New IRI Manual Helps Local Officials in Mongolia Engage Citizens

A new manual Improving Citizen Participation and Feedback in Your Bagh: a Manual on Town Halls, by IRI, provides local (bagh) elected and government officials with practical guidance on constituent outreach and the best ways to organize and conduct town-hall meetings.  The manual will help bagh-level officials improve citizen participation and engagement and help them in their critical role as a representative of constituents.

The manual provides background on the importance of constituent outreach, the range of different approaches, variety of formats for town hall meetings along with advice on the most important considerations when organizing and hosting a town hall meeting. This includes a set of easy to use tools to plan the various stages of the meeting.  

The manual is part of IRI’s democratic governance work in Mongolia.  The program, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, improves local government responsiveness to citizen priorities, brings local government official and citizens together to address community concerns and helps citizens play a more effective role in the policy-making process at the local level. 

The Institute’s program comes at an important time in Mongolia.  The 2011 budget law, which came into effect in early 2013, calls for increased decentralization and citizen participation in the budgeting process.  Through workshops and consultations, IRI is helping bagh official engage citizens in the budgeting process.  IRI has also helped to form community taskforces around the country, of bagh officials and citizens, to address community concerns.

IRI has supported Mongolia’s democratic transition since 1992.  A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, the Institute advances freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more issue-based and responsive, assisting citizens to participate in government planning, and working to increase the role of marginalized groups in the political process – including women and youth.