INTER PARES Partnership with the Parliament of Sri Lanka

PRIORITY 1

Strengthening Budget oversight throughout the Budget cycle

Parliamentary Budget Office

• Strengthen the capacities of the PBO for its launch, institutionalization, and exercise of its legislated mandate,
• Enhance the capacity of PBO staff to carry out budget forecasting, economic modelling and non-partisan research methods.
• Equip the PBO staff with comparative knowledge enabling them to develop a portfolio of standard analytical products, including an annual budget brief, macroeconomic and fiscal forecasting including assessment of government fiscal assumptions, plus alternative scenario analyses, to inform parliamentary scrutiny of government projections, expenditure reviews and assessments of medium-term fiscal projections.

Financial committees COPF, COPA, COPE and Committee on Ways and Means

• Strengthen the capacity of Members and staff of the four parliamentary committees COPF, COPA, COPE and Committee on Ways and Means to develop and implement standardized procedures, analytical tools and briefing templates.
• Strengthen the capacity of Members and staff of COPF to carry out effective scrutiny of budget proposals and underlying assumptions, including with support from the new PBO.
• Strengthen the capacity of Members and staff of COPA and COPE to carry out in-depth assessment and follow-up of Auditor General reports, thus providing effective post-facto oversight of government expenditures.

PRIORITY 2

Open Parliament – strengthening outreach and engagement with citizens in the legislative process

• Enhance communication and education tools and mechanisms for engaging with media, citizens, young people, as well as marginalised groups and persons with disability.
• Identify mechanisms for consultation with citizens and public participation in the legislative process through the committee system, to facilitate input into parliamentary business from the general public or specific groups, and to enable parliament to directly involve individuals or groups in parliamentary processes or decisions.

PRIORITY 3

Strengthening of research services to Members of Parliament

• Enable the research unit to incorporate contemporary approaches to parliamentary research, including guidelines for use of AI in research.
• Design an effective cataloguing system for research conducted enables MPs and parliamentary staff to readily access relevant completed research.
• Equip the research unit with models and templates for effectively communicating parliamentary research products to MPs.

PRIORITY 4

Support to relevant parliamentary caucuses to strengthen gender equality and women’s empowerment, address climate change and foster inclusion for persons with disabilities

Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus

• Strengthen the capacity of the caucus to analyse legislation from a gender perspective, such as gender-based violence and online harassment of women and girls in politics.
• Identify and develop tools and mechanisms for gender-responsive budgeting and gender-sensitive law-making.

Parliamentary Caucus for Persons with Disabilities

• Strengthen the capacity of the caucus to advocate and promote legislation sensitive to disability and which aims to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.
• Identify tools and mechanisms through which the Parliament of Sri Lanka enhances access for persons with disabilities and fosters an inclusive parliamentary tradition.
• Identify and implement ways in which Members and staff can be sensitised and supported on disability matters.

Caucus on Climate Parliament

• Strengthen the capacity of the caucus to address the impact of climate change in the country, particularly with regards to human-wildlife conflict, and to identify approaches to enable local communities to coexist with, and benefit from wildlife.

Programme Timeline: October 2025 - July 2026