Ulaanbaatar – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Regional Data Hub’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) unit, is spearheading the crucial task of gathering and elevating vital national migration data and facilitating the seamless integration of migration into policies and interventions.

This has been possible through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) funded project, Understanding and Managing Internal Migration in Mongolia, which IOM implemented from September 2019 to July 2023. The project has empowered the National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar (MUB) to to sustain and consolidate this notable achievement

“I am pleased to highlight that over the course of the project, IOM has tackled operational challenges and introduced ethical data practices, enabling decision-makers to provide targeted assistance to displaced and mobile populations,” said Daniel Sam, Program Manager at IOM Mongolia.

This aligned with the IOM’s 2020–2025 Migration Data Strategy, under which IOM has strategically harnessed internal displacement data to address human rights, humanitarian and development concerns in Ulaanbaatar city.

In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, IOM conducted groundbreaking DTM flow monitoring assessments, first to roll out the assessment in the world, ensuring the adherence to ethical data standards. In collaboration with MUB, IOM has conducted mobility tracking assessments, furnishing mobile population data for all nine districts of Ulaanbaatar between 2021 and 2023.

Sam noted, “We were also able to conduct extensive mobility tracking assessments with the NSO, bolstering the efforts of local government authorities.”

He added that over 80 officials have undergone training in DTM methodology, fortifying the process of institutionalization. Furthermore, training sessions with NSO and MUB have cemented the institutionalization of the DTM Methodology.

“We have also conducted four rounds of DTM Mobility Tracking (MT) assessment trainings with over 7,000 participants; whilst under the NSO sessions, around 2,000 enumerators enrolled for the training,” Chandan Nayak, Regional DTM Coordinator and Head of the Asia-Pacific Regional Data Hub said, adding that as a sustainable initiative starting from 2024, the DTM MT assessments will be conducted independently and twice in a year by MUB.

Significantly, DTM activities have also yielded valuable insights, encompassing studies on social mobility, urban-to-rural migration analysis, COVID returnees' employment studies, and informative details about the Mongolian Diaspora.

Data and evidence for policy support to national stakeholders as well as development actors more broadly, will require IOM to optimize and consolidate its migration data activities and analysis frameworks with the government actors, as far as data collection and management are concerned, even once the project had phased out.

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For more information, please contact Daniel Sam at IOM Mongolia, Email: dsam@iom.int