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Strengthening Parliaments in Africa: Improving support
March 2008
Africa All Party Parliamentary Group
This report sets out the findings of an inquiry by the Africa All Party Parliamentary Group. It explores the factors that hold African parliaments back and how the UK and others can contribute to addressing them.
In recent years, African parliaments have begun to exert greater influence on how their countries are governed. Many African parliaments are now more effective at shaping legislation, monitoring and challenging the executive, and representing citizens' views.
However, huge challenges remain. Insufficient constitutional and other provisions continue to constrain parliaments. Even if they enjoy robust powers on paper, the political realities inside and outside of parliament mean that parliaments regularly fail to exercise their duties. Problems of institutional capacity, in terms of the available resources, expertise and facilities also loom large. This report places particular emphasis on the function of parliaments as watchdogs over governments.
African citizens and their political leaders are the most important groups for strengthening their parliaments. Development partners can also play a role. Until recently, development partners have tended to focus exclusively on the executive branch of government - working over and around parliaments rather than with them. As a result, development partners have often ignored parliaments. Sometimes, in effect, they have undermined them. There are signs that this neglect of parliaments is changing. As support to parliaments is stepped up, the Group makes the following five overarching recommendations:
Understand parliaments in their political context
Development partners must approach parliaments in their political context and base interventions of a thorough understanding of the pressures, interests and actors that shape parliamentary leverage.
Engage local demand and encourage broad-based local ownership
Parliamentary strengthening will only succeed if it is pulled by a range of local actors, not just pushed by donors. Initiatives must build on, build with, and build up, local efforts and channels to strengthen parliaments.
Coordinate
Development partners must work in step with one another. Approaches need to be better coordinated.
Learn lessons and apply them
Development partners must ensure that parliamentary strengthening work is based on evidence and results and that information is gathered, shared and used to improve collective practice. This necessitates moving beyond short-term and scattered efforts.
Take greater account of parliament in development work
Development partners must ensure that their work does not marginalise or undermine parliaments and that the parliaments of recipient countries are encouraged to play a full part in development relationships.
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