This rapid literature review collates evidence on women’s actions and interactions in parliaments in Africa. The literature mostly focuses on Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania (Bauer, 2012). There are several consistent findings from African countries, which enables drawing together key lessons: Effectiveness at representing women’s interests: The presence of ...» more
Parliamentary strengthening
Working with members of parliament’s constituency funds
The key points from this rapid literature review include: CDFs are a relatively recent phenomenon (with most being established from the 2000s onwards), and they are relatively few in number (Barkan & Mattes, forthcoming). As a result, little is known about them. Countries that have used CDFs include: South Sudan; Philippines; Honduras; Nepal; Pakistan; Jamaica; Solomon Islands; ...» more
Donor support of African parliaments
Parliamentary strengthening can be focused on MPs, parliament or other aspects of the political system. One way of looking at the activities undertaken is to divide them into direct support or indirect support. Indirect support is the support of specific policy issues, such as health and education, which subsequently strengthens the parliamentary process. Direct support is work ...» more
Community activism in Jordan
Protests in Jordan have been largely peaceful but unsuccessful in achieving real change. They have centred on improving governance, democracy and socio-economic conditions, not on overthrowing the regime. All strata of society have been involved. Findings include the following: Most of the recent protests in Jordan revolve around the socio-economic situation. Some ...» more
Impact of parliamentary and party assistance
Key findings: The impacts of parliamentary and party support have not received much analysis; there are a few rigorous evaluations, but significant evidence gaps remain. The existing evaluations are non-experimental short-term studies, which use case studies, interviews and literature reviews as their analysis methods. In general, they emphasise processes, outcomes and ...» more
Integrating parliamentary and political party strengthening in sectoral programmes
Key findings: There are limited examples of sectoral programmes that explicitly integrate support to parliamentary or political party strengthening in pursuit of sectoral goals. The majority of donor activities in support of parliaments and political parties have the objective of strengthening parliaments for the broader purpose of improving democratic governance. Such ...» more
Effects of political quotas for women
Many countries have introduced gender quotas (or political reservations), in order to increase female participation in policy-making. This helpdesk report surveys research on the effects of political quotas for women on (1.) political processes; (2.) service delivery; and (3.) social processes. There is limited empirical evidence on these issues and research that does exist has ...» more
Cross-party Caucuses
Caucuses are widely believed to be important forums for bringing parliamentarians together across political party lines – so that they may share information, discuss policy issues, channel common interests and concerns, and engage civil society. Some women’s caucuses have been noted for their unique approach towards fostering good governance. In some conflict contexts, caucuses ...» more
Lessons Learned on Parliamentary Strengthening
Several agencies have recently conducted stocktakes, retrospectives or reviews of their parliamentary strengthening programmes at agency-level. By far the most common lesson/recommendation relates to the necessity of understanding and adapting to the political context within which parliament is situated and undertaking good political analysis in the planning phase. Several ...» more
Gender Equality in Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support
Many countries around the world have recognised the under-representation of women in politics and started to adopt measures to help women enter politics and national legislatures. However, most of the research to date has focussed on explaining the process of women’s entry into politics, rather than whether and how they can make a difference once they enter parliament.Some of ...» more
M&E of Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support Programmes
Parliamentary stengthening: Attempts to assess the effectiveness of parliamentary strengthening programmes need to go beyond monitoring changes within parliament, to measuring changes in parliament’s influence on government. Moreover, the political nature of legislatures, the particular types of functions for which they are responsible, and the constant evolution in membership ...» more
Donor Activity on Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support
Parliamentary strengthening is becoming an increasingly important part of governance work in international development, and many bilateral, multilateral, and non-governmental organisations (including political parties) are involved in parliamentary strengthening. According to a recent ODI study, the World Bank Institute, the Parliamentary Centre (Canada), United Nations ...» more
Quotas for Women’s Representation in Africa
The success of quota systems in many African countries is largely attributed to: strong and active women’s movements; regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that have adopted gender balanced representation and set quota targets for member countries; and opportunities in post-conflict and transition societies, which allowed for advances in ...» more
