The Parliamentary Centre in Africa

Good governance is necessary for sustainable development in Africa and elsewhere. Multilateral and bilateral donors, now recognize that all elements of governance – accountability, transparency, and participation – are essential for sustainable development. These elements do not exist in isolation, but have a complex relationship.

Through the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) African leaders have made a commitment to strengthen political and administrative frameworks that are in line with the principles of democracy, transparency, accountability, integrity, respect for human rights and promotion of the rule of law. To meet the social and economic objectives of NEPAD, joint responsibility will be taken by African leaders for promoting democracy and human rights in their respective countries, by developing standards of accountability, transparency and participatory governance at the national and sub-national levels. NEPAD also argues that a variety of related institutional reforms be carried out in African countries. It recognises the need to strengthen parliamentary oversight, to contribute to good governance and sustainable development in Africa.

The Parliamentary Centre, through its Africa Program, works with legislatures to strengthen systems of good governance, thereby contributing to sustainable development. Strengthening accountability systems, and specifically the capacity for effective parliamentary oversight, is perhaps our most important effort. This is due to Parliament's linkages with other governance actors and its ability to contribute to good governance and socio-economic outcomes.

Our programs in Africa cover a variety of issues, but common to all are the Centre's core values of accountability, transparency and participation. Programs have tended to focus on committees given their linkages to all three values, but we have worked in the areas of research and information, Member and staff training, as well as on extra-parliamentary institutions such as Human Rights Commissions and Office of the Ombudsman. Increasingly the Centre's Africa programs also deal with governance outcomes – poverty reduction, anti-corruption – and parliament's role in affecting those outcomes.

The Centre also provides additional advisory services to donors and legislatures including needs assessments, the development of legislative reform programs, institutional strengthening and parliamentary associations.

Political Party Strengthening Program in Sudan

Funded by a grant from DFID through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Political Party Strengthening Program in Sudan is a three-year project being led by International IDEA together with EISA, the Parliamentary Centre and Partners in Development Services in Sudan.

As the Africa All-Party Parliamentary Group in the UK wrote in a recent report, “parliamentary development, and indeed the overall quality of governance, is inextricably linked to the state of political parties.” The Parliamentary Centre agrees and in Sudan, we are complementing parliamentary development, sponsored by CIDA, with this more discrete role in party strengthening.

In the first quarter of 2008, IDEA and the Parliamentary Centre, with input from the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians, worked with the six participating parties on issues of policy and electoral platform development. Workshops in February and March brought together party officials to engage in dialogue with practitioners and scholars, reflect on foreign experiences and domestic realities, and interact with political opponents.

This inter-party interaction is not an insignificant part of our programming. As one participant put it, “(the workshop) opened the way for discussing political issues.” “It was an exercise for listening and acceptance of others’ points of view,” said another. Such acceptance between individuals within institutions of democratic governance is crucial to building trust and building peace in Sudan.

For more detailed information, please visit the project homepage hosted by IDEA.

The Financial Scrutiny Project

The Financial Scrutiny Project funded by DFID is designed to strengthen the capacity of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Ghana’s Parliament and thereby enhance the Parliament’s role as the “keeper of the public purse.” The Department for International Development (DFID), UK, through its local office in Ghana, has provided a grant of £332,412 (Three hundred and thirty two thousand, four hundred and twelve Pounds Sterling) for the period May 2007 to November 2009 to support this parliamentary strengthening activity. This is part of DFID’s global governance programme aimed at helping developing countries build their capacity in areas like public financial management, transparency, improved accountability and the deepening democratic practices. More ...

Strengthening Parliaments for Development: 4th Africa-Canada Dialogue targets Aid Effectiveness

Canada has committed to spending 0.7% of its GDP on foreign aid, much of it in Africa. How do Canadians know whether these funds actually reduce poverty and provide the services that Africans need? To address this question, the 2006 Africa-Canada Parliamentary Dialogue brought together MPs from eleven African countries to interact with their Canadian counterparts. The Dialogue improved knowledge of aid effectiveness and concluded that parliaments must do more to increase mutual accountability for development results.

Archive

The Role of Parliamentarians in HIV/AIDS Oversight
Third Africa-Canada Parliamentary Policy Dialogue (Saly, September 12-15, 2005)

Official opening of our Dakar regional office

Kenya Hosts Symposium on Training Parliamentary Staff

Parliaments and Corporate Social Responsibility:
Widening the Rift Valley Dialogue

More ...




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