Background The project is a joint project of Pakistan’s Parliament, UNDP and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The project seeks to strengthen democracy by assisting both Houses of the Parliament in building their capacity to perform their legislative, representative, oversight and other constitutional functions more efficiently. The project areas of intervention include: improving organizational structures of Secretariats of both houses; strengthening procedures to promote more effective oversight and legislative scrutiny by the Senate and National Assembly; and Strengthening mechanisms for regular and productive interaction between civil society and the parliament. Objectives To promote “effective and efficient parliamentary procedures, services, management and administration established to help members of both houses fully perform their oversight, legislative and representative functions”. Key Achievements Capacity Building of Secretariat Staff; 15 Capacity Building Workshops for Committee staff were conducted which were attended by 274 participants including 159 participants from Senate of Pakistan, 115 participants from National Assembly.Assistance to Committees; Organized a series of post budget sessions for Parliamentarians. These sessions analyzed allocations in different sectors and highlight different aspects of the budget to facilitate equitable and demand-driven allocations. Assisted Women’s Parliamentary Caucus in envisioning its strategic plan. A three-day National Convention of Women Parliamentarians was also held to reinforce the role of Women Parliamentarians in the direction of creating a community of Women Leaders across party lines. Enhancing CSO’s Advocacy Role; The project significantly enhanced the advocacy role played by CSO’s and planned and organized grassroots level interventions of citizens’ perspective on Implementation of 18thConstitutional Amendment and Public Spending on Education. These interventions covered 44 districts in Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan in 2010-2011. Ten Regional Assembly sessions of Children’s Parliament of Pakistan (CPP) were organized. Aid Coordination; Organized a series of Briefing Sessions (5) on “Illiteracy: A Barrier to Decent Work” for honorable members of Provincial Assemblies of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which were chaired by the Speakers of respective Assemblies.
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