Since Uzbekistan’s presidential transition in 2016, wide-ranging and rapid governance reforms are steadily being realised. The foundations for these were established in Uzbekistan’s National Development Strategy 2017-21. With these developments, an opportunity for Parliament to be more effective has emerged. Speaking in December 2018, President Mirziyoyev called on the institution to become more effective and to “step-up the activities of the parliament in making important decisions and monitoring the implementation of laws.”

The first phase of WFD’s programme was implemented between August 2018 and March 2019. It shared with MPs, senators, parliamentary staff, and the Legislative and Research Institute international good practice in developing quality legislation, monitoring the work of government, the role of parliamentary committees and research services. The current three year phase of the project is seeking to support the parliament in adopting such practices.

WFD is currently supporting the parliament to:

• strengthen its capacity to hold the government to account on the implementation of reforms in Uzbekistan by enhancing the parliament’s ability to assess the impact of the legislation and conduct financial oversight;
• enhance its institutional processes.

In the 2019-2020 financial year, WFD:

• supported the parliament in planning and designing induction processes for the MPs and Senators who will be elected in December 2019;
• assessed ways of introducing e-parliament;
• worked with the Legislative and Research Institute (LPRI) to enhance their Human Resource processes and design a code of conduct;
• worked with the recently established Office on State Budget, a parliamentary budget office (PBO) within the Oliy Majlis. OSB will provide independent, objective and professional advice and analysis to parliamentarians on matters related to budget scrutiny, public finances and the economy. WFD will provide continuous support to OSB in improving transparency around fiscal and budget policy as well as help parliamentarians to better understand the parameters of the state budget and oversee its execution.

Key results

• Comprehensive assessment on current parliamentary practice in Uzbekistan available in three languages – Uzbek, Russian and English.
• The Legislative and Parliamentary Research Institute (LPRI) adopted its first five-year strat

• Guide to parliamentary enquiries in Russian
• Handbook for Deputies
• Induction handbook for Senators
• Assessment report on e-parliament in English 
• Assessment report on e-parliament in Russian