Parliamentary Strengthening

Description:
Position Paper - Revision 060529 / Parliamentary strengthening is key to democratic development because it can promote the representative capacity and legitimacy of a political system.
In developing the effectiveness and efficiency of this aid instrument, Sida recognises the need to ensure the increasing political contextualisation of its parliamentary strengthening interventions. The management guidelines provided in this position paper outlines the means to attain this objective and identifies, in addition, measures for improving programme effectiveness, adherence to policy objectives and improving management capacity.
The position paper includes guidelines on the day-to-day management of legislative development and support which are based on the findings and recommendations of a thorough evaluation of all Sida funded legislative assistance 1997-2005, a workshop for Sida staff and external experts, as well as internal deliberations. The guidelines cover the importance of increasing political contextualization of our support, strengthening linkages to other Swedish development goals, improving program effectiveness, and improving internal capacity to manage parliamentary support.