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Parliament Support Project
Summary
Parliament Support Project (PSP) has been providing technical support to the Federal Parliament (FP), the Provincial Assemblies (PAs), parliamentary committees, members of parliament (MPs), and the parliament secretariats to strengthen their parliamentary functions since 2015. The project supports core parliamentary functions including evidence-based lawmaking through bill review, scrutiny and assessment; evidence-based oversight; outreach; openness; parliamentary research and studies; and promotion of Gender and Social Inclusion(GESI) and human rights. Apart from this, the project has been enhancing the capacities of women MPs and MPs from the marginalized groups for their effective roles in the parliament. The project has been engaging with women, youth, sexual and gender minority groups (LGBTIQ) and persons with disabilities (PWDs) to raise their concerns in the parliament. Promotion of human rights, anti-corruption, good governance and accountability, environment protection, and sustainable development goals (SDGs) are other key focused areas of the project. It also facilitates engagement of CSOs in lawmaking and oversight functions.
Background
UNDP started supporting the Constituent Assembly/Legislature-Parliament in its task of participatory constitution-building through the Support to Participatory Constitution-Building in Nepal (SPCBN) project since 2008. After the promulgation of the Constitution of Nepal in 2015, the SPCBN Project was transformed into a more comprehensive PSP that provided support to the FP and the PAs to strengthen their role as lawmaking and oversight bodies that are representatives of the people. The project focused on supporting parliaments and their secretariats to strengthen their parliamentary functions for the implementation of the new Constitution and institutionalization of federalism in Nepal. The first phase of Parliament Support Project was implemented from January 2018 to December 2022. The project's second phase (January 2023-December 2027) has been in implementation since January 2023.
Major Achievements
- Enhanced capacity of 359 new MPs (50 % women) on core parliamentary functions with comprehensive induction package. The package developed through the project include basic roles and responsibilities, parliamentary proceedings etc. that increased their knowledge and confidence on parliamentary affairs.
- Contributed to institutionalization of inter-legislative coordination through the events like Speakers' and Deputy Speakers' meet, secretaries' meet and dialogues between parliamentary leaders of the federal and the provincial parliaments.
- Strengthened the capacity of research division of the federal parliament secretariat through the interaction with research institutions and study on assessment of parliamentary research.
- Over 20,000 people reached through interventions on parliamentary openness and outreach via social media and physical platforms. This has increased the communication between parliament and public and expended the scope of public engagement.
- Enhanced the capacity of 195 secretariat staff (26 % women) of the federal and the provincial parliaments for their effective role in the secretariat functions.
- Through the support in parliamentary functions like oversight, legislative review and public hearings, different issues of environment and climate change; human rights; good governance and accountability are well covered.
- Promoted engagement of the National Assembly with Provincial Assemblies and Local Councils through various interventions in lawmaking process.
Project Outputs
- Output 1: Federal Parliament & Provincial Assemblies have enhanced capacity to scrutinise draft laws and to monitor implementation of legislation
- Output 2: Federal Parliament & Provincial Assemblies have enhanced capacity to conduct oversight of government spending, polices, and programmes;
- Output 3: Federal Parliament and Provincial Assemblies have the practices and/or resources in place to promote GESI/LNOB and human rights principles;
- Output 4: Federal Parliament & PAs have established routine constituent engagement as part of their decision-making processes.
Gender & Social Inclusion Component
- Sharing of experiences of the former with the sitting MPs resulted in an improved knowledge and understanding of women MPs and MPs from marginalized communities regarding their roles and responsibilities.
- Mentoring programme to women MPs and MPs from marginalized groups contributed to enhancing their capacities in different aspect of parliamentary affairs.
- 147 MPs took part in sharing experiences between the former MPs and sitting MPs, capacity enhancement initiatives and mentoring programme and among which 74 % were women.
- Staff of the secretariats of the federal and provincial parliaments enhanced their knowledge and understanding on the importance of analyzing their work through gender and human rights impact perspective.
Related Materials
Project details:
| Project Status | Active |
| Project Period | January 2018- December 2022 (Phase I) January 2023- December 2027 (Phase II) |
| Project ID | 00049635 |
| Focus Area | Democratic Governance |
| Source of Funding | Government of Norway and UNDP |
| Implementing Agency | UNDP |
| Collaborating Partners | Federal Parliament and seven Provincial Assemblies |
| Budget | US$ 5.0 m |
| Contact | CO Focal Point Ms. Kalpana Sarkar Portfolio Manager UNDP Nepal UN House, Pulchowk, Nepal Tel: 977-4290000- Ext: 1019 Email: kalpana.sarkar@undp.org | Project Focal Point
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