swiss cooperation strategy for mongolia 2007-2012 - Deza - admin.ch

SWISS COOPERATION STRATEGY FOR MONGOLIA 2007-2012
Foreword
As one of the first countries of the West, Switzerland
established diplomatic relations with Mongolia in
1964. At that time Mongolia was strongly dependent
on the Soviet Union and the COMMECON. With
the collapse of its patron Mongolia embarked on
a fast transition from a socialist regime to market
economy based on democratic principles and
ideologically underpinned by the legacy of Chinggis
Khan. The leader of the last Millennium who once
ruled the biggest ever empire from India to Europe
inspired this transition of Mongolia from a supplier
of raw materials to the Soviet Union to a global
actor, vigilant about maintaining good relations
with its two big neighbors, Russia and China, while
cultivating relations with ‘third neighbors’. This
terms stands for all other countries Mongolia has
friendly political and economic relations with.
Driven by a neo-liberal market economy theory,
the Government of Mongolia first reduced the
public financing of basic services, such as health,
education, and agriculture, leaving vulnerable
people and enterprises with little protection. With
significant assistance from various donors, led by
the Government of Japan, poverty was contained
at 36% for the last years. Mongolia now stands
at a critical stage of development, with the
enormous potential of its mineral resources on the
one side, stagnant poverty and corruption, and
high unemployment on the other. To address the
challenges of equitable economic development,
sustainable management of natural resources,
and governance, long-term strategic thinking and
investments will have to replace the focus on shortterm
economic and political benefits. In rural areas,
limited access to goods and transport and missing
alternatives to herding hamper rural development
and fuel rural-urban migration.
of Mongolia. Realizing that structural weaknesses
may have worsened the impact of the dzuds, the
decision for a longer term SDC involvement was
made. The Swiss Cooperation Strategy (SCS) for
Mongolia was developed with active participation
of key national and international stakeholders in
Mongolia. These stakeholders assessed the present
situation, analyzed past experiences, drew lessons
learnt, developed possible scenarios, set strategic
objectives and proposed concrete SDC contributions
to country outcomes. The global shift towards a
stronger and shared performance orientation in
international development influenced the structure
of Swiss Support. It is aligned to the Government
of Mongolia’s development goals clearly guiding
and stating SDC’s program contributions to the
Mongolian priorities. The format of the strategy
proposes a common language, format and logic
which shall contribute to enhance performance,
both in terms of the effectiveness of its development
programs and its organizational effectiveness.
Explicit efforts are made to define and monitor
program management performance to meet the
ultimate purpose of delivering development results.
The strategy is designed to be a transparent tool of
result based management facilitating harmonization
with other initiatives in Mongolia and will guide
Swiss involvement in Mongolia for the period
2007-2012. Within this period the SDC Mongolia
program will grow progressively reaching 9 million
CHF SDC per year in 2009.
Walter Fust, Ambassador
SDC Director-General
Mongolia prioritizes human development with
a focus on poverty and unemployment reduction,
avoiding harmful impact on the environment and
strengthening the resilience of the herders towards
natural disasters. Switzerland partners with Mongolia
in its efforts to reach these goals as stated in the
Mongolian National Development Strategy.
Initially, the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation (SDC) successfully supported dzud 1
victims through humanitarian aid programs in
Western Mongolia, responding to an international
appeal in 2001 by the UN and the Government
1 Natural disaster: dry summers followed by extremely cold winters led to
the death of millions of animals, which underfed, could not survive the cold
winters. The consequence was that many herders lost a large part of the herd,
the basis for their livelihood, and were driven into poverty.
4