EuropeAid

Pre-Assessment and Assessment for Parliamentary Development

Promoting domestic accountability: engaging with parliaments

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

EuropeAidAssessment Framework - Overview

Stages of the assessment

In the Reference Document we recommend a two stage approach:

1. Pre-assessment• Are the basic pre-requisites for parliamentary support met?

• Normally carried out by the Delegation to determine whether to proceed with a full assessment

2. Full assessment• Normally carried out by a dedicated team including national

and international experts

• Contains three stages: desk information gathering, discussions and interviews with key actors, and analysis and recommended programme

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

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EuropeAidPre-assessment phase

Determining whether a parliamentary support programme should be developed

o Basic political economic context

o Basic rights and institutional legitimacy

o Parliamentary make-up and functioning

o Relationship with other branches of government

o National and institutional commitment to parliamentary development

o Capacity and commitment of Delegation

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

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EuropeAidPreparatory Stage

i) Establishing the assessment team

Process belongs to the parliament and their active participation is an early indication of institutional commitment

Normally important to include both national and international experts

Parliament should normally have a representative

The assessment team should report to a cross-party instance of parliament

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

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EuropeAidPreparatory Stage

ii) Desk information gathering

It is important to understand the historical context of parliament’s development and the institution’s role in an emergent democratic system

Identify where is the pressure for parliamentary reform – for example from the parliamentary leadership, from MPs, from civil society, and/or from the international community

During the context analysis relevant document should be processed and the key actors to be interviewed identified

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

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EuropeAidInterview Stage

iii) Assessing parliamentary performance

• Questions to be addressed are organized into four main domains

• Legislation

• Budgetary responsibilities

• Oversight

• Representation

• Factors to be explored are divided into five aspects

• Constitutional power

• Procedural clarity

• Capacity and resources

• Experience and expectations

• Political forces

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EuropeAidLegislation

• What role does parliament have in drafting and amending legislation?

• What capacity has parliament to debate legislative proposals and to identify weaknesses and problem areas?

• What ability does parliament have to scrutinise, amend and approve the final versions of legislation?

• Does parliament play a role in developing the budget?

• Does parliament have sufficient time, resources, and capacity to

analyse the budget?

• What powers does parliament have to amend the budget?

• What powers does parliament have in budget oversight and

audit, and does it have the capacity to use those powers?

EC support to governance in partner countries – with a focus on the African continent – July 4 – July 8 20117

The budgetary function

Interview Stage

EuropeAidOversight• Does parliament have the powers to carry out effective

executive oversight

• Does parliament have the resources and political will to hold

government to account?

• Does parliament receive timely and accurate information from

the executive?

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• How do parliamentarians communicate and dialogue with their

constituents?

• Do parliamentary committees consult with experts and civil

society in their deliberations?

• In what ways does parliament communicate its work with the

wider public and interest groups?

• Does the make-up of parliament reflect the diversity of the

population?

Representation

Interview Stage

EuropeAidAnalysis and Design phase

iv) Commitment to reform?

o Who are the key stakeholders inside and outside

parliament and what is their attitude to the reform

project?

o Is there common recognition of problems in parliament

and agreement about the nature of change needed?

o How will the stakeholders be engaged in the project?

o What structures and processes exist to ensure that the

programme benefits the institution and democratic

governance more widely, and is not captured by

sectional interests?

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EuropeAidAnalysis and Design phase

v. Programme design

o Which areas of parliamentary functioning should be prioritised based on the Matrix analysis?

o Which support activities are indicated and what is the programme theory underpinning selection of these activities to achieve desired outcomes?

o What timeframe of support will be required

o What support modalities will best address these issues and what kind and scope of resources will be required?

o Are other actors involved in supporting parliament, and how will efforts be coordinated?

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EuropeAidAnalysis and Design phase

vi. Monitoring and evaluation

o How can programme impact be measured (may require measurement before and after programme)?

o What risk analysis has been conducted and what strategies are in place for responding to unforeseen circumstances?

o How will programme outcomes be captured and communicated and fed into future programmes in-country and elsewhere?

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