Partnerships update June 2021
Round 1
Bhutan
A workshop on Gender Scrutiny of Legislation, Policy and Budget for the BWPC, was co-organised with the Bhutan Network for Empowering Women (BNEW) a Bhutanese NGO that also acts as secretariat to the BWPC. It took place in two hybrid sessions in Bhutan between 29-31 March and between 6-8 April 2021. The first session included high-level participation from the Parliament of Bhutan and EUD to India and Bhutan. The Speaker of the National Assembly, H.E Lyonpo Wangchuk Namgyel, actively participated throughout the workshop sessions.
The workshop included intensive group work and exchanges with parliamentary experts from the Parliaments of Ireland, Italy and Slovakia and from the Women’s Council Denmark and the Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy (DIPD). The gender-sensitive scrutiny sessions were led by Hannah Johnson, INTER PARES Senior Gender Adviser.
The parliamentarians drafted a Gender Scrutiny Action Plan during the workshop, including an extensive list of legislation that the Parliament aims to review from a gender perspective. A gender sensitive scrutiny guide tailored to the needs of the Parliament of Bhutan has been developed and distributed to participants following the workshop.
Malaysia
A Gender Sensitive Law-making and Oversight Workshop with MPs and staff at the House of Representatives of Malaysia took place between 22-24 June 2021, in collaboration with the local organisation ENGENDER. The virtual workshop strengthened the Malaysian Parliament’s capacity to conduct gender-sensitive scrutiny, and specifically to support and enhance the capacities of the Special Select Committee on Women and Children’s Affairs and Social Development. The workshop was led by European and local parliamentary and gender experts, and included a lively and productive peer-to-peer exchange with Ms. Lotta Johnsson Fornarve, Second Deputy Speaker of the Swedish Parliament.
Work supporting parliamentary communications started in February 2021, with two meetings between the Irish and Malaysian Parliaments’ Communications teams, which defined the specific areas of focus: broadcasting, and the civic education programme. An education WG has been established, which will focus on the development of lesson plans as part of a school curriculum.
Maldives
17 parliamentary staff from the People’s Majlis attended an intensive week-long hybrid legislative drafting seminar between 24-28 January for parliamentary staff at the People’s Majlis. Organised in collaboration with the IPU and with participation from EUMSPs, the seminar was led by a leading legislative drafting scholar, Dr Maria Mousmouti. The practitioner sessions accompanying the taught sessions included parliamentary experts from nine Parliaments (Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Namibia, Poland, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic and Wales) and from the New Zealand Centre for Global Studies and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
All participants reported that they gained knowledge that would assist them in their day to day work. The majority of participants reported that the seminar met their expectations and objectives (83.3%) and that they are ready to apply what they learnt (83.3%). Participants commented that the seminar was helpful, that it provided ideas to address questions emerging during the drafting of legislation, and provided insights into the concept of effective law and different ways of scrutiny.
Panama
A workplan was agreed with the National Assembly of Panama in April 2021. Regarding priority 4, on 28th April, a roundtable took place between Members of Parliament of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Committee of the National Assembly of Panama and of the Spanish Joint Committee for the Coordination and Monitoring of the Spanish Strategy to achieve the SDGs. To follow up, technical staff devoted to SDGs meet on June 8th to exchange details of their work and discuss current challenges and opportunities.
With respect to priority 1, on June 4th, a virtual exchange was held between the Spanish Director of Committees and the Panamanian Committee Staff. The exchange focused on committee structure, functions and challenges of supporting MPs in their work in committees. A first exchange on parliamentary administration structures and staff support to committee work with the National Council of the Slovak Republic was held on June 23rd. On June 28th, a one-day training on legislative drafting took place and included an overview of the legislative process, principles of legislative drafting, with a focus on amendments. Following up on these activities, a guide with recommendations will be jointly developed.
The Gambia
A five-day legislative drafting seminar for staff at the National Assembly took place between 17-21 May 2021. The seminar was attended by 20 parliamentary staff from the legal, committee and research divisions of the Parliament.
The seminar familiarised experts and staff from the Parliament of the Gambia with basic concepts of effective law-making, encouraging them to reflect on how these concepts can be applied in their practical context.
The 1st part of the (daily) session exposed participants to core content and addressed their questions, and was led by Dr Maria Mousmouti, internationally prominent expert on legislative drafting. The practitioners’ session (2nd part of the daily session) built on the previous one through examples from parliamentary practice from counterpart institutions in a number of EU countries. Asynchronous elements were introduced through the obligation of participants to follow the e-learning course on Legislative Drafting at their own time during the course week.
Round II
Malawi
The INTER PARES Partnership with the National Assembly of Malawi includes support to strengthening Parliament’s budgetary oversight capacity, its research capacity, and enhancing communication with citizens and civic education. The Czech Chamber of Deputies is the partnering EUMSP.
Three working groups have been created and work plans developed by the partnering Parliaments for each priority area, with the following objectives:
WG1 on Budget Oversight: building the capacity of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), ensuring parliament and committees can effectively scrutinize the budget and monitor expenditure through objective analysis; as well as to effectively communicate data and analysis through relevant products and visualisation tools in an accessible manner. Activities have taken place monthly since January 2021.
WG2 on Research: strengthening the research department’s operational structure, while building the capacity of the staff to conduct high-quality, independent and impartial research and analysis and conducting a review and update of the existing Research Manual. Activities started in May 2021, with two sessions concluded and an upcoming session taking place end of June 2021.
WG3 on Communications and Civic Education: strengthening and expanding the National Assembly’s civic education programme, and establishing a communication plan to guide engagement and activities with citizens and civil society through the review of the communication strategy, while building the professional capacity of communications staff for open, transparent and effective communication Activities took place between January and March 2021, with follow up activities to be resumed in summer 2021.
Trinidad and Tobago
Following the peer review carried out by the Hellenic Parliament’s PBO of expenditure analyses produced by the Financial Scrutiny Unit at the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, the Parliament is preparing a roadmap for its strengthening and development.
At Parliament’s request, INTER PARES organised a financial scrutiny workshop for MPs on January 20, chaired by the Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee. The workshop shared knowledge from the Irish Parliament’s Parliamentary Budget Office and showcased the full budget cycle approach of the German Bundestag.
El Salvador
A number of videoconferences were held during January, February, and June to develop a draft partnership fiche. Following elections in February 2021 and the consequent establishment of the new legislature produced a temporary pause in the development of the fiche. Technical meetings on the priorities discussed have taken place throughout June, to be followed by the finalization and approval of the fiche and its distribution to EUMSPs in July.
3rd Round Partnerships
Partner countries prioritised by the Implementation Task Force were approved by the Steering Committee in February 2021, with work underway to establish the partnerships, as follows:
Bolivia
A first meeting was held with the Vice-President of Bolivia, which by the Constitution it is the President of the Assembly, the Presidents of both parliamentary chambers, and the EU Delegation to Bolivia. Follow up technical meetings will be held to enable the drafting of the partnership fiche and the necessary subsequent partnership steps.
Chile
An introductory videoconference was held with the Chamber of Deputies, the EU Delegation to Chile and the INTER PARES Project Team to start the definition of partnership objectives. The priorities established are: improving budgetary oversight, strengthening gender equality in Parliament, building capacity for monitoring decentralization processes, building capacity for innovative digital technologies, strengthening citizen participation mechanisms and transparency. The Chamber nominated focal points for each priority and follow-up meetings were held with each focal point. The fiche, once developed and approved by the Chamber of Deputies, was shared with European Union Member States Parliaments in a Call for Expression of Interest. The deadline for reception of expressions of interest has been set for July 2nd, 2021.
Cote D’Ivoire
Inaugural meetings were held with the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire and the Senate of Côte d’Ivoire, respectively, to define the partnerships’ needs and objectives. The meetings were attended by representatives from both chambers, including the Secretary General of the National Assembly and the Secretary General of the Senate, as well as representatives from the EU Delegation in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and the INTER PARES project team. The detailed discussions allow for the development of partnership fiches, which, once approved by the National Assembly and Senate of Côte d’Ivoire, will be shared with European Union Member States Parliaments for Expressions of Interest.
Guinea Bissau
Introductory and technical videoconferences have taken place with the Assembleia Nacional Popular of Guinea Bissau and with the EU Delegation in Guinea Bissau to define the priorities and partnership objectives, followed by the development of the draft Partnership Fiche which was submitted to the Assembleia for approval in June 2021.
Montenegro
The INTER PARES Partnership Fiche was developed in cooperation with the Parliament of Montenegro and the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, and approved by the Parliament in May. Priorities include enhancing existing oversight mechanisms and strengthening processes related to EU accession. The project fiche was shared in a call for expression of interest with all European Union Member State Parliaments (EUMSPs) in May. The Parliament of Montenegro and INTER PARES are in the process of analysing the expressions of interest received, which will be followed by the establishment of work plans with the selected partnering EUMSPs.
Libya
Two meetings were held with the Research department of the Libyan House of Representatives and the European Union Delegation to Libya, to explore how INTER PARES might support the House in light of the recent political developments, which have seen a new unity government installed in March 2021. Discussions have focused on how the INTER PARES project can support the Libyan House of Representatives’ special request in strengthening the parliamentary administration in the short-term, with new national elections expected to take place on 24 December 2021. A special support fiche is being developed for validation by the House of Representatives and distribution to EUMSPs for expressions of interest in July 2021.