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Strengthening Parliaments World WideIt is a common opinion that free and fair elections represent the culmination of the democratic process. However, for fledgling democracies and countries recovering from crisis, elections are not an end, but rather a beginning, a critical but nonetheless preliminary step in the transition to democratic governance. Realizing the promise of elections – and minimizing the risk of public disillusionment with the democratic process – requires investments in long-term democratic development, in particular the consolidation of governing institutions like parliaments. Parliaments serve three main functions: express the will of the people, pass laws, and hold governments to account. Parliaments also control and administer national budgets. Parliamentarians can give voice to constituencies in remote and historically underserved areas, and they should provide a critical check on government by demanding public reviews of expenditures, by pointing out inequalities in implementation. The power to question government decisions publicly and to prevent the suppression of information is one of a parliament’s foremost responsibilities. Adopting reforms to relieve ethnic, religious and economic tensions, parliaments are critical in peace building, crisis prevention and post-conflict recovery. Parliamentary development: UNDP assists Parliaments sometimes have insufficient capacity to perform their function. Severe resource constraints, embedded systems of patronage, a lack of independence, and, after conflicts, an asymmetry of power in relation to the executive and armed groups, are some of the obstacles nascent parliaments face. A neutral, long-term development partner, UNDP is uniquely well suited to support emerging elected institutions and bring diverse political actors to the table in countries in transition. Parliamentary development is a robust and quickly expanding area of UNDP’s democratic governance practice. UNDP now supports over 50 parliaments around the world; and the number is growing. Global Programme for Parliamentary Strengthening Among the main instruments through which UNDP supports parliaments is the Global Programme for Parliamentary Strengthening (GPPS), launched in 1999. Currently, the program is enhancing the institutional capacity of parliaments via a number of programs at global, regional and national level. At global level, over the last three years, GPPS has supported the efforts of inter-parliamentary organizations such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF), the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) in their quest to identify the key characteristics of a democratic parliament, regardless of the system of government within which it operates. As a result, the APF and the CPA have developed a set of evaluative criteria and benchmarks respectively, and SADC PF is in the process of developing benchmarks from a regional perspective. At the same time, the IPU has developed a self-assessment toolkit based on a collection of good practice from over half of its member parliaments. In the future, UNDP expects these tools to inform and improve south-south cooperation and UNDP’s own parliamentary development programming. In March 2010 a global conference on parliamentary benchmarks takes place in Paris. A second major priority for GPPS is supporting the development of a multi-lateral Parliamentary Development Web Portal. Based upon intensive consultations with interested parliaments and partner organizations, the UNDP parliamentary team in Brussels has worked to support the development of a web-based platform upon which parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, development practitioners and national actors can access information, enhance coordination and seek advice with regard to the functioning of open and transparent parliaments. The web portal AGORA is a multilateral initiative accessible at: www.agora-parl.org International Knowledge Network for Women in Politics During the last three years, the international Knowledge Network for Women in Politics “iKNOWPolitics” has become a central place for sharing experiences and knowledge for women in politics, based upon an inter-agency cooperation between IDEA, IPU, NDI, UNDP and UNIFEM. iKNOW Politics works to enable access to valuable resources and advisory services, share interests and experiences, and network and collaborate on issues of interest to women in politics. The Network currently has a significant resource base in three languages (English, French and Spanish). The website provides more than 1,400 free resources through the online library, including skills training manuals, consolidated expert responses, published articles and more. Visit: www.iKNOWPolitics.org In the Arab Region, GPPS is working with the UNDP Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR) to create and support thematic parliamentary networks focused on improving parliamentary oversight and promoting transparency and accountability. A network of Arab parliamentarians against corruption is up and running, as are working groups on budgetary oversight, and political party legislation. The Arab Political Parties Database and Legislative Database are now available. A new Arab Parliamentary Bulletin has been launched. The Arab parliamentary knowledge portal has further increased its outreach, and provides user-friendly access to a host of parliamentary development resources, such as studies, policy guidance, translated documents, and links to networks and databases. Visit: www.arabparliaments.org In Central-America and the Arab Region, GPPS in cooperation with UNDP’s Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) has launched a new program on the role of parliamentarians in conflict prevention and community security. The program supports like-minded parliamentarians to enhance their skills in law review, in drafting new legislation related to community security, and document and promote best practices at regional level. The program will also build the capacities of relevant national parliamentary committees in two pilot countries in both regions. A similar program to strengthen the role of parliamentarians in situations of conflict recovery, small arms control and community security has commenced in West Africa in early 2010, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium. GPPS works intensively with a number of selected national parliaments and fosters in particular inter-regional South-South exchanges of best parliamentary practices. In Lebanon, GPPS supports the parliament to integrate the human rights approach and proceed with the national action plan for human rights; and to develop the capacity for public participation including on national dialogue. In Mauritania, GPPS aims at building the capacities of the parliamentary administration, with priority attention for training courses for the civil servants in the field of ICT as well as to the different session’s services. The project also supports the work of Committees and Political Groups. In Algeria UNDP aims at strengthening the capacity of the parliamentary administration, the legislative development skills of MPs and drafting / revising the parliament’s strategic development plan. In Niger UNDP has re-assessed its parliamentary program towards strengthening the capacity of the parliamentary administration. |
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