Mongolia: Food and Nutrition Social Welfare Program and Project (Capacity Development Project)

Health / Health system development - Nutrition

Component 1: Design and Implementation of a Targeted Food Stamp Program

1.1. Innovative targeting approaches for food stamps pilot-tested by December 2009

1.2. A mechanism for delivering food stamps is established by June 2009

Component 2: Capacity Development and Communication Strategy for the Food Stamp Program

2.1. Capacity development tools for national and local stakeholders and institutional strengthening designed and implemented by January 2010

2.2. A communication strategy to ensure transparent implementation of the food stamp program developed and implemented by December 2009

Component 3: Strengthening Social Welfare Strategies and Systems

3.1. Effective food crisis response by 2010

3.2. IT processes and systems are upgraded to deliver more efficient and transparent social welfare and social insurance services

3.3. Social welfare reformed and social protection strengthened

3.4. An early warning and response system to respond to social shocks by October 2011

The project supported the General Office of Labor and Welfare Services (GOLWS) in conducting the 3rd Household Livelihood Determination Survey based on the proxy means testing (PMT) methodology, jointly approved by the National Statistical Office (NSO) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MLSP), which covered over 80 percent or 572.2 thousand households. The 2017 survey report was published by GOLWS in Q1 2020 and available at http://hudulmur-halamj.gov.mn/uploads/pdf/sudalgaa_pdf/sudalgaanii_taniltsuulga.pdf. Re-assessment module of PMT information system was developed under the project in 2018. The PMT consultant delivered the final report with a concept note and materials for the cross-checking the data with other government databases. The system registers and re-assesses households based on their applications. Currently, the PMT database is used for the following 5 social welfare services: 1) Food stamp program; 2) Child money program; 3) Cash allowance for emergency case, allowance for released homeless prisoners, allowance for homeless single parents with 4 or more children under 18 years old; 4) Healthcare services for poor people who needed social welfare supports; and 5) Legal advocacy services for insolvent accused. The web-based information system for PMT survey was developed and implemented by a team of national consultants in January 2018. The PMT system is being used for registering household information and receiving grievances.

According to MLSP, 69 social welfare benefits, pensions and services can be incorporated into 12 packages. Out of them, 3 packages (Community based welfare services, Benefits and services for elderly people and Welfare service for persons with disabilities) are regarded as services. The updated Social Protection Strategy, developed under TA8544 in June 2019, includes recommendations and policy options for reforms of social welfare and social insurance; a study on currents situation of social protection benefits and impacts; a background papers reflecting proposals and various inputs for the governments social protection rationalization plans. The background studies on policy and legal documents and baseline surveys were conducted, and the policy options for addressing key issues on population development, social insurance, social welfare, and employment promotion were submitted to the EA by the project consultants. The strategy draft proposes 11 objectives, 105 activities and 29 monitoring indicators and has a separate section on gender with the actions to ensure gender equality. However, due to adoption of Law on Development Policy, Planning and Management in May 2020, the adoption of short- and medium-term sectoral strategies have been stopped. Hence, some recommendations and policy objectives have been included in the Government Action Plan 2020-2024. A series of consultations on reviewing/amending the package of laws of social welfare and social insurance were conducted in Q4 2020 with the project support.

In Q1 2020 the project consultants developed technical requirements for an integrated social welfare system. However, due to insufficient time left under the project, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and MLSP decided to have the system developed by the Information Technology Center of Custom Taxation and Finance under MOF, with the government funding. The system will integrate all systems operating in GOLWS and enable to generate dynamic reports from different databases including Child Money Program, Food Stamp Program of GOLWS. The project procured required servers and equipment for the integrated social welfare system.

Development of the Core Information System for the Social Insurance General Office (SIGO) was done from August 2019 through 30 November 2020 ad tested. It is expected that the system would be fully deployed SIGO-wide by Q2 2021. The system allows to disaggregate data by sex, rural-urban, and socioeconomic status. Digitizing paper-based archives of SIGO was completed in November 2020. SIGO accounting policies were developed in accordance with international accounting standards, and reporting templates were developed by national consulting firm in 2017. The Core system of SIGO integrates financial reporting and allows real time preparation of financial reports.

The Business Intelligence (BI) System for MLSP was developed and established by a team of national consultants between November 2015 and June 2019. The BI system testing was done in Q1 2020. The consultants provided guidelines, the operational manual for the system to the end-users. The desktop version of the system was installed in the PCs of MLSP officials and adjustments and improvements were made to the system based on the clients' needs. Data processing equipment for BI system was supplied and installed at MLSP. The system will support policy makers to do data analysis of SIGO, GOLWS and other agencies for better decision making. The BI server is connected to the databases of SIGO, GOLWS and Agency for Child and Youth Development (AFCYD) servers and retrieves data automatically. The system enables the disaggregation all social welfare and social insurance data by sex, age, location, employment status and sector.

Creating performance-based Monitoring and Evaluation System of the social protection sector was performed by a national consulting firm. The regulation is under approval by MLSP, but the planned training for the sector staff to introduce the new system was cancelled due to COVID-w9 restrictions.

Between 2017 and 2020, various IT equipment and software were procured MLSP, SIGO, GOLWS, AFCYD, TVET centers, and other social welfare agencies. The items included network devices, firewall devices, backup and disaster recovery equipment, fingerprint readers, tablets for data collection, financial software, surveillance cameras, hard disks and related devices, copiers, printers, storage servers, projectors with screens, desktop computers, laptops and others. The software and hardware for Rehabilitation and Vocational Education Center were procured in Q 2020. Additional hardware including PCs, laptops, tablets, camera accessories, printers, UPSs, fingerprint readers, barcode scanners and kiosks, and antivirus software, video conferencing devises and etc. were procured for MLSP and its agencies in Q4 2020.

Over 1,115 employees of SIGO at central and rural levels attended the regional training in 2018, which were conducted under the project. In total, 50 officials from MLSP, SIGO, GOLWS, AFCYD participated in the experience sharing activities abroad in Vietnam, Singapore, Germany, Sweden, and Australia in 2018-2019, under the project. In Q4 2019, over 3,130 employees of Social Insurance, Social Welfare and Family, Child and Youth Development agencies attended 23 regional training activities supported by the project, and 147 trainers were trained under the project.

Program Grant

A team of 7 national consultants, to be headed by a Team Leader will form the FSOU to undertake the setting up activities and coordinate the implementation of the Food Stamp Program. The team will be complemented by intermittent international assistance (4 person-months). The FSOU will be lodged within the PIU and will also provide technical support, coordination, monitoring and supervision of the work of the consultants under Components 2 and 3. A total of 252 person-months of consulting inputs will be provided by these consultants over 3 years. Government will hire the 7 national consultants and the international targeting specialist before start before starting the Program indicatively from October 2008 to prepare for the implementation of Component 1 of the Program (21 person-months national and two person-months international). These consultants wil be hired by Government under the program.

Project Grant

The Project will require a total of 74 person-months of international and 224 person-months of national consulting services financed under the ADB grant. The international and national consultants will have expertise in (i) targeting, (ii) impact analysis, (iii) monitoring and evaluation, (iv) institutional capacity building, (v) social expenditure analysis, (vi) development communication, (vii) community/rural development, (viii) social safety nets, and (ix) civil registration. The consultants will be selected and engaged in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2007, as amended from time to time). Qualtiy and cost-based selection procedure using a cost quality-ratio of 80:20 will be applied.

All procurement to be financed under the program grant will be carried out in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on Procurement.

In accordance with the simplified disbursement and procurement procedure for program loans, the grant proceeds may be utilized to procure goods and services (excluding local duties and taxes) produced in and procured from ADB's member countries, other than those specified in the list of ineligible items, which will be provided to the Government at a later stage and those financed by other multilateral and bilateral official sources, and imports from non-ADB member countries. All procurements under the program (component 1) will be done through normal commercial practices for the private sector or the Government's prescribed procurement procedures acceptable to ADB, with due consideration given to economy and efficiency.

All procurement to be financed under the project grant will be carried out in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on Procurement. Advance procurement and retroactive financing is being discussed with the Government.