The workshop, held in Ulaanbaatar, was focused on the initial design stage of an evaluation of the Law on Land Allocation, and enabled peer-to-peer exchanges and discussion on theoretical and practical aspects of evaluation. The direction determined during the workshop paves the way for the development of a solid evaluation design.
“The sessions were rich in learning and led to an enhanced understanding of the process steps and international standards of evaluation,” said Alexandre Füzesséry, Head of the Swiss Parliamentary Services’ Parliamentary Technical Cooperation Unit.
“We were really impressed by the commitment of our Mongolian colleagues and the very good and relevant questions they asked. We are looking forward to working further with the working group on the issues of questionnaires and other information-gathering instruments.” A second workshop is taking place in Bern this October, allowing the Mongolian Parliament Secretariat to continue benefitting professional support of their Swiss counterparts for the next stage of the evaluation of the Law on Land Allocation.
Cooperation between Swiss and Mongolian parliamentary administrations began last year as part of the Strengthening Representative Bodies in Mongolia (SRBM) Project implemented by UNDP and the Parliament Secretariat with support from SDC.
During the first meeting held in 2017, the Parliament Secretariat emphasised the need for capacity building support in the evaluation of legislative implementation – a responsibility that was newly assigned to Parliament under the Law on Legislation in 2017.
In addition to the workshop, the SRBM Project conducted a “Parliamentary Oversight: Improving Legislation Evaluation” conference on June 6, with participation from the Parliament’s General Secretary Ts. Tsolmon, SDC Mongolia Director of Cooperation Gabriella Spirli, and MP and Head of the Standing Committee on State Structure D. Lundeejantsan.
During the conference, more than 80 participants from the Mongolian government, and international and donor organisations discussed such topics as government responsibilities inmonitoring of implementation of laws. Dr Nicolas Grosjean, Head of the Swiss Parliamentary Services’ Evaluation Service, also provided information on parliamentary oversight and evaluation in Switzerland.
