IRIM Annual Reception 2015

Since its establishment, IRIM has been actively involved in supporting international initiatives to promote evaluation policies and evaluation usage, and to incorporate them into the national public policy agenda.

In this regard, on 4 December 2015, IRIM successfully organized its first Annual Reception in Ulaanbaatar, under the topic of ‘SDGs 2030: The Role of the National Evaluation Framework’.

The event aimed to provide participants with a platform to engage in dialogue on the topic, and IRIM introduced its initiatives to improve national policies and capabilities for results-based governance in Mongolia.

The reception was hosted by Dr Bekhbat Khasbazar (Ambassador, and IRIM’s President) and discussions were moderated by Mr Jargalsaikhan Damba (De Facto); whose friendly and engaging manners provided for an open atmosphere among the guests, promoting engagement in productive discussions.

Dr Bekhbat Khasbazar (Ambassador, and IRIM’s President)

More than 45 guests gathered at the Annual Reception, demonstrating the importance of the topic discussed. The guests comprised of government officials, including representatives from the Ministry of Finance, National Statistics Office and International Cooperation Fund of Mongolia; representatives of international organizations such as Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, JICA, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, IFC, UNDP, World Vision, International Republican Institute and GIZ; embassies of Japan, Canada and USA; and national and international experts.

The first, keynote address was presented by Mrs Beate Trankmann, UN Resident Coordinator. In her speech, she described how the SDGs will be monitored, and the UN’s overall approach to the SDGs. Most importantly, she shared her views about some further ideas for strengthening monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs in Mongolia, by highlighting the importance of identifying ‘what indicators are relevant, how data can be collected, how to establish baselines and monitoring and evaluation systems, and review mechanisms’.

The second presentation was made by Ms Dolgion Aldar, CEO of IRIM. She introduced current data and evaluation gaps in Mongolia and described measures to improve the situation by identifying three areas of opportunities: knowledge-sharing and consultation networks, evaluation capacity development, and the establishment of a national evaluation framework in Mongolia.

   Mrs Beate Trankmann (UN Resident Coordinator)     

                                                       Ms Dolgion Aldar (CEO of IRIM)   

Participants suggested that: it is important to promote a culture of evaluation, where evaluation is considered as a learning tool rather than merely inspection and auditing; and the current SDGs call for unprecedented involvement from the private sector and evaluation of SDGs should mean inclusion of private firms as well (through associations such as BCMongolia);

It was widely accepted that the event was very timely, as it was organized in light of the formulation of Mongolia’s National Long-term Development Policy and Sustainable Development Goals Adoption and the ‘2015 International Year of Evaluation’ as declared by the United Nations.

Finally, Jargalsaikhan concluded the event by summarizing IRIM’s initiatives for promoting a National Evaluation Framework. And he emphasized that - through the participation and synergies of like-minded people - Mongolia can become a regional and international best practice in implementing and evaluating its SDGs.