Purpose

In 2022, the Government of Mongolia drafted a policy entitled Targeted Program on Social Development, subject to parliamentary approval. The Ministry of Economy and Development recognized the benefits of collaborating with ESCAP to create a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework for the Program. 

Approach

The implementation of EPiC was considered for multiple sectorial plans in Mongolia but it was decided to pilot it for one sectorial plan, Targeted Program on Social Development. ESCAP, together with the Ministry of Economy and Development and the National Statistics Office of Mongolia, organized an in-country workshop to gather all relevant stakeholders to develop recommendations for a comprehensive indicator framework for the Targeted Program. By application of EPiC, the priorities issues, data needs, and most vulnerable population groups were identified. EPiC enabled the group to adopt a set of indicators from existing global and national indicator frameworks and fully align them with  the results matrix in the Targeted Program as well as national policy priorities. 

Outcomes and Lessons Learned

• Piloting EPiC on the Targeted Program on Social Development allowed government to develop a comprehensive indicator framework fully aligned with program outcomes. It also enabled the government to improve policy inclusiveness (by identifying target population groups) and identify demand for disaggregated statistics. 
• In-country workshop increased capacity of staff from other ministries to implement EPiC approach in policy formulation and development of M&E frameworks in other sectors.