The first annual workshop of The Westminster Consortium (TWC), led and managed by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, was a resounding success.
The two-day workshop held on 7 – 8 July brought together participants from the five programme countries: Uganda, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon and Mozambique, and experts from the UK consortium partners to share lessons learnt from the programme so far as well as to focus on future planning
A number of cross-cutting issues were identified in all countries and discussions were fruitful.
George Kunnath, TWC programme director, said: “This workshop has provided an opportunity for participants to share insights into what has worked well in their programme so far, as well as to seek solutions to common challenges.”
On the first day there was great interest in the relationship between the media and parliaments. Questions were fielded to a diverse panel on issues surrounding how to use social media to promote the work of parliaments and how to strengthen the quality of parliamentary reporting.
Presentations on legislative benchmarks as well as parliamentary strategic planning and donor coordination were also well received and generated good discussion amongst participants.
A highlight of the workshop was a reception in the River Room, House of Lords at which the Lord Speaker Baroness Hayman said a few words about the importance of the Consortium network and of the sharing of ideas in democracy development.
The second day was filled with break out groups in which participants from the different countries discussed the challenges facing their thematic programme area: access to information, financial oversight, parliamentary process and human rights and the rule of law. Together they shared various solutions and incentives to move their programme forward.
Tetyana Lokot, Head of New Media Sequence at the Mohyla School of Journalism in Ukraine, said: “I got more out of the workshop than I thought I would, because you never think of the value of just talking to people from the other programme countries. There are so many similar things – as well as differences – that you never think of and it was useful to compare challenges and solutions.”
Work on the DfID Governance and Transparency Fund programme will now progress to ensure the country programmes continue to be tailored to local needs and are sustainable.