Economic Policy Reform and Competitiveness Project

In November and in collaboration with the Open Society Forum (OSF), the project sponsored publication of an educational newspaper series on energy issues. The series consisted of a weekly article published in two daily newspapers, ‘The Daily News’ and ‘The Century News’ for four consecutive weeks. The series intended to provide the public with basic information and facts about the state of the energy sector to create awareness and build the foundation for an informed public dialogue about issues. Throughout the month of November, almost all newspapers included increased coverage of energy sector problems. ‘The News of Mongolia’ echoed issues raised in the first article of the series regarding energy sector debt and losses and the need to support an independent Energy Regulatory Authority (ERA) to oversee the implementation of appropriate tariffs. Other newspapers, such as ‘The Business News’, covered other issues such as the significant investment necessary to connect isolated soums to the central grid.

Press coverage of energy sector issues increased significantly during the four weeks of the series, achieving the objective of informing the public about energy issues and encouraging broader discussion.