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WFD in Serbia has published a ”Guide to Digital Political Communication” which provides instructions on the different modes of digital communication for the content that political parties produce, aiming to help them improve their communication with the younger population.
WFD held a two-day virtual study tour in December 2020 in support of Sierra Leone's parliament to become more open and transparent to its citizens and effectively collaborate with other actors.
As we look forward to 2021, we are reflecting the five key lessons we will carry with us into the new year.
How has the implementation of the nation’s COVID-19 response impacted the lives and livelihoods of the more vulnerable people in The Gambia, specifically persons with disabilities (PWDs) and women? Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) in partnership with the British High Commission (BHC) in The Gambia organised a series of national dialogues and commissioned a report to present an account of the participants during the national dialogues.
Today, the UK hosts the Climate Ambition Summit, which marks one year to go until the COP26 Climate Change Summit. At COP26, major decisions will be taken which will have a fundamental impact on our world.
How parliaments implement peace agreements, how they formally operate, and how they govern in relation to peacebuilding has an impact on the peacebuilding process. For WFD and other democracy assistance practitioners there are a few key takeaways for our work.
WFD in partnership with the Community of Democracies worked in The Gambia to help women leaders navigate the challenges they face and bring about more inclusive democracy in the country.
Excluding persons with disabilities (PWDs) from political processes means that their voices are not adequately heard and reflected in policy decisions. In October 2020, WFD commissioned a new research to better understand the challenges which persons with disabilities (PWDs) in political parties face in their daily lives.
Equal opportunities and equal treatment are key to creating a society free from gender-based violence. WFD’s programmes aim to achieve this by supporting women’s political participation, representation, and entrepreneurship. With more women taking on lead roles in legislative and executive bodies it is easier to make way for legal acts, not to mention a change of mindset in communities where women are significantly underrepresented in decision-making.
On 25 November 2020, the Arab League, and a group of cross-party MPs from the UK and Arab region, gathered together to stand united in reaffirming their commitment to tackling violence against women and girls and to making our societies safer, more inclusive and equitable. They called for women’s rights to be prioritised through adopting a legally binding international convention across the Arab region to tackle gender-based violence.
Despite young people constituting about 70% of the Nigerian population, they still face exclusion from governance in the West Africa country. To address this, WFD supported the Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) in holding an emergency national strategy retreat on rethinking youth development.
In a consultative workshop with the Indonesian Parliament on 21–23 October 2020, WFD brought together parliamentary and civil society leaders to discuss the reasons behind the disconnect and co-create solutions. The forum agreed that there is a persistent public distrust towards the parliament.
COVID-19 could affect a shift towards a surveillance culture. Once introduced, privacy-infringing technologies may be difficult to reverse. The next generation of digital technology and artificial intelligence could enable autocratic countries or those with weak democracies to identify and curb opposition. In democratic countries, there is a need for open discussion on how to prevent the emergence of a public-private surveillance state that compromises the fundamental right to privacy which is a bedrock of a functioning democracy. How parliaments address the concerns around increased surveillance and help to provide consensual solutions to challenges posed by new technologies may determine if they are seen as relevant in the modern age.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the Muslim Mindanao, a new devolved administration in the Southern Philippines, was one year into a complex transition period when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Following decades of conflict, the transitional authority in charge of the region faced the same challenges more seasoned governments have been buffeted by around the globe. All the while, a raft of complex governance issues urgently demanded attention too
One of the first joint activities of HUGEN is the piloting the post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) process.
