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MERIT Newsletter | August 2019

Gender and Budgeting in Dornod and Sukhbaatar provinces

August 6, 2019

Michel Filion, an adviser with more than 25 years of international experience fully embraced his assignment. His skill in making a complex subject accessible and applicable to the local context was greatly appreciated by staff in Dornod and Sukhbaatar’s Governor’s Offices. Michel provided training on how fiscal policies can promote gender equality and women’s development, and increased participant’s understanding and ability to conduct gender budget analysis. The assignment concluded in Ulaanbaatar with an experience-sharing workshop hosted by the National Committee on Gender Equality. Participants included the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Mines and Heavy Industry, the National Academy of Governance, NGOs and donor projects. Michel’s work was highlighted in a presentation from a participant of his training in Dornod who showed how she was able to apply the learning immediately to her work and how it improved the service her department provided. MERIT is now seen as an important stakeholder in the national strategy to integrate gender budgeting into daily practice.

MERIT Newsletter August 2019 | Issue 05

Scaling-up work on job descriptions

August 26-27, 2019

The Civil Service Council, in collaboration with MERIT and the UNDP’s Towards a Citizen-Centered Public Service Project, brought representatives from Mongolia’s 21 aimags, the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar and District Administrations for a workshop on developing job descriptions under the civil-service reform law. The workshop was held on August 26-27, 2019 in Ulaanbaatar. The Head of Human Resources from Dornod Governor’s Office presented the work they had done with MERIT advisers to develop job descriptions using the updated regulations. Components of the work achieved by Dornod Governor’s Office with MERIT advisers and staff was adopted and scaled up for use across Mongolia.

“The Sun Over the Placid World” Art Festival

August 9-11, 2019

Congratulations to MERIT’s partner the aimag Governor's Office in Dundgovi, for hosting the "The Sun over a Calm World" festival. Over 3,000 traditional long-song singers and horse head-fiddle players gathered to present a historic concert in the Ikh Gazriin Chuluu Nature Reserve open-air theater on August 9-11, 2019. The event was well organized and a huge success with over 20,000 participants attending.

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MERIT Newsletter | August 2019

Results-based management and eco-tourism

August 22-27, 2019

The MERIT team welcomed Technical Advisor Grant Curtis back to Mongolia with open arms. Grant’s commitment

to strengthening the skills of staff from the Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation Departments in Sukhbaatar to

understand and apply results-based management (RBM) was greatly appreciated. A professor from the National

Academy of Governance, Mr. Bold and MERIT’s Senior Adviser accompanied Grant on his latest assignment.

The MERIT team in collaboration with Professor Bold, led a group of 25 participants through an exercise to develop a project proposal on eco-tourism in Dariganga soum, to gain practical experience applying an RBM planning process. This exercise not only contributed to strengthen the capacity of aimag and soum-level staff but will also be used as a practical example to support the revision of Resolution 89 on Monitoring and Evaluation.

CONTACT US

info@merit.mn

www.merit.mn

+976 7016-5000

MERIT Project,

3F, National Times News Tower

Khudaldaanii Gudamj, Khoroo-1

Chingeltei District,

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

MERIT is a CESO and WUSC program.

MERIT gratefully acknowledges financial support

from Global Affairs Canada.

Responsible Resource Management

August 26-30, 2019

Eleven civil servants, a university professor and four MERIT staff formed the Mongolian delegation to Whitehorse from 26-30 August, 2019. They were joined by the Senior Development Officer from Global Affairs Canada, the President and CEO of CESO, the Chairman of the Board of CESO in an advisory role. MERIT’s Project Coordinator from CESO and two technical advisers were instrumental to the study tour’s success. This was the second study tour between Mongolian public officials and Canadian experts in responsible mining organized by MERIT. The first was to Yellowknife in November 2017.

The main purpose of the study tour was to learn how the Canadian Federal Government, the Yukon territory, industry and communities work together to responsibly manage the resource sector. The combination of professional experience and perspectives represented by the delegates proved to be one of the successes of the study tour. It was a valuable opportunity for the delegates not only to learn from

The Canada-Mongolia community exchange program concluded with a tour at the Keno Hill Mine site.

August 30, 2019

Participants visited the Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining (CNIM) at the Yukon College.

August 29, 2019