EC Parliamentary Development Reference Guide Murphy 2010

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EuropeAid

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eferenceDocumentN8

Engaging and Supporting

Parliaments Worldwide

Strategies and methodologies forEC action in support to parliaments

October 2010

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Reerence Document N 8

Engaging and Supporting

Parliaments Worldwide

Strategies and methodologies for

EC action in support to parliaments

October 2010

T o o l s a n d M e T h o d s s e r i e s


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R E F E R E N C E D O C U M E N T N O 8 E N G A G I N G A N D S U P P O R T I N G P A R L I A M E N T S W O R L D W I D E

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Reerence Document has been prepared by Dr. Jonathan Murphy with the International

Institute or Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). Some chapters were

worked on by Greg Power, who developed the assessment ramework, and Jose Macuane.

The publication process was steered and coordinated by the Democracy Sector o the

Governance, Security, Human Rights and Gender Unit within EuropeAid, and in particular

Thomas Huyghebaert, Head o the Democratisation Sector. It benefted enormously

rom discussions within and comments rom a Reerence Group, which was made up o

representatives rom dierent units o the Quality o Operations Directorate as well as other

geographical and thematic directorates in EuropeAid, and o the External Relations and

Development Directorates o the European Commission. The process also benefted rom

inputs rom the European Parliaments Ofce or Promotion o Parliamentary Democracy

(OPPD) and external partners such as the United Nations Development Programme.

There is growing consensus that eective parliaments are o undamental importance to

democratic systems. Without strong parliaments democracy is ragile, incomplete and oten

ineective. This document has been prepared in response to the EUs development policy

ramework, which requires the European Commission to engage with parliaments in partner

countries on development policy and support dialogue, and which recommends parliaments

to be supported as part o a larger democratic governance agenda. It should be seen as a

practical contribution to increasing eorts to work with parliaments and aims to strengthen

the quality o the work o the European Commission in this area.

Any comments, questions or suggestions are welcome and should be addressed to:

[email protected]


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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acronyms 7

Executive Summary 9Introduction 15

CHAPTER 1: ASSESSMENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONS

PARLIAMENTARY SUPPORT IN AFRICA,

THE CARIBBEAN AND THE PACIFIC 21

1.1. Dimensions o EC parliamentary support 21

1.2. Types o parliamentary support provided 22

1.3. Case studies 24

1.3.1. South Arica 24

1.3.2. Senegal 26

1.4. Balance sheet and recommendations or eective parliamentary

development programmes 27

CHAPTER 2: PARLIAMENTARY DEVELOPMENT: PRECONDITIONS AND

ASSESSMENT

2.1. The oundations or parliamentary development 29

2.1.1. What is an eective parliament? 302.1.2. What are the political conditions or successul

parliamentary development? 31

2.1.3. What are the economic conditions or successul

parliamentary development? 33

2.2. Is there a suitable environment or a parliamentary support programme? 38

2.2.1. Potential or parliamentary strengthening 38

2.2.2. Commitment to parliamentary development 39

2.2.3. Pre-assessment checklist 40

2.3. The Assessment Framework or the design o parliamentary


2.3.1. Introduction 44

2.3.2. Phase one: Preparatory phase, context analysis 47

2.3.3. Phase two: Using the Assessment Framework 51

2.3.4. Phase three: Designing projects, testing fndings and building support 54

2.3.5. The Assessment Framework 58

2.4. Other external actors that aect the easibility o parliamentary


2.4.1. The role o donors in promoting democratic governance 68

2.4.2. Common donor-created barriers to parliamentary eectiveness 69


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CHAPTER 3: PARLIAMENTARY DEVELOPMENT: STRATEGIES AND

IMPLEMENTATION MODALITIES 71

3.1. Principles or developing parliamentary support 71

3.2. Entry points or parliamentary development programmes 72

3.2.1. Parliamentary action in the electoral cycle 723.2.2. The responsibilities o parliament in general and sectoral

budget support 743.2.3. Strengthening parliamentary involvement in PRSPs and other

national development strategies 783.2.4. Donor accountabilit y 793.2.5. General types o parliamentary support 80

3.3. Implementation modalities 92

3.3.1. Parliamentary twinning 933.3.2. The United Nations Development Programme 95

3.3.3. Global and regional parliamentary associations 963.3.4. Political oundation programmes 973.3.5. International nancial institutions 983.3.6. National democracy promotion organizations and experts 993.3.7. International consultants, consultancies and democracy

support actors 100

ANNEX 1: PARLIAMENTS AND DEMOCRATIC

DEVELOPMENT 101

1.1. Introduction 101

1.2. Parliaments and systems o democratic governance 103

1.3. Functions o parliament 104

1.3.1. Legislation 1051.3.2. Oversight 1061.3.3. Representation 1091.3.4. The budget cycle 1111.3.5. Inclusivity o parliament 112

1.4. Parliamentary organization and administration 113

1.5. Issues in parliamentary organization 115

ANNEX 2: THEMES IN PARLIAMENTARY

DEVELOPMENT 117

2.1. Parliaments and gender 118

2.1.1. Section overview 1182.1.2. The representativeness o parliament:

Obstacles to gender equality 1192.1.3. Issues or parliamentary strengthening programmes 1212.1.4. Women in parliament: Enhancing participation and impact 122

2.1.5. Issues or parliamentary strengthening 123


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2.1.6. Mainstreaming gender in the policymaking process 1242.1.7. Issues or parliamentary strengthening 1292.1.8. Conclusions 130

2.2. Parliaments and the national budget 132

2.2.1. Section overview 1322.2.2. Legislatures in the budget process 1332.2.3. The role o the legislature in the budget cycle 1342.2.4. Key parliamentary actors and institutions or budget oversight 1352.2.5. What determines budget oversight capacities? 1362.2.6. Empirical evidence on budget oversight in ACP countries 1372.2.7. Legislative budget oversight in the context o general budget

support 1382.2.8. The experience o the EC and other donors in budget oversight

initiatives 1402.2.9. Summary o EC parliamentary strengthening within GBS 1422.2.10. Recommendations on the uture role o the EC in supporting

legislatures in the context o GBS 143

2.3. The role o parliaments in national political dialogue: The case o Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers 145

2.3.1. Section overview 1452.3.2. Parliaments and poverty reduction 1482.3.3. Parliaments and political dialogue: Enhancing the voice

o the people 1512.3.4. The role o parliament in diagnosing, ormulating and monitoring

policy 1532.3.5. Conclusions: Issues or parliamentary support programmes 157

2.4. Parliaments and confict situations 159

2.4.1. Section overview 1592.4.2. Understanding post-confict situations 1602.4.3. The role o parliaments in post-confict situations 1612.4.4. Key capacities or parliaments in post-confict situations 1622.4.5. Lessons rom previous experience in parliamentary development

in post-confict situations 1622.4.6. Broad recommendations or EC support to parliaments

in post-confict situations 165

2.5. Parliaments and oversight o the security sector 167

2.5.1. Section overview 1672.5.2. Democracy and oversight o the security sector 1672.5.3. The European Union and security sector reorm 1682.5.4. The security sector and parliamentary oversight 1682.5.5. Supporting parliaments to oversee the security sector 171

ANNEX 3: INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKS FOR DEMOCRATIC

LEGISLATURES 175

3.1. Why strong and democratic parliaments are necessary or democracy 175

3.2. What are the undamental responsibilities o a parliament? 176


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3.3. The benchmarks projects 178

3.3.1. The Inter-Parliamentary Union good practice guide 1793.3.2. The NDI international standards 1793.3.3. Commonwealth Parliamentary Association benchmarks or

democratic legislatures 180

3.3.4. Assemble parlementaire de la Francophonie: The democraticreality o parliaments evaluation criteria 181

3.3.5. Other benchmarking initiatives 181

3.4. Conclusions 181

Bibliography 183


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A C R O N Y M S

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ACRONYMS

AU Arican UnionACP Arica, Caribbean and Pacic

APF Assemble Parlementaire de la FrancophonieAWEPA European Parliamentarians or AricaCBO Congressional Budget OceCEDAW Convention on the Elimination o All Forms o Discrimination Against WomenCFAA Country Financial Accountability AssessmentCPA Commonwealth Parliamentary AssociationCPC Canadian Parliamentary CentreCSO Civil Society OrganizationCSP Country Strategy PaperCTP Confict Transormation Project in ParliamentDCAF Geneva Centre or the Democratic Control o Armed Forces

DFID Department or International Development (United Kingdom)EC European CommissionECA European Court o AuditorsECOWAS Economic Community o West Arican StatesEDF European Development FundEIDHR European Instrument or Democracy and Human RightsEITI Extractive Industries Transparency InitiativeEU European UnionGBS General Budget SupportGOPAC Global Association o Parliamentarians against CorruptionGPPS Global Programme or Parliamentary StrengtheningICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsICT Inormation and communications technologyIDEA International Institute or Democracy and Electoral AssistanceIFI International Financial InstitutionsIPU Inter-Parliamentary UnionISS Institute or Security StudiesJMC Joint Monitoring CommitteeLBO Legislative Budget OceLSP Legislative Support ProgrammeLSPSP Legislative Sector Policy Support ProgrammeMTEF Medium Term Expenditure FrameworkNDI National Democratic Institute

NGO Non-Governmental OrganizationNIMD Netherlands Institute or Multi-Party DemocracyNIP National Indicative ProgrammeOAG Oce o the Auditor GeneralOAS Organization o American StatesOBS Open Budget SurveyOFAG Oce o the Federal Auditor GeneralOPPD Oce or Promotion o Parliamentary DemocracyOSCE Organization or Security and Co-operation in EuropePAC Public Accounts CommitteePAP Programme o Priority ActionsPAPNBG Programme dappui au Programme National de Bonne Gouvernance


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PDIAR Parliamentary Development in the Arab RegionPEFA Public Expenditure and Financial AccountabilityPETS Public Expenditure Tracking SurveysPGA Parliamentarians or Global ActionPNoWB Parliamentary Network on the World Bank

PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PapersPSDP Parliamentary Strategic Development PlanRIP Regional Indicative ProgrammeRSP Regional Strategy PaperSADC-PF Southern Arica Development Community Parliamentary ForumSAI Supreme Audit InstitutionSida Swedish International Development Cooperation AgencyTFP Transitional Federal ParliamentUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeWBI World Bank Institute


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E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

1. This Reerence Document is a practical tool or use in planning European Commission(EC) parliamentary strengthening programmes and to a lesser extent in engagingwith parliaments (1) in development cooperation in partner countries. It is geared oruse by European Union (EU) Delegation sta, both political and operations sta, butis also o use to other actors (donors, practitioners) as well as parliamentarians andparliamentary sta involved in parliamentary strengthening. The Reerence Documentwill be complemented by training workshops on parliamentary development organizedby AIDCO E4 and its partners, which will systematically address the key topicsdiscussed and be aimed at EU sta, the sta o other donor agencies and parliamentarydevelopment practitioners.

2. The Introduction places parliamentary development in the broader context o EUdevelopment assistance, specically as a key component o democracy support. Inthe past decade in particular the place o democracy support in the EUs developmentpolicies and external relations has grown in importance, not least because o thesignicance o democracy in the EUs own processes o integration and development. The approach has become more comprehensive and oresees a central role orparliaments. Furthermore, the aid eectiveness agenda requires a strengthenedreliance on domestic accountability systems, in which parliaments will play a pivotal role,leading to a higher priority or parliamentary strengthening in development assistancerameworks. The introduction provides a brie description o parliaments and their placein democratic systems o governance. A more detailed exploration o parliaments anddemocratic development is presented in Annex 1, which provides a solid introduction

or those less amiliar with the subject.

Chapter 1 Balance sheet o EC support to parliaments

3. Chapter 1 refects on the work o the EC on parliamentary development. It highlights anassessment carried out o support provided to parliamentary development in Arican,Caribbean and Pacic (ACP) countries in 2000-2009, assesses the strengths andweaknesses o the ECs work in this area and makes recommendations or uture EC-unded parliamentary support programmes. Best practices rom two eld case studies,carried out in South Arica and Senegal, are highlighted as well as those rom other EC

parliamentary projects. The ull assessment is available online at:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/governance/index_en.htm

4. The main ndings o the assessment are that although about EUR 100 million wasprovided in 2000-2009 or parliamentary strengthening projects in ACP countries,support has not reached the levels necessary to meet the commitments o the EUentrenched in the Cotonou Agreements, relevant EU policies and the Accra AidEectiveness Agenda.

(1) In this document parliament is used to reer to all types o existing representative institutions, rom achamber or house o representatives, to national assembly, to a congress or a senate, with an emphasis onrepresentative bodies covering the national level and to a lesser extent the sub-national or local and supra-national representative bodies.


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5. Successul programming typically includes:

a longer term approach and strong national ownership;

an amenable environment or democratic development and clearly dened programmeobjectives;

strong Delegation engagement, including careul programme planning; and

expert implementation partners, whether national or international.

6. Overall, however, there are insucient examples o eective EC-supported parliamentarydevelopment. Less than hal the ACP countries have received any parliamentarydevelopment support, and this has oten been small scale, requently as a minorcomponent o larger governance programmes. EC governance assistance remainsdominated by support to executive strengthening. Parliamentary support is oten short-term in nature and lacks clear links to improved governance outcomes.

7. Too oten, there is a cycle o costly intervention by the EC and other donors in electionsollowed by little investment in poorly institutionalized parliaments, leading to ineectiveoversight o the executive and an entrenched system o semi-authoritarian rule, or evendemocratic reversals with highly negative democratic and development outcomes.

Chapter 2 Parliamentary development: Preconditions andassessment

8. Chapter 2 discusses the aim o parliamentary development trying to achieve an institutionthat plays its constitutional role eectively and exercises its powers appropriately. Thechallenge o parliamentary development is two-old. First, parliamentarians must have thetechnical skills and the technical support required to carry out their constitutional roles.Second, the structure o power and the incentives in the governance system, particularlythe relationship between parliament and the executive, must permit parliaments to playan oversight role.

9. The chapter discusses the broader political conditions that enable eective parliamentsto unction: the agreement by dierent leadership groups within society tolive by a set orules and not to resort to extra-constitutional methods to undermine their opponents anda context o overall democratization. The development o democratic state institutions,including parliament, is only conceivable in a context o overall democratization and theexpansion o opportunities or ree expression.

10. The chapter addresses the crucial relationship between parliament and civil society indemocratic development. From the outset, parliamentary support programmes need toestablish a synergistic relationship with assistance provided to civil society. Options arediscussed or building a mutually enhancing relationship between the parliament and civilsociety as part o an overall democratic development strategy.

11. The chapter discusses the preconditions or a successul parliamentary developmentprogramme. Most importantly, parliament must have the will to become a stronger andmore eective institution. In its absence, support will rarely have the necessary ownershipand is unlikely to achieve results. In addition, to ully benet rom a strengthening

programme, parliament must be able to exercise the ull range o constitutional powers


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over legislation, oversight and representation required or the eective unctioning o alegislature in a contemporary liberal democracy. Section 2.2 concludes by providing achecklist that can be used as the basis or a pre-assessment by the Delegationto determine whether minimum conditions or a successul parliamentary developmentprogramme are in place. The aim o this pre-assessment is not to exclude collaboration

with parliaments, but to refect on the context, consider the options and start, whereappropriate, identiying possible entry points on which to build.

12. This leads into the Assessment Framework or parliamentary development (seesection 2.3), a practical tool designed to assist EC delegations and their partners as wellas parliaments to develop an understanding o the current strengths and weaknesses oparliamentary unctions, and with the elaboration o eective parliamentary developmentprogrammes. The Assessment Framework is designed to be used in conjunction with theoverall understanding o parliamentary development provided in this Reerence Document.

It provides a comprehensive, step-by-step methodology or assessment, romthe preparatory phase including context mapping to the assessment phase, interpretingassessment results and the design o projects. Particular attention is devoted to how to

ensure that the assessment is properly steered by parliament.

The purpose o the Assessment Framework is threeold:

to pinpoint areas where a parliament is not currently perorming aspects o its coreunctions, or is perorming these suboptimally;

to understand the possible underlying causes o these areas o weakness;

to identiy entry points or parliamentary development and design context-specicparliamentary support programmes.

The Framework includes comprehensive questions as well as a sample assessmentmatrix. Each national situation will demand modications to match context, but theAssessment Framework provides a comprehensive baseline approach to parliamentarystrengthening project assessment and design that can be adapted to diversesituations.

13. Finally, the impact o external actors, in particular the role o donors, on the easibility oparliamentary development programmes is analysed. These include a strong or exclusiveocus on strengthening the executive as well as the dangers that donor-recipient dialogueand policy and programme development bypass parliament, that support is providedto democratic elections but there is inadequate investment in building democraticinstitutions, and that development assistance is still mainly nanced o-budget and doesnot allow parliamentary oversight, and so on.

Chapter 3 Parliamentary development: Strategies andimplementation modalities

14. This chapter presents a series o key principles or parliamentary support.Intervention modalities should be based on the requirements o prevailing nationalconditions, and particularly on the principle o national ownership. Interventionocus and entry points will be determined through eective planning, including useo the assessment matrix tool. Development support should be built on a clear set

o desired outcomes in terms o parliamentary eectiveness. These must be realistic


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and at the same time make a genuine commitment to democratic strengthening. Aclear understanding is needed o the overall political and institutional environment inwhich parliament operates, enabling realistic outcomes and objectives to be set. Anunderstanding o existing drivers the actors that motivate parliamentarians to act is essential, as well as understanding o how the proposed parliamentary development

strategy interrelates with these motivators. Also essential is clear mapping o key actorsin supporting and resisting change as well as strategies or ensuring these actors areengaged in the parliamentary reorms programme.

15. The chapter discusses in detail the dierent strategic entry points or interventionmodalities or EC parliamentary support programmes. Many intersect with needsidentied in existing EC aid activities and commitments.

Support can be provided to parliaments as part o a general governanceprogramme in which strengthening activities are carried out simultaneously insupport o the dierent arms o government. In such cases it is essential to ensure thatthe dierent state institutions are all appropriately strengthened to avoid reinorcingexisting power imbalances.

Parliamentary support can be provided taking an electoral cycle approach. Onceagain, it is key that parliamentary strengthening activities extend beyond merelysupporting the passage o electoral legislation and include building institutionalcapacities.

General and sector budget support aid modalities also require engagement withparliaments:

Where parliaments budget oversight capacity is weak, budget support should beaccompanied by support to strengthen parliamentary oversight. This can entail

support to the nance committee or equivalent, the creation o a parliamentarybudget oce, supporting budget hearings, or strengthening relations with otherbudget actors, such as supreme audit institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs),the executive and so on.

EC budget support is negotiated as part o the multi-year Country Strategy Programme(CSP) and o the national indicative programmes (NIP), directly between the nationalgovernment and the EU Delegation. Eorts should be made to implement the EC guidelines on general budget support recommendation (European Commission,2007b) by making discussions between the EC and the national parliament, and inparticular the nance committee, part o the programming process and part o theannual review o support.

Parliamentary involvement in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) andother national development strategies should be strengthened. There should besupport or engagement in the elaboration and approval o plans to acilitate oversighto implementation. Parliaments have too oten been sidelined while negotiations onprogramme content take place between the international donor community and theexecutive.

Donor accountability to parliaments should be expanded in line with the Paris agendaand the Accra Aid Eectiveness agenda by, or instance:

tabling a joint government-EC annual report in parliament on EC and/or harmonized

international development assistance, including budget support;


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holding an annual inormal session o parliament during which EC and governmentinterlocutors present the EC development assistance programme and respond toquestions rom parliamentarians;

ensuring that parliament is inormed o nancing agreements signed with externaldonors, including the EC.

16. The institutional model, the party model and the civil society model three moregeneral types o approach to parliamentary support programmes are presented anddiscussed with their pros and cons, as well as a strategic development planningapproach which allows the dierent elements o the three models to be integrated.

17. The nal section o the chapter discusses dierent implementation partnershipapproaches: twinning with other parliaments, working with the European Parliament,or South-South collaboration with the parliament in, or example, South Arica;or partnership with United Nations agencies, global and regional parliamentaryassociations, political oundations, international nancial institutions, national (domestic)organizations and individual experts, as well as private international consulting

organizations and individuals. A mix o implementation partners is oten recommended,to be adjusted according to local need. Wherever possible it is recommended to joinorces with other parliamentary support providers and pool resources under a singlesupport programme.

The Reerence Document has three annexes.

18. Annex 1, Parliaments and democratic development, extends the ReerenceDocuments introduction to parliaments and their place in democratic systems ogovernance. It discusses the emergence o democracy, emphasizing that democracyhas deep roots in Arica and elsewhere and thus is not, as some have suggested, a

Western import. The annex explores why eective parliaments are essential or strongand stable democracies. It explains the role o parliaments in dierent democraticconstitutional models, underlining the need or parliamentary developers to be sensitiveto the roles played by parliaments in dierent democratic traditions. It concludesby outlining the dierent unctions o parliament, including legislation, oversightand representation, and in the national budget cycle. Two cross-cutting issues inparliamentary eectiveness are how representative the institution is o the diversityo the population, and the capacity o the parliamentary administration to support thework o the institution.

19. Annex 2, Themes in parliamentary development, examines specialized issues inparliamentary strengthening work beyond those presented in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3,allowing those planning support in specic thematic areas to use its relevant sections.Some parliamentary development programmes involve general support or thestrengthening o the institution. As is noted in Chapter 3, however, there are dierententry points and dierent priorities in parliamentary development, and activities otenocus on one or more discrete areas o strengthening work. The dierent sections inAnnex 2 explore key topics that oten orm the central ocus o strengthening activities.Section 1 looks at gender, exploring both the common weaknesses o parliaments ineectively representing women and their specic interests, and the tools and approachesused to increase womens participation in parliament or introduce a gender policy ocusto the work o parliament. Section 2 explores the role o parliaments in the budgetcycle, and builds on the budget entry point discussed in Chapter 3. It details common

weaknesses in parliamentary integration in the national budget cycle, and proposes


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methods to support greater parliamentary eectiveness in budget development andanalysis, implementation oversight, and post-acto auditing o government actions.Section 3 examines national political dialogue, with a special ocus on povertyreduction programmes, which have been the centrepiece o development assistancestrategies in recent years. The section examines the history o poverty reduction

programmes and notes that these have been driven largely by donor-governmentinteraction. It emphasizes the importance o integrating parliament as an institutionin the development, implementation and audit cycle o any national developmentplan. Section 4 examines the particular challenges involved in parliamentarystrengthening in a post-conict environment. In the past, international eorts inconfict situations ocused on the short-term end o hostilities, with little attention paidto long-term democratic institution building, oten resulting in a costly repeated cycleo confict and recovery. The section discusses the important role that parliament canplay in bringing ormerly hostile parties into democratic dialogue, identies sensitiveareas to be considered in post-confict parliamentary development, and providesrecommendations or eective programmes. Section 5 addresses the oten relatedtopic oparliamentary oversight o the security sector. Stable democracy requires

a clear demarcation o responsibilities between democratic governance institutions andthe security sector. A ailure o democratic control over security issues is requentlya contributing actor in the breakdown o democracy. The section emphasizes theimportance o parliamentary oversight unctions in the security area and discusses thevarious sensitivities, challenges and barriers to eective oversight. The annex makesrecommendations or strengthening approaches in this area.

20. Annex 3 examines new international methodologies or the benchmarking oparliamentary eectiveness. Such exercises attempt, as happened in the pastwhen dening ree and air elections, to speciy what it takes or a parliament to bedemocratic and eective. The benchmarks can provide an impetus to a parliament

to increase its eectiveness and accountability, especially when comparisonscan be made with other parliaments with similar historical and/or socio-economicbackgrounds. Parliaments that have used such benchmarks or sel-assessment andare willing to address some o the identied gaps provide an excellent starting pointor parliamentary development support.

21. Users o the Reerence Document may also wish to visit http://www.agora-parl.org, thereerence website or knowledge-sharing on parliamentary development, which waslaunched in 2010 and in which the EC is a partner.

22. We hope that this Reerence Document will provide a useul oundation or those beginningtheir involvement in parliamentary development, and become a resource or practitionersaddressing opportunities and challenges in the implementation o parliamentarystrengthening. This is an exciting area o democratic development that will continue tofourish in the coming years, particularly through networking and mutual support amongthose involved in the eld.


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I N T R O D U C T I O N

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INTRODUCTION

The developing policy ramework or European Commission supportto parliamentary strengthening

Democracy and democratic

development as undamental

values o the European

Union and the international

community

The European Union is unda-mentally committed to democracy,both as a governance principle orthe EU itsel and its member states,

and as a principle underlying itsexternal relationships, includingthe development assistanceprovided to other countries throughthe European Commission. Thiscommitment has gradually evolvedto include basic principles regardingthe nature and institutional elementso eective democratic systems,and specically the undamentalimportance o parliaments indemocratic governance, which

play a central role in law-making,oversight o the executive andrepresentation o the population.

The international commitment todemocratic governance can betraced back as ar as the globalexpression o rights enshrined inthe Universal Declaration o HumanRights (UDHR), which was adoptedin 1948. The declaration was

strengthened by the InternationalCovenant on Civil and PoliticalRights (ICCPR), adopted in 1966,article 25 o which is interpreted asrequiring governments to provideor elected legislative bodiesthat will share responsibility orgovernance with the executive. In2000, the United Nations Millenniumdeclaration endorsed democratic

and participatory governance based on the will o the people. The 2005 UN World Summitrearmed that democracy is a universal value based on the reely expressed will o people to

Box 1 - Legal and policy rameworks

underpinning EC support to

parliamentary development

EC parliamentary development support has explicit

expression in several key EU legal and policy

commitments. These include:

The Cotonou Agreement (2000), which emphasizes

the centrality o the EUs goal o promoting democracyand gives special attention to the European

Parliaments role in encouraging parliamentary

development in countries outside the EU.

The European Consensus on Development (2005),

which presents a common EU vision o development,

emphasizing poverty reduction, development based

on Europes democratic values and alignment o

development assistance with developing countries

development strategies.

The 2006 Commission Communication onGovernance in the European Consensus on

Development (COM (2006) 421), which underlines

the relevance o a broad approach to governance in

development cooperation and the need as a priority

to engage and support representative institutions.

The obligation to better align EC development

cooperation to partner countries development

strategies and to increase the use o budget support

also requires the EC to reinorce the role o the

national democratic institutions, e.g. parliaments,

directly involved in the relevant decision-making

processes under national law, and responsible or

the oversight o the use o the state budget.

The Council o the European Union Conclusions

on Democracy Support (2009), which emphasizes

that strengthening democracy is a key goal o EU

external actions, and that strong parliaments are a

central eature o European democracy.


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determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their ull participationin all aspects o their lives. Most recently, the General Assembly o the United Nations, inits 2007 resolution A/RES/62/7, set out a ramework or democracy based on universalprinciples, norms and standards, which asserts that, democracy, development and respector all human rights and undamental reedoms are interdependent and mutually reinorcing.

The UN democracy ramework specically underlines the

central role o parliaments and the active involvement o civil society organizations

and media and their interaction with Governments at all levels in promoting

democracy, reedom, equality, participation, development, respect or human rights

and undamental reedoms and the rule o law.

The importance o democracy in the processes o integration and development within theEU also guides EU policy and action beyond its borders. In the past decade in particular theplace o democracy support in EU development policies and external relations has grownin importance and the approach has become more comprehensive. The 2005 EuropeanConsensus on Development emphasizes that support or democracy and good governance

will be mainstreamed throughout the EUs provision o development assistance, and willtake the orm o specic areas o concentrated support. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty rearmsin article 21 that:

the Unions action on the international scene shall be guided by the principles which

have inspired its own creation, development and enlargement, and which it seeks to

advance in the wider world: democracy, the rule o law, the universality and indivisibility

o human rights and undamental reedoms, respect or human dignity, the principles

o equality and solidarity, and respect or the principles o the United Nations Charter

and international law.

The importance o support to democratization is urther underlined by the November 2009Council o the European Union Conclusions on Democracy Support. These conclusionsemphasize the importance o democratic development as a key goal o EU external action,and state that the EU is committed to improving the coherence and eectiveness o itssupport to democracy. The document includes an Agenda or Action on Democracy Supportin EU External Relations, which states inter alia that:

democracy support should include a special ocus on the role o elected representatives

and political parties and institutions, independent media and civil society. The EU

support should take into account the ull electoral cycle and not ocus on ad hoc

electoral support only.

Beyond the international commitment and the EUs engagement in democracy development,it should also be noted that various regional organizations have over the years developed theirown democracy statements or charters, such as the Organization o American States (OAS)Inter-American Democratic Charter (2001), the Arican Union (AU) Charter on Democracy,Elections and Governance (2007) and the Organization or Security and Co-operation inEurope (OSCE) Charter o Paris or a New Europe (1990), which contains a substantivechapter on democracy and what it entails, including concrete reerences to the central role oparliaments in democracy.


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The aid eectiveness agenda requires a strengthened ocus on domestic

accountability and a central role or parliaments

Aid eectiveness is to be accomplished largely through uller country ownership o thedevelopment process, including reliance on national, rather than donor-driven, accountabilitysystems. National parliaments are the pivotal accountability institutions in democratic

systems, and thus the aid eectiveness agenda leads to a greater role or parliamentsand the need to place a higher priority on parliamentary strengthening within developmentassistance rameworks. The Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra Agenda (2008), inparticular, establish guidelines or increasing aid eectiveness. The Paris Declarationincludes ve principles to strengthen aid eectiveness:

Ownership: Developing countries set their own strategies or poverty reduction, improvetheir institutions and tackle corruption.

Alignment: Donor countries align behind these objectives and use local systems.

Harmonization: Donor countries coordinate, simpliy procedures and share inormation

to avoid duplication.Results: Developing countries and donors shit ocus to development results and resultsget measured.

Mutual Accountability: Donors and partners are accountable or developmentresults.

The Accra Agenda expands on the Paris Declaration, and includes a particular emphasison the use o country systems or the delivery o development assistance. This entails, orexample, the use o direct budget support to deliver development assistance. The EC has beenat the oreront in shiting towards budget support modality. The success o budget supportmodality depends on the eectiveness o national delivery and accountability processes

and, specically, the eectiveness o parliament. The EC undertakes where appropriate to

Box 2 - Democratic development is central to the ACP-EU partnership or

development

Since the Lom Convention o 1975, the partnership or development assistance between

the European Union and the Arican, Pacic and Caribbean countries has emphasized thecentrality o democracy as a oundation or good governance and eective development.

Further iterations o the Lom Convention and the Cotonou Agreement o 2000 have expanded

on the importance o democracy and conrmed the commitment o the ACP countries to

democratic development, and the support o the European Union to democratic institutions in

the ACP countries. The Joint EU-ACP Parliamentary Assembly, comprised o equal numbers o

representatives rom ACP country parliaments and the European Parliament, plays an important

role in promoting democratic processes through dialogue and consultation, and provides

advice and recommendations on the unctioning o the development partnership between

the ACP countries and the EU. The second revision o the Cotonou Agreement, approved in

March 2010, emphasizes the role o ACP parliaments as key actors in the ACP-EU development

partnership, states that parliaments will be provided with capacity building support in critical

areas and specically notes that ACP parliaments are to be involved in regular political dialogue

on the development objectives o the Cotonou Agreement, including mutual actions to promote

a stable and democratic political environment.


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support eorts o partner countries to develop parliamentary control and audit capacities(European Commission, 2008d).

To conclude, EC support to parliamentary strengthening:

refects the EUs commitment to democracy as a undamental expression o the values

o the EU and its member states;

supports global and regional commitments to establish and oster democratic systemsthat provide good governance and guarantee reedom and human rights;

conorms with the priorities o the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda to improve aideectiveness, including through the use o country systems.

Although, as is underlined above, the development and democracy support policy rameworkhas signicantly evolved in the past decade, this does not mean that it has been ullyintegrated into the practical work in the eld. This is demonstrated by the Assessment oEC Support to Parliaments (20002009), a summary o which is presented in Chapter 1

o this Reerence Document. Thus ar, the ECs democracy support has too oten beenlimited to electoral assistance, election observation and some support to CSOs advocatingdemocracy reorms.

Parliaments and successul democracies

There is no single correct model o democracy. Even among longstanding democracies, thereis a wide variety o dierent types o democratic system, in which parliaments play varyingroles. However, there is growing consensus that eective parliaments are o undamentalimportance to democratic systems. The brie outline below is merely an introduction to the

topic. Annex 1 o this document contains a detailed discussion o the history o democracyand o dierent types o constitutional, parliamentary and electoral systems. It concludes byoutlining the dierent unctions o parliament. It is a useul, more extensive introduction orthose less amiliar with the topic.

Parliament is normally one o a triumvirate o autonomous state institutions, along withthe executive and the judiciary. The relationship between these institutions is describedin some systems as a separation o powers (e.g. in the United States where there arestrict constitutional separations o both responsibility and personnel) and in other systemsas a balance o power. In the Westminster system, which is ollowed in various orms inmany Commonwealth countries, the executive, legislature and judiciary have historicallybeen intertwined. In the Napoleonic system, which provides the inspiration or manyrancophone and lusophone countries, there is typically a clear power separation betweenthe dierent state institutions, although as with all models there are signicant variationsbetween individual countries.

Beyond the relationship between the ormal state institutions, parliaments role and eectiveness

are linked to the types o electoral system through which parliamentarians are elected, aswell as the nature and unctioning o political parties. Obviously, ree, air and transparentelections are a requirement or a credible, legitimate and eective parliament. Beyond this,dierent electoral systems aect the unctioning o parliament. For example, constituency-based elections provide a direct link between representatives and their constituents, but thesesystems are oten rst-past-the-post, which may result in under-representation o minority

perspectives in parliament. On the other hand, list-based systems, in which voters choose


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between party lists, typically results in wide representation o dierent political parties, but atthe expense o the link between a parliamentarian and the constituency.

Well-rooted and democratic political parties are necessary or parliaments to be eective. Inmany emerging democracies, parties particularly those in opposition are oten weak and

personalized, with limited capacity or policy analysis and advocacy. In these circumstances,eective support to parliament may require complementary support or political partydevelopment, although this may be provided through other development actors.

In most countries, parliaments core unctions are enshrined in the constitution as encompassing

legislation, oversight andrepresentation. In addition, parliaments typically are responsible orpassing the budget, thereby permitting the executive to carry out its programme. Parliamentalso has an important role, although not always constitutionally enshrined, to ensure that thegovernance process isinclusive, that is, that all segments o the population are adequatelyrepresented.

Parliaments are best known or theirlegislative responsibilities. Except in limited circumstances,

all legislation must be passed by parliament beore it comes into eect. This does not mean thatparliaments write most legislation. Oten, the bulk o legislation is developed by the executivearm o government and submitted to parliament or consideration. Nevertheless, parliamentand parliamentarians must be able to eectively analyse proposed legislation and makeamendments, or even reject proposed legislation, when necessary.

Oversight reers to parliaments role in monitoring government activities and ensuring thatthey are consistent with national legislation, and that resources are being used ecientlyand eectively. In many ways, oversight is the most important unction o any parliamentbecause it ensures that government is held accountable to the peoples representativeson a day-to-day basis. Eective oversight does not just mean eective monitoring o

the governments nances (discussed below) but, just as importantly, involves ensuringthat government programmes are eective and meet the objectives or which they weredesigned. Vehicles or carrying out oversight include but are not limited to parliamentary(standing) committees, special committees, questions and interpellations o ministers,written questions and parliamentary inquiries.

Thebudget process is a cycle that involves development o the budget proposal, considerationand approval o the budget, execution o the budget and nally accounting and auditing o howthe budget was executed. Parliament has a crucial role in at least two o these phases it isthe institution responsible or approving the budget, and it is the main body that, with supportrom a supreme audit institution, is responsible or auditing budget execution. Increasingly,eective parliaments are also involved in consulting the population in the budget developmentprocess, oten preparing a report providing input to the executive on budget priorities.

Parliamentarians need to take account o and represent the views and needs o theirconstituents when they pass laws and undertake oversight. There are many dierent methodsor parliaments to gather the perspectives o citizens, and these are discussed in Annex 1.These include individual discussions with constituents, constituency meetings, parliamentaryhearings, citizen petitions and citizen legislative initiatives.

Increasing attention is being paid to the need or the ocus o parliamentary work toreectthe composition and dierent segments o the population. This is a multiaceted process.Parliaments have not always refected the population; or example, women make up close

to hal the members in only a handul o parliaments in the world. Inclusiveness also


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involves ensuring that the concerns o dierent parts o the population are systematicallyconsidered as parliament carries out its work. Parliaments can thus play a key role inchannelling social tension and dierences in a constructive direction.

Chapter 1 o this Reerence Document briefy examines the parliamentary development work

that the EC has supported in the ACP countries over the past ten years. This provides auseul picture o where the EC stands with its parliamentary support and documents someo the lessons learned.


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C H A P T E R 1 : A S S E S S M E N T O F T H E E U R O P E A N C O M M I S S I O N S P A R L I A M E N T A R Y S U P P O R T I N A F R I C A , T H E C A R I B B E A N A N D T H E P A C I F I C

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1. ASSESSMENT OF THE EUROPEANCOMMISSIONS PARLIAMENTARYSUPPORT IN AFRICA, THE CARIBBEAN

AND THE PACIFICChapter overview

A desk- and mission-based assessment o EC parliamentary support activities conductedin the ACP states between 2000 and 2009 was carried out as part o the preparation o thisReerence Document. The methodology involved accessing EuropeAid project records andollowing up with EU Delegations to gather additional documentation and specic projectdetails. A country-by-country database o project inormation and documentation wasprepared, which was used as the basis or analysis. In addition, the project team consultedwith Delegation sta at the Third Regional Workshop on Democratic Governance or

ACP/Arica Delegations in Kigali, Rwanda, which took place on 1315 May 2009. SouthArica and Senegal were selected as in-depth case studies, and project missions were sentto each country in July 2009. This chapter presents a short summary o some highlights othe assessment. The ull assessment is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/governance/index_en.htm

1.1. Dimensions o EC parliamentary support

In total we identied EC nancial support specically earmarked or parliamentary developmentbetween 2000 and 2009 totalling approximately EUR 107 million. Because parliamentary

development projects are oten part o wider governance projects in which the allocation oresources between dierent governance institutions is not specied, the level o resourcesdelivered in support o parliaments should be considered an estimate.

The assessment team identied 46 parliamentary support programmes, 42 o which werein 24 individual countries, along with our ACP regional projects. In addition, six programmesare delivered through budget support modalities, which are discussed below. Apart rom aproject about to begin in Timor Leste and a budget support modality programme which wasbeing ormulated in Haiti beore the January 2010 earthquake, all the other individual countryprojects were in sub-Saharan Arica. Most o the projects were unded entirely by the EC,while 11 o the 41 country projects identied unding partners, both contributions rom therecipient parliament and support rom bilateral and multilateral development agencies. Theour ACP regional projects are support to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, supportto the Pan-Arican Parliament, an inormation and communications technology (ICT) projectand an Energy Access or the Poor project.

The majority o EC development assistance resources to ACP countries, including orparliamentary development, are channelled through the European Development Fund (EDF).Signicant unding or parliamentary development in South Arica has been provided throughthe specic budget line devoted to cooperation between the EC and South Arica.

There are other potential sources o EC support or parliamentary development in the ACPcountries. The European Instrument or Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) provides

assistance to projects ostering human rights and democratic reorm. The EIDHR mainly


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supports non-governmental organizations (NGOs) but it can also support parliamentaryactivities in this area, and two projects were identied that had received some EIDHRsupport.

The level o EC unding to parliamentary development projects across the 46 country-level

and regional programmes varied widely. Only ve projects beneted rom large scale multi-year unding exceeding EUR 5 million. Three o these were in South Arica.

Figure 1: Relative size of EC investments in parliamentary support projects

1.2. Types o parliamentary support provided

Legislative strengthening

Legislative strengthening ocuses on the role and responsibilities o parliament in preparing,introducing and considering legislative proposals and amendments. The assessment ound25 programmes in 16 countries implementing relevant activities such as providing courses

in legislative drating, improving the unctioning o standing orders through reorm andsupporting the passage o enabling legislation.

Oversight unction

The oversight unction o parliament is in many ways its most crucial role, and encompassesmuch more than scal accountability. The inability o parliaments to be eective in this roleoten refects their institutional operating environment, as is discussed above. There areoten either major power imbalances in national institutional structures or an absence oacceptable norms or good governance. Civil society is oten too weak to eectively demandthe accountability o government to the population.

We ound 16 programmes with clear oversight strengthening aspects in 13 dierent countries.Examples o the types o activity carried out vary rom training on oversight responsibilitiesto multi-vector activities that aim to increase both parliamentary capacity and the demandrom civil society or parliament to play a key role in ostering accountability.

National budget

EC-supported projects to strengthen the eectiveness o parliaments in national budgetprocesses included a airly narrow range o activities around dierent aspects o training or

nance committee members and sta on the budget process.

Under 500,000 22%

500,000 - 1M 21%

Over 5M 12%

1M -5M 45%


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Representation

Therepresentation unction is critical to the long-term sustainability o democratic systems.The population must eel that it is being heard by its democratic representatives, and thatissues that arise will be taken seriously and addressed. Numerous diculties arise or

parliaments in developing country democracies in carrying out the representation unction.Institutional resources to permit regular outreach are oten lacking. More undamentally, therelationship between the legislator and the citizen is oten problematic. There is oten poorunderstanding among the populace o the division o responsibilities between the executiveand the legislature, with the expectation that the legislator can personally carry out executiveprogrammes. Parliamentarians oten play up this misunderstanding by claiming personal creditor service delivery or by lobbying or constituency unds that they administer themselves.

Twenty-six programmes were identied with representation-oriented activities in 18 ACPcountries. The range o activities that the EC has supported in strengthening the representativeunction o parliament is impressive and includes, or example, the development oparliamentary magazines, websites, open-door policies, outreach programmes and petition

systems, the strengthening o links to civil society and national civic education on the role oparliament.

Parliamentary administration

ACP parliaments oten lack sta with expertise in key areas such as legislative analysis,oversight and the national budget process. Basic acilities are oten insucient. Forexample, ICT, library services, archiving, translation, minute-taking and the production othe parliamentary record may not be carried out eciently or be proessionalized. Internalnancial accountability is oten an issue, and opposition and minority parties may be unable

to access resources to support them.

E

urope

anUnion,

1995-2010


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Inclusivity

Inclusivity involves ensuring that parliament genuinely refects the whole population and itsdiverse needs. In this area, EC parliamentary development programmes over the past decademostly ocused on gender equity. Future gender programmes should ocus on developing

specic action plans that aim to refect equity in parliament and in its deliberations. Genderinclusivity has generated many positive examples which may inorm related areas wheremore remains to be done, including in minority representation and supporting constructivesocial dialogue.

Institutional strengthening through budget support

The EC is committed to expanding direct budget support. Parliaments role in ensuringthe success o the budget support modality will intensiy as the ECs delivery odevelopment assistance is consolidated with national budgets. The assessment oundthat the EC provided budget support in 43 ACP countries, and notable among these

were several ragile states emerging rom serious confict. There are provisions in thebudget support modality or support to institutional strengthening, including parliamentarystrengthening.

Support to parliaments as part o an institutional strengthening component o budgetsupport is under way in our countries, under ormulation in two and has been concludedin a seventh country. The budget support or institutional strengthening programmes orparliament tend to be quite small. For the ve programmes or which we have guresor EC contributions to parliamentary support, these vary up to EUR 250,000 (Burundi). The gures cover between two and ve years. Activities typically include strengtheningo the parliamentary budget/nance committee and improved coordination between the

parliament and the supreme audit institution.

1.3. Case studies

1.3.1. South Arica

EC support or parliamentary development in South Arica

The South Arican legislative sector is a genuine success story as an example o nationallydriven democratic development. The EC has assisted that development over the past 14 yearsthrough three phases o support. The case study was selected because it is the largest amounto EC support provided to a parliament to date, and there is the potential or skills and bestpractices to be shared elsewhere in the ACP region.

The EC has provided support to the South Arican legislative sector since 1996. The casestudy ocuses on the Legislature Support Programme (LSP), which was implementedbetween 2004 and 2008. The Legislative Sector Policy Support Programme (LSPSP),which runs rom 2009 to 2013, is delivered through sector budget support, the rsttime that this unding modality has been employed by the EC to support parliamentarydevelopment.


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The legislative sector

South Arica is unique in havingdened a legislative sector madeup o the 11 national and provincial

legislative institutions. The existenceo a legislative sector providesa clear ocus on the importanceo the legislative institutions asanchors o the democratic state,and on the need or the sector todevelop consistently rather than ona legislature by legislature basis. The sector is coordinated by theSpeakers Forum, a non-statutorybody that includes the Speakerand deputy Speaker o each o

the 11 legislative bodies in SouthArica.

Focus o LSP support and results

In line with the main objectives o the LSP, the major activities covered included strengthening

gender mainstreaming, public participation, oversight, a disability strategy, nancialmanagement and inormation systems, human resources development and communicationbetween the national legislative bodies and those at the provincial level. To highlight just onearea, the LSP activities to support strengthened legislative oversight ocused on building

the capacity o committee support sta and parliamentarians have contributed to positivedevelopments in terms o nancial independence and the oversight role o the legislativeinstitutions.

Assessment o the South Arican legislative sector-European Commission

partnership: Lessons learned

South Aricas democratic system is a unique and highly successul experiment in integrating

participatory democracy practices with traditional liberal democratic institutions. Thepolitical system that has been built corresponds closely with contemporary thinking globallyregarding the merits o participatory democracy. The EC has made a positive contributionto institutional strengthening, particularly in helping to build the concept o the legislativesector with the engagement o both provincial and national legislatures. This is a goodmodel to ollow in both developing and developed country democratic systems.

The shit rom project modality to a sector approach ts with South Aricas disciplinedcommitment to strategic development and is also somewhat the logical consequence o long-term and intense cooperation between the EC and the South Arican legislative sector. In linewith the sector strategic plan, the work ahead will include putting into practice a number o sector

strategic rameworks in the areas o oversight and public participation, as well as strengthening

inrastructural support, or example, in human resources and nancial management systems.The South Arican legislative sector is committed to the development o the sector and sharing

its experiences. The sector dialogue meetings, and in particular the (international) consultative

Box 3 - Three phases o EC support to

South Aricas legislative sector

19962003: EUR 15.3 million

Support provided to parliament and,through the Speakers Forum, to

provincial legislatures.

20042008: EUR 10.0 million

Support provided through the Legislature

Support Programme (LSP) with greater

emphasis on strengthening provincial

legislatures.

20092013: EUR 15.0 million

Support being provided as a result o

the Legislative Sector Policy SupportProgramme (LSPSP).


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seminars, promote the exchange o ideas on cooperative and collaborative implementationo programmes o national parliaments and provincial/regional legislatures as a strategyor cooperation on advancing parliamentary democracy. This programme successullydemonstrates the EUs role as a development partner advancing parliamentary democracy.

1.3.2. Senegal

Senegal is a key partner o the European Union within the West Arican region. The country isa particularly important example or democratic development in the West Arican subregiongiven its long tradition o respect or human rights, and its history o the peaceul anddemocratic transer o state power rom one political party to another. This long experienceo stability and peaceul democratic change provides opportunities to measure the impact oparliamentary support over time.

EC support or parliamentary development in Senegal

Under the ninth EDF, the EC and Senegal agreed to establish the Programme dappui auProgramme National de Bonne Gouvernance (PAPNBG), intended to nance governancestrengthening activities in several areas including the judiciary, economic governance, parliamentand non-state actors. The programme ran rom March 2006 to December 2009 and had abudget o EUR 33.5 million. O this global amount, EUR 600,000 was earmarked or supportingthe National Assembly and EUR 2.135 million or the audit court (Cour des Comptes). Theplanned programme o support to the National Assembly included recruiting consultants tocarry out an organizational analysis, recruiting expert parliamentary assistants, strengtheningworking methods, including study missions, and acquiring ICT and oce equipment. In practice,the support to parliament has ocused primarily on activities to strengthen the institutions

budget oversight activities, and in particular the work o the nance committee.

One additional key but unplanned activity is acilitating resolution o the lengthy delays in theapproval o previous years national nancial accounts. By the end o 2008, approximatelyten years o accounts had not been veried by the Cour des Comptes and approved by theNational Assembly. EC ocials used their inormal convening power, derived at least in partrom their involvement in the PAPNBG, to organize a retreat involving representatives o theFinance Ministry, the Assembly and the Cour des Comptes. The results o the exercise werequite positive: several years o backlog was processed and a clear plan with timelines wasormulated to bring the accounting up to date.

Assessment o EC support to parliamentary strengthening in Senegal

The most signicant achievement o the parliamentary strengthening project in Senegal is itsostering o dialogue between the EC Delegation and the National Assembly, which amongother things helped to reduce the backlog in auditing the national accounts.

Specic programme activities enabled strengthening o ICT provision and expanded thepool o technical support available to the nance committee. Given the relatively smallamount o resources available, the programmes objectives were overambitious, with onlylimited evidence o strengthened parliamentary budget oversight eectiveness. The projectwas delivered through a project management unit and this structure may have reduced the

opportunities or direct dialogue between the Delegation and the National Assembly. Where


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possible, national delivery mechanisms should be utilized in line with the commitments o theParis Declaration and the Accra Agenda.

Weaknesses in the unctioning o Senegals parliament are at least to some extent refectiveo political-economic drivers that limit the institutions eectiveness, and it would be useul

to carry out a political economy/drivers o change analysis prior to engaging in such aparliamentary project. The assessment ramework in Chapter 2 o this Reerence Documentis a useul tool or assessing institutional challenges or parliamentary development.

1.4. Balance sheet and recommendations or eective parliamentarydevelopment programmes

The assessment o EC assistance demonstrates that while signicant support has beenprovided to parliamentary strengthening in ACP countries, this support has not reached thelevels required overall. Less than hal the ACP countries received parliamentary developmentsupport. Much o the support that has been provided has been short term and limited

in scope. Furthermore, many o the projects are primarily technical in nature (e.g. theprovision o ICT equipment and training, etc.), while there are oten structural challenges toparliamentary eectiveness that require broader and deeper engagement with and supportto the parliamentary institution as well as greater exploration o the political-economic driverso change in specic countries, and expanded political dialogue between EU Delegations andnational parliaments and governments on democratic development issues.

Many examples o good practice in EC support to parliaments are highlighted in the ull assessment

document, which is available online. Most notably, the long-term and relatively large-scalecollaboration between the EC and the South Arican legislative sector has been a considerablesuccess. A number o smaller interventions supporting various national parliaments such as in

Tanzania (see Box 4 below), Kenya and Comoros are also highlighted in the ull assessment.

Box 4 - Example o good practice in representation: Tanzania

Issue: National elections in 2007 and Tanzanias renewed commitment to democratization

created momentum to consolidate and intensiy good and accountable governance practices.

Programme: The programme supports the Tanzanian-led Deepening Democracy initiative

(2007) to build the capacity o national governance institutions and political parties. UNDP is

the lead implementing partner. The our-year programme began in 2008. The EC is contributing

EUR 1.4 million o the programmes EUR 9.5 million budget. The strategic plan supporting the

parliamentary component is complete and ready or implementation.

Design: The design o the project ocused on building multi-donor support or the Corporate

Plan and, in parallel, strengthening the capacity o key parliamentary committees and parliaments

responsiveness to civil society.

Main activities:Training or the secretariat o the national parliament and the Zanzibar House

o Representatives; constituency outreach seminars to support public understanding o the role

o representatives and constituents; wide dissemination o issues around parliamentary work

through Speakers orums; and ocusing media attention on events and key messages promoting

citizen-parliamentary engagement.

Key fndings:This programme has brought about a more competent review o the budget and

scrutiny o bills by committee chairpersons, and increased dialogue between parliament andcivil society. The involvement o civil society in the review o bills has increased its infuence on

legislation. The strengthening o civil society has proved to be a positive actor underpinning the

sustainability o the programme.


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Successul programmes typically include:

a longer-term approach;

an amenable environment or democratic development;

strong national ownership;

clearly dened programme objectives;

strong Delegation engagement, including careul programme planning;

expert implementation partners, either national or international.

A considerably greater emphasis needs to be placed by the EC on parliamentary developmentsupport in ACP countries in order or EC development assistance to meet the commitmentso the EU entrenched in the Cotonou Agreements and repeated in the decisions and policyagendas o the European Council, the EC and the European Parliament, most recently inthe EU Agenda or Action on Democracy Support in EU External Relations adopted by the

European Council on 17 November 2009, and discussed in the introduction to this ReerenceDocument.


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2. PARLIAMENTARY DEVELOPMENT:PRECONDITIONS AND ASSESSMENT

Chapter overview

Section 2.1. o this chapter discusses the nature o an eective parliament as well asthe importance o an overall ramework o democratic institutions and practices to afourishing, democratic parliament. The crucial relationship between parliament andcivil society in democratic development is addressed. From the outset, parliamentarysupport programmes need to establish a synergistic relationship with assistance to civilsociety. Strategies are discussed or building a mutually enhancing relationship betweenparliament and civil society one ormal, the other inormal as part o an overalldemocratic development strategy. Section 2.2. discusses the preconditions or a successulparliamentary development programme. Parliament must have the will to become astronger and more eective institution. In addition, to ully benet rom strengthening

support, a parliament must be able to exercise the necessary range o constitutionalpowers o legislation, oversight and representation required or the eective unctioningo a legislature in a contemporary liberal democracy. The section provides a checklistthat can be used as the basis or a pre-assessment by the Delegation to determinewhether minimum conditions or a successul parliamentary development programme arein place. The Framework Assessment in Section 2.3. provides a step-by-step guide tothe comprehensive assessment o a parliaments strengths and weaknesses, and theidentication o priority development needs. Delegations implementing parliamentarydevelopment programmes will wish to consult the various specialized sections o Annex 2,depending on the specic nature and content o the parliamentary development workthey are supporting. Section 2.4. discusses external actors that aect the easibility o

parliamentary development programmes.

2.1. The oundations or parliamentary development

As is noted above, in contemporary democratic systems the core unctions o parliamentare normally viewed as legislation, executive oversight and representation. All three o theseunctions are essential ly roles that balance executive authority. Parliaments role in the budgetcycle, which involves legislation, oversight and representation, completes the main areas oparliaments constitutional role.

The challenge o parliamentary development is thereore two-old. First, parliamentariansmust have the technical skills and the technical support necessary in order to carry out theirconstitutional roles. Second, the structure o power and incentives in the governance system,and particularly the relationship between parliament and the executive, must permit parliamentto play its oversight role. The two conditions are mutually dependent. I parliamentariansand their sta are not aware o the roles that they should be playing, and lack the technicalcapacities to play these roles, they will not be in a position to assert their roles. Equally, i theposition o parliamentarians and parliament in a societys power structures does not allowthem to operate autonomously o the executive, they will not be able to apply the technicalcapacities they do have. They will also lack incentives to develop technical capacities to carryout their constitutional unctions. The problems o weak capacities and limited powers thusinteract in a vicious circle that is hard to break.

C H A P T E R 2 : P A R L I A M E N T A R Y D E V E L O P M E N T : P R E C O N D I T I O N S A N D A S S E S S M E N T

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This dicult interaction between limited technical skills and little incentive to strengthenthose skills occurs in parliaments throughout much o the developing world. It accountsor the relatively poor outcome o much parliamentary development work, including someo the challenges aced by the EC-supported parliamentary strengthening programmesdiscussed in Chapter 1, and means that a careul planning process is required when carrying

out parliamentary development. It is important that a proper political economy/drivers ochange analysisandan assessment o parliamentary capacities and strengthening needsshould be carried out beore any parliamentary development activities are programmed.The assessment ramework or identiying parliamentary capacities and setting priorities,ound in section 2.3. o this chapter, will be helpul in this process.

This section begins with a discussion o the distinction between a powerul parliament and aneective parliament. It discusses the importance in contemporary democratic developmento osteringparticipatory democracyat the same time as strengthening the ormal institutionso representative democracy, in particular parliament.

2.1.1. What is an eective parliament?

Powerul parliaments are not necessarily successul parliaments. There are examples whereconfict has developed between parliament and the executive, with parliament consistentlyblocking executive actions. This can happen, or example, where the political party o theleader o the executive is in a minority. Confict between parliament and the executivecan lead in turn to general social tension and even provide the military with a rationaleor seizing power (see Box 5). In successul democracies, a balance is ound where thelegislature has strong powers but uses them to their ull extent only in extreme cases oexecutive misconduct.

However, it is important to remember that there are many more cases o parliamentsunderusing their constitutional powers in emerging democracies than parliaments overusingsuch powers.

In most well-unctioning democracies, parliament rarely blocks government actions. Usually,the presidents or the prime ministers party has a majority in parliament and is capable opushing through legislation i necessary. Government respects the right o the opposition toraise dicult issues and to criticize the governments policies and actions. The oppositionacknowledges that the government has a mandate to govern refected in its parliamentarymajority. The main roles o parliament are to provide a place or debate between dierentpolitical points o view, to careully review legislative proposals and pass amendments whereneeded, and to ensure the points o view o citizens are refected in the policy debate. Aboveall, parliament ensures that the business o government is carried out in public and is subjectto scrutiny. For a parliament to eectively undertake its legislative and oversight roles, it shouldbe an open arena with active involvement rom civil society, the media and independent stateinstitutions such as audit institutions, an ombudsman, human rights and anti-corruptioncommissions eeding parliament with relevant inormation and analysis.


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2.1.2. What are the political conditions or successul parliamentary development?

There are two crucial conditions or successul parliamentary development. The frst is theagreement o dierent leadership groups within society to live by a set o rules and not to

resort to extra-constitutional methods to undermine their opponents . Such extra-constitutionalmethods might include a government arresting its political opponents or reusing to holdelections, or opposition orces supporting violent attacks on the government. Other non-political actors also need to accept the ultimate authority o the democratically electedgovernment. This would include the armed orces, or example, which must resist anytemptation to seize power on the grounds that the political class is unable to govern eectively.Supporting parliaments in providing eective oversight o the security sector is discussed indetail in section 5 o Annex 2. A general agreement to resolve issues according to written andunwritten rules o the game is called apolitical settlement . Countries without stable politicalsettlements are poor candidates or democratic development. Unless all the relevant actorsare on board, it is not in the interests o the other actors to respect the rules. For example, ian opposition party eels it will not be allowed to assume power i it wins an election, it is notin the interests o the party to contest elections. I a government party is airly certain that i itloses a ree election, it will never be allowed to succeed in uture elections, it is not in itsinterests to organize ree elections. Similarly, i political actors know that the armed orcesmight be prepared to seize power, they will be tempted to orm an alliance with the militaryrather than engage in genuine political debate with their opponents (Higley and Burton, 2006;Whaites, 2008).

Considerable emphasis has been placed on the importance o durable political settlementbetween elites or good reason. However, the case o Mozambique (see Box 6 below)

shows that political settlements are much more likely to be durable where the second condition

Box 5 - Nigers Third Republic: The problem o cohabitation

The constitution o Nigers Third Republic was proclaimed in 1992 ater many years o

authoritarian government. In common with a number o Arican constitutions, the 1992 Niger

Constitution was modelled on Frances Fith Republic masterminded by President Charles DeGaulle in 1958. It provides or shared executive powers between a directly elected president

and a prime minister nominated by the president but who requires the approval o parliament.

In the presidential and par liamentary elections that ollowed in 1993, a coalition o par ties that

had been in opposition to the previous regime won a majority in parliament, and the coalitions

presidential candidate, Mahamane Ousmane, deeated the candidate o the political party o

the ormer dictatorship.

The ormer opposition parties in the new government coalition were unable to agree among

themselves once they got into power, and some members o parliament switched sides so that

Ousmane no longer had a majority in parliament. Using his constitutional powers, the president

dissolved parliament and called new elections in 1994. The coalition o parties still supporting

Ousmane ailed to win a majority and he was obliged to appoint an opponent, Hama Amadou,as prime minister. However, the two sides were unable to share power eectively, with the

president and the prime minister each attempting to impose their will on the government. On

27 January 1996 the military seized power under the pretext o restoring order and resolving

the perpetual political crisis. Nigers rst experience o multipar ty democracy ended in ailure.

Source: Ibrahim and Souley, 1998

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or successul parliamentary development is present: a context o overall democratization.In act, the development o democratic state institutions, including parliament, is onlyconceivable within a context o overall democratization and an expansion o opportunitiesor ree expression. Democratic legislatures must be elected by knowledgeable citizens,and this requires the availability o multiple sources o independent inormation. Political

campaigning can only occur in an environment o respect or human rights. Voluntaryassociations are the soil rom which political organizations and candidates emerge. Thefowering o multiple independent sources o inormation and opinion in turn provides abulwark against authoritarian regression. Research on the concept osocial capitalshowsthat healthy societies develop rom multiple interconnecting social networks, rather thanhierarchical conveyor belts o power.

E

uropeanUnion,

1995-20

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2.1.3.

EC Parliamentary Development Reference Guide Murphy 2010

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