The "ESOMAR CONGRESS 2023" which attend approximately 750 research and consultancy companies from 70 countries around the world every year, was organized for 4 days from 10 to 14 September, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. J.Erdenebileg, CEO at SICA LLC participated in the congress to study experience and expand cooperation.

WHAT IS MEN-TERNSHIP PROGRAM? SICA's internship program aimed at empowering and developing the students and preparing them as skilled personnel by putting theoretical knowledge into practice. Within the framework of the program, we have signed memorandums with major universities of Mongolia such as National University of Mongolia, Mongolian University of Life Sciences and University of Humanities, and we are successfully continuing our cooperation.

What is esomar? ESOMAR has a leading international membership of data analysis and research enterprise. Originally founded in 1947, and it's been over 70 years since 1948 when introduced first research standards, guidance and ethics to members. From 1977, it released standards, guidance and ethics with International chamber of commerce, and from 2016, it has been releasing data analysis standards, guidance and ethics too. Becoming member of ESOMAR allow us to learn international news of data analysis and research without time delay, and keep pace with leading experiences and expand international cooperation.

SCOPE: Ulaanbaatar city, Bulgan Province, Khishig-Undur Soum   DATA COLLECTION METHOD: Quantitative survey, Qualitative survey, Desk review  SAMPLE SIZE: n=315  DURATION: 2023.03.29-2023.06.16  PROJECT OBJECTIVES:   The mid-term evaluation aimed to assess 21 sub-activities within the 4 main objectives that were implemented during the first 3 years of the project. Based on the findings, the evaluation team provided recommendations for further activities.  OUTCOME:   Out of the 21 project sub-activities, 14 are considered “effective”, 4 “achieved some results” and 3 “cannot be evaluated”, because they had not yet begun.   The citizens who took part in the training now have a better understanding of how waste is sorted, particularly how plastic waste is sorted. For instance, 85 percent of the people surveyed said they separate their waste, and 45-68 percent of those people said they “learned from the program organized within the project” how to sort their waste.   According to the survey’s findings, 85.5 percent of participants sort their waste, compared to 14.4 percent who do not. Khishig-Undur soum has 4.4-21.9 percentage points more residents who sort their waste than Ulaanbaatar city and Bulgan province when results are compared by the location.  

SICA LLC has been carrying out “Consulting Services to Provide Evaluation and Conclusions on the Implementation of UBCAP and AFUBCAP”. The project has been implementing throughout the two project phases since 2012 with the aim to offer residents of the capital city access to low-emission heating equipment and services. It also seeks to collaborate with development partners to implement medium-term measures for reducing emissions in Ulaanbaatar. As part of the consulting service, we intend to identify in what way the indicators were changed, and field enumerator’s training was successfully organized on 08 June 2023. 

The research team of the "SICA" LLC, research and consulting services conducted the research on the "Current State of Employment of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" for the second time, within the scope of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Business Excellence for Sustainability and Transparency (BEST) program implemented by the Development Solutions NGO.  The significance of the research is to identify what role is being executed by SMEs in country’s employment and the current state of employment through conducting qualitative and quantitative surveys which were participated by 1027 entrepreneurs in SME. The SMEs, which were participated in the research, run its operation in Ulaanbaatar city and 12 provinces. The research was prioritized 8 main industries as follows: agriculture, wholesale and retail, manufacture, HoReCa, construction, logistics and warehouse, education, and communication.   The research team would like to express gratitude to the USAID, the Development Solutions NGO, and the SMEs and individuals who provided vital information for our research.  

SCOPE: Suburb households of the Songinokhairkhan and Chingeltei districts of Ulaanbaatar city.    DATA COLLECTION METHOD: Quantitative survey, Qualitative survey, and Desk review  SAMPLE SIZE: n=363  TIME PERIOD: 07 February 2023 – 24 March 2023   RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: This survey is being conducted for the second time as part of the WCTM project Outcome 2. "Improving the quality and efficiency of waste collection and transportation management services in selected districts". The first survey was conducted in August 2022.  In the second survey, the  survey participants of the selected districts were asked about the current situation related to waste in the area where they live, how households dispose their waste waste, and their opinions about waste service  fee. The analysis of the surveys were compared and summarized in the report.  OUTCOME: In the 2019 survey, 49.2 of the participants said that there  was illegal dumping nearby, however in the 2022 survey, just 23.0% of respondents provided the same response. Nonetheless, 14.9% of respondents to the 2023 survey answered that there is an illegal dumping close to where they live. The results above show that between 2019 and 2023, illegal dumping became less of an issue, dropping by a total of 34.3 percentage points, from 49.2 to 14.9 percent. 

Name of survey: Mystery shopping Sector: Grocery store Scope: UB city main 6 districts Sample size: 12 branches Time period: 05 April 2023 – 25 April 2023 Brief introduction of survey: The chain visited 12 branches of the grocery to evaluate service standards and customer experience. The extent to which employees adhere to the company's internal service standards was measured. We evaluated about 30 indicators such as product price, selection, quality, greetings of employees, product description, and polite communication, identified the indicators that need to be improved and the indicators that need to be preserved, and developed conclusions and recommendations.

SCOPE: 54 soums, 12 provinces, and Ulaanbaatar city, MongoliaDATA COLLECTION METHOD: Sample survey, qualitative research, and secondary researchSAMPLE SIZE: n=2,246TIME PERIOD: 2022.11.01 – 2023.02.28GOAL: Mid-term evaluation was conducted according to the methodology used in the baseline study. The main indicators affecting the project's goals were measured quantitatively, as well as confirmed by qualitative research and compared with national statistical indicators. In addition, the results of the measures taken by the project related to animal hospitals, contingency response activities and the productivity of the livestock were assessed and economic calculations were made.MAIN FINDINGS: In the mid-term evaluation, we collected information from 2246 people in total including 1704 herdsmen households, herdsmen and local management, meat and milk processing entrepreneurs, 25 project implementation unit employees, 384 livestock product users, and 133 veterinarians from 54 soums of 12 provinces. In order to measure the project's baseline indicators, the research team defined the main and sub-indicators, and conducted data collection and analysis. Livestock conditions in the selected soums were measured at the household level in accordance with the objectives of the project, through livestock herd structure, livestock productivity, livestock health, income from livestock farming, and sales channels.