Project Summary

The transition experience of Mongolia has shown that the establishment of a formal legal framework is insufficient for the creation of a professional and depoliticized civil service. Rewarding supporters with civil service posts is widely practiced across all parties and across central, subnational and local levels of the government. This practice undermines stability and continuity as well as capacity development efforts in the civil service. There is consensus across the political spectrum in Mongolia that this issue needs to be addressed urgently. The project supports the implementation of the civil service reform priorities towards creating a stable, impartial, professional and citizen-centred civil service and their implementation through capacity building. The first output of the project facilitates consensus building on reform priorities through analytical research on stability and staff turnover, accountability mechanisms for breaching the Civil Service Law, and gender parity in the civil service. This will be complemented by capacity building activities towards the professionalization of the civil service, including induction courses for different posts, online mandatory courses, curriculum reform of the government training institution, reform of the civil service entry examination and support to women leaders in the civil service. The project supports the implementation of gender quotas for administrative posts in the civil service set by the Gender Equality Law by introducing stronger enforcement mechanisms. It also develops leadership capacities and networking among female leaders in the civil service. In the context of increasing demand for engaging citizens in government affairs, the project pioneers initiatives to engage citizens’ experiences, give voice to citizens on their experiences with public services, and provide inputs to improve the quality of public services and competencies of civil servants.

Project Objectives

The project aims to support the implementation of the Civil Service Law by providing technical inputs into the development process of the required procedures and tools, and contributing to building relevant capacities among civil servants and government agencies. Thus, the project goals are aligned to the priorities of the Government of Mongolia as defined in the Sustainable Development Vision for 2030 and the Government Action Plan for 2016-2020. The project’s overall goal will be achieved by means of four interlinked outputs:

1. Strengthened legal and policy framework for a professional civil service;
2. Improved professional capacities for civil servants;
3. Enhanced gender equality in public administration;
4. Citizen-centred monitoring of public administration performance.

Expected results 

1. Strengthened legal and policy framework for a professional civil service

• Stability versus professionalization of Mongolia’s Civil Service;
• Civil service accountability;
• Advancing gender equality in the civil service;
• Development of bylaws and procedures in support of the implementation of the newly approved Civil Service Law;

2. Improved professional capacities for civil servants

• Package professionalization training modules available and rolled out;
• Curriculum reform of the National Academy of Governance;
• Reform of examinations into the civil service system;
• Capacity development on human resources processes;
• Ethics and integrity in the civil service;

3. Enhanced gender equality in public administration

• Assist the Civil Service Council in developing and implementing a strategy aimed at changing the overall workplace culture and human resource policies; 
• Support capacity building, training and professional development women in the civil service;

4. Citizen-centred monitoring of public administration performance

• Strategic planning and annual performance plans introduced in public organizations;
• Results orientation in internal monitoring and reporting by public agencies;
• Improved internal performance appraisal systems;
• Participatory monitoring of public administration performance;
• Capacity strengthening of the Public Oversight Council;