Objective 1 2020

From March 2021, as the pandemic spread around the world, well-established parliamentary procedures ground to a halt. Parliaments could no longer meet in plenary and committee. Their members could not meet in person with constituents. It was a major challenge for parliamentary administrations.

The IPU connected IT staff in more than 50 parliaments to share research findings from the IPU’s Centre for Innovation in Parliament (CIP). Parliamentary staff were able to raise questions with their counterparts, as well as share any tips and good practices. The CIP responded to numerous requests for information and advice from several parliaments. The IPU’s campaign web pages, “Parliaments in a time of pandemic”, were visited by thousands of people worldwide.

On another positive note, the crisis brought the world’s parliaments closer together, as they exchanged ideas for remote work. Parliamentary officials innovated under pressure, and parliaments with good experience of technology, such as in Brazil or Chile, were able to adapt their systems quickly and share their knowledge with others. Smaller parliaments, in the Maldives for example, used off-the-shelf video-conferencing to return to work quickly.

The transition to a digital mode of working has been a major cultural change, requiring the IPU and parliaments to move away from the status quo, to experiment and adapt. But the pandemic has also been an opportunity, shining the necessary light on technology and accelerating agendas for digital change. Digital technology has gone from being a “nice-to-have” to an “essential-for-work”.

Throughout the year, the IPU supported several national parliaments by organizing more than 40 activities and helping them to build capacity in a range of areas from strategic planning to policy evaluation. For example, three webinars coached MPs to better understand and respond to COVID-19. Subsequent webinars touched on plans for a post-pandemic economic recovery.

In Djibouti, we worked with National Assembly MPs and parliamentary staff to draft a bill on the emergency stockpiling of urgent medical equipment and supplies. We also supported National Assembly staff with the production of a guide for MPs on parliamentary committees. Extended project funding by the European Union will guarantee IPU support for human rights in the country for years to come.

In Myanmar, we supported the parliament with the launch of an e-learning platform for MPs and staff. As COVID-19 gained a foothold in the country, nearly 50 per cent of our 24 activities went online. In February, we supported a discussion on the role of parliaments in the peace process. At a three-day webinar, some 100 MPs heard from national experts and other MPs in the region. The IPU also trained parliamentary staff on several issues, including the use of technology, the development of online courses and the induction of new MPs.

Continuing its work since 2018 with the National Assembly of Zambia, the IPU supported a series of self-assessments to modernize the parliament. At a two-day workshop in September, the parliament mapped out strategic priorities and projects for the next five years.

In Tunisia, the IPU used online research and expert conversations to enable staff at the Oversight Support Unit to build knowledge and capacity for oversight procedures and reviews of procedural rules.

In 2020, we began an initiative that will consolidate over 40 years of the IPU’s experience of supporting parliamentary development. The project is ambitious and complex, requiring collaboration with multiple stakeholders, but is a unique opportunity to record and share parliamentary good practice. Project outcomes will guide training for members of parliament and staff, offering key practical insights and advice to strengthen the work of parliaments.

Monitoring and evaluation remains a challenge, however, and in December, the IPU and the parliament of Uganda organized a third Expert Roundtable on the Common Principles with the theme of “challenges and opportunities in parliamentary monitoring and evaluation”. More than 160 participants from over 50 countries attended the virtual meeting, exchanging strategies, practices and tools for better performance.

IPU work is grounded in the experiences and realities of parliaments. The next Global Parliamentary Report, the IPU’s flagship in-depth report on parliamentary practice, will focus on how parliaments can connect more closely with the public. To produce the report, we conducted more than 120 interviews with parliamentarians and parliamentary staff from around the world. We wanted to understand how and why parliaments engage, how this impacts their work and how such efforts contribute to public trust. Due for publication in 2021, the lessons learned will be captured in a series of case studies to inspire and catalyse further change.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) include targets for effective, accountable and transparent institutions (target 16.6), as well as responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making (target 16.7). Working with a broad coalition of organizations, the IPU is developing a set of indicators that will allow parliaments to measure themselves against these targets. Other coalition members include the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, INTER PARES, the European Commission, the National Democratic Institute, the UN Development Programme, UN Women and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

The IPU is the official custodian of SDG indicators 5.5 and 16.7.1a, which cover the full and effective participation of women in decision-making and in public institutions. The IPU has been tracking the percentage of women in parliaments for more than 20 years. In 2020, it also reported for the first time to the UN system on parliamentary speakers and chairpersons of selected parliamentary committees. The data shows that women are under-represented as chairs of committees for foreign affairs, finance and defense, and over-represented as chairs of committees on gender equality.

"I believe that the IPU is the ideal forum to reach the goals of success we want for humanity: a world with more equality, social cohesion, peace, better environmental quality, and which can address, in unity, the global challenges we are now facing."

Mr. Duarte Pacheco,

on his election as new IPU President