Southern African hub

On 15 December, the Southern Africa Regional Hub will launch Innovation Showcase, a series of 40-minute webinars held monthly over Zoom. In each webinar, senior IT staff from a parliament in the region will present an innovative project to peers from other institutions. Some will feature guest presenters from other parliaments and CIP hubs. The webinars are open to Southern Africa Regional Hub members and to other parliaments by invitation.

As part of the World e-Parliament Conference 2021, new videos are available for some of our regional innovation hubs.

The first regional webinar discussed the initial pandemic response of the hub’s parliaments. After that success, the hub held a second regional meeting on 26 October against the background of the pandemic, inter-parliamentary cooperation through the SADC-PF,[1] and the need for parliaments to adopt technologies for hosting virtual meetings.

The Secretary General of the SADC-PF opened the meeting. IT Directors and senior IT staff from SADC-PF member parliaments then gave presentations. The objective of the meeting was to establish a requirements baseline for policies that would give guidance on how to use new technologies after the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting also sought to consolidate the different ways that member parliaments had innovated in the face of the pandemic to enable parliamentarians to perform their duties. Issues surrounding connectivity, infrastructure and meeting management systems, and trends such as emerging 5G and high‑performance cloud computing were considered at length.

The opportunities and challenges of the pandemic and the adoption of new technologies were discussed. Most of the challenges hinged on the state of ICT infrastructure, low bandwidth for running parliamentary meetings via video conferencing, and in-house systems. The meeting concluded by discussing the position of the SADC-PF on embracing these technologies, and how to train parliamentarians effectively (using virtual platforms) on new technologies that affect the way they perform their duties.

The CIP Southern Africa and Hispanophone hubs each held virtual Zoom meetings with Member Parliaments[1] on 12 May and 19 June respectively. The meetings were attended by IT directors and senior IT staff and aimed at facilitating knowledge exchange between the parliaments of the respective regions and, in particular, concerning ongoing or planned ICT projects for remote working / meeting / voting solutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruption of parliamentary activity. The Southern Africa meeting was organized by the hub host – the National Assembly of Zambia; it also saw the participation of the Secretary General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum Ms. Boemo Sekgoma. The Hispanophone hub meeting was organized by the Chamber of Deputies of Chile as hub host, with support from the IPU and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

The meetings each featured a global overview presentation by the IPU Centre for Innovation in Parliament based on the ongoing survey which forms part of the IPU campaign Parliaments in a time of pandemic; followed by brief updates from the hub parliaments which provided more details on: the current status of parliamentary activity, including plenary and committee meetings; whether remote working and meeting solutions were deployed; how remote voting was handled; and how the legal framework for parliaments facilitated the above. The meetings were concluded with rich Q&A segments.

The Hub’s Steering Committee, composed of secretaries general and clerks, met at the 141^st IPU Assembly in Belgrade. It decided to meet twice a year during the IPU Assemblies. The next meeting will be held in the first quarter of 2020 to approve the work plan. A second meeting will be convened in the fourth quarter to discuss the Hub’s progress and make decisions or approvals as might be required. An ICT strategic planning mission to the National Assembly of Botswana (27-31 January 2020) was supported by the National Assembly of Mauritius, National Assembly of Zambia, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Preparations for the mission included establishing a methodology for ICT strategic planning which could serve as a blueprint for similar future activity. The Secretariat of the Southern Africa Development Community – Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) also requested the Hub to assist with the development of an ICT strategy and (re)design of its website.

Image: The mission team of the Southern Africa Regional Hub represented by the National Assembly of Zambia, and Parliament of Mauritius, visits the Parliament of Botswana to assist the latter in the preparation of its ICT strategic plan. © Michael Mukuka

The ICT departments of hub parliaments have begun populating an ICT experts database, providing data on available parliamentary experts and relevant technical disciplines. Responding to a request received from the Parliament of Botswana to provide assistance with the review of its ICT Strategic Masterplan, the hub has begun preparations for sending a technical mission, consisting of experts from the Parliaments of Mauritius and Zambia, the UN Economic Commision for Africa, and the IPU. In addition the SADC Parliamentary Forum has requested the hub to provide assistance in the development and implementation of its ICT strategy. At the upcoming IPU Assembly in Belgrade the hub shall convene its steering committee consisting of SGs and Clerks.

At the meeting of ICT Directors of the Southern African Regional Hub in Lusaka from 28 to 29 March, participants drafted key documents such as the hub’s terms of reference, workplan and budget. The National Assembly of Zambia, as host of the Regional Hub, then convened a meeting of Clerks and Secretaries General of participating parliaments at the 140^th IPU Assembly in Doha (see photo). During this meeting, the Heads of the parliamentary administration endorsed the overall process and agreed to form a Steering Committee, whose first task was to review and approve the Lusaka documents.

Meanwhile, the hub correspondents have been given the go-ahead to work on the initial activities including the compilation and sharing of ICT policies, project documents, and strategic plans, as well as information on existing services and systems. In addition, a data base of regional ICT experts is being developed. Having also identified ICT Governance as a key issue, collaboration and synergy with the ICT Governance Thematic Hub is being explored.

Image: Mr. Michael Mukuka, coordinator of the Southern African Regional Hub, briefing the participating parliaments during the 140^th IPU Assembly, Doha, April 2019. © Parliament of Zambi

ICT directors from parliaments in Southern Africa were able to begin discussion on priorities to address within the hub during the 2018 World e-Parliament Conference. Parliaments from the region have started to designate correspondents to participate in the hub. This group met in Lusaka on 28 and 29 March to discuss how they will work together, including Terms of Reference, workplan, and budget, as well as operational modalities, tools and working platforms for the hub. A lively WhatsApp channel is already being used to share information between parliaments on a daily basis.

Image: Meeting of the Southern African Regional Hub, Lusaka, 27 March 2019.  © permission granted by the National Assembly of Zambia