficulties to access to information from the government agencies through government officials as well as official websites.

Though the formal websites are the main tools for government to disseminate information to citizens and other stakeholders, but the content, availability of information and effectiveness is still very weak no meeting the demand for information.

To conclude the entire process of disseminating/receiving information from the government organization, it is been found to be time consuming, with many steps, weak linkage in-between the government officers and organizations and the legal; provisions regulating this procedure is not enforced well.

Lack of historic experiences and practices of ensuring the participation of citizens and civil society in the government decision-making causes delays to both government officers and citizens to accept the citizens’ oversight on the government actions affecting negatively on the supportive attitudes.

LIST OF TABLES

Table1. Review of legal and policy pronouncements…………..………………………......12

Table 2. Literature review sample…………………………………..………………………13

Table 3. In-depth interview sample………………………………… ……………………..14

Table 4. Status of selection of civil society organizations to perform government services and duties………………………………………………………………………………………….17Table 5. Support from government for NGOs to operate in the area of social accountability…………………………………………………………………………………19

Table 6. Key activity areas of NGOS by numbers and percentage…………………………..33

Table 7. Monitoring activities conducted by organized citizen groups ……………………..36

Table 8. Policy research ……………………………………………………………………...39

Table 9. Budget analysis and watch carried out by members of the Citizen Oversight of Budget Coalition in 2010 on local and central government budget ………………………….41

Table 10. Strength of cooperation between organized citizen groups and the government… 46

Table 11. Obstacles and challenges encountered by organized groups in partnership with government………………………………………………...…………………………………47

Table 12.Criteria for website content analysis……………………………………………….55Table 13.Key indicators of openness of information………………………………………...56Table 14. Key indicators of effectiveness of information………………………………..57Table 15.Key indicators of availability of information………………………………………58Table 16.Govermental organization acknowledgements for official papers ………………...63Table 17. Goverment responsibilities to citizens……………………………………………. 66Table 18. Advantages and weaknesses of access to information from the government, conclusions and recommendations …………………………………………………………..68

LIST OF FIGURESFigure1. Research design……………………………………………………………..…...10Figure 2. Relations of Social Accountability framework ………………………………...10Figure 3. Types of NGOsFigure 4. Stable activities of NGOs …………………………………………………………32Figure 5. Funding source of the NGOs…………………………………………………….34Figure 6. Activities of NGOs on Social Accountability……………………………..……35

Figure 7. Monitoring activities of NGOs by year …………………………………………35

Figure 8. Website user’s assessment ……………………………………………… ..……59

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research purpose and expected outcomes

1.1.1 Research purpose and objectives

In general, the study aims to develop a comprehensive map of SA concepts and practices in Mongolia. Specifically, the objectives of the study are as follows.

1. To identify and document SAc initiatives that involve citizens and citizen groups in strengthening government accountability.

2. To identify and describe the historical, socio-political, economic, and cultural factors that contribute to the current practice of social accountability in Mongolia.

3. To extend the knowledge base on SAc approaches, tools and mechanisms.4. To identify and define elements, opportunities, and entry points for SAc networking

and capability building in Mongolia.5. To identify gaps as well as emerging issues and concerns related to SAc work in

Mongolia.6. To create a platform for dissemination of information on SAc initiatives and to create

a network of SAc practitioners in Mongolia.

1.1.2 Expected outcomes

The study will have two expected outcomes. First, it will provide a clearer understanding of social accountability in Mongolia, including dimensions, strategies and approaches used, players involved, activities undertaken, and underlying gaps and needs. Second, the mapping study, to be shared with other stakeholders, will be used as a platform to promote and advance social accountability in Mongolia.

The expected outputs of the study will be as follows.1. Stakeholders/political mapping.2. Historical, socio-political, economic, and cultural contexts influencing conceptions of

social accountability.3. Database of civil society practitioners, intellectuals and researchers, collaborators,

support, and other social accountability stakeholders.4. Identification and assessment of social accountability approaches, tools and

techniques.5. Identification and assessment of social accountability based on local and national

experience; lessons of demand-side governance initiatives; opportunities; and gaps and challenges.

1.2 Explanation of key conceptsAccountability5 has two components: (i) answerability (the original meaning of ‘responsibility’), and (ii) consequences. Answerability is defined as the requirement for public officials to respond periodically to questions on how they have used their authority, where resources went, and what was achieved with them. There is also a need for predictable and meaningful consequences, (not necessarily punitive; not necessarily monetary; not necessarily individual).

5 Davaadulam, T. (2010). Good governance and Social Accounatbility terms. Ulaanbaatar.

Because government must account both for the use of authority and of public resources, and for the results, internal administrative accountability must be complemented by external accountability by feedback from service users and the citizenry.

Social Accountability refers to civic engagement in policy-making, budgeting, expenditure tracking beyond formal accountability systems, and the actions of ordinary citizens and groups to exact greater accountability for public actions and outcomes.

A citizen group is a general concept that may include many types of citizen engagement, such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), non-profit public organizations, citizen movements, associations and alliances, etc.

Social accountability mechanism includes two key directions or components: the external or vertical mechanism and the internal or horizontal mechanism, as follows.

External or vertical mechanism Election (a direct way of asking for responsibility and accountability from

government) Action by civil society, including NGOs and civil movements, to monitor and push

the government in a bottom-to-top way. Political science says a key function of civil society is to ask for, and to demand from, the government both accountability and responsibility6.

Internal or horizontal mechanisms Political mechanisms such as constitutional provisions, allocation of power, law-

making organizations and law enforcement and implementation organizations, and rules coordinating them.

Financial mechanisms such as audits and formal financial reporting systems. Administrative mechanisms such as step-by-step governance systems, minimum

norms and standards applied to public organizations, rules and regulations for governance and management, and laws and regulations demanding transparency and openness.

Government self-mechanisms such as anti-corruption agencies, ombudsmen and court systems.

As key subjects or implementers of social accountability, vertical mechanisms include extensive actions and interventions from citizens, citizen groups, civil society organizations and independent media; horizontal mechanisms include a legal system to ensure, guarantee and strengthen social accountability and relevant enforcement, with regulatory and implementing agencies.

Civil society organizations include NGOs, civil movements and citizen groups.

1.3 Research design

This survey, designed to assess the present situation of social accountability in Mongolia and to identify pressing issues and potential solutions, mainly centered on civil society

6 Malena, C., & Janmejay, R. F. (2004). The World Bank. Participation and Civic Engagement. “SO-CIAL ACCOUNTABILITY. An Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Practice”

organizations (in the area of social accountability), and key areas of support and demand for social accountability, and was carried out using a qualitative survey method.

For overall mapping of social accountability, the four pillars, developed by the ANSA-EAP, were extensively used in mapping social accountability in Mongolia. In detail, it includes the following. Figure 1. Research design

The methodology of surveying the framework of social accountability and their relations is identified as follows. Figure 2. Relations of Social Accountability framework

The feasibility and likelihood of success of social accountability initiatives are highly dependent upon whether the political regime is democratic, a multi-party system is in place, basic political and civil rights are guaranteed and whether there is a culture of political transparency and probity. The existence of these underlying factors, and the potential risks that their absence may pose, must be taken into account when planning social accountability initiatives. Legal, institutional and socio-cultural factors will also have an important influence on the success of social accountability activities.

Social and cultural approprietness

In the context of social accountability, an enabling environment for citizens’ engagement refers to the set of conditions or interrelated factors that impact on the capacities of ordinary citizens or citizen groups to engage with government in a sustained and effective manner. Thus, the role and effectiveness of citizen groups as partners in ensuring good governance critically depend on the efforts of both government and citizen’s groups to create such enabling environment.

Government responsiveness

The capacity of civil society actors is a key factor of successful social accountability. The level of organization of citizen groups, the breadth of their membership, their technical and advocacy skills, their capacity to mobilize and effectively use media, their legitimacy and representativity and their level of responsiveness and accountability to their own members are all central to the success of SAc activities.

Organized and Capable citizens

group

The availability and reliability of public documents and data is essential to building social accountability. Such information is the basis for social accountability activities, and thus its quality and accessibility is a key determinant of the success of social accountability mechanisms. Accessibility here has two connotations, physical access to documents, and their availability in a format that is understandable to inquirers.

Access to information

I level II level

III level

Level I: Level of government and civil society organization relationship and engagement7

Relationship and engagement systems: The government engages with civil society organizations through (а) legal regulations, policy and program documents, and cooperative agreements in specific areas and (b) formal websites of government organizations. Civil society organizations engage with the government through (а) legally-established rules and regulations, cooperative agreements and contracts, (b) demands, requests, notices and declarations expressing opinions on certain issues, and (c) formal websites of government organizations.In order to measure the level of engagement or relationships between stakeholders, the qualitative survey covered the following areas. A: Document review, including legal documents, policy and program documents on specific issues, and cooperative agreements between stakeholders on certain issues (What are the existing policy and program-coordination issues regarding social accountability? When and for what purposes were they adopted and approved? What kinds of legal regulation are included in these documents? To what extent do policy and programs link or integrate, etc).B. Content analysis of websites of government organizations set up to enable access to information for other stakeholders. C. Document review and analysis of impacts and outcomes of civil society and citizen group action, including demands, requests, notes and declarations addressing government, and final results of cooperative agreements and contracts between stakeholders. (How many demands, request and notifications have civil society organizations and citizen groups submitted to government organizations and officers How were they were resolved? What was the final impact, result and outcome of each? etc). Level II and III: Level of relationship and engagement between donor agencies, government and CSOs.Relations and engagement: government engages with donor organizations through (a) legal regulation and coordination; (b) policy and program documents on specific issues; (c) cooperation in different fields. Donor organizations engage with government through (a) legal regulation and coordination; (b) policy and program documents on specific issues; (c) demands, requests and notes expressing opinions on different issues. For engagement from donor to CSO and vice versa, the key engagement is often in the form of programs and projects in various areas. In order to measure progress of this type of engagement, analysis of the aforementioned legal and policy environment was conducted. This included the following actions.A. In-depth interviews with officers of international donor agencies and CSOs (in the field of social accountability) for more detailed input. (How you evaluate the current situation of social accountability in Mongolia? What are the impacting factors? To what extent do civil 7This relationship/engagement does not mean radical accountability, but refers to day-to-day operational engagement.

Government and its agencies

Donor organization

Citizens group

societies operate in the area of social accountability? What support is needed to improve the current situation of social accountability in Mongolia? What is the state of the policy and regulatory environment, and how may it be improved? etc).B. Assessment of skills and capacity of civil society organizations: identification of their number, goals and objectives, type of activities, capacity (financial and human resources), experience (previous work and projects, impact and outcomes, lessons), challenges and relevant factors for civil society organizations in the field of social accountability C. Creation of a database of interested parties and stakeholders (identifying all NGOs, civil movements and citizen groups and locations; the number of NGOs working in social accountability; their operations, goals, objectives and key activity directions etc).

1.4 Research sample

We defined three main areas as a priority, so that we could focus on a more specific field and could collect important information relating to those areas, as follows.

1. Budget expenditure and its transparency. 2. Extractive industry and environmental issues.3. Access to information.

Under this framework, we selected several government agencies as samples, and surveyed their website content, to define the potential of access to information for stakeholders, including citizens. The agencies were as follows.

1. Office of the President: http://www.president.mn/mongolian/2. Office of the Government: http://www.open-government.mn/ 3. Four government agencies:

- Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism: http://www.mne.mn/mn/ - Ministry of Finance: http://www.mof.gov.mn/ , budget related information of the

Ministry of Finance: http://www.iltod.gov.mn/ - Ministry of Judicial and Home Affairs: http://www.jurists.mn/web1/main.aspx?

code=10 - Human Rights Commission of Mongolia: http://www.mn-nhrc.org/

4. Office of the State Great Khural (Parliament): http://www.parliament.mn/ 5. Selected provinces and districts:

- Sukhbaatar district: http://sbd.ub.gov.mn/news.php - Songino-Khairkhan district: http://shd.ub.gov.mn/ - Bayanzurkh district: http://www.bzd.ub.gov.mn/ - Khovd province: No official website found- Umnugove province: http://umnugobi.gov.mn/ - Darkhan-uul province: http://info.e-darkhan.com/

Desk review sampleTable1. Review of legal and policy pronouncements

№ Type of the documents Number

http://info.e-darkhan.com/

http://umnugobi.gov.mn/

http://www.bzd.ub.gov.mn/

http://shd.ub.gov.mn/

http://sbd.ub.gov.mn/news.php

http://www.parliament.mn/

http://www.mn-nhrc.org/

http://www.jurists.mn/web1/main.aspx?code=10


http://www.iltod.gov.mn/

http://www.mof.gov.mn/

http://www.mne.mn/mn/

http://www.open-government.mn/

http://www.president.mn/mongolian/

National laws 251 General 152 Budget related 23 Extractive industry and environmental issues 44 Access to information 4Policy and pronouncements at both national and local level 81 General 42 Budget related 13 Extractive industry and environmental issues 24 Access to information 1Policy and pronouncements at national level 191 General 62 Budget related 63 Extractive industry and environmental issues 64 Access to information 1

Total 52

Table 1. Literature review sample

№ Type of document NumberResearch reports (monitoring, evaluation, policy researches etc…)1 General 102. Budget related 143. Extractive industry and environmental issues 64. Access to information 13Handbook and manuals

1 General 12. Budget related 43. Extractive industry and environmental issues 44. Access to information 4

Total 57

Table 1. In-depth interview sample

Research instruments

Location Source information Sampling size

In-depth interview Ulaanbaatar Leaders of NGO 11

Leaders of social movement 2

Initiative citizens 2

Relevant program and project staff

2

Staff of international organization supporting SA initiatives

3

Governmental officials (three levels)

4

Aimags

Khovd/Jargalant soum/

Umnugovi /Dalanzadgad soum/

Darkhan-uul /Darkhan soum/

Leaders of NGO 9

Leaders of social movement 3

Initiative citizens 3

Relevant program and project staff

3

Staff of international organization supporting SA initiatives

2

Governmental officials (three levels)

6

Total 50

Conducting national registration

Ulaanbaatar and aimags - Government agencies

- Phone interview

- E-mail research

Focus group discussion

Ulaanbaatar NGO staff 4

Aimags NGO staff 3

Total 7*

Bibliography for this section:

1. National Statistics Office. (2005). Strategy document to ensure economic growth and reduce poverty. Ulaanbaatar.

2. Malena C. & Janmejay R. F. (2004). World Bank. Participation and Civic Engagement. SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY: An Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Practice.

3. N. Mays, E. Roberto, and J. Popay (2001). Study of the Organisation and Delivery of Health Services: Research Methods. In P. A. N. Fulop, Synthesising Research Evidence (pp. 188-220) London: Routledge..

4. World Bank (2007). The Enabling Environment for Social Accountability in Mongolia Washington DC.

5. www.8x8.bz. (2010, 07 18). Retrieved from www.8x8.bz/freetime/index.php?mcmodule=wz&wzid=677

CHAPTER II.

MAPPING OF SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN MONGOLIA

What is a mapping study?

'A mapping study is often undertaken to focus on identification of the extent, nature and range of research and implementation issues relating to a problem, to map key concepts relevant to a research area and the main sources and types of evidence available. A review of available literature will help determine research gaps which a future larger study can address. A mapping study can be conducted as a stand-alone project where an area is complex or has not been reviewed comprehensively before’8.

In order to create a comprehensive map of the country, we defined four main pillars: Social and Cultural Appropriateness; Government Responsiveness; Organized and Capable Citizen Groups; and Access to Information. Mapping study findings for each of these four pillars are given in detail in the ensuing sections.

2.1 Government Responsiveness

2.2.1 Overview

In the context of social accountability, an enabling environment for citizen engagement refers to a set of conditions or interrelated factors that impact on the capacity of ordinary citizens or citizen groups to engage with government in a sustained and effective manner. Thus, the role and effectiveness of citizen groups as partners in ensuring good governance critically depend on the efforts of both government and citizen groups to create such an enabling environment.

What is a legal and policy environment of social accountability ?

The extent that the social accountability system and its implementation tools/methods are secured by legislation forms the background for citizen groups for monitoring and overseeing government action, and demanding responsibility and reporting. In analyzing whether the legal and policy environment for the social accountability was created, we highlighted the following.

- To what extent is there a legal environment for citizens to participate in government policy and decision making?

- To what extent does the legal environment enable citizens voluntarily to join coalitions and establish citizen groups, to be registered as legal entities?

- To what extent is there a legalized civic right to participate in, monitor, oversee and demand reportage of implementation of government decisions and policy and government services for citizens?

- How does the government select citizen groups with which to work?

- What is the potential for a creation of a favorable legal and policy environment for social accountability?

2.1.2 Research findings

To what extent is there a legal environment for citizens to participate in government policy and decision making ?

8 N Mays, E Roberto, and J Popay. (2001). Studying the organisation and Delivery of Health Services: Research Methods. In P. A. N. Fulop, Synthesising research evidence (pp. 188-220). London: Rout-ledge, pp.

Guarantees of a civic right to participate in government action, international treaties to which Mongolia is bound, national and local laws, rules and regulations, legal documents and strategy papers are reflected in the following.

Article 21 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration (1948) states, “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.” This demands legal establishment of civic rights to participate in government decisions and policy. In addition, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) guarantees the rights to freedom of expression and a personal point of view, and to partake directly in government through elected representatives. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976) asserts “the right of everyone to form trades unions and join a trades union of his choice, subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, for the promotion and protection of his economic and social interests.”

Article 3.1. of the Constitution of Mongolia (1992) states, “In Mongolia, state power shall be vested in the people of Mongolia. The Mongolian people shall exercise it through their direct participation in state affairs as well as through the representative bodies of State authority elected by them.” This is an important provision for the civil right to participate in government decision-making and policy.

Aside from the Constitution of Mongolia, the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (1997) clearly determines the relationship between government and NGOs, as in Article 9.5: “NGOs may participate in developing draft resolutions of legislative and executive agencies at their own request" and Article 9.6: “NGOs are entitled to express their positions on decisions made by government agencies and make statements.” In addition, the opportunity to participate in decision- and policy-making by the highest power of the state, the Parliament of Mongolia, was granted by the Law on Sessions of the State Great Khural (2007) and the Law on Developing and Submitting Drafts of Laws and Parliament Resolutions (2001), to some extent. Under the Law on Sessions of the State Great Khural (2007), any draft law or resolution is discussed in six steps; the first five steps may involve Working Groups including experts, as follows.

Article 18 of the Law on Developing and Submitting Drafts of Laws and Parliament Resolutions (2001) states the following.

16.5. Depending on the importance of the relationships and affairs that the draft law would regulate, and its scope, the Speaker of the Parliament, Standing Committees and Party/Coalition Groups may hold a Working Group, consisting of MPs and experts, to develop the draft legislation, obtain opinions and conclusions to be submitted to the Parliament for discussion.

16.6. A Working Group based on Article 16.5 of this law shall operate within the scope of the following rights and obligations.

16.6.1. May demand additional information and surveys from the initiators and other related agencies and officers for analysis.

16.6.2. If deemed necessary, may call upon highly-skilled experts in the subject matter.

Law initiators shall get comments and inputs from central state administrative bodies, experts, academics, NGOs and citizens on the subject matter, which may be included in the draft if deemed necessary. Unless otherwise stated in the legislation, the law initiator shall obtain input from citizens and legal entities in the following ways.

(a) Place a draft law on the website for no less than 10 days for public access.

(b) Directly deliver a copy of the draft to citizens and legal entities or hold meetings and discussion.

The law on the supreme executive authority, the Law on the Government (1993), says, “Supporting ideas and initiatives from public organizations to help develop the country, strengthen the state and social structures and ensure implementation of government policy and decisions may be heard, and the state shall work with these organizations on required measures and action.” however, the law contains no provisions to get government decisions discussed and revised by other agencies and to ensure participation from other stakeholders. Though these legislative documents grant opportunities for citizen groups to participate in government decisions and policy making/implementation, there is no sanction if the government has not provided any opportunity for representation from other stakeholders, and grants the power to government officers to reject such participation.

It is noteworthy that local government may allow participation of citizen groups in local decision-making in compliance with the Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and Their Management (2006). Article 24.2 states, “Government and non-government organizations, legal entities and citizens may submit issues for discussion and resolution to the Representative Khurals of their level (soum and district Representative Khural; bag and khoroo Community Khural).” This law also assigns local governors to hold elections and public referenda at all levels (presidential, parliamentary and local) and organize action to discuss and resolve pressing issues with citizen participation. This shows that citizen groups can legally participate in government decisions and policy.

The aforementioned laws legitimate citizen groups' participation in government decision-making and policy in the following ways.

- Take part in working groups to develop draft laws and regulations.

- Access draft laws and regulations on the website and express their opinions.

- Deliver input and comments in response to directly-provided draft laws and regulations from law makers.

- Take part in meetings and discussion on laws and regulations.

- Take part in events run by local government to gain input for draft laws and regulations and on pressing local issues.

- Citizen groups may submit ideas and opinions to help national development strengthen social structure and ensure implementation of laws and regulations.

However, most of these provisions restrict citizen groups to waiting while law-makers and decision-makers initiate events; these restrictions apply in the Law on Sessions of the State Great Khural; the Law on Developing and Submitting Drafts of Laws and Parliament Resolutions; the Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and Their Management; and the Law on Government.

To what extent is there a legal environment for citizens voluntarily to enter into coalitions or establish citizen groups, to be registered as legal entities ?

In the Constitution of Mongolia (1992), Article 16.10 states, “the right to form a party or other mass organization, with freedom of association with these organizations on the basis of social and personal interest and opinion.” It also states, “Discrimination and persecution of a person for joining a political party or other mass organization, or for being a member, shall be prohibited,” so protecting citizens from discrimination.

Any matter relating to the establishment of a citizen group, and getting such a group registered as a legal body, is regulated by the Law on NGOs, the General Law on State Registration and the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities. The terminology NGO was first introduced in Mongolia in the mid-1990s, replacing the type of organization called a public (mass) organization. In the socialist system, public organizations were designed to support the ruling party and mainstream party ideology. These organizations were established by decree of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP), then the only and ruling political party. In other words, public organizations were fully dependent upon the government and ruling party. In 1991, law-makers began to discuss revision of the legislation on public organizations, but action was postponed until 1997 because of lack of knowledge and expertise of law-makers. The Law on NGOs was adopted with support from the Asia Foundation in 1997, being amended in 1998, 2003 and 2009.

In the Law on NGOs (1997), Article 4.1 says, “NGO shall mean an organization which is independent from the state, self-governing, non-profit, and established voluntarily by citizens or by legal entities other than state agencies (ie, organs that exercise legislative, executive and judicial powers) on the basis of their individual or social interests and opinions.” The progressive side of this law was to enable citizens and non-governmental bodies to establish an NGO without government permission, instead based on their own interests, and restricts government powers to prohibit citizen initiatives to form NGOs. In addition, there are prohibitions on compulsion to join an NGO and discrimination because of membership or support for an NGO. Under the socialist system, those who were denied membership of a public organization established by the ruling party were discriminated against and received penalties. Based on the Law on NGOs, the right and freedom to associate in one's own interest and belief were legally established.

Even if an NGO is unregistered, it is considered to be established when the highest NGO authority or the founders decide to establish such an NGO. Only the court may disband an NGO if it decides the NGO does not operate within the scope of its key directions or violates the legislation. Another possibility is for the supreme authority of the NGO (its governing body) to disband the organization if that body should consider that the NGO has achieved its goal or under other grounds laid down in the law. No one but the court or the board may disband the NGO.

The Law on State Registration (2009) establishes a general framework of state registration, allowing the state administrative agency in charge of state registration, its affiliates, or Mongolian diplomatic missions and consulates abroad to grant state registration. The state central administrative agency in charge of state registration or its rural affiliates formally register the NGO. However, rural affiliates of the state registration office are still reported to deny registration to a locally-formed NGO, indicating that provisions in the registration law are not always properly enforced. Under Article 16.1 of the Law on Registration of Legal Entities (2003), legal bodies must submit the following documents for registration.

- A certificate of formal decision by an authorized people to establish a legal body,

To what extent is there a legalized civic right to participate in, monitor, oversee and demand

The Law on State Registration (2009) establishes a general framework of state registration, allowing the state administrative agency in charge of state registration, its affiliates, or Mongolian diplomatic missions and consulates abroad to grant state registration. The state central administrative agency in charge of state registration or its rural affiliates formally register the NGO. However, rural affiliates of the state registration office are still reported to deny registration to a locally-formed NGO, indicating that provisions in the registration law are not always properly enforced. Under Article 16.1 of the Law on Registration of Legal Entities (2003), legal bodies must submit the following documents for registration.

- A certificate of formal decision by an authorized people to establish a legal body,

reportage of implementation of government decisions and policy and government services for citizens ? In the Constitution of Mongolia (1992), Article 3.1 indicates, “In Mongolia, state power shall be vested in the people of Mongolia. The Mongolian people shall exercise this through direct participation in state affairs as well as through representative bodies of State authority which they shall elect.” Article 16.12 states, “citizens shall exercise the right to submit complaints and petitions to government agencies and officers for resolution” and “government agencies and officers shall have the duty to resolve complaints and requests submitted by citizens.” All these sections serve as a legal background for implementation of government policy and decisions, and for citizen oversight and monitoring of government actions.

In the Law on the Government of Mongolia (1993), Article 19.1 states that it is possible to outsource other organizations to perform some duties and services assigned to government agencies; this provision enables participation of citizen groups in government decision- and policy-making.

The Law on State Audit and Inspection (2003) states, ‘the audit organization may get input and assistance from NGOs and citizens in performing its inspection and audit duties. The audit agencies may conduct audit and inspection actions in response to information provided by a citizen if the subject matter is within the scope of the auditing agency’. This provision allows citizen groups to take part in implementation of government inspection duties; however, legal provisions state that getting involvement from citizens is up to the auditing and inspection agency, which is one of the shortcomings of the legislation.

This right is also mentioned in the Law on Environment Protection (1995), which states “public organizations shall exercise the right to conduct public oversight on implementation of environment-related legislation, carry out site checks, demand elimination of violations, submit opinions and comment on environment protection to central state administrative agency in charge of environment protection and all levels of governor, organize ecology education activities, alone or in partnership with professional organizations, and submit the methodology and tools for environment protection to relevant agencies for effective decision-making.” In addition, the Government of Mongolia has identified opportunities for citizen groups to perform the duties of government for environmental protection on behalf of government, based on contractual obligations.

The Anti-Corruption Law of 2006 enables community and citizen groups to take part in fighting corruption by lodging complaints and opinions and setting up a non-staff community council to advise the agency against corruption. This council, at the head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, shall consist of 15 members and excludes politicians and civil servants. The council is appointed by the President of Mongolia for a four-year term. This enables civic participation against corruption and overseeing of agency operations. The main drawback of this legislation is that it entitles the President alone to appoint the council. The anti-corruption legislation allows citizen groups to submit complaints and requests to the anti-corruption agency; to provide information to the agency; encourages the agency to support citizen initiatives to fight corruption; increases citizen group participation; and encourages cooperation between the agency and citizen groups. This enables citizen groups to participate in oversight and monitoring of the agency fighting corruption.

Citizen group rights to participate in, monitor, oversee and demand reports on implementation of government decisions and policy and government services for citizens are well reflected in other legal and policy documents beyond the legislation alone. For instance, the Conceptual Framework on Development Mongolia (1996):

Encourages citizen participation in governance and creates sustainable mechanisms to ensure the constitutional concept of state power is vested in the people of Mongolia;

Allows direct participation in state affairs as well as through representative bodies of the State authority as elected by citizens;

Makes government information open and transparent and uses ICT extensively to get citizen input and allow citizen overseeing and monitoring of the government action.

The Government of Mongolia (2008-2012) strives to take decisive measures and action on social accountability, under its Action Plan. The Government Action Plan (2008-2012) contains a specific Section 4.5 headed Civil Society and Public Administration Policy, where the following clear mechanisms on social accountability are reflected.

4.5.1. Reform the operational environment for civil society to enable oversight of government action, inspection of government agencies, advocacy, and to support and develop public-private partnership and cooperation.

4.5.4. Eradicate corruption from central and local public agencies to create citizen-centered, skilled and responsible service providers and free the public service from bureaucracy by making it open and transparent.

4.5.5. Introduce mechanisms of responsibility for budget managers and administrators for effective expenditure of public funds, making such mechanisms quick and efficient.

4.5.6. Amend the Law on Management of Public Funds to increase the powers of local government, to create a more favorable business environment, eliminate government bureaucracy, create citizen groups and civil society oversight of government actions, and monitor expenditure of public funds by oversight and public discussion.

4.5.7. Create legal conditions for citizen oversight and monitoring and ensure citizen rights to submit requests and complaints when they feel their rights have been violated.

The Action Plan also says the government would aim to develop partnership between government, private sector and civil society, and increase transparency and responsibility by intensifying legal reforms. Within this framework, a sub-goal was developed, to “create a permanent and on-going web-based system to monitor the status of resolution of complaints and requests from citizens to government.”

In addition, government resolutions show some progress in ensuring citizen groups may oversee government actions and implementation of decisions and service delivery, as follows.

1. The Government of Mongolia resolution #93, 2008, on 'Cooperation with NGOs' principally supports a cooperative agreement with the CSC, and assigns line ministries and governors of aimags and the capital city involvement with civil society to monitor implementation of the Key Directions of Socio-Economic Development of Mongolia and budget expenditure. This was a result of advocacy by the CSC to government.

2. In the Government of Mongolia resolution #143, 2009, an annex identifies 'Criteria for reporting transparency of government agencies.' However, the main drawback of this resolution is that it does not indicate how civil society should be involved in evaluating government agencies under these criteria.

Initiated by Mongolian civil society organizations, the Mongolian CSC was established on February 1, 2008, embodying around 300 NGOs, citizen movements, labor unions and non-profit organizations. It has since worked as an umbrella organization, creating a bridge between government and civil society.

In March 26, 2008, the CSC and the Government of Mongolia signed a Cooperative Agreement to implement particular services by contract with NGOs in an economic and legal environment enabling joint actions by civil societies to monitor implementation of legislation and budget expenditure, cooperate in development of bills and policy documents, exchange information and mutual support. At present, this agreement is one of the most positive steps towards transparency of government agencies and enabling an SA environment.

The CSC has broadened its function; the Citizen Council for the Environment has reached agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, while the Council for Education, Science and Culture has reached agreement with the relevant line ministry. The same has happened with the Citizen Council for Social Welfare, resulting in an agreement with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor. These branch councils, working with the civil society network, have made agreements with government agencies; for example, the Minister of Education, Science and Culture in 2009 issued resolution #150 on outsourcing to civil society organizations for some government duties, under contract. The Minister of Social Welfare and Labor in 2009 issued resolution #64, endorsing a regulation to outsource to civil society organizations certain government services and duties, followed by resolution #77, which indicates the types of services outsourced to NGOs in 2009. The resolution gave three potential activities that could be outsourced to NGOs, namely [1] training and education; [2] research and monitoring and [3] goods and services. As a result of partnership between the Ministry of Environment and the Citizen Council for Environmental Issues, 34 defined projects were last year implemented by several NGOs. In addition, cooperative agreements were reached between government and civil society in most provinces, demonstrating progress in mutual efforts.

Thus, the right of citizen groups to monitor and oversee government actions, service delivery, decision and policy-making have been guaranteed by law and policy documents such as the Constitution, the State Audit Law, the Law to Protect the Environment, the Anti-Corruption aw, the government Action Plan, and the 93rd resolution allowing the following tools and mechanisms.

- Citizen groups to support government monitoring and oversight actions. - Citizen groups submit requests and demands to monitor and inspect a specific

government agency up to the highest level. - Monitoring of implementation of environment-related legislation and site checks. - Demands for corrective action for violations and breeches, with submission of the

issue to the relevant authority for final resolution. - Taking part in the Council at the Independent Agency against Corruption. - Part and full monitoring of implementation of Key Directions of Mongolia’s Socio-

Economic Development.

However, many of these potential tools and mechanisms still depend on the will and interest of high-ranking government officials and decision makers.

How does the government select citizen groups with which to work ?

In order to ensure implementation of Government of Mongolia resolution #19 on outsourcing civil society organizations for some government duties and services, and resolution #93 on

creation of conditions for NGO involvement in monitoring implementation of Key Directions of Mongolia’s Socio-Economic Development, central and local NGOs and government agencies have worked together effectively in preparatory work, and contracts have been let at the local level. Although there have been some good initiatives in outsourcing NGOs and inviting civil society representatives onto working groups and councils, it is still unclear how to select the NGO. Table 4. Status of selection of civil society organizations to perform government services and duties

National/Local National level Darhan-uul aimag

Umnugobi aimag

Hovd aimag

Selection regulations Only in some areas

None None None

Criteria Only in some areas

Criteria set by Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor

None None

If there are cases when the government has selected 'pocket' NGOs and nepotic NGOs (run by relatives)

Yes Yes Yes Yes

If the government discusses selection with the CSC

Yes Yes Yes Yes

If the government selects the organization only if the organization demands or initiates action

Yes Yes Yes Yes

The current situation in which government agencies select the NGO with which to work is as follows.

First, some government agencies have not decided how to an NGO with which to work, and have not developed regulations and/or selection criteria (see Table 2). The Minister of Social Welfare and Labor approved a Regulation to Outsource to NGOs for Government Services and Duties in 2009, saying that action to outsource to any NGO should be publicized in the media. The resolution also says that a Working Group should select any NGO, but the Working Group has no representation from civil society. It also gave basic criteria for selection of an NGO for outsourcing for government services, as follow.

- The NGO must have been set up to serve society, working for the wellbeing of society. - The NGO must have a proven record for at least three continuous years of operation in its main

area of operations. - The NGO must have experience in and skills of operation in the fields of labor, social welfare,

human development and protection of human rights., - The NGO must have sufficient financial and human resources.

For other line ministries and governors' offices of aimags, soums, districts and Ulaanbaatar, there are not yet any approved regulations similar to the above. Darhan-uul aimag government agencies generally comply with the resolution approved by the Minister of Social Welfare and Labor.

... We would be willing to use NGOs to run consumer evaluations, but there is no professional survey organization. Therefore we plan to have one representative from each NGO (from an interview with a government officer in Darhan-uul aimag).

... The Ministry has a special advisory council to ensure human rights, with 30 members representing government and non-government organizations. We also allocate some funding to safeguard human rights, the expenditure of which is monitored by council members. We do not really have any detailed criteria, but we chose criteria according to the area in which we work with NGOs, such as required skills etc (from an interview with a ministry officer).

There has also been a failure to establish regulations on NGO selection, without set criteria for high-ranking officers to select NGOs in an open and competitive selection process, and NGOs are claimed to have been selected with conflict of interest. Such claims of unfairness were extensively discussed in interviews with NGO officers and management (see Table 2 and quotes below).

... For the last three years, ministries have set up kinds of artificial NGOs. Ministries then look as if they are working with civil society. Some ministers have even financed the NGOs that are 'in their pocket' (from an interview with a civil movement leader).

... Ministries patronize their 'own' NGOs without criteria or selection process. Some government officers - civil servants - have established NGOs, which they use to monitor, so that these NGOs work only for the government (from a group interview in Darhan-Uul aimag).

... Organizations that belong to government officers or former soum governors are often funded by government for project proposals. Some high-ranking officials use their own powers to set up an NGO, to get government funding (from a civil society consultative meeting in Hovd aimag).

... Our organization submitted a project proposal to conduct a survey land eroded as a result of mining operations in the 21 provinces. We have approached many agencies since 2007, but the response has always been that they have no budget. Later we have found out that the government had hired a private company to do exactly the same as we proposed. They used our proposal (from a group interview in Ulaanbaatar city).

Despite the above drawbacks, due to a lack of detailed regulations for the selection of NGOs to perform government duties and services, some aimags are taking strenuous action to overcome such difficulties.

- The Governor’s Office of Darhan-Uul aimag complies with criteria (at least three years of sustainable operations, with own office etc) as approved by resolution of the Minister of Social Welfare and Labor in selecting NGOs (see Table 2).

- The CSC is undergoing internal discussion on how to propose experienced and skilled NGOs, in a process widely used in all areas where the survey was conducted.

Third, government agencies are not pro-active, working only with NGOs when these NGOs propose or demand cooperation (see Table 2).

... In order to enable NGOs to monitor government action, the legal environment needs improvement. Recently we did carried out monitoring in the countryside in partnership with the Professional Inspection Department, though we were unpaid. Quite simply,

the Inspection Agency considered that public involvement in monitoring is vital, so they invited us to take part (from an interview with a civil movement leader).

2.13 Are there any potential ways to create a favorable legal and policy environment for social accountability?

Over 80% of individual interviewees, citizen groups in the focus groups and NGOs, all considered that there is not an effective legal environment to operate in social accountability. Many respondents said the legal environment was insufficient, but that the situation had been improving over the past three years, as exemplified by some positive results at the policy level in the signing of agreements with the government. The reasons they gave for believing the legal environment was not favorable included the following.

First, legislation covers citizen group monitoring of government action in general; while the legal environment supports these citizen groups, this depends solely on the wishes and interests of high-ranking government officers (see quotes below).

... There is a resolution on cooperation, but we do not see any tangible action or funding for this type of work. This is related to the weak legal environment. Setting up the CSC is just a beginning (from a group interview in Darhan-Uul aimag).

... Some government agency managers do not accept that NGOs are entitled to monitor budget expenditure. The law should have clear provisions on this issue. This would ease our work (from an interview with a government officer in Hovd aimag).

... For the School Tea Break program, schools refused monitoring, so we had to talk to the Governor’s Administration and persuade them to issue a decree to the schools (from an interview with a NGO officer in Hovd aimag).

... When we manage to persuade the relevant officer and reach consensus, after some time, everything works well. But the situation is unstable; when the official changes, we have to start again. So we should not be so dependent on any individual (from an interview with a NGO officer in Ulaanbaatar city).

Also, the involvement of citizen groups and NGOs in monitoring public procurement is limited and insufficient; it is dependent not only on the wishes and interests of the decision-makers, but is also affected by their lack of knowledge and skills on how to allow civil society into monitoring of government action. Such dependence of NGO and citizen group action on decision-makers could be resolved by creating a favorable policy and legal environment, to be implemented both at national and local levels. Any action in social accountability is often initiated by NGOs and citizen groups rather than government.

... There is a need to improve the legal environment and the existing legislation by creating the background and conditions encouraging NGOs to monitor government action. The government itself does not have much interest in working with NGOs, but only start after we push them.

In order to enforce the public right to take part in decision-making, especially in issues of common interest, the legal environment definitely needs to be improved. Some respondents proposed tangible ideas for improving the legal environment, such as the following.

... There are some issues that should be included in the legislation as obligations. Specifically, this includes adopting a new Law on Administrative Procedure. By establishing legal ethical codes and conduct of government officers, civil society and even an individual could prosecute an official. At present, as there is no legal

requirement to listen to comments and opinions from NGOs and citizens, government officials can do so or not. The law should include everything that covers procedures of government agencies, such as getting public comment, reporting to citizens, undertaking monitoring jointly or running evaluations etc (from an interview with an officer of a donor agency).

Citizens ought to be represented in a working group to select NGOs for outsourcing of government activities, and section criteria should be clearly described in the legislation.

Within the framework of NGO and citizen group demands, some cooperative agreements have been signed, and ministries and higher-level government agencies have issued resolutions to support the initiative. Signing cooperative agreements and implementing such agreements should include the CSC, the network of civil society. Such joint efforts would produce better results in improving the legal environment. In addition, monitoring the NGO selection process for performance of some government duties would play a key role in ensuring fairness and oversight of the process.

... NGOs should join together to get stronger. Currently we work separately and it is sometimes unclear what we are doing (from an interview with a NGO officer in Darhan-Uul aimag).

Second the key constraint on effective operation by citizen groups is a lack of financial resources. The existing regulations over NGO taxation and social insurance payments do not impact positively on NGO financial capability. Lack of funding may make an NGO dependent on a funding agency such as the government, at least potentially leading to the final outcome of any activity being canted in favor of the funder, a possibility revealed by this survey. This affects the legal environment of social accountability. It is therefore important for NGOs to improve the legal environment concerning taxation and social insurance payments; this was mentioned several times during the survey.

... We may have an evaluation project, but we sometimes are wary about giving negative conclusions in our report because this may have a negative effect on our future work (from an interview with a NGO leader in Dundgobi aimag).

... When citizens and businesses pay income taxes, 1% of this tax should go fund specific action. NGOs should also report and present their work to qualify for that 1%. This is an open type of funding. An NGO may get funded by an agency once or twice, but may get pressure to produce skewed results. This is like the way the media currently serve their owners (from an interview with a NGO leader).

... Though NGOs can be funded from operations, it is truly important to have some funding that is independent from political parties and other agencies (from an interview with an officer of donor agency).

... The legal requirement to pay tax on donations from citizens and businesses to NGOs, and to pay social insurance for part-time and temporary staff, is an NGO's main financial burden. This needs to be changed. At first the law did not have this provision, which was added later on (from an interview with a citizen).

Third, using the court (judicial) mechanism is vital in creating systems for social accountability.

... In my opinion, all decisions and regulations from parliament and government agencies should comply with the Constitution. The Constitutional Court monitors compliance with

the Constitution, which states that a citizen is entitled to make application to the Constitutional Court for corrective action if he believes that legislation violates Constitutional provisions (from an interview with a civil movement leader).

Table 5. Support from government for NGOs to operate in the area of social accountability

Aimag and city At national level Umnugobi Darhan-Uul HovdCooperative agreement Yes Yes Yes YesIf government allows monitoring

Yes Yes Yes Yes

If government allows consumer evaluation

Yes Yes Under discussion

Under discussion

If government allows participation in tender selection process

Yes Under discussion

Under discussion

If the government has an officer in charge of working with NGOs

Yes Yes

Support in office space CSC on Environment Yes No No

A number of government organizations take action if there are no regulations relating to social accountability. The Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism at the national level; Governors’ Offices in Umnugovi, Khovd, Darkhan-Uul, Uvurkhangai and Dornogovi provinces; and Governors of some soums at the local level, are champions of social accountability. These organizations and officials effectively implement National Government resolution #93 (Cooperation with NGOs) and Government resolution #19 (Civil Organizations Performing Some Government Duties under Contract). The Ministry of Nature and Environment and Tourism has included NGO recommendations into a bill; the Ministry of Nature and Environment and Tourism works with the CSC on the Environment under contract; members of the CSC on the Environment are members of the Minister`s Council and the Environment Evaluation Committee. For example, the Ministry of Nature and Environment and Tourism put some 34 specific government duties under contract with NGOs in 2010. In local areas, government organizations use NGOs to provide social accountability as an established CSC and Civil Hall, with civic organization participation to oversee state procurement and tender processes, while NGOs perform government duties under contract. Uvurkhangai and Dornogovi provinces take note of Mercy Corps (international organization) research results, as a member organization of Partnership for Social Accountability in Mongolia.

2.1.3 Conclusion and Recommendations

Based on survey findings, the following recommendations are made in order to improve the legal and policy environment for social accountability.

1. Add the following regulatory statements to the legislation: a. allow participation of citizen groups in government decision- and policy-

making and evaluation of implementation, as a duty of government agencies; b. reflect comments and opinions from citizen groups in decisions, or supply

grounds for refusal if not reflected;

c. reflect comments and opinions from citizen groups in decisions and ask for responsibility from officials in response to citizen complaints;

d. invite citizen groups in the Working Group to select NGOs to outsource government services, and ensure citizen participation in developing regulations and criteria.

2. Adopt an Administrative Procedure Law to formalize ethics and conduct of government officials.

3. Exempt from taxation all donations and funding from business to NGOs, and cancel the legal obligation to pay social insurance for part-time non-permanent staff. The key tool to get these proposals included in the legislation is joint action from citizen groups in a united demand to law-makers.

2.2 Organized and capable citizen groups

2.2.1 Overview

What is an organized citizen group ?

The key players in social accountability are organized citizens, civil society organizations and NGOs. The core and outcomes of organized citizen action plainly depends on how well they are organized institutionally, technically and in capacity, on experience gained and used, on tools and cooperation - all serving as core to effective social accountability interventions.

In assessing the action of organized citizens in the area of social accountability, we used the following questions/criteria.1. What existing organized groups work in the area of social accountability? What is their

understanding and perception about social accountability?2. What projects and programs do these organized groups implement? What is their

experience level and what tools and mechanisms do they use?3. What do they think of the present level of government partnership and advocacy action

and how do they evaluate the outcomes of these types of activity? 4. Identify obstacles and challenges encountered by the organized groups. Identify potential

solutions to these obstacles and challenges.


What existing organized groups work in the area of social accountability ? What is their understanding and perception about social accountability?

Issues of social accountability have been key in all areas. This survey aimed to assess the present activities of Mongolian NGOs in the area of social accountability, with an emphasis on mining, environment, budget expenditure and information availability/accessibility. An understanding of the term 'social accountability' is generally expressed in two ways: social responsibility and social accountability. In the Mongolian language, the word responsibility implies duty, obligation, performance of duty, while the word accountability is closer to reportage, reporting performance of duty and be responsible for action. The ultimate goal of reporting responsibility is to create an accountable governance. As of today, numerous surveys and research projects have been carried out into social accountability, government, non-government and international organizations. The Ministry of Finance, World Bank, UNDP, Open Society Forum, Asia Foundation, Globe International, AusAID, Mercy Corps, Mongolian Press Institute, Women for Social Progress Movement, Zorig Foundation and the Human Rights Development Center, have all conducted surveys on social accountability,

highlighting citizen participation in government decisions and budget expenditure, the impact of mining on the environment, transparency of the extractive industry, responsibility, corruption, bureaucracy, election monitoring, human rights, public freedom and media freedom.

Aside from surveys and researches on social accountability, the first handbook of its kind, titled Social Accountability, was published in 2010, with a detailed introduction on social accountability. The handbook includes a definition of social accountability as citizen oversight, referring to the idea that citizen oversight is a key function of social accountability.

The overall understanding of respondents on social accountability can be described as follows: 'Social responsibility is action by NGOs, citizen movements and citizens working with the government, monitoring government activities, participation and overseeing of government action.'

Organized citizen groups

In the Law on NGOs, Article 4.1 states, “An NGO is an organization independent from the state, self-governing, non-profit, established voluntarily by citizens or by legal entities other than state agencies (ie organs that exercise legislative, executive and judicial powers) on the basis of individual or social interests and opinions.” NGOs in Mongolia are in two categories: serving society and serving members. Civil society organizations are classified in structure and organization, from NGOs (including civil movements and citizens), special organizations (such as trade unions and the Red Cross), and associations (political parties and religious organizations). In 2002, the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs had registered 3,200 NGOs, of which 2,586 served society, while 614 served members. There are now 7,300 NGOs officially registered at the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs. Of all NGOs covered in this survey, over 80% served society, working in the areas of environment, mining, budget transparency, access to information, human rights and protection of the interests of groups.

One: General profile of the NGOs covered by the survey

The Mongolian Social Accountability Overview and Mapping Survey looked at 197 NGOs, of which 20% were permanent and stable, while the other 80% were non-permanent and not operating regularly.

The NGO profile was as follows.

Of all respondents representing NGOs, 34.8% were male, 63.9% female; 91.9% had university education, 3.1% had high school or vocational education and 0.62% had only secondary education. Survey findings demonstrate that NGO operations may not be stable but work at intervals; sometimes silent and sometimes active.

Excerpt

Social accountability means “People are responsible for each other. Those who earn more should receive food that meets their needs in wellbeing and security, but they should also spend some of their income to benefit others. Social responsibility in highly-developed countries is higher, which results in reduced poverty and increased livelihoods. But there is still inequality in other countries. So the idea is, if you earn money, you should spend some of it on some target group for social development. That is what I understand as social responsibility. Mongolians have a nomadic civilization, so we are always responsible for others and for our relatives.” Social responsibility is “NGO intervention in government action to participate in and oversee government action.”

(Interview with officers of local government)

Figure 3. Types of NGOs

Figure 3 shows registered NGOs and their operations, stable or not.In Figure 4, NGOs are shown that began main operations from 2001, with some growth and restoration from 2006. Figure 4. Stable activities of NGOs

In activity areas, NGOs include those in the areas of environment, nature protection, reclamation, democracy and civil education, women, gender equality, citizen empowerment, capacity building, health, social welfare, reproductive health and protection of citizen interests.

Table 6. Key activity areas of NGOS by numbers and percentage

Activity areas Number Percentage

Environment, nature protection and reclamation 25 15.5

Education/democracy and civil education 28 17.4

Training, research and evaluation 9 5.6

Advocacy and participation 2 1.2

Family and children 5 3.1

Women and gender equality 19 11.8

Citizen empowerment, capacity building, protection of interests 20 12.4

Serving society/ society centered 21 13

Health/reproductive health 14 8.7

Media, information dissemination 4 2.5

Working for people with disabilities 3 1.9

Legal consultation 3 1.9

Human rights 7 4.3

Ultra poor citizens 6 3.7

Agriculture and animal husbandry 5 3.1

Interests of residents 1 0.62

Social welfare 14 8.7

Business development 4 2.5

Extractive industry transparency 1 0.62

Trade unions 2 1.2

Fighting corruption 1 0.62

Unanswered 3 1.9

Total 197 100.0

Finding and strengthening NGO positioning was more important than capacity and finance. In terms of funding, the main sources were as follows: international agencies, membership fees, public donation, investment, service income, donations from business and government; 13.7% had no funding source. NGOs operating actively reported that they had an average of 5 funding sources.

Figure 5. Funding source of the NGOs

The Open Society Forum, UN, World Bank and Mercy Corps provided most of the funding for NGOs and civil society organizations, according to qualitative survey findings.

Two: Human resources

As to NGO respondent gender, 58.4% were female, 49.1% male. They represent almost all ages. NGO staffs are generally divided into full-time, part-time and volunteer. Most NGOs have up to five full-time staff, with over 20 volunteers and part-time staff.

Three: Activities in social accountability

Respondent NGOs generally work in the following areas: monitoring, evaluation and oversight 19.9%; advocacy 23.0%, no social accountability action 52.8%; unanswered 4.3%. Of all NGO respondents, 72.7% were involved in a civil society network, 24.2% were in no network, and 3.1% did not respond.

Figure 6. Activities of NGOs on Social Accountability

What projects and programs do these organized groups implement? What is their experience level and what tools and mechanisms do they use ?

In overall, most citizen groups in social accountability run a monitoring project, followed public procurement and budget transparency, capacity building and networking. In addition, civil education, strategic advocacy, and transparency of information are key areas where NGOs have gained considerable experience.

A. Monitoring

In 2004 organized citizen groups started budgetary monitoring (formulation and expenditure of central and local government budgets) and monitoring government services, with support from the Open Society Forum. So far, over 100 NGOs have been involved in monitoring activities.

Figure 7. Monitoring activities of NGOs by year

The Open Society Forum has implemented a monitoring grants program, aiming to increase NGO intervention in government action to ensure transparency and accountability. This

program beginning was an important step in encouraging NGOs to believe that NGOs are entitled to monitor government action and institutions, and demand accountability based on monitoring results. The grants program has played a key role in building NGO capacity. Since the first monitoring project began, over 100 NGOs have learned monitoring methodology and conducted monitoring of government services, policy implementation, donor aid and loans.

Table 7. Monitoring activities conducted by organized citizen groups Topic National level Local levelBudget - Formulation and expenditure of public agency

equity- Expenditure of the reserve fund of the Songinohairhan district governor- Expenditure of the Chingeltei district government on street lighting and establishing a green area- Income and expenditure of waste management fund in Bayangol district- Formulation of budget income from interest and fines- Citizen oversight of local budget formulation- Expenditure of Science and Technology Fund- Selection of vendors for construction and urban development sector work, funded by the Mongolian Development Fund and government budget - Operation of the Health Support Fund and its financial management - Advocacy, capacity-building of public agencies to ensure budget transparency- Financing of political parties- Expenditure of Special Fund supporting employment for those with disabilities

- Citizen participation in the local budget- Expenditure of Governor's Reserve Fund - Services fee income - Local budget monitoring- Expenditure of Health - Insurance Fund- Monitoring of Public Procurement - Development of gateway- budget monitoring- Monitoring of the operations of Aimag Development Fund

Environment and mining

- Process of licensing exploitation of minerals - Activities on environment protection- Payments and taxes from mining companies to the local budget- License monitoring - Tuul River basin- Expenditure of Environment protection Fund

- Monitoring re-forestation- Status of businesses in the Eastern Mongolian Protected Area in environment reclamation

Access to information

- Transparency of information of government agencies - Violations of free speech rights- Content of Transition Period program- Supporting freedom of expression and free media- Content of websites of government organizations- Implementation of judge’s decision to restrict rights - Roles of citizen representatives in collective settlement of disputes

- Openness and transparency of information at local government agencies- Openness and transparency of information at government agencies - Citizen participation in rural areas

- Recommendations from the Independent Anti-Corruption Agency- Improving responsibility of citizen representatives to ensure openness of court hearings, legal background for court decisions and enhancing the legal environment for selection of representatives

- Activities of public radio and TV of Gobi-Altai aimag- Implementation of Governor’s action plan to improve citizen participation

Source: OSF Annual Report, 2005-2009

The overall scope of activities of NGOs working in monitoring is expanding, as verified by the fact that 47 organized citizen groups (15 local and 32 national) were selected to run monitoring in 2009. The monitoring projects included transparency of public services, government responsibility, budget transparency, the environment, health, education, social welfare, human rights and extractive industry. Most were involved in monitoring government services, and local and central government budget expenditure. Recently, organized citizen groups in rural areas have begun monitoring local budget transparency, the environment, citizen participation and public procurement, and they are developing cooperation with government agencies based on monitoring results.

Excerpt

Over a three-year period, over 90 NGOs were involved in the OSF monitoring program, learning monitoring methodology and gaining practical experience about government services, policy implementation and foreign aid and loans by implementing short-term monitoring projects. NGOs monitoring implementation of policy and government decisions on human rights, the extractive industry, social welfare and budgets joined a network, showing positive steps towards more extended and professional operations in the future.

Source: OSF Annual Report, 2008

Organized citizen groups implemented monitoring projects and presented the results for the concerned government agency, followed by an advocacy campaign in reaction to the monitoring results. For instance, NGOs monitoring the budget and public services presented their findings at meetings, displayed posters and covered notice boards with the results, published stories, presented the findings to government officials and ran training sessions. The Open Society Forum said that the entire of society, including government agencies, had begun to accept monitoring results, so NGOs were playing an important role in making government actions transparent and accountable. All outcomes and impacts of NGOs, citizens and citizen group monitoring, their gains in professional approach, methodology and funding, clearly show that the open Society Forum had made a valuable contribution to these organizations and groups.

Government Resolution #93 stated that support for NGOs to monitor public procurement ensured procurement was open and transparent, as well as including NGO representatives in the tender selection process for public funds, which created favorable conditions for civil society organizations to ask the government for accountability and reporting. Initiatives have taken place such as publicizing public procurement, and tender evaluation committees included representatives of civil society. In Umnugobi aimag, tender evaluation committees to

select vendors for public procurement include civil society representatives. A consumer survey and evaluation of government agencies was carried out by NGOs as a best start-up for effective activity and cooperation between government and civil society. Many local and central government agencies now include in their plans some provision for cooperation with civil society, according to the findings of the qualitative survey. CSOs, NGOs and the government are playing the most important roles as they contribute to development of social accountability.

B. Initiatives to ensure budget transparency

Organized citizen groups, NGOs and expert agencies formed under the initiative of budget transparency and monitoring began with budget monitoring and analysis in 2006. They started discussions and forums in partnership with the Civil Education Center and the Open Society Forum (OSF), especially when local governments were revising and discussing their upcoming year budget, bringing citizen representatives in with the government to discuss budgetary issues in 2007. Some NGOs, such as the New Administrative Initiative, the Local Governance Development Foundation, IRIM and the Mongolian Education Alliance ran a campaign named Glass Wallet in cooperation with the Governors’ offices and Citizen Representative Khurals of Baganuur and Bayanzurh Districts, holding open day events by government agencies, publicizing budget-related information and organizing public discussions on the budget. Publishing a hand book entitled Having A Glass Wallet to expand the scope of the Glass Wallet campaign and raise public, government and NGO awareness of the campaign was one of the most important activities in this area.

Example: Tripartite partnership agreement model

The administration of Bayanzurh district and the Citizen Representative Khural, in partnership with the IRIM NGO, developed a model tripartite agreement, to help create mechanisms for citizen participation and monitoring of the formulation and expenditure of the budgets of government organizations in the district, and to create conditions for effective cooperation by ensuring budget transparency. In addition, regulations on the creation of a transparent budget were developed jointly and attached to the model agreement. This agreement delineates the potential cooperation of stakeholders in running a transparent budget Glass Wallet campaign, upgrading transparent budget regulations and publicizing the need for a transparent budget for the community.

(Source: IRIM, 2009)

Some noteworthy initiatives in this area include the New Administrative Initiative NGO, which monitored implementation of new regulations to boost citizen participation in budget-related activities in the Baganuur district; IRIM developed a handbook on citizen participation in budget discussions after developing models and testing. The Umnugobi aimag branch of the Rural Women's Support Foundation monitored expenditure of the Governor’s Reserve Fund and managed to get included new provisions in the regulations, such effective expenditure of the fund and clarification of monitoring and inspection. The Women Leaders Foundation is working with members of parliament to improve accountability and responsibility in public procurement.

Policy research

To mainstream the social accountability system, support citizen and civil society participation in policy development, is essential, along with capacity-building in policy research and analysis. For this, the Open Society Forum started a Policy Research Grants Program in 2004. Since then, there has been the publication of 25 research reports proposing alternative solutions to policy research. Policy research topics have included the creation of mechanisms to improve citizen and civil society participation at the local and central levels of government decision-making; creation of transparency of budget and finances; and encouraging citizen participation in local and central government budget expenditure. In 2009, new topics were added to the line, including social accountability in the environment.

Table 8. Policy research

Year Policy research

2004 - Funding election campaigns - Media and press freedom and IT opportunities - ICT development in rural areas- Ways to fight white collar crime and fraud- Central and local government - suitable balance

2005 - To Purchase Products and Services by State Property- To Increase Civil Participation in Decision-making: Legal and

Institutional Environment - To Reform Public Administration and Public Units and Public and Social

Service Quality and Access

2006 - Budget and finance centralization and independence- Legal support for NGO participation in decision-making - Mining sector demands and educational sector supply

2007 - Civil participation in Citizen Representative Hurals in 2007 - Encourage civil participation in aimag and soum Citizen Representative

Hurals in policy and decisions

2008 - Encouragement mechanisms for NGO and civil participation in government monitoring and evaluation

- Relationship between medical institution service quality and financing- Methods to develop legal and activity environment to support

investigative media

2009 - Legal procedure to stop the mining sector- Micro-economic policies to share mining sector profits - Funding for political parties - Judicial empowerment and independence

Strategic advocacy

Two NGOs - the Human Rights and Development Center and the Huvsgul Lake Owners - carried out strategic advocacy work in 10 cases of appeal in the courts concerning the environment in 2007, serving as a model for protection of the common public interest and giving the NGOs considerable experience and capacity in this field. Strategic advocacy became one of the main tools of social responsibility to encourage government and government officials not to violate human rights. Specifically, the July 1 2008 case of public riot could have been resolved more peacefully using these tools as against how government agencies violated human rights, especially the right to life. NGOs such as the Coalition of Mongolian Environmental Civil Movements, Lawyers’ Association for the Environment, Women Lawyers’ Association, Zorig Foundation and the National Center against Violation

started strategic advocacy in cases concerning the violation of human rights, environmental pollution, and breech of the public interest (OSF, 2009). These NGOs are using strategic advocacy as a main tool in cases of human rights violation, the environment, land disputes, privatization and licensing, and to unveil legal provisions that do not match reality.

Civic education

NGOs like the Academy of Political Education, OSF, the Human Rights and Development Center, Mercy Corps, Democracy Education Center and Soyombo Movement direct their activities towards development of social accountability through civic education. There are fewer organizations operating in this area than in others.

B. Networking

Organized citizen groups are uniting in networks to strengthen efforts to mainstream social accountability. For example, the Citizen Oversight of Budget Coalition, the Civil Council of NGOs, the Coalition of Environmental NGOs, and the PWYPE Coalition. In addition, the Civil Hall has been opened by the President, at the initiative of the OSF and designed to collect input from citizens and stakeholders into laws, rules and regulations through hearings, discussions and debates. Civil Hall held open discussions on the Budget Law, involving citizens, civil society and government organizations, when the conceptual framework of the law was extensively discussed. Organized citizen groups are networking and becoming more systematic institution and these phenomena is taking place quickly. In this report, we have provided details of two networks, the Citizens’ Oversight of Budget and PWYPE, the former concerned with budget transparency and the latter with the environment and extractive industry.

Civil Society Consul

The CSC of NGOs was created on February 1, 2008, by CSOs and NGOs. Its aim is to regulate the relationship between government and CSOs. The CSC and the Mongolian government formulated Resolution #93 to create conditions for NGO involvement in monitoring implementation of Key Directions of Mongolia’s Socio-Economic Development. Central and local NGOs and government agencies worked together in preparatory work to outsource to NGOs in government services and contracts were signed at the local level, with further elaboration in the future. DEMO has been appointed to coordinate with the CSC and regularly update NGOs via their own website, www.demo.mn

The CSC has shown that CSOs and NGOs are making lots of effort and working hard to achieve recognition by the government and its organizations. The CSC is setting an example of hard work which has paid off as their recognition helps continual progression in their mission.

Citizen Oversight of the Budget network

NGOs are not only effectively engaged in budget monitoring, but 13 NGOs are gaining practical experience in other areas as they set up the Citizen Oversight of the Budget Coalition in 2008. The coalition runs the network and information portal www.tusuv.mn from where information related to budgets is publicly disseminated. Network member organizations work on observation and analysis of budgeting and expenditure of all district governments of Ulaanbaatar city, collecting budget-related information, monitoring, publicizing its observation findings to the public and government officials etc.

http://www.tusuv.mn/

Table 9. Budget analysis and watch carried out by members of the Citizen Oversight of Budget Coalition in 2010 on local and central government budget

Venue Monitoring areas Responsible organizations

Capital city - Ulaanbaatar Fund, a reserve fund for the Mayor- Income from privatization of municipal property- Expenditure of funds allocated to political parties with seats in the Ulaanbaatar city parliament - Tender for roof repairs of second maternity house - Expenses for settlement of land disputes and reclamation (700 million MNT)- PR and media expenses (190 million MNT)- Central Cultural Palace (893 million MNT)

IRIM

Progressive Union

Local Government Development Foundation

Bayangol district

- Expenditure of 500 million MNT for MPs- Governor's Reserve Fund (Local Reserve Fund)- District Development Fund - Khoroo Support Fund - Social Welfare Fund for Senior Citizens - Emergency Fund - Waste management and removal service fund - Funds for political parties holding seats in the Ulaanbaatar city parliament

Consumer Foundation

Sukhbaatar district

- Expenditure of 500 million MNT for MPs- Governor's Reserve Fund (Local Reserve Fund)- District Development Fund - Khoroo Support Fund - Social Welfare Fund for Senior Citizens - Emergency Fund - Waste management and removal service fund - Funds for political parties holding seats in the Ulaanbaatar city parliament

Women for Social Progress Movement

Songinokhairhan district

- Expenditure of 500 million MNT for MPs- Governor's Reserve Fund (Local Reserve Fund)- District Development Fund - Khoroo Support Fund - Social Welfare Fund for Senior Citizens - Emergency Fund - Waste management and removal service fund - Funds for political parties with seats in the Ulaanbaatar city parliament

Zorig Foundation

Bayanzurh district

- Expenditure of 500 million MNT for MPs- Governor's Reserve Fund (Local Reserve Fund)- District Development Fund - Khoroo Support Fund - Social Welfare Fund for Senior Citizens - Emergency Fund - Waste management and removal service fund - Bayanzurh-One heart program 850000,0

Education Alliance

- Unallocated local expenses- Bayanzurh Development program 500000,0 MNT - Funds for political parties with seats in the Ulaanbaatar city parliament

Khan-Uul district

- Expenditure of 500 million MNT for MPs- Reserve Fund of the Governor (Local Reserve Fund)- District Development Fund - Khoroo Support Fund - Social Welfare Fund for Senior Citizens - Emergency Fund - Waste management and removal service fund - Funds for political parties with seats in the Ulaanbaatar city parliament

Center for Human Rights and Development, Zuv Tusgal

Baganuur district

- Expenditure of 500 million MNT for MPs- Governor's Reserve Fund (Local Reserve Fund)- District Development Fund - Khoroo Support Fund - Social Welfare Fund for Senior Citizens - Emergency Fund - Waste management and removal service fund - Funds for political parties with in the Ulaanbaatar city parliament

Nuurentein lch NGO

Dundgobi aimag

- Expenditure of 500 million MNT for MPs- Reserve Fund of the Governor (Local Reserve Fund)- Aimag Development Fund - Social Welfare Fund for Senior Citizens - Emergency Fund - Funds for political parties with seats in the aimag parliament

Steps Without Boundaries NGO

Members of the Citizens Oversight of Budget network also undertook advocacy action to ensure government budget transparency and citizen participation, resulting in Resolution #93. This was also the result of initiatives and advocacy by the CSC led by DEMO; Government of Mongolia Resolution #93 states that citizen participation is an obligation in government actions as the best way for the Coalition to achieve its designated goals. Resolution #93 (March 12, 2008) on cooperation with NGOs, instructs aimag and Ulaanbaatar Governors to enable civil society organizations to monitor government budget expenditure and implementation of Key Directions of Mongolia’s Socio-Economic Development. The Governors are required to make annual reports to the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs no later than the end of the first quarter of the following year. The resolution also requires the Minister of Justice and Home Affairs to present a final consolidated report to Cabinet in the second quarter of the following year. Government of Mongolia Resolution #143 (May 14, 2009) also approves the criteria of openness of government agencies, including access to information, transparency of human resources policy, financial transparency and procurement transparency. All of these were positive actions, enabling NGOs to ask for social accountability and government agencies to report on their social accountability.

Budget monitoring tools Select the object or agency for monitoring; collect preliminary data and discuss with coalition members; gather detailed information (media resources, reports, audit reports, financial reports from all sources including citizens); request government organizations

Transparency Initiative, disseminating information

Manual and leaflet Study visit and share experiences FORUM, CONFERENCE AND MEETING

Monitoring and evaluation

Advocacy& information

and officials both verbally and in writing for more information if desired; observe budget expenditure; analyze all data gathered and arrive at conclusions; discuss monitoring results among members; prepare a budget information sheet and distribute; advocate (demand responsibility or corrective action from the agency and/or officials); evaluate budget transparency according to criteria; arrive at a final evaluation.

Source: Citizens’ Oversight of Budget network, tools for advocacy to ensure transparency of government budget, 2010

In addition, network members provided input into bills for budget transparency to enable legal participation of NGOs and citizens.

PWYPE Coalition

In 2006, helped by the Open Society Forum, 15 NGOs formed a new coalition called PWYPE coalition for transparency in the extractive industry, to strengthen mechanisms of social accountability in the mining sector. At that time the National Council of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative had no citizen representation, so this new Coalition and OSF became members of the National Council. The Coalition is currently working to support the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, disseminating public information, analyzing mining sector incomes, and holding fruitful discussions among stakeholders, including government, companies and civil society. The Coalition has also held multi-stakeholder discussions on government transparency, stressing the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. It has also developed recommendations to the government in partnership with other stakeholders, such as the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the National Council of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, the National Mining Association, companies, coalitions and networks. The PWYPE Coalition works with the US-based Revenue Watch Institute, the international PWYPE coalition and the World Bank.

In 2009, Mongolian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative underwent an audit reconciliation, and the Open Society Forum disseminating the audit reconciliation report to the International Secretariat of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. The coalition worked on a preliminary civil society evaluation of the Extractive Industry Transparency

Initiative, which was presented to the Secretariat and the Multi-Stakeholder Working Group of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. The coalition also held a discussion with the civil society organization to revise preliminary reports of international validation of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. It currently uses the following tools and mechanisms to ensure transparency as part of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. Comments on the final report of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative validation,

especially on five indicators concerning Mongolia, which were delivered to the International Secretariat of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.

Publication of the validation report in the media and on websites. A press conference on the final results of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative

validation. Submission of demands to the National Council and Working Group re the findings of the

validation report. Representation of civil society on the Working Group and the National Council of

Mongolia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. Advertisement of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. Learning from other countries.

Making open and transparent Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative information on mining companies.

What they think of the present level of partnership with government and advocacy action and evaluation of outcomes of these types of action.

The Constitution of Mongolia, the Law on the Government of Mongolia and Government Resolutions #19, 93 and 143, as well as decrees of line ministries, all coordinating activities related to outsourcing to civil society organizations, ensuring procurement transparency, recruitment of government officials in a competitive selection process, allowing civil society to monitor government policy, service quality, demands for responsibility and accountability and approaches to government agencies and officials for transparency. Organized citizen groups are working towards finding the best ways to work with the government, advocate on the government policy and make decisions within the existing legal framework.

Partnership agreement

Civil Council of Environment NGOs

The interview findings show that environmental NGOs have made great progress in working in cooperation with the government and implementing government rules, regulations and resolutions on partnership with civil society. For instance, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Civil Council of Environment NGOs signed a cooperative agreement with a four-year term, with performance assessment annually. This demonstrates that organized citizen groups have gained considerable experience in building partnership agreements and tripartite agreements with the government. The qualitative survey findings demonstrate that environmental NGOs have made important steps towards partnership with government.

Six hundred NGOs concerned with the environment have joined to establish the Citizen Council of Environment NGOs, with a 9-member governing board and 3-person secretariat. The administrative costs of the council are funded by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, while planned operations are funded by various donors. In addition, the Ministry provides office space and furniture for the secretariat. In 2010, the council plans to complete 34 activities presently under contract with the Ministry, which make good steps towards mainstreaming social accountability. Government Resolution #143 states that government agency actions will be evaluated by independent organizations like NGOs and the required funding allocated to line ministries. Within the framework of this resolution, the council plans to carry out monitoring and analysis on access to implementation of government policy and decisions on environment such as combating illegal tree-felling, enforcement of laws prohibiting mining in river basins and forests, implementation of water laws and other programs.

Tools and mechanisms that the Citizen Council of Environment NGOs work with government (Individual interview, Ulaanbaatar).

Contracts. Representation on the policy council of the Ministry, ie having a delegate on the

Minister’s council and program work groups. Get acceptance of the proposition that civil society organizations should have a

higher capacity and the council should have higher status. Jointly plan action with detail programming of who will be responsible for what Improve human resources capacities. Build council abilities to work closely and effectively with the government. Build council knowledge and skills to push the government.

The government is more interested in working with umbrella organizations, and especially in outsourcing to NGOs of government services. Under this policy, the Citizen Council of NGOs and the Citizen Council of Environmental NGOs are not umbrella organizations per se, but are being used effectively to build partnership with the government as a coalition of CSOs, representing their interests to the national government, and promoting common goals of more than 300 civil society organizations (CSOs) in Mongolia.

Civil Society Council

As a result of hard work by CSOs and NGOs over a number of years, producing the framework of Government Resolution #93 of 2008, the Citizens’ Council of NGOs was established, uniting NGOs for more effective cooperation with government. After numerous meetings with high-ranking government officials, the council completed a number of

Excerpt For this year, we have contracted with the Ministry to complete 34 activities, as mandated by the contract annexes. The council currently relays NGO voices to the government, and we are striving towards bringing the NGOs under a single arrangement. Key mechanisms under which we work with the government include building contracts and having representation on the Ministry policy council. We also aim to do a good job in building our own capacity. We need to be highly capable so that we can effectively work with the government. With even better knowledge and skills, we will be able to push the government for better action.

(In-depth interview with respondent, UB)

important activities. These include [1] initiate celebration of Civil Society Day; and [2] achieving Government Resolution #93, opening the door wide for NGO cooperation with the government. Currently the council operates at three levels: at a national level, working with the government in agreeing cooperative agreements and developing joint action plans; at the international level, monitoring and evaluating human rights, MDGs, women and gender equality; and at the local level, capacity building of citizen groups, strengthening council branches, training, advocacy and information dissemination.

Darhan Uul aimag council action plan for government cooperation in 2010. Get approved a cooperative agreement and ensure proper implementation. Celebrate Civil Society Day by Governor's decree, hold meetings and other events. Develop general guidelines for activities in Darhan-Uul aimag, under the framework

of resolution #64 of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor. Appoint representatives of civil society to tender evaluation committees and the

Livelihoods Support Council. Monitoring expenditures on government programs, projects and funds in partnership

with professional organizations. Establish an information network of local NGOs. Implement training and advocacy activities on human rights, gender equality, child

rights, work safety and ecology education. Hold an NGO Open Day. Promote NGOs in local media. Organize a participatory campaign on environmental protection. Encourage NGOS to report annually on their activities to the local Governor and to

parliament, and give awards to leading NGOs.

Table 10. Strength of cooperation between organized citizen groups and the governmentLevel Government NGOsNational level

- Resolutions and regulations supporting NGOs (eg Resolutions #43, 93)- Cooperative agreement signed- Government agencies appoint staff to working with civil society

- Contract between Civil Society Consul & NGOs- CSC established - Government agencies celebrate Civil Society Day

Hovd - CSC established- Successful monitoring of public procurement (School Tea Break program)- Tripartite partnership agreement - Tender evaluation committees given NGO representation- NGOs outsourced for some government activities - Government staff appointed to work with NGOs

- Civil society network established - Tripartite agreement on outsourcing government activities - NGOs outsourced for some government activities

Umnugobi - Cooperative agreement reached- Civil society hall established - Appointment of NGO representation on tender evaluation committees- BGO survey of quality and delivery of government services

- CSC and network established with agreement with Governor- Local Governor’s Reserve Fund starts funding NGO activities

Darhan-Uul - Tripartite agreement between Governor’s Administration, Trade Union and Employers’ Association - Cooperative agreement to work with CSC - NGO representation on working groups and in other activities

- Government accepts NGOs and civil society- Civil Hall established at the local parliament - Civil Society network established - CSC develops action plan in cooperation with the Governor’s Administration, approved - Tripartite partnership program implemented

What obstacles and challenges are encountered by organized groups? Identify potential solutions to these obstacles and challenges.Previous surveys agree with this survey in identifying two major difficulties encountered by civil society organizations. All respondent NGOs said that the two main pressing issues that they face are financial stability and human resources. Presently, no NGO (except the Citizen Council of Environmental NGOs) has a stable funding source such as long-term government contracts for certain duties. Civil society, and specifically NGOs, are essential and decisive in creating and mainstreaming a social accountability system. All respondents to this qualitative survey indicated that a stable financial resource was the key problem and obstacle. Although there have been some positive steps in working with the government through NGO networks and councils using policy and legal backgrounds, stakeholders still find obstacles to stable cooperation, said respondents from umbrella organizations.

Table 11. Obstacles and challenges encountered by organized groups in partnership with government Level Government NGOsNational level

- NGO law is outdated- NGOs cannot unite their views and activities- No detailed regulation of openness and access to information, lack of information officers (mainly attached as a minor task)

- No mechanisms on what level to work with and how to establish cooperation- Government officers in charge of civil society are weak and bureaucratic interns of knowledge- While some ministries and agencies respond to requests for cooperation, they have no experience of working with NGOs - No mechanisms to ensure long-term stable cooperation

Hovd - NGOs require funding of administrative costs and feel suspicious of government- Few NGOs working in a stable manner

- Government officers have little knowledge about social accountability- Poor legal environment for NGO participation in government action- Government agencies do not support NGOs

Umnugobi

- Some NGOs inactive - Weak and slow implementation of cooperation and enforcement of rules and regulations- Where there is a legal environment, there is no enforcement - Government chooses to work only with experienced NGOs

- Government officers fear that they will be unemployed if they use NGOs

Darhan-Uul

- NGOs should join together and empower- NGOs do not report their activities- No initiative

- Financial difficulties and lack of support- No legal environment- Government information is secret- No support for NGOs- No trust in NGOs

Government organizations say NGOs always criticize government as incapable, and vice-versa. This was found to be a main problem for both parties; it seems that CSOs and the government have had continued conflict. Some NGO respondents to this qualitative survey said that the government is not interested in working with NGOs, but high-ranking officials form their own 'pocket' NGOs for money laundering. On the other side, leaders of highly capable citizen groups or NGOs say that too many NGOs have weak capacity, which inspires the government to ignore them. Some say that the NGO-government cooperation will always be only on paper, while some argue they have experience of working with the government, according to survey findings. However, NGOs are improving fast, forming networks and coalitions. However, there is a need to cover all organization network members and provide information equally, serving as a genuine network, according to NGO respondents. For instance, respondents claimed that implementation of the Government resolution promoting cooperation with NGOs is weak.

2.2.3 Conclusion and recommendations

The survey findings demonstrate that the core institutions playing a key role in establishing social accountability, demanding better government accountability and reporting, are obviously organized citizen groups, civil society organizations and NGOs. The ultimate goal of the social accountability is to create accountable, transparent and open governance.

Conclusion1. Today, NGOs and CSOs play pivotal and leading roles in mainstreaming civil society in Mongolia. Mainstreaming social accountability depends on government and civil society's understanding and acceptance of social accountability. The survey findings demonstrate that most government officials said that social accountability is the duty of individuals, society and business fulfilling their duties towards the government, while most CSO respondents said it is oversight and participation of the public and NGOs in government policy, decision-making and action.

Recommendations

General level1. Organize widespread and broad awareness-raising action towards social

accountability.

Government level2. Focus awareness-raising action on government officials, advocating understanding and

positive attitudes about social accountability, and persuade them that the government itself needs to understand its role in establishing social accountability

CSO and NGO level

3. Inform all levels of the public about activities, projects and programs on social accountability; increase public awareness and knowledge. It is especially important that the public becomes aware of the consequences of social accountability, creating

accountable and reliable government organizations and offices, including those of President, Parliament, courts, and media.

4. To succeed in achieving a social accountability system, CSOs and NGOs need to work with government organizations, using all methods, mechanisms, and versions.

5. When CSOs and NGOs discuss social responsibility, they need to be clear on starting strategies and tactics. For example, to create transparency in budgetary processes, CSOs and NGOs should make contracts for occasional/seasonal projects/works/jobs with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism to share responsibility, monitor the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, procure and monitor purchases of snacks for secondary school lunch programs and bedclothes for student dormitories with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Our research shows there are many CSOs and NGOs that are well-recognized for work they have completed in regard to social accountability. CSOs and NGOs need to create a procedure on how to measure the results of work as mentioned above. They have being carrying out successful research and action regarding social accountability, monitoring, advocacy, policy research and strategic advocacy. They now need to act on research and action results, such as developing their own plans, strategies and tactics as tools to finalize research work and action.

Conclusion2. The survey shows that CSOs and NGOs play a considerable role in the social accountability system. Many NGOs work in environment conservation, democracy, civic education, women empowerment, gender equality, capacity building, citizen engagement, rights and interest protection, health, education and social welfare. For NGOs, funding was and is the key obstacle for sustainable operation. During the survey it was commonly observed that respondents misunderstand CSOs and MGOs, understanding civil society as only comprising NGOs.

Recommendations

Government level1. The core for stable and effective operation of CSOs and NGOs is funding. The

government needs to include in budgets outsourcing to NGOs in delivery of some government services as well as budgeting for action to be performed by NGOs.

2. As well as the government creating a favorable legal and policy environment for social accountability, it also should become more socially accountable by giving citizens, CSOs and stakeholders access to information on what the government does to ensure the social accountability,

3. Government should have a civic counsel, networking and alliance minister. In addition, line ministers, agencies and departments need to collaborate with NGOs working sustainably and in different areas and expand its relationship with them.

General level4. Researchers, NGO representatives and other stakeholders should work together to

develop an exact definition of social accountability, to clarify what social accountability actually is (based on the mapping survey on civil society), for example distinguishing between CSOs and NGOs.

CSO and NGO level5. CSOs and NGOs should focus more on achieving sustainability and proficiency,

working more in accordance with NGO purposes, general direction, human resources, and capacity.

6. The research results seem to indicate that one of the biggest problems for NGOs is sustainability of human resources. Thus NGOs pay more attention to active work on human resources and capacities.

Conclusion3. Citizen groups formed for social accountability mainly work in monitoring, budget transparency, capacity building and networking. To make their operations more effective, the Open Society Forum, Mercy Corps and other international organizations provide considerable financial support.

Recommendations

Government level1. To mainstream social accountability, NGOs and CSOs are working hard to achieve

sustainability in funding, mainly self-funding. Therefore it is recommended that there be inclusion in national and local government budgets, funds to outsource to NGOs and CSOs to deliver services to the public.

2. The government needs to develop policies of collaboration with NGOs for social accountability.

International donor organizations level3. NGOs and CSOs working for social accountability, with good impact and stable

operations, have been until now supported by national and international donors. These donor organizations have been asked to provide, as well as financial support, professional, methodological and technical assistance to help NGOs specialize in social accountability in a specific sector,

CSO and NGO level4. NGOs need to promote, advertise and explain to each other their planned actions

towards social accountability, and share how to use provided and available lessons learned from each other’s experience.

Conclusion4. As a result of the efforts and advocacy of CSOs and NGOs, government organizations have started to take action to enable social accountability. Such positive outcomes and actions should be improved and established in practically all sectors.

Recommendations

Government level1. Government organizations have started signing partnership agreements of cooperation

with NGOs and CSOs at all levels (local, provincial and municipal). NGOs and CSOs now need to take initiatives to ensure implementation of obligations and compliance with responsibilities, followed by demands on the government for compliance with duties and organization of accountability actions step-by-step, sharing knowledge and experiences with all stakeholders.

2. Survey respondents said they wanted to improve their knowledge to work more effectively with the government. NGOs and CSOs need to build their own capacity, identify flexible tactics and strategies, adapting to suit the context, and constantly be on the lookout for potential cooperation with government (note the experience of Environment and CSC).

3. The Government and State Great Hural (Parliament draw up plans annually with CSOs and NGOs. This annual plan should include a list of activities, programs and projects in social accountability. To complete successfully the year's list of work, there should be separate lines of guidance, identifying who is going to do what (government or

CSOs and NGOs) and clearly indicating separate rules and responsibilities etc for government, CSOs and NGOs.

CSOs and NGOs4. Government organizations and institutions have contracted with CSOs and NGOs to

draw up and start work in the various levels - region/soum/aimag/Ulaanbaatar. To evaluate work completion and account for responsibility, CSOs and NGOs must work regularly, creatively and sustainably, and follow up on work completion of work and responsibility in all the regions. The experience should then be shared with other CSOs and NGOs, identifying what was done effectively and what went wrong etc.

5. Respondents suggested that staff of CSOs and NGOs need to be at least as knowledgeable and informed as government staff. Thus CSOs and NGOs need constantly to renew or change tactics, strategies and mechanisms as needed and look for all possible or potential opportunities to work with government.

6. There is a need to develop systems of evaluation of social accountability and select a few ministries for pilot testing.

General level (for IOs, academic organizations, and researchers)7. Provide expert assistance to develop systems of evaluation of social accountability.8. Study and learn from successful experience of social accountability in other countries,

looking at their opinions on social accountability, at what level, using what systems of measurement etc, and adapt and apply suitable mechanisms for Mongolia.

Bibliography for this section

1. ANSA network. (2010). 4 pillars for the Social Accountability.

2. Citizens Oversight on Budget network. (2010). Tools for advocacy to ensure the transparency of government budget. Ulaanbaatar.

3. Civil Council of Environment NGOs. (2009). Annual report. Ulaanbaatar.

4. Davaadulam, T. (2010). Good governance and Social Accounatbility terms. Ulaanbaatar.

5. IRIM research institute. (2009). Tripartitate partnership agreement model.

6. Law on NGOs (1996).

7. Mercy Corps. (2010). Annual report. Ulaanbaatar.

8. Open society forum. (2005-2009). Annual Report. Ulaanbaatar.

9. The World Bank, Social and Development Department. (2007). The Enabling Environment for Social Accountability in Mongolia . Washington, D.C.

2.3 Access to information

2.3.1 Overview

What is accessibility to information? 9

Availability and reliability of public documents and data are essential to building social accountability. Such information is the basis for social accountability activities, and its quality

9Information means informative documents and facts regarding products, services and activities of government organizations, as well as basic information about the organization, as requested and needed by citizens, citizen groups and other stakeholders and deemed appropriate by them.

and accessibility are key determinants of success of social accountability mechanisms. Accessibility here has two connotations: physical access to documents, and their availability in a format that is understandable to inquirers. Because not all information is in documents, access also involves access to people (officials) and places.

How it is measured ? 1. Whether legal regulation, policy, rules and regulations enable access to information

(from government officers, organizations for documents and information) for citizens. 2. Whether there are mechanisms for complying with and enforcing these legal

documents, rules and regulations, and if so, how they work. To what extent does the government provide conditions for citizens and civil society organizations to gain access to government information (aside from that classified as state secret) quickly and efficiently (free from hindrance). How open are they?

3. What are the obstacles and challenges for government to grant access to information for citizens and civil society and to meet their information needs?

2.3.2 Research findings1. Legal environment ensuring access to information

International conventions to which Mongolia is bound and domestic legislation that fully guarantees people’s right to seek and receive information from government and its bodies

It is guaranteed by international convention and related legislation of Mongolia that there is a public right to seek and receive information, excepting only that which the state and its bodies are legally bound to protect as secret (Constitution of Mongolia, 1992).10

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted by Mongolia in 1974)

Article 19 of this Covenant guarantees the right to expression, regardless of interference.1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. 2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontier, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of choice. 3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary

(a) To respect of the rights or reputations of others; (b) For the protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of public

health or morals. Aside from aforementioned international treaties and domestic legislation, other Mongolian legislation also indicates how Mongolia should comply with international treaties. These include that “Mongolia shall fulfill in good faith its obligations under international treaties to which it is a Party” (Constitution of Mongolia, 1992).

An international organization that named ‘Article 19’ has developed a number of important documents, including Johannesburg Principles (1995) and Freedom of Information Rights:

10 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 (Palais de Chaillot, December 10, 1948).

International Principles of Information Freedom Bills (1999). Both have been accepted by the UN. These documents indicate that the right to know and the right to information should have precedence over the interests of government officials, high-ranking officers and organizations, and restrictions for national security should only be made by legislation, with clear and detailed provisions.

Provision 2.2.5 (Freedom to Information and Expression) of the National Human Rights Program approved by the Parliament of Mongolia in 2003 states, “Create legal conditions for citizens to ensure the right to seek and receive access to information, and for government agencies to provide access to information at request of the media and citizens, to ensure transparency of operation by state executive, legislative and judiciary agencies and officers, eliminating restrictions set by legislation on state secrets," and this task was assigned to the Government of Mongolia.

The right to access information for citizens of Mongolia is often restricted by numerous laws on state secrets, agency secrets, personal confidentiality etc.

This assessment report mainly touches on the issue of state secrets, as regulated by the Law on State Secrets and the Law on the List of State Secret Information. A survey conducted by the Globe International NGO and by ‘Article 19’ revealed that existing laws have the following shortcomings and drawbacks.

• The scope of secrecy is too broad; • Duration for confidentiality of information is too long; • Law on the List of State Secrets overrides the Law on State Secrets; • Sanctions stated in Criminal Law imposing eight years of imprisonment for disclosing a

state secret contravene the Johannesburg Principles;• Many laws, including the Law on National Security, the Law on Foreign Trade Arbitration, the Law on Citizens Submitting Requests and Complaints to Government Agencies and the Law on Geodesy and Cartography, contain provisions relating to secrecy and confidentiality, which contravene the General Law on State Secrets.11

2. Mechanisms for availability and accessibility of/to information (information dissemination tools and their impact)

When assessing mechanisms for accessibility and availability of information, the survey team conducted its work in two main directions: first by assessing the channels that government uses to disseminate information and the impact; second by assessing the ability of citizens and civil society organizations to receive government information by request.

2.1 CHANNELS OF GOVERNMENT DISSEMINATING INFORMATION, THEIR EFFICIENCY

Channels that government uses to disseminate information can be classified into two main categories:

11 Glob International NGO. (2006). State secret and freedom for information .

PERMANENT

Permanent channels can be understood as those used by government or its agencies regularly to disseminate information to citizens and to other stakeholders.

2.1.1 Official websites The key channels by which the government disseminates information for the public and other stakeholders are websites run by government organizations. We carried out an analysis of the websites of some selected government agencies for availability of information, as follow.

1. Website of the Office of the President of Mongolia: http://www.president.mn/mongolian/ 2. Website of the Government of Mongolia: http://www.open-government.mn/ 3. Websites of four line ministries:

- Ministry of Nature and Tourism: http://www.mne.mn/mn/ - Ministry of Finance: http://www.mof.gov.mn/ , Ministry of Finance website for

budget transparency: http://www.iltod.gov.mn/, Government procurement website: www.e-procurement.mn

- Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs: http://www.jurists.mn/web1/main.aspx?code=10

- National Human Rights Commission: http://www.mn-nhrc.org/ 6. Official website of the State Great Khural (Parliament): http://www.parliament.mn/ 7. Governor’s office of Ulaanbaatar and its districts:

- Suhbaatar district: http://sbd.ub.gov.mn/news.php - Songinohairhan district: http://shd.ub.gov.mn/ - Bayanzurh district: http://www.bzd.ub.gov.mn/ - Hovd aimag: No official website have found- Umnugobi aimag: http://umnugobi.gov.mn/ - Darhan-Uul aimag: http://info.e-darkhan.com/

Criteria for analysis and key questions

http://info.e-darkhan.com/

http://umnugobi.gov.mn/

http://www.bzd.ub.gov.mn/

http://shd.ub.gov.mn/

http://sbd.ub.gov.mn/news.php

http://www.parliament.mn/

http://www.mn-nhrc.org/



http://www.e-procurement.mn/

http://www.iltod.gov.mn/

http://www.mof.gov.mn/

http://www.mne.mn/mn/

http://www.open-government.mn/

http://www.president.mn/mongolian/

In content analysis of websites of selected government agencies, the following criteria were used. Key questions to measure each criterion and a scorecard for criteria were developed, followed by identifying the availability of information in each website.Table 12. Criteria for website content analysis

Criteria Factor to be measured Directions of question

Availability of information

Availability of information provided by government for citizens on products and services delivered by the government12

- Whether the agency’s operational direction, structure, intro and division of duties are clearly expressed.- Whether the website contains information on legislation coordinating agency operations.- Whether the agency’s financial and operational reports are displayed on the website.- Whether audit report is on the website.- Whether it is possible to get information on agency activities.

Effectiveness of information

If the information is disseminated in a timely way, at certain intervals and frequency.

- How frequently is the website updated?- Whether the duration for use of new info is sufficient.- What are the opinions and feedback from users on effectiveness of information?- Whether the content of website meets the requirements of citizens and other interested stakeholders.

Accessibility to information

Number of times website is accessed – in terms of content and coverage

- How often is website is accessed?- Whether there is an easy version of operational and financial reports for the citizens.- Number of opinions, comments and feedbacks in the website.- Are there language options on the website?

Outcomes of information analysis

ACCESSIBILITY of information on the websites of government agencies The primary step, or the basis for citizen group oversight and monitoring of the operations of government, is the availability of information. The assessment of social accountability at its primary level depends on the openness and transparency of information on government products and services. The UNDP settled on transparency as one of the key indicators for assessing good governance, measured by how open and transparent the information is. Openness of information should mean that the information about structure, operations and systems of any central and local government agency needs to be clearly available to anyone and the amount of information need to be sufficient to allow oversight and monitoring of activities13. Compliance with this principle was assessed by content analysis of websites of selected ministries and local government agencies, as follows.

12 Information accessibility means the ability of citizens to receive, check and download information regarding government services, service quality and distribution.

In terms of openness of information, the Ministry of Nature and Tourism website scored highest . Using the UNDP-identified good governance criteria and other criteria for measuring openness of information, analysis on openness of information was conducted on websites of the following agencies. The analysis used 10 questions, and final results are shown below (Table 13)

Table 13. Key indicators of openness of information# Selected websites 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total1 Ministry of Nature and

Tourism5 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 0 5 41

2 Office of the President of Mongolia

5 5 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 1 26

3 State Great Khural (Parliament of Mongolia)

5 5 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 21

4 National Human Rights Commission

5 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 20

5 Governor’s Office of Songinohairhan District

5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15

6 Governor’s Office of Suhbaatar District

5 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13

7 Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs

3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 12

8 Governor’s Office of Bayanzurh District

5 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11

9 Government of Mongolia 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 810 Umnugobi aimag 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 811 Darhan-Uul aimag 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 612 Ministry of Finance 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 613 Hovd aimag 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The highest score for each question is 5, so the maximum possible score for an agency cannot exceed 50. If we consider the criteria are met if the agency scores 70% of the maximum, only one (the Ministry of Nature and Tourism) out the 13 agencies qualifies providing an open environment for information access for citizen groups and other stakeholder sufficient to their needs. Ranked second, with over 50% of the maximum possible, was the Office of the President of Mongolia, identified as a website that offers a partly-open environment for information. Websites with 50% or less of the possible score are classed as websites with insufficient openness of information.

EFFECTIVENESS of information on websites of government agencies Indicators of openness of information are insufficient in the assessment of transparency of information; effectiveness of information is another key criterion for assessment of transparency of information.

13UNDP. (2008). Public administration and democratic governance:Government serving for its citi-zens. Ulaanbaatar; p14

Websites of rural aimag governments are insufficient in terms of the criterion of effectiveness of information

Four issues were checked against the criteria for assessment of effectiveness of information, such as how often the website is updated, whether the information entered on the website allows use in terms of timing etc, with the following results.

Table 14 Key indicators of effectiveness of information№ Selected websites 1 2 3 4 Total1 Ministry of Nature and Tourism 5 4 5 5 192 Office of the President of Mongolia 5 3,5 1 3 12.53 Darhan-Uul aimag 5 4 3 0 124 Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs 5 3 0 3 115 State Great Khural (Parliament of Mongolia) 4 2,5 1 3 10.56 Governor’s Office of Suhbaatar District 4 2,5 1 3 10.57 Umnugobi aimag 4 1 0 4 98 Government of Mongolia 5 4 0 0 99 National Human Rights Commission 4 1 0 3 810 Governor’s Office of Songinohairhan District 4 2 1 0 711 Ministry of Finance 4 0 0 3 712 Governor’s Office of Bayanzurh District 2 0 0 0 213 Hovd aimag 0 0 0 0 0

The main reason for the poor effectiveness of information availability relates to the fact that many agencies have no designated officer in charge of their website; rather, it is just subsidiary to the main duties of an official, a secondary assignment, resulting in failure to update the websites regularly in a timely way.

AVAILABILITY of information on websites of government agencies

While government information should be open and usable, the amount of information available and accessible should be sufficient to meet the various demands and needs, including accessibility to various types of information. None of the selected government agencies and local governments met this criterion of availability of informationWebsite analysis used four key criteria, such as whether the content of information was clear, how many language options were available and how many users were able to gain access, with the following results (Table 15).

Table 15. Key indicators of availability of information

Excerpts“When we approach government agencies for information, they just say that we should enter the website. They also say, “The website contains everything.” When we check the website, it is unclear and incomplete and we are unable to find information. Titles of reports or documents are in the website, but rather than linked to the real document, they are always empty”

From an interview with a NGO officer

# Selected websites 1 2 3 4 Total1 Ministry of Nature and Tourism 4 0 0 1 52 Government of Mongolia 2,5 0 0 1 3.53 Office of the President of Mongolia 0 0 0 3 34 Darhan- Uul aimag 0 2 0 1 35 Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs 1,5 0 0 1 2.56 Parliament of Mongolia 1 0 0 1 27 Governor’s Office of Suhbaatar district 0 0 0 1 18 Umnugobi aimag 0 0 0 1 19 National Human Rights Commission 0 0 0 1 110 Governor’s Office of Songinohairhan district 0 0 0 1 111 Ministry of Finance 0 0 0 1 112 Governor’s Office of Bayanzurh district 0 0 0 1 113 Hovd aimag 0 0 0 0 0

For availability of information, the maximum possible score was 20; the highest score earned from all agencies was 5, showing that there is a general poor availability of information on the selected 13 websites. Asked about content and quality on the selected websites, of 430 citizens receiving services from these agencies, 28% said they got the information they wanted from the websites, 16% said that the information on the website was insufficient, while 20% of respondents said the websites did not contain any useful information.14

Figure 8. Website user’s assessment

The result shown above demonstrate that government agencies generally do not provide sufficient and adequate information through their websites for citizens.

Overall conclusions of website analysis The analysis of availability, accessibility and effectiveness of information on websites of government agencies shows the following.

1. Openness of information on websites is insufficientKey information of organizational structure, system, allocation of duties and responsible persons, important criteria for openness of information, were placed on the websites, but the

14Openness and Transparency of Government Information; Globe International NGO, 2008, Ulaanbaatar.

most important information, financial and operational reports were generally missing or inaccessible. In addition, access to information on activities is limited. Based on these results, openness of information on the selected websites was insufficient.

2. Effectiveness of information in the websites is insufficientThe most important criterion for measurement of effectiveness of information availability is the ability of website users to receive and use the information supplied. In other words, information on an event should be entered on the website at least two weeks prior to the event, before the time it is actually needed for effective use. However, website information usually offers historical information; information about an event is often placed on the website only one or two days prior, making it difficult or impossible to use the information effectively.

3. Availability of information on the websites is insufficient Common shortcomings on the selected websites were: that the website has no access counter; there is no clear evidence they are used or successfully accessed; website information is unclear and difficult to understand for citizens; there are no clear directions for users on how to find required information; there is only one language option (except on the website of the President); and there is no cross-flow of information and feedback.

2.1.2 Officers of government agencies

Government officials, within the scope of their work, should report on work within the structure of government agencies both horizontally and vertically. In other words, they should report on work to their higher administration as well as to other stakeholders and citizens, as part of social accountability. In Mongolia, the formal legal document coordinating reportage of government activities and government official operations is Government Resolution #143, which identifies criteria for government agency transparency. Some statements in the resolutions are as follows.

1.3. Information, other than that restricted by legislation, regarding the operations of the agency, shall be provided to citizens free of charge and without hindrance through systematic activities.

1.5 In developing government policy documents and draft resolutions for common compliance, inputs from relevant government and non-government organizations, academic institutions, experts and citizens shall be collected and reflected if deemed necessary.

1.6. There shall be a permanently-operating hotline as a sealed box for receipt of requests, complaints and opinions of citizens, and actions shall be taken in response to input from citizens.

1.7. Requests and complaints shall be resolved within the legally-approved period and such responsiveness shall be mandatory and normal.

Main outcomes of the survey At a glance, the legal and ethical environment for government agencies and official to

disclose information in an open and transparent way seems to be well-created; however, in reality the availability of information is still insufficient. Citizens encounter difficulties to access to information from government agencies.

Excerpt 1. “When we approach a government official for information, they mistakenly believe that some outsider wishes to inspect his/her operations, so they often refuse. That is a common occurrence. After the tripartite agreement between government, civil society and the private sector, the situation has become much better, and they have started giving information, if reluctantly. I would say that it is still difficult to get information from the government formally.”

Research by the Globe international NGO indicated that of 330 citizens surveyed by phone, 65% had to wait for between one month and two years for their requests to a government agency to be resolved. Of this group, 35% waited for up to one month, 21% waited for 7-12 months, 17% waited 4-6 months and 12% waited over 24 months. This clearly demonstrates that the work of government agencies is highly bureaucratic.15

As the job description of government officials does not include a formal statement on provision of information to citizens, officials feel they have no official responsibility to allow access when a stakeholder requests for information. This sometimes serves as a background for an informal relationship between a government official and those seeking information.

Outcomes of individual interviews show that many government agencies have no specifically-designated officer in charge of information provision and dissemination; instead the job is given to an official as a secondary task, and officials thus feel reluctant to provide public information.

The mind-set and habits of government officials about sharing information with the public in an open and transparent way is often conservative and incorrect. If someone asks for information, they take this as violation of their rights and often refuse to give access to information.

Asked to evaluate information availability for citizens, government officials evaluated this situation at a 3 (within a 1-5 range), showing that citizens still lack the opportunity to get

15Glob International NGO. (2008). Openness and transparency of government information. Ulaan-baatar.

Excerpt 1. “When we approach a government official for information, they mistakenly believe that some outsider wishes to inspect his/her operations, so they often refuse. That is a common occurrence. After the tripartite agreement between government, civil society and the private sector, the situation has become much better, and they have started giving information, if reluctantly. I would say that it is still difficult to get information from the government formally.”

Excerpt 2. “The government agency is responsible for the huge task of delivering public services to citizens. As it is a huge and detailed job, we do not always have sufficient time to provide every single piece of information requested. Generally, the task of providing information is not always reflected in our scope of work.”

From an interview with a local NGO officer...“Sometimes we use personal connections to get information from government agencies. This rural aimag is small, and we know each other, so it is easy to find personal connections; but it's probably much harder to get information in a large city.”

Excerpts from a participant of the consultative meeting in rural area

information from government officials and agencies, and relevant enabling mechanism has not been created.

2.1.3 State Information bulletin

This bulletin is printed weekly, with 48 editions annually. It largely offers legislative amendments, presidential decrees, new laws, parliamentary and government resolutions, Constitutional Court decisions, Supreme Court explanations and comments on legislation. In compliance with legislation, it also publishes income and revenue declarations of high-ranking government officials, information from the Independent Anti-Corruption Agency, and National Human Rights and Freedom reports. The bulletin has a current circulation of over 4,000, distributed through four postal delivery companies. All government agencies, including rural Offices of Governors and Citizen Representative Khurals, subscribe to the bulletin. However, it cannot be classed as a sufficient source of all required government information for stakeholders.

NON-PERMANENT

The term non-permanent can be understood as channels used by government or its agencies irregularly in the dissemination of information to citizens and other stakeholders.

2.1.1 Media16

The media are considered the main source for ensuring openness and transparency of information for both government agencies and other stakeholders engaged in social accountability. The media are often referred to as the fourth estate or watchdogs. However, media as key tools for information openness and transparency, often with highest possible effect, are not often used as channels to disseminate information to the public. Some main outcomes of the survey

Asked what resources and channels does your organization use to disseminate information for the public, a minority of public officials responded 'media,' while most said 'website.'

Though agencies disseminate information through the media, the information is always passed to a journalist. In addition, the media cannot cover all agencies at all times, so the agencies do not use the media often (usually only during or before special events or activities).

Government agencies are more interested in disseminating only information they deem important and useful; in other cases they have no habit or culture of extensive use of media.

2.1.2 Printed materials (brochures, leaflets) prepared by government agencies Asked “What resources and channels does your organization use to disseminate information for the public?” many government officers responded 'brochure' and 'printed reports.' However, NGOs and other interested stakeholders responded that these materials are often unavailable and hard to find. In general, it is true that printed materials are not being often used.

2.2 ASSESSING OPPORTUNITIES TO GET INFORMATION WHEN CITIZENS AND CIVIL SOCIETIES REQUEST INFORMATION

16 Though the media provide an important channel/tool for information, they were not included in the survey scope. Therefore, only conclusions from the qualitative survey are referred to here.

To assess opportunities to get information, we conducted a mini-survey, asking about the number and content of complaints, recommendations or requests received by a selected seven government agencies from civil society or citizens on issues relating to social accountability in the last two years.

Main goals of the mini-survey 1. To determine citizen and citizen group attempts to gain information from government

organizations.

2. To analyse goverment organization acknowledgement processes concerning requests, petitions, representaions, proposals and statements17 from citizens and citizen groups

3. To determine experiences, methods and mechanisms of cooperation between goverment organizations and citizens.

The survey was conducted between January 2008 and December 2009. The main goal was to focus on acknowledgements from govenment organizations such as the Office of the President of Mongolia, State Great Khural (Parliament of Mongolia), Government of Mongolia National Human Rights Commission, Ministry of Nature and Tourism, Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, and Ministry of Finance, to requests, petitions, representaions, proposals and statements from civil society organizations. However, it proved difficult to obtain such information fully because some of goverment organizations were very slow to acknowledge and there was a multitude of levels in the decision-making process. It may be that all these processes are necessary in checking and assessing information, and the time taken to acknowledge may be justifiable.

The result of the analysis

The analysis team twice sent to addressed goverment organizations officially stamped papers asking for information about requests, petitions, representations, proposals and statements from citizens and civil society organizatations during the last two years. In each attempt, we faced slowness of response by the goverment organization mechanism; it usually took so much time that deadlines would be missed. We needed to ask again and again for the information. Thus it can be seen that a citizen will find it difficult to find proper information from a goverment organization and must attempt again and again. The following chart shows

17The following terminologies were taken from the Law on Settlement of Statements and Complaints by Citizens to Higher Administrative Bodies and/or Officials (Article I, Provision 4, 1995).

Complaint means a petition submitted to a higher administrative body and/or official for protection of infringed rights and legitimate interests instigated by an illegal administrative act. A complaints can comprise a statement, declaration, application or written request.

Opinion is a suggestion from a citizen for enhancement and/or reform of a state matter to local governance organizations and higher officials.

Notification means a request submitted by a citizen respecting implementation of human rights and freedoms as specified in the Constitution and other legislation of Mongolia. Citizens may jointly submit the notification

Complaint means a request to restore the interest, freedom and/or right of a citizen which is protected by a law of Mongolia and has been violated by activity and/or decision of a State Organization and/or state official. A complaint shall be submitted to a higher authority of the organization which is claimed to have violated the foregoing rights.

acknowledgments for petitions, representaions, proposals and statements from citizens and civil society organizatations.

Table 16. Govermental organization acknowledgements for official papers

The following chart shows goverment organization acknowledgements of requests, petitions, representations, proposals and statements by citizens and civil society organizations.

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№ Name of goverment organization

Request to a goverment organization Acknowledgements from goverment organization

1. State Great Khural (Parliament of Mongolia)

During the 1996-2000 parliament, 28.6% of all the letters from citizens were proposals, which fell to 11 during the next parliamentary period. It can be easily shown that most of the letters were just requests for resolution of personal difficulties, not relating directly to policy.

No information received.

2.2

Government of Mongolia

Though numbers overlap, requests, proposals and demands receuived in 2008 numbered 183; in 2009 there were 152; and in the first half of 2010 there were 56. In the years of Parliamentary and Presidential elections the number increased but mostly were not related to political issues, for which there were few. Letters with political context were received from citizens and citizen groups, with more addressed to the Prime Minister than to the Government. Most requested charititable help for their organizational activity. Receipts from citizens were more personal, related to matters such as salaries, pensions, grants and requests for residences. During elections the letters mostly request charity, while in autmun they aks for help with school fees.

The resolution rate for letters addressed to the Goverment in 1992-2004 was comparatively high. However, on resolution of citizen requests, it was observed that the most applications were to lower level organizations or positions, and were recorded as resolved. There were no notifications or reports on the matters from lower level organizations and positions.

3.3

3 National Human Rights Commission

It must be emphasized that National Human Rights Commission was the most bussinesslike and fastest of all in acknowledging citizen and citizen group petitions, representations, proposals and statements. Of requests, petitions, representations, proposals and statements between January 2008 and December 2009 to the National Human Rights Commission, most were from goverment organizations and requests for cooperation.

No information

4.

4

Ministry of Finance

There were few applications from civil society organizations to the Ministry of Finance. Last year there was an application relating to the agreement concerning Oyu Tolgoi from a protest demonstration. There were only 5 applications from civil society organizations to the Ministry of Finance, but we need to have a proper understanding of this. In recent years it has been observed that NGO applications have increased, especially related to Oyu Tolgoi. Applications to the Minister of Finance are mostly related to personal requests for charity, especially addressed to the Minister of Finance and the State Secretary.

No information

5.5

Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs

Analysis of applications to the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs concern mainly the following issues; Court Decision Implemetation process; disagreements with Prosecution, Court of Appeal and Retrial Court decisions; Constabulary decisions and action; re-examination of slowness of examination; petitions for reversal of decisions; estimates of loss with Savings Union collapses; actions of advocates and notaries; selection of lawyers; job applications, descriptions and dismissals; and seasonal issues. There were also there are many applications for registration, terms and addresses of organizations.

The date and timetable for receipt of citizen proposals is advertised on the internet. The proposals must be sent in written form or through the internet, and by January 2010 all proposals and petitions are to have been resolved and dealt with the sender notified.. All issues are examined by related agents of the Minister of Justice and Home Affairs and the issues decided.

6.

6Ministry of Nature and Tourism

By the end of 2008 there were 138 applications to tghe Ministry of Nature and Tourism; about 45% of all NGOs applied to the Minister. This number has been increasing year by year. They mainly relate to Nature and its protection; the number of NGOs that wish to run activities related to this is increasing, and there is an expansion of cooperation between the Ministry and NGOs. Proposals from civil society organizations are not just pressure, requirements and demends, but often are good quality suggestions on how to resolve problems cooperatively.

At least 5 proposals and petitions from the community and 2-3 proposals from NGOs are addressed to the Ministry of Nature every month. All these issues are decided within the legal term.

It is not possible, by examination of acknowledgement from goverment organizations to citizens and citizen groups, to determine absolutely whether they matters are dealt with in a responsible and honest way, respecting human rights and a healthy democracy. The following chart shows expert analysis of goverment responsibility to citizens, openness of action by goverment activities and opportunities for citizen attendence at goverment activities.Most are below average. Public expression of goverment acceptance for citizens is negative.

Table 17. Goverment responsibilities to citizens18

№ CriteriaContent criteria

Very good

Good Averege

poor Very poor

1. Expert analysis of goverment responsibility to citizens 19

0 1.7 % 32.5% 47.9% 17.9%

2. Experts analysis of openness in goverment activity20 0 7% 33.9% 43.5% 17.3%3. Expert analysis of opportunity for citizens to attend

govermental activities 21

0 7.2% 52.3% 36.9% 3.6%

4. Public representation of goverment acceptance by citizens22

8% 6.8% 33.1% 29.8% 17.2%

The summary leads to the following conclusions.

1. Plenty of time is needed. Accessing information unrelated to personal life and unrelated to secret classifications takes a great deal of time.

2. There are various levels. To find information from a goverment organization, a formal written application must be delivered to the organization secretary. This must be approved by the relevant Minister and State Secretary . It is then forwarded to a civil servant, who often receives the proposal but offerws no answer. This occurs most at the Ministry of Nature and Tourism and the Ministry of Finance.

3. Not transferable duty. Because job duties are not transferrable in goverment organizations, there is often nobody in charge of information exchange from the past. Ths was ascertained from a staff member in the Ministry of Finance, who was unable to access information from past years.

4. Not enough law implementation As in 1-2 in chart 6 items about resolution of applications from citizens regarding government organizations and staff, they are just answered by reference to policy and the law. Often this is insufficient to resolve the specific application, with no affirmation or explanation regarding their request.

18Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Mongolia, UNDP, ‘The project for 5th conference of countries with new or reestablished democracies’ (2006); Indicators of Democratic Government: Evaluation and Situation of Mongolian governance19Sociology research that conducted in framework of elaborating Indicators of Democratic Government 200520 Also there21 Also there22 Sociology research that conducted in framework of elaborating Indicators of Democratic Government .2005

5. Deception of an environment that onlt seems to conform Between the appearance of attending to citizen applications and the reality there is a wide gap. Time and space apears to be allocated for citizen applications, requests and proposals. here seems to be no difficulty in attending tothe application, and there seems to be a comfortable enviroment for attention to proposals and decision-making; in reality it is very difficult to have proposals and requests dealt with by staff.

2.3.3 Conclusions and recommendations

Conclusion1. Citizens and the other stakeholders obtain the guaranteed right to access to information from all level government organizations, but still the legislations include contradictory provisions i.e. Law on State Secret and Law on List of State Secret impacting negatively on the citizens’ rights to information.

Recommendation:

Government organizations:

1. Analyze all legislations related to access to and dissemination of information in order to improve the integration of legislation and amend the contradictory provisions.

2. Revise the state secret categorized information and identify the classifications clearly by describing the list of classified materials.

Civil society organizations:

3. Raise public awareness on legal provisions related to citizens and civil society to submit demand and requests to government organizations and run training and advocacy.

4. Conduct analyses on the contradictory legislations regarding the accessibility to informa-tion, which contradict each other and take a follow up advocacy action.

International organizations:

5. Support the government and civil society for amendment to legislation, work with them and run an independent and third party advocacy.

Conclusion 2. Though the formal websites are the main tools for government to disseminate information to citizens and other stakeholders, but the content, availability of information and effectiveness is still very weak no meeting the demand for information. The tools and the effectiveness of these information tools are summarized below.

Table 18. Advantages and weaknesses of access to information from the government, conclusions and recommendations

Information dissemination

Advantages Weaknesses Conclusions and recommendations

channels

Organization’s website

- Most organizations already had a website under the government run E-Mongolia program - The websites provide primary information about the organizations

- The websites were opened for just to have a symbolic website- No designated person to run the website and lack of funds

Include the website administration duties in the Scope of Work of officers

Officers - An attitude towards providing information to citizens with push from the civil society was observed

- No designated person to provided the necessary information when needed - Impossible to directly approach the officer for information

Have separate regulation on provision of information to citizens and civil society with separate rules and procedure

Media With the initiative of media and journalists, there is a growing dissemination of information to the public about the government organizations and their actions.

Lack of designated budget for information dissemination causes the government organizations stay idle with no initiative.

Reflect the required funds in the budget

Print materials Prints out the organization’s intro and other info and distributes to citizens during the Open Day events

Lack of funding results in limited numbers and shortage of distribution

Reflect the required finding in the budgets of government organizations

Conclusion 3. To conclude the entire process of disseminating/receiving information from the government organization, it is been found to be time consuming, with many steps, weak linkage in-between the government officers and organizations and the legal; provisions regulating this procedure is not enforced well.

Government organizations:

1. Make structural change to minimizing the required steps of disseminating/receiving infor-mation and clarify the procedure for access to information for the citizens.

2. Include the information dissemination as the duty of the government office in a well termed way in their Scope of Work, develop the standards for transparency of informa-tion and have a responsibility system of government officers for not ensuring the trans-parency.

Civil society organizations:

3. Develop criteria to assess the accessibility to and availability of information and run fol-low up analyses on a permanent basis as well as conduct advocacy work towards improv-ing the accessibility to and availability of information of government organizations.

4. Raise public awareness on accessing to information from the government organizations, procedures of accessing to information and whom to approach for the information.

International organizations:

5. As a third party organization or a bridge connecting two sides, international organizations need to take some concrete actions towards the government and the civil society i.e. tech-nical and methodological assistance to NGOs and proposing recommendations and ad-vice to government organizations.

2.4 Social and cultural appropriateness

2.4.1 Overview

What is social and cultural appropriateness?

The parameters for social accountability are largely determined by the existing political context and culture. The feasibility and likelihood of success of social accountability initiatives are highly dependent upon whether the political regime is democratic, if a multi-party system is in place, if basic political and civil rights are guaranteed and whether there is a culture of political transparency and probity. The existence of these underlying factors, and the potential risks that their absence may pose, must be taken into account when planning social accountability initiatives. Legal, institutional and socio-cultural factors will also have an important influence on the success of social accountability activities. The matrix of main factors affecting the maturity of any Social Accountability mechanism should be considering as follows.

SOC

IAL

AC

CO

UN

TA

BIL

ITY

А. Maturity of civil society

B. Political culture

C. Economical situation

CU

LT

UT

E A

ND

ME

NT

AL

ITY

Citizens groups, founded by government Citizens movements

Traditional life style: Households were living in a group in one landOrganized and independent citizens group

Bureaucrat state and bureaucrat culture Citizens’ support for civil societyDemocratic experience

Centralization in both political and economical environment High rate of poverty

Matrix of main factors that affect the maturity of a Social Accountability mechanism


A. Civil society development and formation

Traditional lifestyle of Mongolians, in which households were in groups in a particular area, could affect the building of the initial stages of an informal civil society

Development of Mongolia’s civil society can obviously be sourced from the khot ail (group of families living in closer neighborhood) community, an integral part of the Mongolian traditional nomadic civilization and lifestyle. The lifestyle and culture of Mongolians is not settled23, but nomadic, with families living in groups in close neighborhood, sharing a collective practice of labor in everyday life, celebrating holidays and overcoming natural disasters. This has served as the foundation for Mongolians initially to join into informal groups. From this tradition, Mongols have learned and created the following.

1. A culture of resolving problems by joining into groups when faced with a difficult situation that may be impossible to overcome individually.

2. It has generated a way of labor management and social responsibility among the members of the small group.

3. Mongolian traditional lifestyle of a group in the khot ail could have helped build a positive attitude to acceptance of citizens as a group for other citizens and local government. After some period of time, it becomes an official administrative unit, which we now call now kheseg.

The Citizen Revolution in the 1900s was the first informal citizen movement in Mongolia

After the long years of Manchu occupation, the first civil movements were formed in the 1900s, rejecting the occupation and demanding independence in small groups. Mongolia was formally accepted as an entity by its neighbors in 1924. The group system that dates back to the khot ail tradition serves as a background to formation of civil movements, wherein citizens joined together and developed well-managed and structured citizen movements.

Citizen groups, founded by the government, were the foundation of an independent civil society in Mongolia

The first formal civil society organizations were established during the socialist period, when socially active groups generally comprised youth, students and women. However they were formed with a top-down approach, not by any citizen initiative but by the government as part of its policy. In goals and objectives, funding and activity, they were just a part of the government, supporting its policy. The ultimate goal of these organizations was to support the government and persuade people into compliance; in short they were like government supporter clubs.

Organized and independent citizen groups and the democratic revolution in the 1990sIn a number of countries, the formation of civil society has been closely linked to the collapse of communism. This occurred in Mongolia in 1990, when a legal and operational environment for civil society was created. Mongolia’s new constitution, ratified in

23 From the Statistical Yearbook of Mongolia in 2009, 38, 4% of total population living in a rural areas and main economical resource of that population is from the livestock husbandry.

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1992, declared and guaranteed freedoms stated in international covenants on civil and political rights and laid the foundations for civil society.

The phases of civil society efforts during regime change are here given chronologically. - In 1989, movements opposing the totalitarian system were established. The Democratic

Union, New Progressive Union and Students’ Union joined with a single goal, and implemented strategies for development of a civil society. Initially, the movements demanded the introduction of democratic views, but it was necessary these movements to deal with the situation of the time. If they had directly opposed the old system, this could have led to military intervention.

- In March 1990, with a public demonstration of over 90,000, the ruling Political Bureau resigned and a multi-party system was instituted. The old institutions dropped certain norms and characteristics and the old political system weakened with accelerated changes from an openly autocratic system to a democratic one, creating a civil society. The change from the old system to the new one seemed to be in unity, but key players in this civil society started to differentiate. Movements and unions started to exert their own political will for various goals and concepts; they separated into social democrats, liberal democrats etc. It is noteworthy that the Democratic Union remained an NGO.

- The 1992 Constitution declared development of a civil society (not establishment) as a mission, and the civil society was legalized. This enabled the formation of a different political culture and democratic institutions, and the limits on state power enabled the establishment of many civil society organizations. Today, there are over 7300 NGOs, 25 political parties and thousands of business organizations, demonstrating the development of civil society.24

B. Political culture

Democratic experience

In Mongolia, we do not have political roots supporting mechanisms or principles of social accountability

Though Mongolia’s history of statehood dates back 2,20025 years, but democratic governance, with citizen participation and a free market economy, dates back only 20 years. After the kingdom was replaced by communist governance early last century, Mongolia remained under single-party rule for 70 years, with a centrally-planned economy and a totalitarian system. Freedom House research claims that Mongolia had been classified as 'not free' with a score of 4.00 up to the mid 1990s; 'partly free' with a score of 2.5 between 1991 and 2002; and 'free' with a score of 2.00 since 200326. This indicates that Mongolian regimes had never (except in the last 20 years) respected citizen civil and political rights. The current political culture in Mongolia clearly demonstrates that the well-rooted culture in Mongolian politics is a bureaucrat system. 24How Mongolian civil society has developed, including their present success and difficulties, is described in detail in the 2nd section of ‘organized and capable citizen groups.’25 University, Shikhii hutag (2009). Mongolian state law, historical tradition and current situation. Ulaanbaatar: Soyombo printing.

26 Freedom house. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.freedomhouse.org.

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Bureaucratic state and bureaucratic cultureFrom the ancient times, the state was the top priority and worship totem for Mongolians. Citizens worshiped the state as a god and even called government officers 'statesmen.'

Such an attitude to the state was even expressed in proverbs like “Someone against the king, loses his head as someone against the dog loses his sleeve,” “The state has an iron face to show its people,” and “May the state emblem bless you.” Because of such a mentality towards the power of the state, understandings of the term 'public agency' differs from that elsewhere. The understanding of ‘public organization’ is more like a state administrative organization in Mongolian, showing power over the normal citizen perspective. This tradition of respect for the state and the 'statesman' has an influence on both sides of state-citizen affairs, citizen participation and NGO operations. Thus, depending on specific peculiarities of Mongolian society, there is a tendency to disregard civil society, discourage active forms of citizen participation, depend consistently on the government and demand the state to supply everything needed. This tendency is still strong and well-rooted in Mongolian society27.

Such a mindset and tendency persists among government officials and citizens, permitting a heavy government bureaucracy, exerting a negative impact on mainstreaming social accountability and delaying partnership with government in access to information and in monitoring and oversight of government actions.

Citizen support for civil society

Mongolia was under the control of the Manchu Dynasty for over 200 years, up to the early 20 th

century, which subservience has left traces in the mindset and approach to the Mongolian state. During the Manchu occupation, Mongolia had no king; its government, capital city and all power were under the Manchu ruler; Mongolia had nothing but a local governance system. Since then, citizens had retained a fear of government officials, tending to flatter and bribe them, a negative mindset which is a basis for today's extensive corruption.

The 70-year communist system also impacted on the general mentality about the state. All affairs were regulated by the ruling party, with strict control, and hundreds of people were sent into exile for opposing the party and the state. Such a strict regime deepened the extent Mongolian mindset, specifically in fear of the state. Throughout history, citizens have had no opportunity to monitor government action or demand responsibility and accountability until the citizen democratic revolution took place. D. Ganhuyag, in his Mentality of Mongolians, said28:

Mongols have a tendency to seek charismatic leaders and then perceive the individual representing the state as the state itself. This brings about the belief that that individual is more powerful and capable than anyone else. Therefore it is a common ambition to become a chairman, not to be satisfied with being an ordinary person. But the Mongolians are sure that their fate is decided by the state, not by themselves, and seldom accept that government policy may be nonsense. Instead they prefer to follow, dependent on a person of higher position. For a Mongolian, the state is the sole truth and heavenly thing, so their own attitude is to accept governance by the state, with no opposition.

27 IRIM. (2010). Handbook for 'Glass wallet' program designed for government officers. Ulaanbaatar.

28 Gankhuyag, D. (n.d.). Mentality of Mongolians. Ulaanbaatar.

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The many years of accepting that 'the state exists for the king,' a mentality of flattery during the Manchu occupation and the communist total command of everything, damaged any chance of Mongolians seeing themselves as self-dependent and self-controlling29. We have had a democratic system, with respect for the human rights, guaranteed citizen participation and government accountability, for no more than 20 years, so the mentality created in 2,000 years has not been significantly changed at either citizen or government level. This produces considerable delays and obstacles to mainstreaming social accountability.

2.4.3 Conclusions and recommendations

The main social and economic factors, the fundamental basis for social accountability, are consolidated in the following matrix. Experience of countries moving from restricted civil participation to democracy demonstrates the need for a considerable amount of investment and resources to change the public mentality and mindset. There is only a weak government emphasis on Mongolian civic democracy education, which has sometimes been delegated to civil society, bringing about only a very slow change - or no change at all - in the public mindset towards participation in decision-making and governance procedure.

Conclusion1. Two main factors are keys in a social accountability environment as a result of Mongolian culture and mindsets: [1] a small group system, based on herder families living in a neighborhood was fundament to citizen group initiatives; and [2] a lifestyle closely tied to the environment and nature has brought about a traditional attitude towards environmental conservation, key to improvement of a cooperative and participatory capacity specifically towards issues of the environment and nature.30 However, few citizens take an active role in response to breaches of basic human rights or in defense of political and economic rights; seldom is a consolidated effort to be observed.

RecommendationCivil society organizations:

1. In order to conduct social accountability-related activity, CSOs need to involve citizen participation, by teaching the value of democratic principles, human rights and civil education. There should also be advocacy of a strategic plan to strengthen citizen groups for social accountability.

2. Plan advocacy aimed at the government for the establishment and implementation of a staged civil education system and policies for improved public knowledge and background.

3. Civil society organizations in environment conservation are more able to conduct activities based on citizen experience and practice in environment conservation.

4. The prerequisite for any activity towards civil participation in social accountability is raising public awareness on the importance of the activity.

29 Sosormaa, C. (2008). From state administrative policy to PUBLIC administrative policy. Ulaanbaatar: Bit press LLC.30 At present, environment and nature conservation is the sole sector in which civil society initiatives have been accepted, resulting in effective cooperation with government organizations responsible for handling environment-related issues.

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Government organizations5. Government organizations which are to meet citizen demands and needs for services

should work with civil society (organized forms of citizen groups), provide them with information and sustain such partnership in all sectors (environment, budget and financing, human rights) in a favorable environment. This would contribute towards animating the inactive attitudes of citizens.

6. Develop a democracy education curriculum and standards for all levels in the education system; conduct policy environment analysis for effective implementation (if there is an extant policy and program, make an impact assessment).

7. Run well-planned activities to raise public awareness, including civil education on democracy and human rights, building practical capacities to suit the specifics of citizen knowledge and education level.

International organizations 8. Conduct research into relevant practical activities and methods, based on international

best practice and success, and provide technical and methodological support to both government and civil society.

Conclusion2. A lack of experience and practice in achieving participation of citizens and civil society in government decision-making retards both government staff and citizen acceptance of citizen oversight of government action, negatively affecting supportive attitudes.


1. Civil society organizations should disseminate information on past projects, activities and successes to all citizen stakeholders, along with changes in circumstance or decisions as a result, so showing that what a civil society organization does can turn dreams into reality.

2. For the civil society to be fully accepted by government, and for long-term advocacy, they need to build internal capacity (human resources and advocacy) and learn advocacy skills affecting government organizations and other stakeholders. They also need to build internal capacity using past experience.

3. There is a steady demand for a long-term development policy in the fields in which these organizations work, with sustainability. A single one-off activity or project does not really demonstrate effective outcomes for either government organizations or citizens, and consequently neither government nor citizens will be ready to accept civil society and its importance.

Government organizations4. It is necessary to pursue a specific policy towards changing the traditional mentality of

government officials by studying international best practices in government service, its essence and procedures, followed by adaptation of such practices in Mongolia.

5. Public sector innovation must be deepened in many ways.a. One criterion for selection of public officials ought to be that they have completed

relevant training, such as in ethics of public officials (transparency and accountability) and the principle of accessible service delivery in public organizations.

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b. All levels of government organizations need to engage in and build partnerships with citizen groups and civil society organizations.

c. Any assessment of government agency quality of service delivery, processes and transparency should be carried out by independent civil society organizations or similar, rather than assessed by the government agency itself.

International organizations

6. It is recommended that international organizations work with both civil society and government organizations under a long-term policy, providing technical and financial assistance that yields better results. Civil society organizations receive core technical and financial assistance from international organizations, according to many surveys. With this in mind, any project implemented in social accountability is fully dependent on the policy of the funding international organizations. If donor funding ceases, projects also cease, often with no tangible outcomes. This should impel the need for long-term policies enabling civil societies to concentrate on a single sector, with better results.

Conclusion3. A highly-centralized governance structure causes higher levels of poverty, with negative impacts on citizen participation in social accountability.


1. There is no civil society organization which is engaged in decentralization, policy research and analysis. As the budgetary law is under revision, civil society organizations looking at budget monitoring have joined as a network, setting a good example of effective action and initiative.

Government organizations

1 There is a need for step-by-step, effective action for decentralization, requiring participation from citizens and civil society organizations.

2 Practices of other countries should be studied, and simple tools that fit the Mongolian context should be adopted.

International organizations

3 As international organizations could take a more neutral position between civil society and government organizations, they also have the potential to be active partners and supporters for a decentralization policy.

4 International organizations should provide effective support to policy implementers of decentralization, NGOs and independent consulting teams by research into international best practice and experience in policy formulation and decision-making, support efforts to develop Mongolia-specific versions, and concentrate on advocacy work with involvement from all stakeholders.

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Bibliography for this section1. Freedom house. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.freedomhouse.org.

2. Gankhuyag, D. (n.d.). Mentality of Mongolians. Ulaanbaatar.

3. RIM research institute. (2010). Handbook for 'Glass wallet' program designed for government of-ficers. Ulaanbaatar.

4. National statistical office of Mongolia. (2009). Mongolian statistical yearbook. Ulaanbaatar.

5. Sosormaa, C. (2008). From state administrative policy to PUBLIC administrative policy. Ulaan-baatar: Bit press LLC.

6. UNDP. (2008). Public administration and democratic governance:Government serving for its cit-izens. Ulaanbaatar.

7. World Bank. (2007). The enabling environment for Social Accountability in Mongolia . Washing-ton DC.

8. University, Shikhii hutag (2009). Mongolian state law, historical tradition and current situation. Ulaanbaatar: Soyombo printing.

CHAPTER III.

SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY: MAPPING CITIZEN GROUPS AND CITIZEN INITIATIVES

Civil Society Organizations initiated activities, outcomes and achievements in promoting social accountability

Civil societies which work in areas of budget transparency, mining and environment, access to information and human rights protection are selected/targeted in the mapping study and below are a few examples of their initiatives and achievements. List of 160 civil societies with active activities in the field of social accountability and the description of their main activities are included in the research report appendix.

1. Budget transparency

Organization name: Open Society Forum Level or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities: Offering grants to non-governmental organizations involved in budget monitoring Achievements: Since 2005, the organization has offered 35 grants to support budget monitoring implementation for NGOs. As a result of these monitoring, in 2008, thirteen/13 NGOs which were interested and involved in budget related activities of civil society formed the network named “Citizens’ Oversight on Budget” and aimed at improving the openness and transparency of information on budget, encouraging active engagement in budgeting process and overseeing budget performance and spending. Furthermore, it has successfully implemented the “Glass

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wallet” campaign with a goal to increase budget transparency, in cooperation with Ulaanbaatar’s districts authorities since 2008.

Organization name: Public Administration New Initiatives and Local Governance Development FundLevel or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities: Promoting civic participation in budgeting/budgetary process

Achievements: It implemented the “Glass wallet” open budget campaign financed by OSF, while creating partnership with local authorities and a regulation on promoting civic participation in budgeting process was issued by Citizens’ Representative Council as a result of the campaign. Also the campaign pressured the insertion of articles dealing with mechanisms on promoting civic engagement in budgeting process within the new Budget law of Mongolia.

Organization name: IRIM research institute Level or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities:

Creating an constructive engagement between local authorities, NGOs and citizens in re-gard to budget transparency

Conducting analysis of budget policy of Ulaanbaatar city and monitoring on budget spending by special funding of local government.

Achievements: Implemented the “Glass wallet” open budget campaign, while creating partnership with

local authorities and a regulation on promoting civic participation in budgeting process was drafted by IRIM. In addition, the organization developed indicators of budget transparency which are designed especially for civil servants, guidance on how to use these indicators, training programs based on Glass wallet campaign’s findings/experiences and manual for trainings. At the same time to organizing open bud-get campaign, trainings and advocacy on promoting civic engagement are being carried out. At present, these trainings involved more than 300 civil servants.

The long-term and regular monitoring on Ulaanbaatar city’s budget policy and spending is launched.

Organization name: Mercy Corps International NGO Level or region of activities: Especially in 12 aimags Initiated activities:

Design local policies, increase civil society participation in decision making process, strengthen CSOs’ capacity in building partnership between the government, private sector and civil society and contribute to openness and transparency of public procurement activities.

Achievements: As a result of advocacy work conducted to establish partnership with government

organizations, CSO’s partnership committees were created in each 9 aimags. The partner-

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ship committee maintained equal participation of local authorities, local civil society and private sector and organizes regularly an annual forum on evaluating the committee’s ac-tivities.

Monitoring on public procurement activities in 11 aimags were conducted by local NGOs which received small grants from Mercy Corps and monitoring on “Lunch” pro-grams of secondary schools in xx aimags were conducted and their main findings and recommendations were published as a book and disseminated to public.

In the frame of “Transferring some public services to non-governmental organizations by contract Law”, services such as some social welfare services and supplying some raw materials to schools and kindergarten are announced publicly as a bid and currently, there are in total xxx NGOs which work under this kind of contracts.

It is implementing different trainings for strengthening local governmental and non-gov-ernmental organizations as well as public sector’s capacity. By the third quarter (from April to September) of 2010, 32 trainings of 12 types have been organized and involved around 1100 participants from governmental, non-governmental organizations and public sector. Trainings cover a broad range of areas such as information on public procurement law and on budget transparency law, development, advantages, challenges of tripartite partnership and ways to overcome them, public administration reform, NGOs manage-ment, how to design a project, conduct a monitoring and organize an advocacy campaign and enhance human resource capacity of NGOs etc.

2. Extractive industry and environment

Organization name: Open Society Forum, PWYPE CoalitionLevel or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities:

PWYPE, the coalition of NGOs was established with the purpose of promoting transparency in extractive industries, building accountability and civil society’s control in extracting sector.

Achievements: With the help of new articles in the Minerals law of Mongolia such as 44.10 which were first initiated by the coalition, each year companies operating in mining sector and license holders are submitting and reporting their revenue and spending within the next year’s January to public. It contributed the building of legal framework for openness and transparency of the extracting sector. Further, Government resolution number 80 clarified functions and roles of government bodies involved in extractive industries in promoting transparency within the sector.

Organization name: “Centre for Ecological Research” NGO Level or region of activities: At local level /Darkhan-Uul aimag/ Initiated activities: Organize trainings and publicize advertisements on environmental remediation at both Darkhan-Uul aimag and at northern region of Mongolia.

Achievements: Established local branch of “Mongolian Environmental Civil Council” and ‘Tanin medehyi’ Council within the Darkhan-Uul aimag’s governor office, in 2010. The civil

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network covering 11 types of activities with participation of 70 NGOs from 120 at Darkhan-Uul aimag was created. An agreement concerning collaboration between civil society and the governor office in the sphere of public control and monitoring was signed by the parties.

Organization name: “Mongolian Environmental Civil Council”Level or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities: Organize trainings and publicize advertisements on environmental remediation at both Darkhan-Uul aimag and at northern region of Mongolia.

Achievements: Partnership agreement was signed with governmental bodies in order to demand commitment and responsibility from government and to establish cooperation.

3. Human rights protection and civic engagement/participation

Organization name: Democracy Education Center /DEMO/ Level or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities: The Center has implemented ‘Capacity building program for NGOs’ with a goal to strengthen and develop a sustainable NGO sector in Mongolia, and “Democracy Education” program which is to support generation of knowledgeable, responsible and active citizens through increasing their democracy education.

Achievements: Provided training and consultations to NGOs, encouraged networking among NGOs as

well as the cooperation among NGOs and government and created a data network con-taining all information relevant to NGOs.

Provided trainings such as human rights education, democracy at schools, civil participa-tion, civil education, youth leadership and self-management and developed training man-uals for each topic.

Built capacity among CSOs and offered democracy education for citizens and other stakeholders.

Has been working as a coordinating organization for Mongolian CSC since 2008 Influenced the legal recognition of the civil society day The governmental resolution number 93 was ratified and after three years of its adoption,

NGOs benefit from easier and more open access to governmental organizations.Organization name: Academy of Political Education Level or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities: To increase democracy and civil education of citizens. Achievements: The academy provides trainings for four different target groups:

“New Generation Civil Maturity” training for school children “School of democracy” for herders “Democracy education” for teachers Local Community Partnership/ Relationship between state and citizen for citizens

4. Access to information

82

Organization name: Globe international NGO and Open society forum

Level or region of activities: Ulaanbaatar city Initiated activities: Freedom of press and information

Achievements: Annual “Mongolia freedom media report” is prepared and published. Since 2005, monitoring on violations of journalists’ rights is regularly conducted. In 2009 the Globe International revised and improved the previous “Law on right to know” which was submitted to Parliament in 2007 for ratification, however it is still under suspension. Moreover, several research, training and advocacy projects to strengthen capacity among journalists were successfully implemented.

Organization name: Press Institute Level or region of activities: At national level Initiated activities: Media monitoring Achievements: Short and long-term trainings for strengthening their professional capacity of journalists and for development of electronic journalism are provided each year and annual consumer research, in-depth study and monitoring are conducted. Also, the institute organized trainings for public relations staff of Anti-Corruption Agency and State Professional Inspection Agency on how to develop and expand their public relations.

83

ANNEX 1. Summary of the government correspondence for the citizens

84

№ Name of agency Response of government agency to our official request

Number of complaints and recommendations

Meaning of complaint and recommendation (top three themes)

Response of the government agency to citizens and NGOs who apply

Yes or no Average time to respond

From citizens From NGOs Yes No

1. Office of the President

No

2. Office of the State Great Khural (Parliament)

No

3. Office of the Government

Yes More than 30 days

In 2008, 183

In 2009, 152

First half of 2010, 56

The documentation related to personal issues

4. Human Rights Commission of Mongolia

Yes One week 2008-2009, 35 1. Request2. Offer to work in partnership3. Recommendation

Yes

5. Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism

Yes Within 30 days In 2008, 138 1. News and comment2. Issues related to the lands protected by government 3. Training and advocacy

6. Ministry of Judicial and Home Affairs

Yes One week In 2009- 195 1. Jurisdiction issues2. Complaint related to sub-agencies

7. Ministry of Finance Yes Within 30 days 1. Issues related to the process of contract with Oyu-Tolgoi 2. Request

85

ANNEX 2. GOVERNMENT BEST CHAMPIONS

Government organizations: champions № Affiliation Social accountability initiatiaves and reached success Location and level Contact address 1 Ministry of Nature,

Environment and Tourism

Enabling environment - Government Resolution #93 on Cooperation with NGOs- Government Resolution #19 on Civil Organization To Perform

Some Government Duties Under Contract- Government Resolution #93 (2008) on Cooperation With NGOs -

a cooperative agreement with the CSC, assigning line ministries and governors of aimags and capital city to involvement with civil society in monitoring implementation of Key Directions of Socio-Economic Development of Mongolia and budget expenditure.

- Government Resolution #143 (2009) on Criteria for Reporting Transparency of Government Agencies.

- NGO comments included in draft law to protect rivers and their environment

- Procedure of Information access through webpage renewed and approved

Activities of NGOs under contract: - Citizens Council for Environment performed 34 activities under

contract in 2010 Collaboration: - 4-year contract with Citizens Council for Environment - Contracts with Citizens Council for Environment on Socio-

Economic Guidelines and programmes each year - Ministers Council includes Head of Citizens Council for

Environment - Selection Panel includes member of Citizens Council for

Environment

National Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism

United Nations Street 5/2Government building II Post Office 46 Chingeltei district 15160Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

2 Governor`s Office of Umnugovi

Enabling environment - Article in Representatives Meeting Resolution on provision of

Local Governor`s Office, Umnugovi province

86

province civil society organizations- Article in Key Directions of Socio-Economic Development and

Action Plan of Umnugovi province on collaboration with NGOs- Tripartite Partnership committee established Activities by NGOs under contract: - Evaluation of citizens for public services- Monitoring of distribution of 50,000MNT for local population- Monitoring of health services in Province Hospital- Monitoring of school tea break program, services of

kindergarten, toilet upkeep at Trade Center- Monitoring of budget expenditure of Governor`s Office- Promotion of Government Reform and Participatory Budget at

aimag level and procurement of government works and services by local CSOs and business

- Selection panel for procuring government works, services include representatives of NGOs

- Promotion of public services at aimag level and procurement of government works and services by local CSOs and business

- Super priority organization established in 5 soums, based on results of Forum of Leadership Women

Collaboration: - Administrative Initiatives NGO- Glass Wallet- Councils of people with disabilities - Bayar Bahdalaa Huvaaltsaya NGO

Telephone: 23283, 99098347

GantuyaHead of Dalanzadgad Soum Governor's Office, UmnogobiTelephone: 99092692

Enkhtuya Head of Dalanzadgad Soum Governor's Office, Umnogobi Telephone: 99071188

3 Governor`s Office of Khovd province

Current situation:- 53 civil society organizations registered at aimag level- Network of civil society organizations established in 2009- Tripartite Partnership Committee established - Promotion of local civil society organizations to procure

public services and works and strengthening of partnership in rural area.

- Contribution to making tender processes open and transparent at aimag level

Activities by NGOs under contract: - Organized open and transparent bidding for school tea break

Local NarandorjHead of Development Policy Department, Aimag governor's office, Hovd. Telephone: 99432442, 93017023Altangerel Head of Finance

87

program at Zereg and Bulgan soums Department, Aimag Governor's Office, Hovd Telephone: 99432131

4 Governor`s Office of Darkhan-Uul province

Current situation:- CSC established in 2010- Tripartite Partnership Committee established - Citizens Hall established- Economics Forum established- Network of Women Organizations

Collaboration:- Social development – Women`s Movement NGO- Superiority organization

Local Governor`s Office, Darkhan-Uul province

Department of Social Policy

5 Governor`s Office of Uvurkhangai province

Current situation:- Tripartite Partnership Committee established - Promotion of local civil society organizations to procure

public services and works and strengthening partnership in rural area.

- Organized open and transparent bidding for school tea break program in 2 soums,

Local Togtohsuren Aimag Governor, Uvurhangai Telephone: 99113454

Adiya Head of Policy Development Dept, Aimag Governor's Office, Uvurhangai Telephone: 99389364Myagmar

Deputy Governor, Arvaiheer soum, Uvurhangai Telephone: 93077676

6 Governor`s Office Current situation: Local Enkhjargal

88

of Dornogovi province

- Tripartite Partnership Committee established - Contribution to making tender processes open and

transparent at aimag level - Organized open and transparent bidding for school tea break

program in 2 soums, Dornogobi aimag.

Head of Development Policy Dept, Aimag Governor's Office, DornogobiTelephone: 990442222

BatbayarDeputy Governor, Sainshand soum, Dornogobi Telephone: 96521111

ANNEX 3. STAKEHOLDERS MAPPING

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS

№Name of Organization

Founded year

Contact information Core activity areas

Collaboration Location Type of survey

1

Accessing information in Gobi desert region

2004 Dolgormaa

Tel:99597013

Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum,Khuns-48

Providing opportunity to access information

Civil council of the aimag

Dund-gobi Phone survey

2

Amidral center 1997 Batchuluun,

Tel: 91190101,

UB, Ikh toiruu-15, National college -401

Humanity activities

Ulaanbaatar Phone survey

3 Association for 2004 UB, 1st khoroo, Ch-U- Education Network of Natioanal Phone survey

89

education partnership

Ch15/1, education centers -2004, International step by step coalition -1998, International debate committee, -1998, Civil council for education -2008, Citizen oversight the budget -2008, National network for educational civil society organization -2010

4

Bat-munkh sansar foundation

2010 Bulgan aimag, Rashaant sum

Nature environment, health and youth

Civil council of the environment

Bulgan aimag Phone survey

5Bayan-Altai 2000 Тogtohbaatar

Tel:99434032nature environment


Khovd aimag Phone survey

6

Bayarmaa foundation

2001 Unurjargal, Tel:99459812, Uvs aimag,Ulaangom city, Jargalan hospital

Reproductive health education

Civil society network of the Uvs aimag’s supported by Mercy Corps

UVs aimag Phone survey

7

Best club 2004 Ganbold,

Tel: 98219918

Bulgan aimag,

Training and advocacy, strengthen citizens



8 Borjigdai mergen 2009 Tsetsgee, 98889303 Khentii aimag, Undurkhaan, 3rd bag, 8-

Education Khentii aimag Phone survey

90

8

9

Branch council of the organization of people with disability in Uvs aimag

2000 Sambuu,

Tel:22582, 91457899

To protect and strengthen people with disability


Network of the anticorruption

Uvs aimag Phone survey

10

Center for Children’s rights

UB, 8th khoroo,Bilig deed surguuli- 208

- Network for protect children’s right -2010,

Organizational network for children’s participation 2010

National Phone survey

11

Center for Development

2006 Bayarbileg , Tel:96014228, UB, BG district,14th khoroo, Tenger-Eel LLC

Women’s participation and development

Demo, Civicus National Phone survey

12

Center for ecological education

2008 Tuyatsetseg

Tel:88093879

Ulaanbaatar,KHU , 2nd khoroo, Khivs company

Nature environment

Civil Council of the Environment


13

Center for gender equality

2002 Ganbaysgah, Tel:99187446,365858,UB, 6th khoroo, Liberty’s square, 2-1

Preventing human trafficking

Экbaj National Phone survey

14

Center for Human rights and Development

1998 Urantsooj Tel: 325721

UB, Chingeltei -211238, Liberty’s square 2\1, UB-211213,

Research, training, documents violations, helps capacity building of NGOs on report writing, lobbying

National

91

15

Center for protecting women’s right with disabilities

2004 Dulamsuren

Tel: 95456115,

Uvs aimag

To protect and strengthen women with disability



16

Center for Rural women’s Empowerment

1994 UB, 5th khoroo, Partizan’s street 48-2

Women empowerment

National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs


17

Center for Rural women’s Empowerment

1994 Erdene-bileg, Tel:88597777 Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum , Aimag’s library

To support rural women’s development



18

Challenge of the Khongor Land movenment

2002 Batnasan, Tel:99449359

Bayankhongor aimag, Bayankhongor sum, federation of the cooperation

Nature environment


Bayankhongor Phone survey

19

Children’s development center

2005 Davaanyam, Tel: 99188869, UB, 9th khoroo, Baruun bayan uul-13-31

To support development of the ger district


20


2007 Zoljargal, Tel: 99598686

Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum , Mandakh school,

To provide engagement between local government and local NGOs

Dundgobi Phone survey

21

Civil council of the Bayankhongor aimag

2008 Oyungerel, Tel:99449169

Bayankhongor aimag, Bayankhongor sum, ZDTG

Engagement and partnership of local NGOs

Bayankhongor Img

Phone survey

92

tel:88597777

22


2009 Tel:70131400

[email protected], [email protected]

Nature environment

Coalition of the Mongolian NGOs

National Interview

23


2008 Batbold, Tel:99113499, 91913498, 70131400

UB, SB district

Build partnership with government regarding through environmental issues


24


2008 UB, 5th khoroo, Bar-Impex- 207

To protect environment by provide engagement of NGOs


25

Civil council of the NGOs in Khovd aimag

2010 Narantuya, Tel:99434433, Khovd aimag, Jargalant sum , ZDTG-405

Engagement and partnership of local NGOs

Khovd aimag Interview

26

Civil well women’s committee

2003 Bazar, Tel:99098741, UB, SB district, Yildverchnii Tuv Zuvlul, 3-14

To support women’s political participation in decision making level

Monfemnet: National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs


27

Committee for Scauts

2003 Narangarav, Tel:99697456, 23784 Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum , Department of children

To protect youth’s rights

National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs


28 Committee of lawyers

1921 Oyun, Bunjaa

Tel:99452222,

Law’s advice Civil society network of the Uvs aimag’s


93

99457848 supported by Mercy Corps

29

Consumer foundation for protect consumers’ rights

Oyuntuya, Tel:99083883 National Phone survey

30

Consumer Rights Protection Association in Bayankhongor

1990 Renbuu, Tel:99447340 Bayankhongor aimag, Bayankhongor sum , 1st bag

Protects consumers’ rights

Bayankhongor

Phone survey

31

Consumer Rights Protection Association in Gobi-Altai

1990 Ochirbat, Tel:99489218, 99035988,23799 Gobi-Altai aimag, Yesun bulag sum, ZDTG, 3rd place-2

Protects consumers’ rights


Gobi-Altai Phone survey

32

DEMO 2002 Badamkhand, Tel: 310560, 99290575

Democracy education for the citizens and other related stakeholders

National Phone survey Interview

33

Development center of Mongolia

1993 Dulamsuren, Tel:99113556 UB, SB district, 6th khoroo

Education Publish what you paid


34

Development of Gobi-Naran center

2007 Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum , Department for child

Democratic development, transparency of the government and citizens participation in local government



35 Development window

2008 Munguntsooj, Tel:88909899,

Monitoring and evaluation in

Network for reproductive


94

70119020UB, SB district, 1st khoroo

health sector health

36

Development’s Nisora foundation

2005 Altanchimeg, Tel: 463324, 99093738, UB, BZ district, 1st khoroo, Tokyo’s street, 14А-502

Human rights National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -2005, Network for reproductive health -2006, Экбаж Mongolian network-2005,


37

Dulguun Kherlen 2002 Ganbat, 99568100, Khentii aimag, Undurkhaan , 1st bag,

Training for better living ways and access to information


Khentii aimag Phone survey

38

Environment development committee: environment and women

2002 Purevsuren, Tel: 99142550, UB, BG district,18th khoroo, 27-1

nature environment

- Civil Council of the Environment -2008, - Monfemnet: National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs


39

Eviin bagana 2001 Ariunbold, Tel:99112134, UB, BZ district, 13th khoroolol, 40- 1-А

Family and children’s safety living condition


40

Food coalition 2007 Urantulkhuur, Tel: 99192139, UB, Chingeltei district, 4th khoroo

Food security National Phone survey

41 Foundation to support sub-urban area development

1999 Enkhsaikhan, Tel:91181891, UB, BZ district, 13th khoroo –Uliastai-1011

To protect people’s rights who living a sub-urban areas

- National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -


95

2004, - Network for reproductive health -2003, -Network to protect children

42

Gender center for sustainable development

1997 Amgalan, Tel: 325627, 99182317, UB, SB district, Diplomat- 95- 73

To support citizens participation by conducting proper researches and advocacy and collecting database

- National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -2000,

-National federation against children’s overworking -2009

-Network for reproductive health -2006, National council for preventing crime -2003


43

Glob International 1999 Naranjargal, Мunkhburen, Tuul Tel:324627, 315326, 99189576, 324764 Ulaanbaatar,Chingeltei district, 6th khoroo, Diplomat- 95-70

Media and press freedom


Conducting media monitoring and advocacy work for independence of the press institutions


44 Group development committee

2008 Adaya, Tel:99795160 Gender equality Monfemnet: National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -


96

2009

45

Gunj center 2004 Undrakh, Tel:99050355, 96004709, UB, BZ district, 6th khoroo 68-2

To protect young ladies’ rights

National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -2005, Network for reproductive health -2005, Эkbaj-2007, Network for children’ protection


46

Gyn galuut NGO 2003 Purevdorj, Tel: 88942172 Tuv aimag, Bayandelger sum, Galuut bag

Nature environment

Tuv aimag Phone survey

47

Human rights’ education center

1998 Oyundelger, Taivan

Tel:99235103 88118194

UB, KHU district, Aris shirnii, 26-8

Human rights education


48

I-E-C center for information

2000 Oyunchimeg, Tel:99339233 Arkhangai aimag, Tsetserleg city, ZDTG, B corpus

Trainings and workshops for marginal groups and business groups


Arkhangai aimag

Phone survey

49

Khan Altai foundation

1994 Yavgaan, Tel:99080004 Ulaanbaatar, BG district, 13th khoroo, 3-57

Nature environment, history. culture


50

Khan Khentii association

2004 Ganhorol, Tel:99845563, Khentii aimag, Undurkhaan , 1st bag,

To promote citizens ability to participate decision making level


Khentii aimag Phone survey

97

51

Khugjliin khelkhee 2006 Dolgor, Tel: 91193364, UB, BZ district, 5th khoroo, 15th khoroolol, 2

Children and woman

Network to protect children-2008, Monfemnet: National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs-2007, Network for reproductive health -2007


52

Khurgalag consociation

1997 Oyungerel, Tel:98219826 Selenge aimag, Mandal sum

Citizens’ empowerment


Selenge aimag

Phone survey

53

LEOS-Bulgan 1995 Uranchimeg, Tel: 99338595, Bulgan aimag, 2nd bag, school №3

Women’s development



54

LEOS 1998 Togtuunbayar, Khovd aimag, Jargalant sum Khovd-em” LLC, 2nd floor

Monitoring and project evaluation in public service delivery process and advocacy works



55

Loving gift 2008 Altantsetseg, Tel:99439788, Khovd aimag, Jargalant sum, Central library, 2nd floor

Activities against corruption


Khovd Interview

56

LWBP/LEOS/ 1995 Tsendsuren, Tel: 99714173, UB, Chingeltei district, 13th khoroolol, 68-2

Women’ political participation


57 Mongolian citizens alliance

1998 Zanaa, Tel:99031777, Baga toiruu, 44 UB46А -9

Women right, human right, gender’s equality,

- National Network of Mongolian


98

civil society Women’s NGOs -2004,

Network to support Romans principle -2004, Women’s development in East Asian countries -1999, World conference for democracy -2006, Community of Democracy-2008, "Women watch " east Asian countries, 1 of July committee-2008,

58

Mongolian committee for rural children’s development l

1998 Bandi, Tel:99252584, UB, BG district Office of the Bayangol district-211

Activities to decrease children’s dropout rate from the school


59

Mongolian elders free committee

2005 Baasan, Tel: 99256920, UB,SB district, 1st khoroo

To protect elders’ right and to support their participation in decision making level. To claim transparency from the government


60 Mongolian Employers’ Federation

2001 Dashdorj, Tel:99056887 Zavkhan aimag, Uliastai sum, Jinst bag

Protecting supporting interests of

Zavkhan Phone survey

99

Employers

61

Mongolian environment development association

1997 Basandorj, Tel:99116539, UB, Baga toiruu, MUST-2-103

nature environment

Civil Council of the Environment -2008


62

Mongolian family association of happiness

1994 Enkhtaivan’s avenue 89-3-701

Reproductive health service for the citizens

Millennium challenge account, network of the reproductive health


63

Mongolian female lawyers’ federation

1992 Nyamjav, Tel: 322212, 96013009, UB, SB district, 8th khoroo, Youth avenue 2-1

Law consulting, Research and advocacy regarding human rights issues.

- National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -2005,

- Network for reproductive health -2001,


64

Mongolian mother environment salvation foundation

2008 Narantsetseg, Tel:88621967 UB,18th khoroo

Nature environment


65

Mongolian Risk Management confederation

2008 Uranchimeg, Tel:99069033, UB, BZ district, 6th khoroo, 25-7

Risk management consulting

Demo-2009 National Phone survey

66

Mongolian women’s association

1924 Erdenechimeg, Ariunaa

Tel:328336, 99095474 UB, Chingeltei district,Sambuugiin 3-11

Protecting women’s interest and rights


67 Mongolian women’s foundation

2000 UB, 6th khoroo, Baga toiruu, 44-4

Social sector - Network for international


100

women foundation -2001,

- Network for no boarder grant-2002,

- Network for American women foundation-2003,

- Network for women foundations in East Asia and pacific countries -2004

68

National center against violence in Darkhan

1999 Tel:99266279

Darkhan-Uul aimag, Darkhan sum

Activities and promotion against violence


Darkhan-uul Phone survey Interview

69

No boarder step 2004 Bauyarsaikhan, Tel: 99724869, UB, SB district, 8th khoroo, IT Park- 3-320

- Food coalition

- Publish what you paid

- National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs

- Oversee ‘Oyu-tolgoi’


70

Oversight for Oyu-tolgoi

2010 UB, Baga toiruu 44-6 Environmental issues and human rights



71 Political education 1997 Enkhbat, Tel:99599069, To contribute Civil council of Dund-gobi Phone survey

101

academy Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum,ZDTG

citizens’ political education

the aimag

72

Press Institute 1996 Мunkhmandakh, Tel:350002

UB, SB district, Ikh toiruu 11B, 20/347

Supports media transparency programs and conducts media monitoring

Civil council of the Mongolian NGOs


73

Publish what you paid

2003 Batpurev, Tel:88119090 Transparency in extractive industry sector

Coalition of the people with disable


74

Red cross in Zavkhan

1956 Amarjargal, Tel:99034966 Zavkhan aimag, Uliastai sum, Jinst bag

Public service delivery, social welfare

Zavkhan Phone survey

75

Renovation 2005 Bayarkhuu, Tel:99188187 UB, SB district

Public sector innovation

ANSA-EAP National Phone survey Interview

76

Research center in environmental issues

2000 Darkhan-Uul aimag, University of Agriculture 3rd floor- №308

Research, training, and advocacy regarding nature and environmental issues


Darkhan-uul Interview

77

RMI 2007 Undram, Tel:70111767 UB, SB ditrict, Amar’s street 2, tavan Bogd plaza-104

Transparency in extractive industry sector


78

Sain tus center for development of western region

2005 Togtoh, Badamhand, Tel:99459639, 50459639 Uvs aimag, Ulaangom city, Tsedenbal’s street-31

To serve society and training

DEMO: Civil society network of the Uvs aimag’s , women’s network


102

79

Sanative foundation of the land

2009 Ganbaatar, Tel:99980834 UB, SB district, IT park 4-405

Land structure and land management. Social welfare

Civil council of the Mongolian NGOs


80

Sant maral foundation

1994 Sumati, Tel:350543, 99116373

UB, SB district, 8th khoroo, Inter nom building

Conducts surveys including socio-political polls


81

Shine tosgon movement

2006 Tsoggerel, Hunchin Tel:99459086, 98451112

Media Khentii Phone survey

82

Step forward coalition

2007 Suvd, Tel:96662219, 99789556 UB, Chingeltei,17th khoroo

Social welfare Children’s participatory organizations


83

Supporting center for the youth’s comparative skill

2009 Itgel, Tel:99459851 Uvs aimag, Ulaangom city, 10th bag, 2-64

Information technology



84

Taliin jims NGO 2009 Enkhtur, Tel: 99194624 Sukhbaatar aimag, Tumentsogt sum,1st bag

Nature environment



85

Transparency foundation

2004 UB, SB district Transparancy in mining sector

- Publish what you paid

- Partnership in Social Accountability

Ulaanbaatar Phone survey Interview

86

Tyin-Dolin movement

2002 Khorloo, Tel:99739379 Bayankhongor aimag, Bayankhongor sum ,

Nature environment



87 Ulz river movement 2003 Otgontsetseg, Tel:99744101 Khentii

Nature environment



103

aimag, Binder sum

88

Women for social progress

1998 Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum,ZDTG

Democratic development and education , citizens participation, fair elections: research, advocacy and monitoring



89

Women for social progress

1992 R.Burmaa, Tel: 99117596,

Democratic development and education , citizens participation, fair elections: research, advocacy and monitoring

- Network for fair election-2008,

- National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs


90

Women lawyers federation in Dundgobi

2004 Byambajav, Tel:99599233 Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan government building

To protect women lawyer’s right



91

Women leader foundation

2001 Bolormaa,

Tel:99099143, 11th Government building, 1st floor, 115

Gender equality and women’s effective participation in decision making level, human right

National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -1996,


92 Women life center 2005 Adaya, Tel:99818199, To socialize women living a vulnerable situation and

Monfemnet: National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs ,


104

tel:99099143

tel:99099143

tel:99099143

tel:99599233

female-headed household

Mongolian women’s foundation

93

Women’s council in aimag

1942 Densmaa, Tel:99081272 Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum,ZDTG

Protecting women’s rights



94

Women’s development and environment

2002 Amaraa, Tel:99192064, UB, BZ district, 6th khoroo, 29-29

To increase citizens participation the protection of environment

- Civil Council of the Environment -2008,

- Monfemnet: National Network of Mongolian Women’s NGOs -2005


95

Women’s movement for social development

1998 Procurement and public service delivery monitoring



96

Youth generation 2003 S.Budjav, Tel: 99592011,22150 Dundgobi aimag, Saintsagaan sum , Department for child

To protect youth’s rights



97 Zorig foundation 1998 Gerelmaa, Tel: 315444, 99163272, UB, Enkhtaivan’s avenue 7-14-210

To advance formation of democratic society and support political reforms in Mongolia. The principal objectives of the foundation include spreading democratic values in the society, strengthening human rights, freedom and social justice,

Networks of the Mongolian NGOs-2007, PWYPE and earn and ear-2008, Council of anticorruption-2009


105

tel:99081272

respecting and promoting pluralism and improving the system of transparency and accountability of state and government to the public.

Social movements

№ Name Founded year Contact information

Core activity area Location Type of survey

1 Ongi river movement 2001 Munkhbayar

Tel:99823551,

327781

Dundgobi aimag, Saikhan Ovoo sum

Environment (mining),

2

‘Protecting voters’ right’ movement 2000

Judag,

Tel:55151067Advocacy work for the issues related to the election and vote

Phone survey

Validation workshop

3 ‘Yndesnii Soyombo’ movement 2005 UB Human right

Interview

Phone survey

4

‘Ariun suvarga’ Movement 2004

Chagnaadorj

Tel:9919971

UB, Chingeltei district,7th khoroo Nature environment

Phone survey

106

Government Officials

№ Affiliation Contact information Location Type of survey

1 Cabinet secretariat office Oyuntungalag, officer of the public affair Interview

2 Department of finance, Local government office

Local government building, Khovd aimag, Mongolia


3 Department of finance, Local government office

Head of department of finance, Umnugobi aimag

Local government building, 23243, 99091894

Umnugobi aimag Interview

4 Documentary office of the Local government

Secretariat citizens petition and complain

14th Bag, Local government building,

Contact number: 23694

Darkhan-uul aimag Interview

5 Governor of the Local government office

Local government building, Khovd aimag, Mongolia


6 Ministry of Justice

and Home Affairs

Senior specialist Ulaanbaatar Interview

7 Social policy department, Local government

Local government building, Darkhan-uul aimag, Mongolia


8 Social policy department, Local government office

Head of Social policy department

14th Bag, Local government building,

Contact number: 23694


107

9 Social policy department, Local government office

Head of Social policy department

14th Bag, Local government building, 23283, 99098347

Interview

Donor organizations

№ Name Contact information Core activity area

1 Asian Development Bank

Adrian Ruthenberg, Country Director

[email protected]

Itgel LonjidSocial Sectors Officer (Education, Health, Social Security and NGO Relation) [email protected]

UB- 46, Natsagdorj street, МCS plaza 2nd floor 4 2nd Floor MCS Plaza Bldg.4 Seoul Street, Ulaanbaatar, MongoliaTel.: + 976-11-329 836 / + 976-11-323 507 / + 976-11-313 440Mailing Address:-- Mongolia Resident Mission-- P.O. Box 1083-- Central Post Office-- Ulaanbaatar 15160-- MongoliaFax: + 976-11-311 795Email: [email protected]: www.adb.org/mnrm

Reducing poverty rate, supporting sustainable development by conducting policy research and professional study in developing countries

2 World bank Ph: (+976-11)-312-647 ext. 207Fax: (+976-11)[email protected]

MCS plaza,5th floor,


108

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.adb.org/mnrm




www.wolrdbank.org

3 AusAid www.ausaid.gov.au Strengthen good governance and sustainable development in developing countries

4 Canada Fund www.acdi-cida.gc.ca Environmental sustainability, human rights-democratization, development and good governance, gender equality, poverty reduction. Private sector development

5 UNDP Barkhas, Governance Program expert

Davaadulam, Governance Program expert

Tur-Od, Governance Program Officer

Tel: 976-11-330597

Fax:976-11-330598

Orient PlazaG. Chagdarjav Street 91st khoroo, Sukhbaatar DistrictUlaanbaatar-14210Mongolia

Contributing implementation process of MGD by supporting and building partnership with the government and its’ agencies

6 UNICEF Ms.Bolor PurevdorjCommunication OfficerUNICEF MongoliaMobile: 976-99 11 26 52Email: [email protected] Mongolia Ulaanbaatar-46, 210646 Mongolia Street Address: 12 United Nations Street UN Building 2, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Phone: 976-11-312217, 312183, 312185

Protecting children’ rights by implementing projects

109


http://www.wolrdbank.org/

Fax: 976-11-327313 E-Mail: [email protected]:www.unicef.org/mongolia

USAID USAID/MongoliaP.O. Box 1021Ulaanbaatar-13MONGOLIAPhone: 976-11-312390Fax: 976-11-310440

Implementing projects to enhance good governance by strengthening civil society

7 Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Cooperation Office of the Embassy of Switzerland - Consular Section Ulaanbaatar “Tengeriin Tsag” Centre Olympic street 12, Khoroo 1 Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Po/Box 37, Ulaanbaatar 210648, Mongolia

Phone +976 11 331422

Fax +976 11 331420

Email [email protected]


International NGO

№ Name Contact information Core activity area

110

mailto:[email protected]%20

http://www.unicef.org/mongolia


1 Adventist Development and Relief Agency International

/ADRA/

Chris JensenCountry Director

[email protected]

www.adra.org.mn

[email protected]

Telephone: +976 11 315 730

Fax: +976 11 311 970

Ulaanbaatar City, Chingeltei District, 6th Khoroo Diplomatic Corpus Building #95, Entrance #2, Office #15

PO Box 1038, Ulaanbaatar, 210613, Mongolia

Implementing projects for the marginal groups and poor livelihood enhanced capacity.

2 Asia Foundation Meloney C. Lindberg, Country Representative,

MongoliaUnited Nations Street 18P.O. Box 1003Ulaanbaatar-13Mongolia

Tel: + 976 (11) 330-524 or 323-413

Fax: + 976 (11) 311-497

Email: [email protected]

Gender equality issues, economical growth and reform, rule of law in Asian countries

4 Mercy corps Country Director - Dominic GrahamManager for Economic Development Programs- Jeton Starova Director of Administration - E. Tugsbileg

24 Peace Avenue, Bayanzurkh DistrictUlaanbaatar, MongoliaTel:(976-11) 461145Fax: (976-11) 461048E-mail: [email protected]

5 Save the children www.savethechildrenmongolia.mn Protecting children’ rights

111

http://www.savethechildrenmongolia.mn/




http://www.adra.org.mn/


Tel: 976-11-329371, 329365,

Fax: 976-11-329361

6 World Vision Mr.Warren ferdinandus, Country Representative

Tel: 976-11-345323, 345464

Fax: 976-11-345322

[email protected]

Implementing projects reducing poverty, supporting livelihood of poor families, protecting and advocating social welfare related issues.

7 International Republican Institute www.iri.org/countries-and.../asia/mongolia Advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, good governance and the rule of law

8 German Development Service (DED)

DEDP.O. Box 35Ulaanbataar 210 648, MongoliaE-Mail: [email protected]

Rural development and management of Natural resource, economic and employment promotion, Social health, and promotion of democracy

9 Asian Research Center (ARC) Asian Research Center

National University of Mongolia, 1st building, №210.

Conducting and supporting long and short term research and policy development on social, political and economical issues

10 UNICEF

Initiative citizens

№ Name Contact information Type of survey

112


1 Ganhuyag Khovd aimag, Jargalan sum, Bichigt bag

Tel: 99437841

Interview

2 Baatarkhuu Umnugovi aimag, Dalanzadgad soum, Interview

3 Lamjav Tel: 99118804 Interview

Validation workshop

4 Urtnasan Darkhan-Uul aimag, Tel:99874282 Interview

113

References/Bibliography

1. ANSA network. (2010). 4 pillars for the Social Accountability.

2. Citizens Oversight on Budget network. (2010). Tools for advocacy to ensure the trans-parency of government budget. Ulaanbaatar.

3. Civil Council of Environment NGOs. (2009). Annual report. Ulaanbaatar.

4. Davaadulam, T. (2010). Good governance and Social Accounatbility terms. Ulaanbaatar.

5. IRIM research institute. (2009). Tripartitate partnership agreement model.

6. Law on NGOs (1996).



9. The World Bank, Social and Development Department. (2007). The Enabling Environ-ment for Social Accountability in Mongolia . Washington, D.C.

10. Gankhuyag, D. (n.d.). Mentality of Mongolians. Ulaanbaatar.

11. Glob International NGO. (2008). Openness and transparency of government information. Ulaanbaatar.

12. Glob International NGO. (2006). State secret and freedom for information .

13. IRIM. (2010). Handbook for 'Glass wallet' program designed for government officers. Ulaanbaatar.

14. IRIM. (2009). Tripartitate partnership agreement model.

15. Law on NGOs (1996).

16. Malena, C., & Janmejay, R. F. (2004). The World Bank. Participation and Civic Engage-ment. “SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY. An Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Practice” .


18. N Mays, E Roberto, and J Popay. (2001). Studying the organisation and Delivery of Health Services: Research Methods. In P. A. N. Fulop, Synthesising research evidence (pp. 188-220). London: Routledge, pp.

19. National statistical office of Mongolia. (2009). Mongolian statistical yearbook. Ulaan-baatar.

20. National Statistical Office. (2005). Strategy document for ensuring economic growth and reducing poverty. Ulaanbaatar.

21. NGOs, H. a. (2010, 07). Excperts from the detailed interview. (Ariuntungalag, Inter-viewer)


23. Sosormaa, C. (2008). From state administrative policy to PUBLIC administrative policy. Ulaanbaatar: Bit press LLC.

24. UNDP. (2008). Public administration and democratic governance:Government serving for its citizens. Ulaanbaatar.

25. University, Shikhii hutag. (2009). Mongolian state law, historical tradition and current situation. Ulaanbaatar: Soyombo printing.

26. World Bank. (2007). The enabling environment for Social Accountability in Mongolia . Washington DC.

27. www.8x8.bz. (2010, 07 18). Retrieved from www.8x8.bz/freetime/index.php?mcmodule=wz&wzid=677

Laws and regulations

1. Universal Human Rights Declaration (1948)

2. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)

3. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976)

4. Constitution of Mongolia (1992)

5. Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (1997)

6. Law on Sessions of the State Great Khural (2007)

7. Law on the Government (1993),

8. Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and Their Management (2006)

9. Law on State Registration (2009)

10. The Law on State Audit and Inspection (2003)

11. The Law on Environment Protection (1995),

12. The Anti-Corruption Law of 2006

13. Government resolution #93, 2008

14. Government resolution #43, 2008

http://www.8x8.bz/freetime/index.php?mcmodule=wz&wzid=677

http://www.8x8.bz/freetime/index.php?mcmodule=wz&wzid=677

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