In October 2007, the Millennium Challenge Corporation signed a five-year, $285 million compact with the Government of Mongolia aimed at reducing poverty and promoting sustainable economic growth through investments in four projects. The compact in Mongolia entered into force in September 2008, formally initiating the five-year timeline for project implementation.

Subsequently, at the request of the Government of Mongolia, the compact’s rail project was canceled, and its funds were formally reallocated to expand the existing projects and the addition of two new projects. The Mongolia Compact was amended in January 2010 to reflect these changes.

The strategic investments of the compact will increase economic activity through improving the land registration system, helping people in poorer urban areas register their land, and providing for sustainable management and utilization of rangelands in selected peri-urban areas; improve vocational training to help Mongolians qualify for more demanding and financially rewarding market-oriented jobs, ensuring that they become healthier and more productive as they enter the marketplace; increase the adoption of energy-efficient and lower-emission appliances and homes in the ger districts and support the development of renewable energy; and improve the road in the critical north-south economic corridor.

This project aims to help Mongolian workers lacking training in modern industrial skills to qualify for more demanding and financially rewarding market-oriented jobs required in Mongolia’s developing economy.  The project’s main activities are:

• Strengthening the policy and operational framework of the country’s vocational education system for providing technical skills to unemployed and marginally employed persons;
• Defining the skills needed for occupations and applying them into the curricula for demand-driven vocational education;
• Improving teacher training and professional development;
• Providing career guidance and web-based career information services; and
• The 2010 amendment expanded the project to increase the number of institutions being supplied with essential equipment, expand the competitive grant program used in building public-private partnerships, promote “centers of excellence” in vocational education, develop a labor market information system, and provide additional public outreach activities.

This project focuses on improving the accuracy, accessibility and efficiency of Mongolia’s land titling and registration system to enable Mongolians to capitalize their land assets, make longer-term investments in their homes and businesses, and expand opportunities for generating income. The project’s main activities are:

• Improving the formal system for privatizing and registering land rights;
• Helping residents of lower income ger district areas privatize and register their land plots;
• Lease pasture land to groups of herders in peri-urban areas, and provide key infrastructure and training to improve livestock productivity and sustainable use of the range resource; and
• The 2010 amendment expanded the scope of the peri-urban activity to include two additional regions.

The importance of the road sector within the north-south economic corridor for Mongolia has been increasingly recognized. This project aims to improve the road conditions in this corridor and consists of three components:

• Constructing the 176.4 km road section between Choir and the 35th railway crossing outside of Sainshand;
• Rehabilitating the existing Bayanzurkh bridge, constructing a new 252 m bridge near the existing Bayanzurkh bridge, and rehabilitating 17.5 km of road from Ulaanbaatar to Nalaikh; and
• Supporting improved road maintenance, including capacity building in the Government’s Department of Roads.

This project aims to address the high and growing incidence of non-communicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs) to ensure that Mongolians become healthier and more productive in the marketplace.  The project’s main activities are:

• Decreasing the incidence and severity of the most prevalent forms of non-communicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs) that have an impact on mortality (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and trauma) by promoting NCDI risk-factor reducing behavior;
• Increasing early detection of NCDIs; and
• Providing effective disease management services.
• The 2010 amendment expanded the project target population, added an additional intervention of HPV vaccination, and expanded the heart disease and stroke prevention and control programs.

The energy and environment project is focused on air quality; a critical issue for residents of the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. In collaboration with other donor initiatives, the energy and environment project aims to reduce urban air pollution in the capital, bring savings from fuel consumption, reduce health costs and increase productivity. There are two primary project components:

• Creation of a facility to fund 1) consumer subsidies for residents of Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts (where the majority of the city’s poor reside) for the purchase of energy efficient products and homes certified as meeting a set standard and/or otherwise demonstrating a superior efficiency and emissions performance over previous models, 2) technical assistance, and 3) a broad based public awareness program.
• Support the introduction of wind energy into the national grid through an upgrade to the nearest substation, installation of a new 22km fiber optic line from the nearest substation to the National Dispatching Center in Ulaanbaatar, install a training simulator for the incorporation of variable power into the national grid, provision of a limited operating subsidy for wind power transmission, and the provision of technical assistance.