Griffith University governance experts are helping to shape Mongolia’s young democracy.
Fifteen Mongolian government officials and policy makers will return home this week with fresh ideas on developing robust democratic institutions, after participating in a series of workshops and discussions in Brisbane and Canberra.
They participated in the “Leadership, Change Management and Sustainable Governance Framework” program funded under the Australian Government’s Australia Awards Fellowships and by the International Business Development Unit at Griffith.
The two-week intensive workshops were conducted in partnership with Griffith, Australian National University and Queensland University of Technology academics, provided a rare opportunity for the delegates to meet a number of judges, parliamentarians and members of integrity agencies such as the Ombudsman, the Integrity Commissioner and the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
Lead faciliatator and director of the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, Prof Charles Sampford, said ‘Queensland’s experience in governance reform and the development of effective institutions within an overall ‘integrity system’ continues to provide useful examples and comparisons for states engaging in major governance reforms’.
He also said that ‘Mongolia’s transition from a one party state with a command economy to a multi-party democracy with a market economy heavily reliant on mining involved many governance challenges’.
“Discussing these challenges with such a high level group has been a most rewarding experience,” Prof Sampford said.
The workshop participants were strategically placed in Mongolia’s government and non-government sectors, to apply the knowledge and skills they had developed over the two weeks.
Prof Sampford said he was also looking forward to visiting Mongolia for further discussions early next year.
Workshop participant and the Mongolian Cabinet Secretariat’s Deputy Chief Mr Sainbileg Chuluunbat, said the Australia Awards Fellowships were “very much in the current interest” of the Mongolian Government’s systems reform agenda.
He said mechanisms for listening to the public, such as the Ombudsman and other agencies, the Australian Electoral system and the recently passed whistleblower protection legislation, was of special interest to the participants.
“The visit to Queensland Parliament House was one of the highlights of this program,” he said
The program was organised by the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law headquartered at Griffith University, is a joint initiative of the United Nations University, Griffith, ANU, QUT and OP Jindal Global University.