UNDP | Oslo Governance Centre - OGC and Political Parties

OGC and Political Parties

Presently, a large number of UNDP Country Offices undertake political party strengthening work, which varies greatly from country to country. There is considerable demand from both country offices and regional bureaux for more support and guidance. Following the 2006 launch of UNDP's Handbook on Working with Political Parties, and the 2005 UNDP's Engagement with Political Parties, OGC focused on supporting the development of UNDP’s framework on providing assistance to political parties. As a first step, it closely collaborated with International IDEA to produce a discussion paper based on the comparative analysis of the data collected by IDEA and its partners.

Further resources on political parties:

Discussion Paper 15: Political Parties and Policy Development: The Conditions which Lead Political Parties to Adopt Progressive Policies (2009) This paper analyzes the role of political parties in a democracy: how political parties fall short of their ‘ideal’ functions when they adopt clientelist versus programmatic tactics to gain power. Using the data from International IDEA’s Research and Dialogue with Political Parties project to conduct an exploratory analysis, the paper suggests four initial findings which provide an insight into some of the factors that correlate well with progressive policies. Unlike much of the literature that claims that gender quotas and democratic internal processes promote progressive policies, this preliminary analysis suggests there may be limits to these claims and that these measures are insufficient for promoting a progressive agenda.
UNDP's Engagement with Political Parties (2005) This report analyses and summarizes a aping of UNDP’s engagement with political parties that was conducted in October 2003 and update in May 2005. the information contained in the mapping is indicative rather than exhaustive and reflects the various ways UNDP Country Offices are currently working and engaging with political parties. The mapping will serve as a key reference for informing the development of UNDP’s corporate policies and practices concerning political parties.
A Handbook on Working with Political Parties Political parties are a keystone of democratic governance. They provide a structure for political participation; serve as a training ground for political leadership; and transform social interests into public policy. The question for development practitioners is how best to work with political parties in addressing the challenges they face. UNDP’s Democratic Governance Group has created A Handbook on Working with Political Parties to help our field offices and partners to address questions regarding assistance to political parties.