The objectives of the consultancy were to support the review team of DEval on their case study in Mongolia which aimed to develop and test the standard instrument for Country Portfolio Review of German Development cooperation. In this regard, the IRIM team helped understanding the country context and assisted in answering the following main questions:  

• How does the current context of the partner country look like and what are important development trends over the next few years? 

• Which policy priorities does the partner government pursue and how does it address key development trends? 

• Which role do civic and economic actors play with regard to development trends in the partner country? 

• To what extent do development partners address key development priorities and which strategies do they pursue? 

• What are the different development partners’ strengths and weaknesses in the partner country? 

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment: 

Within the scope of these objectives, the IRIM team supported the DEval review team to capture local political and economic situation by providing political analysis and briefing of different sectoral situations. Furthermore, IRIM team conducted the following activities:  

• Developed and provided analysis report on Mongolian political and economic system.  

• Contributed in identifying and contacting respondents in government, civil society, private sector and development partner organisations  

• Assisted in developing interview guidelines 

• Conducted desk review related to German Development Cooperation  

• Organized and successfully conducted key-informant interviews and workshops with relevant stakeholders which include donor, government, non-governmental organizations, private sector, individual experts, media and academia. In total 32 key-informant interviews and 2 workshops were conducted within 2 weeks.  

• Based on the findings and results of the review, provided first analysis and feedback to the Deval team   

• Provided feedback on the Standard Country Portfolio Review instrument and its development process, and further recommendations.