Following the adoption of amendments to the Constitution, the Parliament of Mongolia created a legal reform process to materialize the concepts of the amendments, which the need for sustainable institutional development. During the first phase of the project, Strengthening Representative Bodies in Mongolia (SRBM), Switzerland supported the development of amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia and Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and Their Governance (LATUG). The SRBM Project (2016–June 2021) was successfully implemented by the Secretariat of the State Great Khural with supervision from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funding from Switzerland.
The SRBM Project created opportunities for meaningful participation by citizens in decision-making, mobilizing the support of local councils in awareness raising, and monitoring the implementation of recently approved laws, thus increasing the effectiveness of these laws at the citizen level. Moreover, SRBM assisted in strengthening the capacity of Members of Parliament to review legislative drafts and effectively conduct a legal evaluation, through contributions from the Swiss Parliamentary Service (SPS). These interventions were aimed at reinforcing each other’s impacts and creating synergies at the outcome level. SRBM ensured that governing institutions could be made more responsive and accountable to citizens.
All involved partners in the projects are satisfied with the excellent achievements made so far. Toincrease cost-effectiveness and ensure sustainability, including the institutional, financial, technical, and social aspects of sustainability, together it has been decided to launch Phase II of the SRBM project, without changing the overall goal: strengthening of the legislative and oversight capacity of Parliament and to provide policy support to local authorities for better public service delivery and rangeland management. The implementation of SRBM II started on August 1, 2021, with the signing of the project agreement between SDC and the Ministry of Finance. The duration of the project is 2.5 years.
The SRBM II Project consists of two interrelated sub-projects that will contribute to the overall project goal. 1) The Consolidating Parliamentary Democracy in Mongolia (CPDM) sub-project will support the strengthening of the legislative and oversight capacity of the Parliament of Mongolia, with technical support from the Swiss Parliamentary Secretariat (SPS).
The CPDM will prioritize supporting the performance of the Parliament of Mongolia in the context of constitutional amendments and consolidating the achievements of cooperation between the Mongolian Parliamentary Secretariat and the Swiss Parliamentary Secretariat. 2) The Strengthening Institutional Capacity of Local Authorities sub-project will support the strengthening of local parliaments/councils, provide policy support to operationalize and implement new laws on local governance (Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and Their Governance and Law on Livestock Tax) for better public service delivery and rangeland management. The interventions are designed to use the country system, supported by the structures, mechanisms, and policy/legal frameworks established by SRBM phase I.
