Objective 1

The 10 Common Principles for Support to Parliaments, adopted by the IPU in October 2014 to help parliaments develop into stronger, better institutions, have now been endorsed by 161 parliaments and partner organizations.

At the heart of the Common Principles is the vision that parliaments should be in the driving seat of their own development: “Parliament alone is best placed to articulate its needs and to define broad strategic objectives, as well as tactical approaches to particular activities.” (Common Principle)

“We use the IPU Common Principles for Support to Parliaments as the guidelines for all our parliamentary support efforts.”

German Bundestag

In 2019 we developed a Guide to the Common Principles for Support to Parliaments to help parliamentary leaders define their development objectives through a process of parliamentary self-development. As a practical, action-oriented document, it draws on examples from across the world, highlighting where parliaments have moved forward decisively in taking control of their futures. We continued the good practice of broad consultation with parliaments to develop the guide; over 40 parliaments contributed.

Following IPU training in 2018, the Parliament of Zambia set an example of parliamentary ownership by adapting the IPU’s self-assessment toolkits and carrying out a series of self-assessment exercises for 49 MPs and 37 staff. We also ran a refresher training course beforehand for the parliamentary staff who facilitated the self-assessment.

In Djibouti, we continued supporting the National Assembly in its transformative change. As part of a human rights project funded by the European Union, we helped the National Assembly establish a gender caucus and redefine an existing committee’s scope of work to take on a formal human rights role.

We also trained women MPs to better work with and represent their constituents, and supported the National Assembly’s deliberations on a new law to prevent violence against women and girls (since adopted in February 2020). In addition, we supported the establishment of a coordination unit within the parliamentary administration to improve internal coordination and management of human resources.

“Just this morning we finished the workshop on setting up a women’s caucus and a gender caucus and raising MPs’ awareness of human rights. This is a major step forward for the promotion and defence of women’s rights in our Parliament.”

Mr. Mohamed Ali Houmed Speaker of the National Assembly of Djibouti

We continued training MPs and staff in Chad and Pakistan to better understand their legislative drafting and policy evaluation roles. Our support to Pakistan saw it restructure its legislative drafting unit to better meet its needs. In Chad, we helped the Parliament update its rules of procedure to include its policy evaluation role in line with the 2018 Constitution.

In Djibouti and Tunisia, our efforts contributed to strategic visions that will guide each Parliament’s future development. We also continued supporting the Myanmar Parliament’s strategic priority of establishing a centre of excellence for in-house learning.

IPU data clearly demonstrates how parliaments can harness information and communication technologies (ICT) to better fulfil their core mandates. However, limited in-house skills and access to expertise continue to create a digital divide between developed and developing countries.

Giving MPs and parliamentary staff easier access to parliamentary documents and information was a focus in Myanmar and Vanuatu. Our work with the Myanmar Parliament helped it launch a parliamentary intranet and provide remote access for MPs and staff. Our ICT work in Vanuatu saw the Parliament launch a news clipping service, create a digital repository, where over 2,000 collections have been uploaded so far, and train staff to maintain it. In both Myanmar and Vanuatu, digital documents can now be accessed online by MPs.

Parliamentary hubs bring together parliaments that want to cooperate on boosting innovation to strengthen parliaments. Hubs function on a regional or a thematic basis. So far, through the IPU Centre for Innovation in Parliament, a partnership between the IPU and parliaments to better use new technology, eight parliaments have stepped forward to offer to host hubs. Hubs meet online and face-to-face to develop joint projects covering capacity-building, good practice and building networks of expertise.

The IPU Innovation Tracker is a quarterly electronic publication produced by the IPU. Its purpose is to share information among parliaments in order to stimulate thinking and foster cooperation. Each Tracker provides an update on the work of the hubs, and highlights innovative developments within parliamentary administrations as well as parliamentary action on new technologies that impact society. The Tracker has thus far featured innovation stories from the Parliaments of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Finland, Greece, Myanmar, Jordan, Suriname and Zambia.

The IPU is a designated reference to monitor the implementation of SDG targets 16.6 (Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels) and 16.7 (Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels). A meeting organized by the IPU of representatives of regional parliamentary organizations, academia and parliamentary development partners drew up an initial framework to develop a set of reliable and comprehensive indicators for assessing parliamentary capacity and performance by October 2021.

The IPU flagship report on the state of parliaments, the Global Parliamentary Report, is published every four years in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). After extensive consultation in 2019, the third edition (planned for 2021) will focus on citizen participation in direct or participatory democratic processes. We will start research in 2020 among parliaments and other stakeholders, notably in civil society.