Abstract
In Mongolia with 2.5 million inhabitants, population density is extremely low. It has a sever climate. Three quarters of the countries territory are grasslands, with the remaining area being deserts or mountain areas. This description does not depict Mongolia as a very attractive place, but somehow, however, it managed to attract considerable amounts of foreign aid workers. Today Mongolia is the fifth most aid-dependent country in the world. The high dependency rate on foreign aid, raises the question if this limits the Mongolian policy options. Is high aid dependency connected to weak ownership of ones own development? The purpose of this paper is to analyse the concepts of ownership and partnership as well as institutional change in the aid relation with Mongolia. We will start by looking at Mongolia as a recipient. This will be followed by Mongolian development strategies and shifts taking place over time as well as processes of receiving aid. Then we will also compare Japanese and Swedish aid to Mongolia in the field of human resource development. We will start by looking at Japan as a donor and its processes for giving aid to Mongolia. We will have a case study in the field of human resource development. Then we will look at Swedish policy and processes for giving aid to Mongolia and make a case study of Swedish aid for human resource development.