Mongolia | Discover FRIENDSHIP project milestones in 2023

Within the “FRIENDSHIP – Strengthening EU-Mongolia Friendship through Equitable, Resilient and Innovative Growth in Darkhan City” project, the year 2023 saw impressive progress by meeting important milestones in the implementation process.

Some of the highlights of this decentralised cooperation measure from 2023, underling the extraordinary work and achievements of the FRIENDSHIP project, were:

• 3 million EURO invested in the Darkhan-Uul province through the Friendship Project.
• Five international forums were organised. Among the major results:
  • 1.2 million EURO have been set aside in the state budget to develop Darkhan-Uul Province into Mongolia’s 1^st Smart City model
  • A trilateral cooperation agreement led to the setup of a consortium to promote Darkhan-Uul Province on the international carbon market with emphasis on plastic waste recycling & reduction of methane emissions.
• The 1^st National Association of Local Authorities of Mongolia was established by the initiative of the Darkhan City Governor (including all 21 provinces) to accelerate the decentralization process and localisation of SDGs.
• Within the framework of empowering human resources of the business sector
  • 16 sets of training were organized in 4 areas with 310 participants
  • Seven start-ups were supported providing technical & financial assistance of 20.000 EURO each
  • 10 start-ups are being incubated
  • 140.000 euros have been invested in 4 pilot projects aimed at civil society and the environment in cooperation with business enterprises
  • 64 permanent and 16 temporary jobs were created, totalling 80 jobs.
• The Darkhan City Forum, aiming to strengthen participatory governance, was established, organising 5 conferences in cooperation with the Peoples Representatives and other civil society organisations.
• The development of the E-HEALTH system in the provincial general hospital and 5 family hospitals was improved, introducing the integration of the E-Clinic system, investing €30,000.
• MoUs were signed with the cities of Bar, Montenegro, and Ajdovščina, Slovenia within the framework of 4 study visits.
• Darkhan City has become an official member of the Global Covenant of Mayors, enabling it to join global climate change mitigation and renewable energy initiatives and cooperate in many ways.

Background information

The overall objective of the project under the EU Partnership for Sustainable Cities facility is to promote inclusive and sustainable growth of Darkhan city, the 2^nd largest city in Mongolia and its province using collaborative multi-stakeholder participatory and knowledge sharing approaches for improving resilience, accelerating digital transition, fostering innovation and promoting employment opportunities.

The project has a volume of €3 million and is supported under the EU funding facility “Local Authorities: Partnerships for sustainable cities 2021 – EuropeAid/171273/DH/ACT/Multi – LOT 2: Partnerships for sustainable cities in Asia and the Pacific”.

Implementing partners are: Darkhan-Uul Province Municipality (City) as Lead Partner – NALAS – School of Agroecology and Business of the Mongolian University of Life Sciences.

(Picture by Degleex Ganzorig on Unsplash)