Partnerships update January 2021

During autumn 2020, we continued to adapt our peer-to-peer partnership activities to the travel restrictions and lockdown requirements, implementing revised activities through virtual means, whenever possible. We are extremely grateful for the widespread engagement of both European Union Member State Parliaments and partner Parliaments in carrying out numerous successful virtual parliamentary strengthening activities in the last quarter of 2020.  

We are pleased to share with you our latest partnership updates and some of the plans we are developing with partners for 2021:

Malawi: INTER PARES established three working groups in partnership with the Czech and Malawian Parliaments: on strengthening budgetary oversight and developing the capacity of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO); on building the capacity of the research unit; and on communications and civic education. The working groups met twice in the past couple of months, firstly to agree on a work plan and secondly, to discuss timeframes for implementation and concrete activities for implementation.

All three working groups will kick-start activities as outlined in the respective action plans in January 2021, with an initial joint virtual guided visit of the Czech Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies,  and which will be open to parliamentary staff at the National Assembly.

Support is still being sought on Priority 1: Strengthening the legislative capacity of the National Assembly. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if your Parliament would be keen to join in the partnership.

Trinidad and Tobago: A virtual dialogue was held with the Hellenic Parliament’s PBO in September focusing on the strengthening of the Financial Scrutiny Unit of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. A work plan is in development, with a peer review being carried out at the moment by the Hellenic Parliament’s PBO of expenditure analyses produced by the Financial Scrutiny Unit at the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago.

Support is still sought on Priority 1: Digital technology for transformation and Priority 3: Youth and civil society engagements. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if your Parliament would be keen to join in the partnership.

Malaysia: INTER PARES met with the new Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, HE Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun, with a view to restarting partnership activities after the change in political leadership in Malaysia. A technical-level meeting subsequently took place, with concrete activities discussed in the following areas: support to select committees, support to the new select committee on women, children affairs and social development, and on parliamentary communications and civic education.

INTER PARES also launched exploratory discussions to develop and deliver a Youth Parliamentary Academy, that would provide training to young people about parliament’s work and ways to engage with the institution. This is particularly relevant due to Malaysia’s recent extension of the suffrage to young people from the ages of 18 to 21.

Maldives:  A one-week hybrid legislative drafting seminar for parliamentary staff at the People’s Majlis is planned for 24-28 January 2021, organised in collaboration with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and which will be led by Dr Maria Mousmouti, Lecturer in Law at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, UK and Executive Director at the Centre for European Constitutional Law.

The Gambia: Two working groups were created in partnership with the Irish Houses of the Oireachtas: one focused on strengthening the legal department, and another focused on strengthening the parliamentary management structure to effectively manage the Institution. A first exchange on the legal department took place in early October, with a presentation of the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers (OPLA) at the Irish Houses of the Oireachtas and a discussion on the main challenges of the newly created legal department at the National Assembly of The Gambia.

Panama: Following up on discussions with the National Assembly of Panama, a number of priorities were revisited on enhanced communication with citizens, combatting violence against women in politics and support to the subcommittee on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These will be carried out in 2021 in partnership with the Spanish Congress of Deputies and the Slovak National Council. The National Assembly of Panama and the Spanish Congress have also agreed to partner bilaterally on an additional set of priorities.

Bhutan: The envisaged cooperation with the Bhutan parliament gender caucus, local NGO BNEW and INTER PARES national consultants, has been rescheduled for January 2021. This was due to the restrictions imposed in Bhutan in late summer and throughout autumn, because of a rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the country. Follow up partnership activities have been discussed for 2021, in the areas of communications, research, gazetting and support to the library of both houses of parliament.

We are advancing our work with the remaining partner countries and we will keep you posted on developments as the partnerships progress. If you would welcome more frequent updates on partnership activities, don’t hesitate to let us know!