UNDP Mongolia Reports | 1997 - 1999

Publisher: UNDP Mongolia Communications Office

UNDP Mongolia Communications Coordinator: David South

The transition years of the 1990s had been especially brutal for Mongolia. The country experienced "one of the biggest peacetime economic collapses ever" (Mongolia's Economic Reforms: Background, Content and Prospects, Richard Pomfret, University of Adelaide, 1994) and it was a turbulent time. By the mid-1990s, the country had a long way to go to catch up with global developments in computer-based publishing and graphic design (and the Internet revolution was just getting started). However, UNDP's investments in encouraging high-quality graphic design and publishing were reflected in improvements to reports published by the UNDP Mongolia Communications Office. Unlike other development actors in Mongolia, who often chose to contract graphic design and publishing services from outside the country, the UNDP Mongolia Communications Office contracted Mongolian graphic designers and publishers for all of its publications. This investment in local talent paid off, not just for UN Mongolia publications, but also for Mongolia's publishing sector. The reports also garnered international attention for being “clear, well-written, attractive and colourful (UN Under-Secretary-General Nafis Sadik).” Examples of some of the many reports published by the Office are below: 

Human Development Report Mongolia 1997 published by the UNDP Mongolia Communications Office. Highly influential, it showed the extent of poverty in the transition years but also painted a positive vision for how human development could improve with the right policies.

The Guide in the Mongolian language.

The Guide in English.

The 1998 UN Mongolia Annual Report as it appeared in the Blue Sky Bulletin newsletter.

Mongolia Update - Coverage of 1998 Political Changes by David South.

Reports were timely and addressed demands for more information, such as the report Tackling Y2K in Mongolia.

New publications and reports were announced and made available to the general public. Anyone could drop by the UN Info Shop and read or acquire a publication.

 © David South Consulting 2017