Even in the context of a crisis situation, the 20 months allowed at appraisal for the Social Sectors Support Program's (SSSP) implementation was inadequate, particularly for achieving the technically and politically challenging goals of social welfare targeting and consolidation. A reform process in this area tends to be protracted and highly contentious - a fact that was established by the Social Security Sector Development Program (2002-2009) and reconfirmed by the SSSP. An enormous amount of time and resources were needed to establish the proxy means test and the intersector database, especially in an environment where resistance to reforms and reluctance to shift from categorical targeting were strong. When designing future programs to reform social protection in Mongolia, ADB will need to conduct a deeper analysis of the potential obstacles and consider making implementation periods longer to adjust to them.
Social Sectors Support Program