Improving Citizen Participation and Feedback in Your Bagh: AManual on Town Halls
7
Mongolia is a unitary state with a central government and
three levels of subnational governments. Currently, there are
21 aimags with 329 soums, and 1568 baghs. The capital
city comprises nine districts with 152 khoroos. According
to the Constitution, the administrative and territorial units of
Mongolia are organized on the basis of combination of both
self-governance and state administration. As a result, Mon-
golia has a dual system in which the administrative and ter-
ritorial unit has both a governor and a local council.
Citizen Hall
The Citizen Hall Initiative was started in 2009 by President El-
begdorj and his advisors based on examples from more developed
democracies. It provides citizens and civil society organizations an
opportunity to participate in the law-making process.
Citizen Hall meetings have largely taken place in Citizen Hall
chambers – rooms located in subnational government buildings that
have been solely dedicated for this purpose. The initiative has in-
volved discussions on draft legislation, legislative amendments, the
state budget, policy debates, public hearings and an annual ‘town
hall’ meeting with the president. Although the Citizens Hall meet-
ings are administered at the soum and aimag levels of government,
the initiative is overseen and managed by the Office of the Presi-
dential. The Presidential Office sets agendas, receives public rec-
ommendations, administers the debates and hearings, and reports
outcomes to the public. The citizens’ hall uses all types of social
media (website, Facebook, twitter) and broadcasts major debates.
Events are usually attended by parliament members, government
officials and experts.
By October 2013, Citizens’ Halls have been established in each
of the provinces, all of the districts in Ulaanbaatar, and the capital
city itself, 283 in total with 48 more planned, mostly in the eastern
aimags. Citizens’ Halls are mostly run by the secretariat of the lo-
cal citizen representative offices. The majority of these halls fol-
low the handbook, Local Self-Governance based on Citizens’ Par-
ticipation (2010).
Copies of this handbook can be obtained from
-
ident.mn/mongolian/sites/default/files/it_nom.pdf
