EuropeAid

Entry points and models for parliamentary development

EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

Day 4: Promoting domestic accountability: engaging with parliaments

EuropeAidBackground

• Each parliament has different needs and priorities, and works in a different national context

• The entry points and modalities for parliamentary support should be based on parliament’s own priorities and the findings of the Assessment process, to be discussed after the break, and presented in Chapter 2 of the Reference Document

• However, there are certain common entry-points and methods that can facilitate effective and synergistic parliamentary support. Four key approaches that can be particularly useful entry points for EC delegations are discussed in this presentation, in addition to a brief discussion of more general approaches often used in PD

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry point 1: Parliamentary action in the electoral cycle

• EC has successful record of supporting democratic elections

• Increasingly, support to elections is viewed in terms of the electoral cycle. This ensures that the infrastructure and systems for elections are not recreated for each election, and establishes common standards and expectations for election organization and conduct

• However, successful democratic elections do not guarantee an effective elected institution.

• Too often, EC and other donor support does not extend to parliamentary institution strengthening, risking democratic reversal and loss of investment in democratic elections

• The introduction of parliamentary support into the electoral cycle approach aims to provide a coordinated and comprehensive approach to democratic development to mitigate these risks

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry points 1 continued: Parliamentary action in the electoral cycle

4Hypothetical parliamentary cycle approach including support to elections legislation

EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry point 2: Budget cycle approach

• The budgetary functions of parliament are of central importance to national governance effectiveness

• In addition, in the context of Paris and Accra, development aid is increasingly channelled through national systems, placing fiduciary responsibility on those systems rather than donor systems

• PEFA assessments generally find the oversight and audit aspects of national systems are the weakest aspects of PFM

• The budget cycle approach emphasizes the importance of parliamentary involvement in the development, approval, monitoring and audit of the budget

• An effective budget cycle approach requires coordinated support to the SAI and parliament

• Effective parliamentary action in the budget cycle requires strong staff support; often an area of weakness in developing country parliaments; consider supporting establishment of a dedicated parliamentary budget office

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry point 2 continued: Budget cycle approach

EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

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EuropeAidEntry point 3 – Strengthened involvement in PRSPs and national development strategies

• Parliaments have often been excluded from effective participation in PRSP processes

• Typically PRSPs have not been approved by parliaments

• As a result, the national accountability cycle is broken; parliament has little basis to oversee PRSP execution

• Civil society organizations have often been substituted to provide participation, but they lack formal constitutional status and may not be independent of donor and

• There is increasing acknowledgement that effective poverty reduction must include formal approval and accountability through parliament.

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry point 3 continued – Existing PRSP norms with minimal parliamentary input

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry point 3 continued – Well-integrated parliamentary input to PRSP

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry point 4 – Strategic Development Plan

• The Assessment of EC support to parliaments showed that long-term approaches were much more likely to be effective than short-term ad hoc support

• One effective development approach is through a multi-year Strategic Development Plan (SDP)

• The development process for an SDP should be inclusive and involve key actors inside and outside parliament, including parliament’s interlocutors in civil society

• SDPs act as a vehicle for coordinating support from different development actors, avoiding risk of duplication

• SDPs should be formally coordinated by a cross-party Development Committee, with progress reported regularly

• Multi-year SDPs should be regularly evaluated and updated

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAidEntry point 4 continued – Strategic Development Plan

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Initiative /Preparation of

decision

Initiative /Preparation of

decision

Formulation of the Plan

Formulation of the Plan

Needs assessment Needs assessment

Implementation

Management oversight

Implementation

Management oversight

Adaptation of the plan Adaptation of the plan

Evaluation Evaluation

Definition of Vision / Mission / Values

Definition of Vision / Mission / Values

Schematic of steps in development and implementation of parliamentary strategic development plan (Source: UNDP)

EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011

EuropeAid

General types of parliamentary support – institutional capacity building, party strengthening, civil society approach

• Institutional capacity building – the most common type of support – includes staff strengthening and building members’ skills. Can be non-controversial but impact is sometimes limited

• Political party model – recognizes that effective parliaments require effective party caucuses. Can be impactful but often unpopular with Executive

• Civil society approach – aims to build democratic demand and thus parliamentary accountability. Fosters synergies between representative and participatory approaches to democracy

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EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 2011