20 April 2026

AI Туслах: How Mongolia is Using AI to Strengthen Development Planning

Mongolia - Staff being trained on AI system

Mongolia’s Ministry of Economy and Development (MED)— with support from PAGE — has introduced an innovative solution to one of the most challenging aspects of policy planning: writing clear, measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). With a public administration marked by high staff turnover and limited technical expertise, an AI-powered assistant—currently in its pilot phase—has been embedded in the government’s digital planning platform.

Known as “AI Туслах” (AI Assistant), this new tool provides planners, including newcomers, with instant guidance on how to define data-driven KPIs aligned with national priorities. Accessible within each planning entry, the assistant gives government planners real-time support to generate structured KPIs to measure the progress under national policies, including suggested units of measurement, baselines, targets, and potential data sources.

For example, when a planner in the Ministry of Energy enters a project such as the 300 MW Thermal Power Plant No. 5, the AI assistant can instantly suggest potential KPIs such as installed capacity (MW), construction progress (%), annual electricity generation (GWh), budget execution (%), and jobs created. Officials can review the proposed indicators, adjust them as needed, and incorporate them into the final plan.

From fragmentation to integrated planning

The AI assistant is part of a broader effort to modernize Mongolia’s national development planning systems.

Recent reforms to the methodology of developing Mongolia’s Five-Year Development Guidelines (2026–2030), led by MED with PAGE technical support, have helped connect national ambitions with measurable actions. The revised framework integrates key sustainability commitments, including Mongolia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30.3 per cent by 2030 and priorities from the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan into the country’s core planning architecture.

The updated framework now includes 38 green outcomes and 60 KPIs, alongside 76 SDG-aligned indicators that link national objectives with implementation across ministries and local governments. By embedding sustainability targets into national planning and strengthening the capacity of ministries, local governments, and 36 budget authorities to use results-based indicators, the reform has helped turn climate and environmental commitments into policies that can be monitored, reported, and delivered.

Participants at the AI training event in Mongolia

From manual consolidation to digital planning

Until recently, consolidating annual development plans from government entities was a largely manual process. In 2023, MED compiled submissions from 39 ministries and agencies, merging them into a single spreadsheet containing more than 34,000 rows of data. Staff spent weeks manually compiling and verifying indicators, targets, and budgets—an approach that was time-consuming and prone to inconsistencies.

To streamline this process, MED launched a digital planning platform (plan.med.gov.mn) through UNDP’s project for Strengthening Systems Approach for SDGs in Mongolia (SASiM), which has since been taken forward under the PAGE initiative. The system enables all ministries and agencies to submit their plans through a web interface or standardized Excel imports.

Built-in validation tools automatically flag duplicate entries, verify agency names, and check for inconsistencies in indicators and budgets. Each planning item is also linked directly to Mongolia’s Medium-Term Development Plan (2026–2030), ensuring alignment with national priorities.

The AI assistant helps guide planners to align project-level indicators with the Five-Year Development Guidelines and Mongolia’s broader national policy framework. This ensures that sectoral initiatives—from energy infrastructure to environmental programmes—can be monitored consistently across government institutions.

The live planning system showing a Ministry of Energy planning item with the AI chatbot offering context-specific KPI recommendations

Building a smarter planning system

Beyond improving the immediate planning cycle, the digital system is also designed to support long-term policy analysis. Overtime, as annual submissions continue, this growing dataset can support more advanced analytics, including policy coherence analysis, cross-sector comparisons, and trend monitoring.

For Mongolia, the integration of digital planning systems and artificial intelligence represents an important step toward more data-driven, coordinated policymaking—helping the government move from manual consolidation toward a smarter and more predictive development planning system.

AI Туслах: How Mongolia is Using AI to Strengthen Development Planning

From fragmentation to integrated planning

From manual consolidation to digital planning

Building a smarter planning system

Funding partners

Advancing Inclusive Green Economy Learning at India’s Premier Civil Service Academy