IRIM Research Institute had been implemented the ‘Qualitative Research in Mongolia: Focus groups on draft NGO Law’ commissioned by International Republican Institute (IRI) from April 2019 to August 2019). The draft Law on Non-profit legal entities aims to overhaul the regulation of civil society (CS) in Mongolia. However, upon critical review, many see the proposed law as a potential threat to the fundamental freedom of association with provisions that might restrict the civic space and independence of NGOs in Mongolia. In order to better understand the proposed draft law and possible implications, IRIM conducted research by means of political economy analysis (PEA), focus group discussions (FGDs) and international comparative analysis of similar types of laws regulating CS in other countries.   

This project consist of 3 main components as below.  

• Component #1: Political and Economy Analysis (PEA). In this section, IRIM team had compared the current NGO law with draft NGO law/ ‘Non-profit legal entities’ and defined the advantages, disadvantages of the both provisions.  

• Component #2: Qualitative research. There were total four FGDs had been conducted in Ulaanbaatar city, Darkhan-Uul and Southgobi province. The two out of four FGD were conducted in UB city, one was only organized with the NGO experts. Others were conducted with NGO and citizens representative. 

• Component #3: Comparative analysis. International comparative analysis of similar types of laws regulating CS in other countries such as China and Russia.