The PPP and the Bumpy Road of Procurement Monitoring

by Kristina Aquino

Over the last few years, I have seen my fair share of citizen programs and initiatives come to life in an excited, and often loud, snap – usually, in a workshop or meeting setting – only to peter out quietly some time later. For the most part, this is understandable; we can hardly expect all programs, no matter how well intentioned, to be successful or to last forever. And while I can get as ecstatic as the next workshop facilitator or participant when it comes to plans to do something for good governance in (insert country here), I am perhaps more pragmatic than most of my colleagues. I am very cautious when it comes to new initiatives. This stands as a brave preface to my next statement – the Partnership for Public Procurement in Mongolia, judging by my usual indicators, should have quieted down a few months ago but it continues to barrel forward in its goals.
   
At this point, it must be clarified that this is not a negative judgment on the strength of the year-old network, but a testament to its resilience. In ANSA-EAP, we have developed a four-pronged framework for assessing the social accountability quotient of a context or situation or what we call the “enabling environment”. Barring major unforeseen hindrances, four factors greatly influence the success of social accountability action: a government responsive to citizen involvement, organized and capable citizen groups, relatively wide access to information, context-appropriate interventions and approaches. Upon closer inspection, Mongolian public procurement, I have come to realize during my September 2012 mission, does not easily lend itself to social accountability, which is ultimately what the Partnership is working towards.

Getting to the Heart of the Community: Local procurement monitoring in Mongolia

by Vivien Suerte Cortez and Kristina Aquino (crossposted from the open-contracting.org blog). The post has been adapted for the Open Contracting blog by Sophia Donolo.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” – Dr. Seuss

Caring about procurement outcomes is what it boils down for all citizen initiatives to monitor public procurement.  We – as citizen monitors – care about how the government delivers its services, and we care about the people who should be receiving these services.

Mongolia has the best level of gender equality in East Asia, says watchdog organization

Mongolia is among the few countries in the world that have reached a MEDIUM level of gender equity. In the East Asia & the Pacific region, only New Zealand, in a slightly better condition, and Australia, slightly worse, keep up with Mongolia.

This is made apparent by the publication of the Gender Equity Index (GEI) 2012, published by Social Watch on the eve of Women’s International Day, March 8.

The index prepared annually by Social Watch measures the gap between women and men in education, the economy and political empowerment. The index is an average of the inequalities in the three dimensions. In literacy, it examines the gender gap in enrollment at all levels; economic participation computes the gaps in income and employment; empowerment measures the gaps in highly qualified jobs, parliament and senior executive positions.