The Millennium Challenge Corporation (“MCC”) of the USA and the Government of Mongolia (the “Government”) have entered into a Millennium Challenge Compact for Millennium Challenge Account assistance to help facilitate poverty reduction through economic growth in Mongolia (the “Compact”).
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Project of Millennium Challenge Account Mongolia (MCA-M) responsible for implementing the Millennium Challenge Compact is announcing the Competitive Grants Program (CGP).

The TVET Project is designed to increase the wages of poor Mongolians by improving their technical skills and productivity to meet labor market demand. This goal will be accomplished by:

• Strengthening the institutional framework needed to support a demand-driven vocational education and training system
• Defining industry-led skills standards for priority trades and occupations and translating occupational standards into modern curricula supported by new instructional materials and equipment
• Improving teacher training and professional development of a wide range of TVET staff and agencies; and
• Establishment of a career guidance services and a labor market information system.

The objective of the CGP is that:

TVET institutions in Mongolia improve the quality and relevance of their services.

This contributes to achieving the objective of the TVET Project, as improved TVET services will lead to a higher employability of TVET graduates.

Mongolian public and private vocational training institutions (TVET institutions), licensed under the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science to deliver long-term vocational education, may apply for grants under the CGP that support them in the implementation of projects. Two different kinds of projects can be supported under the CGP:
• Employers and Training Institutions Cooperation (ETIC): These are projects in which a TVET institution cooperates with at least 3 employers and ideally other institutions too (for example as trade associations, local government organizations, chambers of commerce, community groups, relevant NGOs etc.). The TVET institution is the leading partner. The employers must contribute to the ETIC financially or in kind. ETICs should not comprise of all activities of a training institution, but be specifically designed for certain industries or vocations. Each ETIC is implemented by a Project Implementation Team.
• Incubation and Dissemination of Best Practice: TVET institutions that have developed successful methods, processes or mechanisms for effective school management can be supported by grants to develop these methods, processes or mechanisms further and disseminate them for the benefit of other TVET institutions. These projects should typically benefit the entire training institution as a whole, not just a certain subject or vocation within it. No partnerships with other organizations need to be established for the implementation of this kind of project.
The grants will be managed by IBTCI/ONOM Foundation. Interested TVET institutions should send informal expressions of interest to the following address:

ONOM Foundation
Nisora Tower 604, Tokyo St 14A
Khoroo I, Bayanzurkh District
Ulaanbaatar 210149, Mongolia
Fax/Tel.: 976 7015 7370
e mail: info@onomfoundation.org

They will then receive a package of documents for application, which includes, among other things
• full Requests for Proposals (RFP) for both kinds of grants with detailed information about the grants, eligibility and the application procedure
• templates for project proposals
• case studies as examples for the applicants.
If a TVET institution wants to apply for both kinds of grants, 2 different project proposals must be submitted. However, the TVET institutions can apply for at most one grant of each kind All project proposals must be received at ONOM Foundation (see address above) no later than 16:00 hours on January 29th, 2010. Applicants should be aware that distance formalities may require longer than expected delivery time.

Yours sincerely,

Chief Executive Officer
Millennium Challenge Account - Mongolia