The Independent Research Institute of Mongolia (IRIM) begun monitoring the transparency in websites of government agencies in 2011. Since 2014, it has become our tradition to conduct the monitoring survey annually. In 2019, with an aim to improve the methodology to an international methodology IRIM developed the Digital Transparency Index (DTI). The index was piloted in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.

We have started our annual assessment of government organizations with an improved methodology. We will be assessing a total of 81 official government organizations of Mongolia.

Transparency is an important element of good governance and critical to the creation of an enabling environment for the rule of law. It’s a powerful force that, when consistently applied, can help fight corruption, improve governance and promote accountability. When citizens have access to information, they can effectively monitor and hold their government accountable. Therefore, it is important that citizens have access to the same information used by their government to make decisions.

The DTI assesses and quantitatively compares the digital transparency status of participating countries or organizations in order to reveal the pros and cons of their digital information dissemination.  The DTI rates countries or organizations relative to one another, but is not an absolute measurement of transparency of those bodies. The index should be used to reveal the pros and cons of information dissemination digitally by each country or organization on the basis of comparative analysis in order to give a deep understanding of their own advantages and weaknesses.

The ultimate purpose is to improve their system for information dissemination through the use of modern ICT technology. The index can be used either by governments or various organizations as a tool to learn from each other, to identify areas of strength and challenges to digital information dissemination and to shape their policies and strategies in this area. It is generally aimed at facilitating and informing discussions of government bodies or organizational units on issues related to digital information dissemination and the critical role of digital information disclosure in the development of transparency and a culture of openness.