Partnerships Update October 2020

During the summer months, we continued to adapt our peer-to-peer partnership activities given the travel restrictions and to implement revised activities wherever possible through virtual means. By June 2020, many parliaments had adopted necessary measures for their functioning and were able to consider revised approaches to peer-to-peer partnership activities.

We are pleased to share with you a number of revised partnership initiatives we are implementing at the moment:

Bhutan: A five-day hybrid legislative drafting dialogue with the Parliament of Bhutan took place from Monday 3 August to Friday 7 August 2020. The seminar included two parts each day: theoretical two-hour sessions led by Dr Prof Helen Xanthaki, one of the world’s leading scholars and teachers on parliamentary drafting, and one-hour practitioner-led sessions. We were delighted to welcome parliamentary experts from the Council of the European Union, the Parliaments of the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Poland, and Slovakia.

The seminar gathered 60 MPs and staff from the Parliament of Bhutan at the Institute for Management Studies (IMS) in Thimphu in Bhutan, with the required COVID-19 safety measures in place. All other participants and parliamentary experts joined online via the WebEx platform.

The envisaged cooperation with the Bhutan parliament gender caucus, local NGO BNEW, and INTER PARES national consultants, planned for 18-20 August, was postponed to a later date, due to an increase in coronavirus cases in the second week of August and a subsequent nation-wide lockdown in Bhutan.

The Gambia: Following up on the initial cancellation of in-person activities planned with the Irish Houses of the Oireachtas in June 2020, partnership activities have now resumed.  A planning videoconference took place, where an action plan was agreed to host virtual peer-to-peer exchanges on the strengthening of the Parliament’s legal department and on parliamentary management support. These activities are set to take place throughout October 2020.

Malawi: The INTER PARES Partnership Fiche with the Parliament of Malawi was developed and approved in cooperation with the National Assembly of Malawi and the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Malawi. The project fiche was shared in a call for expression of interest with all EUMSPs during the summer months. INTER PARES and the Parliament of Malawi were delighted to note the Parliament of the Czech Republic has expressed interest in the peer-to-peer partnership with Malawi. Subsequently, a planning videoconference took place with all partners involved, activities will be carried out in the following priority areas: budgetary oversight; research; and communications and civic education.

Support is still 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.

Panama: The European Commission facilitated the preparatory work for the first video conference call between INTER PARES, the Congress of Deputies of Spain, and the National Assembly of Panama. This was done in conjunction with the International Republican Institute (IRI).

Trinidad and Tobago: A revised partnership fiche was agreed with the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament. The revised fiche takes into account the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on online activities and was shared with EUMSPs in a call for expressions of interest. The Hellenic Parliament confirmed interest in budgetary reporting mechanisms, and following on from the planning videoconference with took place mid-September, peer-to-peer activities are scheduled for mid/end October.

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.

We are advancing our work with the remaining partner countries at the same time and we will keep you posted on developments as the partnerships progress.

October 2020

f you would welcome more frequent updates on partnership activities, don’t hesitate to let us know: interpares@idea.int