The Parliamentary Centre in China

The Parliamentary Centre was recently chosen by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to undertake a legislative capacity-building project with the Chinese National People's Congress. In February 2003, a design team from the Parliamentary Centre spent three weeks in China to work on the project design with Chinese counterparts from the National People’s Congress (NPC), the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress and Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress.

Residents of Yunnan Province

Background

The China-Canada Legislative Cooperation Project (CCLCP) builds on a previous initiative, the Cooperation Project between the Parliamentary Centre of Canada and the National People's Congress of China spanning from 1998 to 2001. The purpose of this new project is to strengthen democratic rule in China by increasing the People's Congresses capacity to legislate and improve governance, while simultaneously encouraging respect for human rights and the development of public participation processes. The project will further support the People's Congress System (nationally and locally) in strengthening its capacity with respect to legislative work, its internal management processes, its interaction with the public through consultation and participation mechanisms as well as its capacity to supervise the work of government organs and increase their accountability. It will also seek to enhance capacity to integrate poverty and gender issues in its legislative and policy analysis.

Current Status

The Parliamentary Centre signed the contribution agreement with CIDA in June 2004 to start implementing the project. The Joint Project Steering Committee, which is the project decision-making body consisting of important stakeholders of the project, i.e. CIDA, MOFCOM, NPC and the Parliamentary Centre, held its first meeting in June 2005. The meeting officially approved the project management strategy as set out in the Project Implementation Plan, the first annual workplan and the annual progress report. In the meanwhile, a series of activities have been planned or implemented with various committees and staff institutions of the NPC designed as the beneficiaries of the Project, such as the Agriculture Committee, Budget Affairs Commissions, Legislative Affairs Commission, Research Office and Training Centre.

Guiding Principles:

Democratic Lawmaking
Poverty Reduction
Gender Equality

Project Objectives:

Stronger mechanisms, processes and standards for legislative drafting, analysis and implementation established in the NPC and selected provincial people’s congresses
Improved mechanisms and increased awareness for public consultation in the Congress system in support of representative legislation
Increased capacity of the congress system to supervise the implementation of government policies including a strengthened legislative and budgetary oversight role

Legislative Priorities:

Rural Development, Agriculture and Poverty Reduction
Others (to be prioritized iteratively)

Intended Beneficiaries

Special Committees and Staff Institutions at the National People's Congress
Provincial People’s Congresses of Jiangsu, , Yunnan, Zhejiang and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
other provincial and local congresses when needs arise
Legislative staff and deputies

For additional information on the CCLCP project, please contact:

Maggie Zeng
Project Manager, Asia
zengm@parl.gc.ca

Three-Month Study Attachment on Rural Development

Governance Workshop on Public Participation in Canada and ChinaThe Canada-China Legislative Project (CCLCP) participated in the Governance Workshop on Public Participation in Canada and China held in Ottawa, September 10-12, 2007. Amelita Armit, Vice President, Programs and Project Director, CCLCP, made a presentation on "Public Participation in Canada and the Role of Parliament". The workshop, organised by CIDA's China and Northeast Asia Division, was attended by more than fifty representatives from the Chinese and Canadian executing agencies and CIDA officials. It provided a forum for Canadian and Chinese partners to explain current practices in public participation and learn from each other's experience in this area. Participants also discussed best practices from ten projects and identified strategies for addressing challenges to public participation. A half-day session on Gender Equality Toolkit and Training concluded the workshop program.

Getting the Most out of Knowledge Sharing

On January 30, 2007, the Canada-China Legislative Cooperation Project (CCLCP) hosted a knowledge exchange event in Beijing that, for the first time in the project's history, brought together representatives from various NPC institutions to share knowledge and insights gained from previous activities implemented by the CCLCP. The success of the event was apparent in the active participation of our Chinese partners and their insightful reflections on the knowledge acquired from previous project activities on wide-ranging themes such as rural development, public consultation, law drafting, etc. Participants shared observations on the Canadian approaches, lessons learned and their applicability to the Chinese in the spirit of openness and candidness. The forum highlighted the value of strengthening information linkages across various NPC partners and enhancing sustainable local ownership for the project. Full text of the report.

Three-Month Study Attachment on Rural Development

In order to support the NPC’s mandate to promote rural development, the Parliamentary Centre, in conjunction with the University of Guelph Department of Rural Planning and Development (RPD), hosted a study attachment to Canada for two staff members of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the National People’s Congress. The theme of the study visit has been identified as “Legislative and Policy Analysis to Support Rural Development”. The purpose of the learning program is to acquire knowledge of foundation-level theories and concepts underlying rural planning and development while synthesizing practical expertise and analytical tools that can be incorporated into the legislative and policy framework on rural issues.

Strengthening the Parliamentary Role in Budgetary Oversight

As the People’s Congress system in China recently stepped up its efforts to increase transparency and accountability in government spending decisions, the Parliamentary Centre is offering access to Canadian expertise for building oversight mechanisms into the budgetary cycle. Look at what have been achieved through the two exchanges activities organized in 2006 that involved knowledge transfer to the budgeting staff of the national and provincial People’s Congresses:

June 12-18: Study visit to Canada for budget staff of the NPC and selected Provincial People’s Congresses on integrating performance information into the budget decisions.

November 27 – December 4: Technical exchanges with budget staff units of the selected Provincial People’s Congresses.

A Growing Appetite for Strengthening Public Engagement in China

The Year 2006 marked a heightened interest of the National People’s Congress to improve the practical mechanisms and techniques to empower the participatory role of citizens in the legislative process. The Parliamentary Centre is pleased to contribute to this endeavor by offering access to specialized expertise and best practices gained from a number of successful consultation exercises in Canada, through two learning activities organized in China and Canada:

July 2006, Beijing - An international workshop in Beijing brought together some consultation facilitators in the People’s Congress system and international experts to compare practices, trends and lessons learned from consultations undertaken in different policy contexts. Read more…

August –October 2006, Canada - The Centre hosted a three-month study attachment for two researchers from the NPC to participate in a comprehensive learning program comprising of site visits, interviews and conferences with leading consultation specialists from across Canada. Read more…

Past Activities

Applying Participatory Model in Food Safety Regulation and Rural Development

Helping to Construct an Enabling Corporate Environment in China: Contribution of Canadian Expertise




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