The Swiss National Council © The Swiss Parliament
This hub is part of the Centre for Innovation in Parliament.
The regional hubs promote the effective use of technology in parliaments by sharing and consolidating information on past, ongoing and future ICT initiatives at regional level, and through the CIP secretariat at global level. Membership: any parliament within the Caribbean region.
A regional seminar, jointly organized by the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago and the IPU, on achieving the sustainable development goals for the parliaments in the Caribbean region was held on 5 and 6 December 2019. The seminar saw the participation of members of the parliaments of Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Innovation in parliament was discussed as one of the key enablers for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The seminar participants expressed commitment to continually strive to make parliaments more effective, accountable and transparent institutions, through the development of innovative approaches, including through digital technologies. They recognized the need to make creative use of the limited resources available, including by enhancing cooperation between Caribbean parliaments, and welcomed the initiative of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago to establish a Caribbean regional hub within the IPU’s Centre for Innovation in Parliament to further these aims.
The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago as host, has reached out to regional parliaments, specifically at the ICT managers’ level to propose their participation and commencement of knowledge sharing activity on the CIP Yammer platform. The Parliaments of Guyana and Suriname have responded positively. Others are evaluating this request. To strengthen further engagement a joint IPU-Trinidad and Tobago Parliament invitation is being prepared aimed at Clerks and SGs of the Caribbean parliaments.
The ICT team of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago has held discussions with the IPU CIP representative concerning the scope of the Caribbean hub, the services it shall be providing to the participating parliaments, and how these can be engaged to contribute to future knowledge exchange. Discussions also covered the requirements of the hub’s online platform, which the Parliament is considering hosting, and the outreach strategy to other parliaments.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives has informed the IPU of the willingness of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago to host a Caribbean Hub. The initial scope of the hub will focus on information sharing (e.g. of information on ICT systems in parliaments, suppliers, ICT focal points, etc.).
