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News, commentary, and stories from WFD
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Orange day celebration in SL

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WFD Nigeria – in partnership with the Nigerian National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) – is focusing making way for the inclusive and effective participation of underrepresented groups in political parties.
Political party watch command centre
SNP WFD’s partnership with the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus (PWC) in Malawi focuses on enhancing women’s political representation to create a more just political environment. To achieve this, SNP WFD began a stakeholder mapping project. Stakeholder mapping surveys voters and other stakeholders and enables MPs to be more prepared for and understand what is expected of them within their constituencies. It also helps them identify and attain resources needed to achieve more equal representation in Parliament.
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During the recent Ukraine Recovery Conference, WFD, alongside NDI hosted a roundtable for Ukrainian civil society on democratic aspects of the country's recovery. WFD's Senior Programme Manager (ECA), Rob van Leeuwen reflects on what we learned from our Ukrainian partners about the crucial role civil society has to play in helping communities recover and restore the damage done by the war.
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The Senate of Kenya, with the support of Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), conducted a self-assessment on its utilisation of post-legislative scrutiny. Here is a breakdown of the findings and recommendations from the evaluation.
Senate of Kenya flags
Following months of engagement with multiple national and regional stakeholders, WFD organised a high-level workshop to develop a draft resolution proposal to be presented at the 44th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). In addition to greater women’s political leadership, the draft resolution proposal also covers financial access and green jobs transition for women in Southeast Asia.
MPs pictured during the workshop to develop recommendations on WPL for AIPA
While facing Russia’s brutal invasion of the country, the Parliament of Ukraine continues to build its democratic institutions. On the eve of International Day of Parliamentarism, on 29 June, three parliamentary committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU), the Parliament of Ukraine, presented their committees’ post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) inquiries to a wide audience of Ukrainian stakeholders, who came together in Kyiv. The inquiries ran from November 2022 - 2023 with the support of WFD and the USAID funded RADA Next Generation program.
Photograph of meeting at Verkhova Radna
As of June 2022, total public debt was at a 50-year high in low and middle-income economies. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, global inflation, impacts on exchange rates and the rise of interest rates have affected many countries, impacting on their ability to service their debts and prioritise development objectives. All these factors have resulted in a systematic decline in the quality of social services available to citizens, especially women and girls. Janet Bamisaye, WFD's Deputy Finance Director explains what this means and how we should work to ensure that policies and practices related to public debt do not negatively impact the delivery of public services.
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Developed under the program "Advancing Environmental Protection, Climate Change and Democratic Resilience in Georgia: Phase 2," these resources are designed to foster the dissemination of the latest scientific data and predictions, ultimately contributing to public awareness and debate on the pressing climate crisis.
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On the International Day of Parliamentarianism, Franklin De Vrieze, our Head of Practice for Accountability and Transparency at Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), shares with us his recommended WFD resources on Post-Legislative scrutiny for Parliamentarians and our wider parliamentary community.
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Foreword to Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 by Rt Hon. Richard Graham MP, Chair of WFD’s Board of Governors
Chief Executive's introduction to Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023
Foreword to Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023 by Rt Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons and WFD’s Patron
WFD is delighted that Lord Ahmad has appointed Liz Saville Roberts MP and Milica Delevic as members of WFD's Board of Governors.
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Research shows that when more women are in positions of leadership, society as a whole benefits. For the last six months, WFD has been working closely with the Gambian Parliament’s select committee on gender to get women’s political representation on the national agenda. By working with the committee members on a range of areas such as gender-sensitive budgeting, committee members enhanced their ability to promote legal reforms that will see more women in elected leadership positions.
Advocacy on inclusion and equality seminar in the Gambia_03022023
“Change is the end result of all true learning.” ― Leo Buscaglia

The primary reason for the establishment of the Ondo State Agency Against Gender-Based Violence (OSAA-GBV) was to tackle the increasing level of violence against persons in all its forms, including GBV. As such, the Ondo State VAPP law, which was passed in July 2021, is a vital instrument for the agency to fulfil this objective. While the VAPP law has numerous provisions to protect all persons, regardless of gender, the greatest beneficiaries are women and children as they are often the targets of, not just GBV but, all forms of violence, including political violence.
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