Annual report-2012-en 30072013-interactive-high-quality

ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Better Parliaments,
Stronger Democracies

Production Notes
Text
AWEPA Staff
Editing
Marion Girard Cisneros, Marion Verweij, Theo Kralt
Photos
Katrin Verstraete, Loïc Whitmore, Marion Girard Cisneros, Peter Elamu,
Sylvain Liechti, Tobin Jones, Italian Parliament Press Office
Design
Anton Miselaytes, Marion Girard Cisneros
Printing
Keizer en van Straten
Translation
3ic International
AWEPA International
Prins Hendrikkade 48-G
1012 AC Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Tel +31 20 5245678
Fax +31 20 6220130
amsterdam@awepa.org
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ISBN: 9789078147176
©AWEPA 2013
Cover Photo
On 28 September 2012, African and European parliamentarians met in the Italian Parliament (Palazzo Montecitorio) to discuss the
management of Africa’s natural resources towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Donors 2012
Partners

AWEPA Annual Report 2012 Page 7
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Page 6 AWEPA Annual Report 2012
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Contents
Acronyms 7
Message from the President 8
About AWEPA 10
European Sections 11
Programmes 14
Aid Effectiveness 15
Bridging the gap between Political Parties and Parliaments
16
Parliament of Burundi 17
Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Congo 19
An Empowered and Effective East African Legislative
Assembly (EALA) 20
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) 22
Parliamentary Forum of the International Conference on the
Great Lakes Region (PF-ICGLR) 23
Strengthening Regional Parliaments Towards Achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 25
Mozambique Strategic Vision Programme 26
Network of Women Parliamentarians of Central Africa
(RFPAC) 28
Parliament of Rwanda 30
Supporting Legislative Institutions in Somalia 31
Strengthening Regional Parliamentary Capacity in the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) 32
South African Provincial Legislatures (SAPL) 33
South Sudan’s Legislative Assembly (SSLA) and State
Assemblies 34
South Sudan’s Legislative Assembly (SSLA) and Local
Councils 36
Parliament of Uganda 37
Parliament of Zimbabwe 38
Partnership Council 40
Eminent Advisory Board 41
Governing Council 42
Executive Committee 43
Staff in 2012 44
AWEPA Offices 45
Financial Overview 2012 46
MPs Members of Parliament
MPAC Municipal Public Accounts Committee
NAC National Audit Chamber
NCDO National Committee forInternational Cooperation and
Sustainable Development
NIMD Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
NLA National Legislative Assembly
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NUFFIC Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation
in Higher Education
ODA Official Development Assistance
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development
PAC Committee on Public Accounts
PAP Pan-African Parliament
PBIG Post-Busan Interim Group
RACR Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution
RFPAC Réseau de Femmes Parlementaires d’Afrique Centrale
SADC Southern African Development Community
SAPL South Africa Provincial Legislatures
SAPST Southern African Parliamentary Trust
SDC Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation
SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency
TAPAC Tanzania Parliamentary AIDS Coalition
UN United Nations
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNPOS United Nations Political Office for Somalia
WP-EFF Working Party on Aid Effectiveness
Acronyms
ADA Austrian Development Agency
AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
AIID Amsterdam Institute for International Development
AWEPA Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa
CAADP Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development
Programme
CBO Community Based Organisation
CEMAC Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa
CENAP Conflict Alert and Prevention Centre
CIP Centre for Public Integrity
CSO Civil Society Organisation
DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo
EAC East African Community
EALA East African Legislative Assembly
ECOWAS Economic Community Of West African States
EFQM European Foundation for Quality Management
EP European Parliament
EU European Union
FBO Faith Based Organisation
FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office
FGM/C Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
FUSP Frisian Urban Sanitation Programme
GNB Girls Not Brides
GPEDC Global Partnership for Economic Development
Cooperation
HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HLF-4 Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IDASA Institute for Democracy in South Africa
IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union
MDGs Millennium Development Goals

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Minister of State, Ms. Miet Smet, President of AWEPA
AWEPA is grateful to all our donors for the success of 2012. We are especially grateful always to the Swedish
Development Agency (SIDA) for their longstanding support of AWEPA as an institution. Mid 2012 saw a new
contract with Irish Aid, a percentage of which is also for institutional professionalisation. Without institution-al
support, AWEPA would not be able to carry out its work, as there are a lot of activities that are not directly
related to programmes such as pre-contract research, the leadership bodies and communications. The Swiss
Development Cooperation also provides institutional funding for the development of our Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) and methodology, which have allowed for a greater professionalisation in
these areas.
AWEPA is also grateful to all our programme partners. During 2012, we entered into new strategic partner-ships
such as with Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD). We also signed new contracts
such as one to assist in working towards peace and security in Zimbabwe with the support of the European
Union, Sweden and the Netherlands.
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Message from the President
Within the long-established programmes such as our work funded by Belgium in Central Africa, or our newer programmes such as Somalia
and South Sudan, funded by the European Union and the Netherlands, we continually strive to improve methodology and tailor our unique
approach. Our thematic programmes, such as our Female Genital Mutilation programme funded by Luxembourg, continues to reap success.
It is therefore with heartfelt appreciation that I thank all our donors for helping to champion human rights through the vital role parliaments
play.
The backbone of AWEPA is the European parliamentarians who give their time and effort to fulfil our mission and to help to keep Africa high
on the political agenda in Europe, and facilitate African- European parliamentary dialogue. It is always a pleasure to see new members join
us, and in 2012 we were pleased to welcome 90 new members. Throughout the year, members have been involved by offering their exper-tise
in our activities from Benin to Mozambique, South Sudan to Democratic Republic of Congo.
Almost every issue facing parliamentarians today extends well beyond national boundaries which is why it is important that AWEPA ac-tivities
are organised in national parliaments throughout Europe. During 2012, our collective European effort centred around the issue of
natural resources. With the support of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and the co-operation of the Italian parliamentary Sub-Committee
on Millennium Development Goals a seminar was held in September in Rome, Italy. The subject of discussion: “Managing Africa’s Natural
Resources Towards Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs)” served to promote a dialogue on the roles and responsabilities
of both European and African parliamentarians in the management of natural resources, its importance for Africa’s development and to
accelerate the attainment of the MDGs.
Our European membership offer their expertise which is part of the uniqueness AWEPA has to offer. In the same way, the partnership we
have with the major parliamentary organs in Africa adds great strength and integrity to our work, as well as adding quality. It was therefore
also my pleasure at different points of the year to meet representatives of our major African partners and discuss ways forward together.
Lastly, I would like to express my appreciation for the AWEPA staff. We have a professional and dedicated staff, all of whom work hard to
fulfil the commitment we have to contribute to a better world. It is an honour to work with such committed people.
About Minister of State Ms. Miet Smet
As a member of the Belgian, European and Flemish parliament for over 30 years, 14 of which she served as Minister for the Belgian government,
Minister of State Miet Smet has played an important role in Belgian and European politics. During this time she has played a key role in equality
in politics, environment and labour.
Her deep rooted urge to see equal opportunities for all, not only gender, but in all areas of human dignity, brought her into contact with AWEPA
where having served two terms of office on the AWEPA Executive Committee, she was elected President in October 2009 via a unanimous vote
of the AWEPA Governing Council.
Married to fellow CD&V politician, the former Belgian Prime Minister and former Vice President of AWEPA, Wilfried Martens, Ms. Smet resides in
Belgium where alongside her work for AWEPA continues to support society in a variety of ways.
AWEPA has been awarded the first level of certification titled Com-mitted
to Excellence from the European Framework for Quality
Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. Over the next coming
years, AWEPA will focus its efforts on achieving the second level of
certification, Recognised for Excellence.
AWEPA has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations
Economic and Social Council.
AWEPA is on the list of Official Development Assistance (ODA)
Eligible Organisations of the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development/Development Assistance
Committee (OECD/DAC).
As of this year, the annual report of AWEPA will be presented
on-line, allowing us to save money and paper and making it more
readily available. The annual report strives to convey the work of
AWEPA in a more visual and interactive manner to communicate a
more complete picture of what was accomplished in the preceding
year. The annual report can be found online at www.awepa.org.
Ms. Miet Smet, Minister of State, President of AWEPA

AWEPA Annual Report 2012
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The headquarters of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) Parliament in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, saw the
signing of a cooperation agreement between CEMAC and AWEPA in February.
About AWEPA
The Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA)
works in cooperation with African parliaments to strengthen par-liamentary
democracy in Africa, keep Africa high on the political
agenda in Europe, and facilitate African-European parliamentary
dialogue.
Strong parliaments lie at the heart of Africa’s long-term development;
they serve as the arbiters of peace, stability and prosperity. AWEPA
strives to strengthen African parliaments and promote human digni-ty.
AWEPA has served as a unique tool for complex democratisation
operations at the Pan-African level and from the horn to the cape.
The pillars that support AWEPA’s mission include:
• A membership skills base of more than 1700 European
parliamentarians, who devote their wide-ranging expertise to
peer-learning with African colleagues;
• Long-term partnerships with African parliamentary colleagues,
which ensure local ownership and accountability;
• An infrastructure of political and parliamentary entry points,
which span 8 African and 2 European offices, as well as 25
parliaments in Africa and 28 in Europe, including the Pan-
African Parliament and the European Parliament.
AWEPA’s overarching goal is to eradicate poverty and support the
attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through
the realisation of human rights, democracy and development in
Africa.
AWEPA aims to achieve this objective by promoting:
• parliamentary competency and authority
• good governance based on a separation of powers
• increased participation of women in decision-making
• participation of civil society in the political process
• independent and qualified media, as a component of the
democratic process
AWEPA is an international parliamentary association that is strictly
non-partisan. AWEPA has Special Consultative Status with the UN
Economic and Social Council and is on the list of ODA Eligible Organi-sations
of OECD/DAC. •
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The European Programme
The European Programme is instrumental to AWEPA’s work. AWEPA has a broad network of parliamentarians and former parliamentar-ians
from across Europe, with over 1700 members from parliaments from almost all EU member states, including the European Parliament,
Norway and Switzerland. These members are grouped into a Section within their respective parliaments.
African and European parliamentarians discussing the management of Africa’s natural resources towards the attainment of the Millennium
Development Goals, on the occasion of the EU Presidency Seminar held at the Italian Chamber of Deputies (Palazzo Montecitorio) in
September.

From left to right: Hon. Abdi, Ms. Smet, Hon. Barbi and Hon. Zziwa at the Italian Parliament meeting with the newly reformed Italian AWEPA
Section in September.
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European Sections
Background
AWEPA is an international non-partisan association of parliamentari-ans,
founded by three European parliamentarians in 1984. Currently,
AWEPA has expanded into an extensive European parliamentary
network with more than 1,800 current and former parliamentarians
representing almost every EU member state, as well as the Euro-pean
Parliament, Norway and Switzerland.
AWEPA members represent the range of parties across the po-litical
spectrum. They are organised according to a Section within
their respective parliaments. Each Section elects a Chair who also
represents the Section in the AWEPA Governing Council. A number
of AWEPA members are also appointed as the Political Coordinator
or Senior Parliamentary Advisor and contribute politically to the
development and implementation of AWEPA’s programmes and ac-tivities.
Objective
AWEPA seeks to inform and mobilise its members and other Europe-an
parliamentarians on policy issues in African-European relations,
development cooperation and democratisation in Africa. Through
its members and Sections, AWEPA strives to keep Africa high on
the political agenda in Europe and to facilitate African-European
parliamentary dialogue and partnerships at national, regional and
continental levels.
The mission of AWEPA’s European Sections programme is:
• to facilitate productive knowledge-sharing and stronger
cooperation between African and European parliamentarians,
and among African parliamentarians;
• to address issues that range from development cooperation to
accountability for and local ownership of aid programmes;
• to encourage and enable parliamentarians in Europe to increase
parliamentary action in areas of development cooperation and
thus contribute to sustainable and democratic development in
Africa.
Impacts
• In 2012, 90 new members joined AWEPA from the following
parliaments: the European Parliament, Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Specific focus was given to significantly strengthening the
Italian and the Dutch AWEPA Sections;
• European parliamentary engagement and peer-learning with
African colleagues took place through AWEPA’s institutional
and thematic capacity building programmes with African
parliaments at national and regional levels;
• European parliamentary engagement, lobbying and action
took place on thematic issues such as: increased aid and
development effectiveness; the abandonment of Female
Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C); the management of Africa’s
natural resources for the advancement of its economies; the
attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
Example Activity
Dutch parliamentarians exchange views to take action against
FGM/C. 19 June 2012. The Hague, The Netherlands.
The Dutch Section of AWEPA organised an expert meeting on the
abandonment of FGM/C. This event was made possible by the Na-tional
Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable
Development (NCDO). Hon. Kathleen Ferrier, Parliamentarian and
former Head of the Netherlands AWEPA Section, hosted the meeting
which took place at the Dutch House of Representatives.
Members of the Dutch Parliament, policy makers, diplomats and
Dutch-based organisations gathered to revive the political debate
on the causes and consequences of the practise for many young girls
worldwide. They spoke about how FGM/C goes against the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. The practise seriously compromises their health and has deep
psychological effects which result in broader social and development
implications. In addition, the participants looked at initiatives that can
be taken by Dutch parliamentarians in order to support FGM/C aban-donment.
Chaired by Kathleen Ferrier, Dutch MPs exchange views on taking
action against FGM/C in June. The Hague, The Netherlands.
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AWEPA Section Highlights 2012
Dutch Political Parties Working Together for Women’s Rights
On 2 July 2012, Dutch Members of Parliament Hon. Kathleen Ferrier
(CDA), Hon. Ingrid de Caluwé (VVD), Hon. Jeroen de Lange (PvdA),
Hon. Mariko Peters (Green), Hon. Harry van Bommel (SP), Hon.
Wassila Hachchi (D66) and Hon. Joël Voordewind (Christian Union)
signed the Gender Multiparty Initiative in the House of Representa-tives,
by which they declared a common commitment to equal
opportunities and rights of women worldwide.
European Parliament Urges Member States to Act Against Female
Genital Mutilation
On 14 June 2012, the European Parliament renewed its commitment
to end FGM/C, through a joint resolution passed with an over-whelming
majority. The EP called on member states to meet their
international obligations to end FGM/C through prevention, protec-tion
measures and legislation. The EP also reminded the European
Commission of its commitment to develop a strategy to combat vio-lence
against women, both within the European Union and with its
relations with third countries.
Managing Africa’s Natural Resources: Towards Achieving the
Millennium Development Goals
On 28 September 2012, African and European parliamentarians met
in the Italian Parliament (Palazzo Montecitorio) to discuss the man-agement
of Africa’s natural resources towards the attainment of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Parliamentarians are
key in ensuring sound natural resource revenues, in monitoring the
oversight of natural resources management and implementing ef-fective
legislation to protect national collective interests. “We need
necessary instruments to secure the future in the long term” said
Speaker Fini. “Good intentions risk being dead if not attached to
strong parliaments”. A political statement on the management of
natural resources was adopted by delegations from the Pan-African
Parliament, four regional parliaments in Africa and 16 parliaments
from around Europe along with international experts, African dip-lomatic
representatives, financial institutions, academics, NGOs and
representatives of the private sector. In the statement a range of ac-tions
and policies were defined that the parliamentarians in Europe
and Africa committed to, towards ensuring sound natural resource
management to contribute to achieving the MDGs. In addition, the
Italian AWEPA Section was re-established, with Hon. Enrico Pianetta
as Head of Section.

AWEPA participated in different meetings of the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.
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Exhibition of the Royal Drummers of Burundi for the opening session of the Burundian Diaspora conference, co-organised by AWEPA.
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Aid Effectiveness
Donors
Austrian Development Agency (ADA)
Irish AID
Political Coordinators
Lord Chidgey, United Kingdom
Hon. Maureen O’Sullivan, Ireland
Senior Parliamentary Advisor
Hon. Franz Glaser, Austria
Background
AWEPA co-organized the Parliamentary Forum at the High-Level
Forum held in Busan in late 2011. Based on the commitments made
in the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation it
was agreed that a structure known as the Post-Busan Interim Group
(PBIG) would prepare the way for the Global Partnership for Effec-tive
Development Cooperation (GPEDC). AWEPA, in partnership
with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), engaged closely in the the
Post-Busan Interim Group (PBIG) process, and participated in the
subsequent Global Partnership Steering Committee meetings.
Objective
This activity area was designed to enable parliaments from the SADC
region, and Africa more broadly, to play a more catalytic role in im-plementing
the Busan agenda. The Aid Effectiveness programme
brings to the attention of the OECD and other stakeholders the
concerns of SADC parliaments, African regional parliamentary bod-ies
and the Pan-African Parliament, regarding their ownership and
accountability roles in aid effectiveness and development coopera-tion.
Impacts
Over the course of this timeframe, AWEPA and IPU have paved
the way for meaningful parliamentary engagement in the Global
Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation structures
going forward, and raised the awareness of the significance
of parliaments to other stakeholders, in relation to aid and
development effectiveness.
Example Activity
Meeting of the Post-Busan Interim Group (PBIG). 21-22 May 2012.
Paris, France.
The third meeting of the PBIG took place on 21-22 May in Paris. It
marked the final stretch of the Group’s work to negotiate proposals
for the governance and monitoring framework of the GPEDC, which
was to be presented to the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness (WP-EFF)
for agreement in its final plenary meeting on 28-29 June. It was at
the third meeting of the PBIG that members endorsed parliamentary
representation on the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership
and asked the IPU- as the most global representative parliamentary
institution- to nominate a representative. IPU and AWEPA continue to
cooperate closely and share representational responsibilities within
the work of the Steering Committee.
Programmes
AWEPA currently works with 25 parliaments in Africa through jointly agreed institutional and thematic capacity building programmes.
These include national parliaments, continental and regional parliamentary institutions, as well as decentralised authorities. For a full list of
AWEPA’s activities, please visit www.awepa.org or see the 2012 AWEPA Financial Report.
Please note:
Political coordinators and Senior Parliamentary Advisors mentioned per programme reflect 2013.

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Bridging the Gap Between Political
Parties and Parliaments
Donors
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Netherlands Institute for
Multiparty Democracy (NIMD)
Political Coordinator
Hon. Henk Jan Ormel, the Netherlands
Background
AWEPA and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
(NIMD) joined forces formally in 2011 in a strategic partnership
aimed at strengthening Political Parties, parliaments and the par-ty-
parliament nexus. The overall objective is to contribute to the
development of pluralistic democratic societies through a partici-patory
decision-making process grounded on a solid multi-party
system and the work of a strong parliament. The partnership be-tween
AWEPA and NIMD, launched in 2011 and developed in 2012,
rests on the ambition to link two streams of democracy support,
targeting:
• democratic structure and procedural reform through
parliamentary capacity building and;
• cultural and behavioural change through political party
support.
The programme follows a multiparty and non-partisan approach
and is based on the principles of national ownership, flexibility and
gender equality. Benin is the first country in which the strategic
cooperation has been launched.
Objective
AWEPA and NIMD’s partnership aims at:
• strengthening multiparty and parliamentary democratic
systems through dialogue;
• improving the institutional capacity of Political Parties and
parliaments;
• enhancing the representativeness of Political Parties and
parliaments, by reinforcing the link between political actors,
civil society and citizens;
• ensuring that the interests of the different groups are
adequately represented (for instance those of women and
girls).
Impacts
The following preliminary outcomes can be attributed to the
programme:
• Members of Parliament and political party officials in Benin
Ms. Smet (AWEPA) and Mr. Van Middelkoop (NIMD) are received by Benin’s National Assembly Speaker, Hon. Nago.
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have engaged in dialogue on the country’s governance
challenges and prioritised actions to be taken in the coming
year;
• in Benin, a Steering Committee has been established to ensure
national ownership and serve as a first dialogue platform
among political forces;
• regional needs assessment of women’s participation in politics
has highlighted prevailing problems and potential solutions to
counter traditional gender roles and promote equality;
• cooperation in Tanzania led to increased harmonisation among
the two parliamentary women’s groups and TAPAC (Tanzania
Parliamentary AIDS Coalition) and a joint proposal for future
resource mobilisation.
Example Activity
Benin programme launch workshop. 10-11 October 2012. Cotonou,
Benin.
In October 2012, AWEPA and NIMD formerly launched their strategic
cooperation programme in Cotonou, Benin. In her opening statement,
AWEPA’s President, Ms. Miet Smet, reaffirmed AWEPA’s commitment
to the strengthening of African legislatures stating that “strong par-liaments
lie at the heart of Africa’s development and prosperity” and
that “to support parliaments is to support democracy”. NIMD Super-visory
Council member and former Dutch Minister of Defence, Eimert
Van Middelkoop, insisted on the value of trust in politics and mutual
respect. Members of parliament and political party representatives
strongly welcomed AWEPA’s renewed engagement with the National
Assembly of Benin and stressed the relevance of the programme’s
support to the latter and to Benin’s highly polarised party system. The
main outcome of the launch workshop was the establishment of a
Steering Committee composed of Members of Parliament and repre-sentatives
of all Political Parties.
Parliament of Burundi
Donor
Belgium Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ms. Lydia Maximus, Belgium
Background
It is widely acknowledged that AWEPA has played a role in every
important political moment in Burundi since the mid-1990s. From
1996 to 1998, AWEPA supported the National Assembly’s effort to
partner with the Burundi government, which was ultimately suc-cessful.
This partnership enabled talks with major political actors to
take place, which led to the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agree-ment
in 2000 and to subsequent cease-fire agreements with armed
political movements. AWEPA also supported Burundi’s electoral
process in 2005 and 2010. For the past 18 years, AWEPA facilitated
the Burundian transnational justice mechanisms. In particular, since
2009, AWEPA has supported the permanent dialogue framework
between senators and local councillors.
Objectives
In 2012, AWEPA’s main objective in Burundi and the surrounding
region was to assist in the prevention of pending and the manage-ment
of past conflicts. In order to pursue these goals AWEPA sought
to strengthen national and local Members of Parliament’s capacity
and develop parliamentary diplomacy mechanisms. By organising
more parliamentary days on major national issues, AWEPA ena-
Hon. Hélène Aholou Kèkè, President of the Law Committee of the
National Assembly of Benin, during the programme launch.
Opening Session of the Burundian Parliament.

AWEPA’s main objective in DRC is strengthening the capacities of
the bicameral Parliament, which is composed of a lower Chamber -
the National Assembly, and an upper Chamber – the Senate. More
specifically, the objectives of the AWEPA program in DRC in 2012
were:
• to establish the needs of the DRC Parliament;
• to organize a series of outreach activities to the attention of
parliamentarians and members of the administration of the
National Assembly;
• to reinforce women parliamentarians capacities in the
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From left to right: Mr. Mfuranzima, AWEPA representative in Burundi, M. Ndayiziga, Director of CENAP, Ms. Lydia Maximus, Political
Coordinator for the AWEPA Burundi programme, Hon. Ntisezerana, Speaker of the Burundian Senate and Hon. Ntavyohanyuma, Speaker of
the Burundian National Assembly.
bled exchanges between parliamentarians, members of all Political
Parties and leaders of civil society organisations, both of women’s
groups and the general population. Important topics such as decen-tralisation,
the permanent dialogue framework of senators and local
councillors, the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms,
political preparation for the 2015 elections and government action
monitoring were discussed.
As in other programmes, AWEPA aims to offer a platform for dia-logue
while it also secures the basis of democracy by promoting
human rights and contributing to the efforts of reconciliation and
peace-building on a national and regional scale.
Impacts
The following outcomes can be attributed to actions carried out in
2012 as part of the support programme to the Parliament of Burundi:
• Parliament adopted a law acknowledging the status of the
political opposition in Burundi, as was announced by the
President of the Republic on 14 November 2012;
• a national conference, co-organised by AWEPA in Bujumbura
in June 2012, assembled the worldwide Burundian diasporas
which are now officially committed to supporting local
development; The conference was attended by 140 Burundians
from more than 20 countries;
• all senators in Burundi established direct contact with all
communal bureaus throughout the country in order to
establish good governance, democracy and sustainable
development in Burundi;
• contact with neighbouring parliaments increased,
strengthening regional cohesion;
• knowledge of decentralisation was improved and skills were
transferred from the state to the municipalities, based on the
visit of Burundian parliamentarians to Rwanda in September
2012.
Example Activity
Workshop on the status of the political opposition law in Burundi. 28
March 2012, Bujumbura, Burundi.
This initiative, organised in collaboration with CENAP (Burundi’s
Conflict Alert and Prevention Centre), enabled the Burundian
Parliament to inform civil society, political actors and religious rep-
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Impacts
AWEPA was able to develop a parliamentary cooperation plan with
both Houses of the Parliament to strengthen its capacity to under-take
parliamentary diplomacy and contribute to the management of
conflicts in the Great Lakes region. This programme was facilitated
within the multilateral framework of the International Conference
on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). AWEPA’s parliamentary coop-eration
plan constitutes a strong foundation for further bilateral
meetings to take place between members of the DRC Parliament
and those of neighboring Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi to share
views in order to find solutions to issues that currently oppose gov-ernments.
resentatives about the political opposition bill. Stakeholders were
able to contribute in drafting the bill, which was thereafter approved
and thus met a broad national consensus. After a discussion about
neighbouring countries, where the status of political opposition is
already determined, the discourse focused on the existence of the
opposition in Burundi, the need to amend the current Constitution,
possible coalitions for the upcoming 2015 elections, the viability of
banning certain Political Parties in Burundi and respect for demo-cratic
principles.•
Parliament of the Democratic
Republic of Congo
Donor
Hon. François-Xavier de Donnea, Belgium
Hon. Sabine de Bethune, Belgium
Background
After consultations with the Congolese Parliament and donors
in 2011, the Democratic Republic of Congo Programme achieved
almost all of its successes in the context of conflict prevention, par-ticularly
through parliamentary diplomacy and capacity building.
The partnership between AWEPA and the Parliament of the Demo-cratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) was founded in 1999. Since then,
AWEPA has cooperated with the National Assembly and the Senate,
and has developed activities with four provincial Legislative Assem-blies.
AWEPA’s role has been to work jointly with the parliament of the
DRC in supporting its main functions and in supporting both capac-ity
building and parliamentary diplomacy. On the one hand, capacity
building activities aim at strengthening Legislative Assemblies by
the means of seminars and workshops, and develop the skills of
specific actors (elected national parliamentarians, elected provincial
deputies and women parliamentarians). On the other hand, parlia-mentary
diplomacy targets conflict prevention and resolution.
Objectives
Hon. Higiro, Secretary General of the Forum, addresses the Forum of
Parliaments of the Member States of the International Conference on
the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR-PF) in November.
Kinshasa, DRC.
perspective of provincial and local elections;
• to promote parliamentary diplomacy, and in particular, to
facilitate meetings between parliamentarians from DRC and
Rwanda.

Example Activity
Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Parliamentary Forum
of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR-PF).
November 2012. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Delegates of the concerned Parliaments were able to exchange
views not only on the functioning of the Forum, but also on the state
of bilateral relations.
A delegation from the Parliaments of Rwanda and DRC attended the
meeting and agreed on the ambitious agenda of the Plenary Assem-bly,
which took place three months later, also in Kinshasa.
Among other aspects, the agenda of the Plenary Assembly included
an analysis of the root causes of the conflict in eastern DRC, the situ-ation
between the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan and also the
impact of the Lord’s Resistance Army in the Central African Repub-lic.•
Page 20 AWEPA Annual Report 2012 Page 21
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An Empowered and Effective East
African Legislative Assembly (EALA)
Donors
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) via the Embassy
of Sweden, Nairobi, Kenya
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway via the Embassy of Sweden,
Nairobi, Kenya
Hon. Kerstin Lundgren, Sweden
Hon. Kerstin Engle, Sweden
Ms. Katharine Bulbulia, Ireland
Background
Since 2002, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and
AWEPA have implemented programmes to develop EALA’s capac-ity
in the region. EALA was founded in 2001 and functions as the
legislative organ of the East African Community (EAC). EALA has 52
members, 45 of whom are elected to their position (nine from each
of the five Partner States) and seven ex-officio members. The 3rd
Assembly was inaugurated in June 2012 and seeks to consolidate the
achievements of the 1st and 2nd Assembly: to maintain a regional
presence and engage with legislative and development concerns in
East Africa. The EAC’s integration agenda gives EALA this mandate,
as specified by the EAC Treaty.
Objectives
In line with the vision of a prosperous, competitive, secure and politi-cally
united EAC, the programme aims to contribute to accelerated,
harmonious and balanced development and continued democratisa-tion
in East Africa.
The programme seeks to empower EALA to effectively fulfil its legis-lative,
representative and oversight mandate, particularly in matters
related to improving the EAC integration process and increasing co-operation
among EAC Partner States in political, economic, social and
cultural fields. Such activities are geared toward the mutual benefit of
the EAC Partner States and their citizens. The programme seeks to im-plement
legislation that is important to EAC integration, which would
be mutually beneficial for the Community and the Partner States. An-other
goal of the programme is that the EAC inhabitants are made
aware of the integration process and its role in their lives.
Impacts
The enactment of EALA’s mandate:
• enhanced EALA’s legislative role and improved oversight;
• effectively reached out to and represented civil society;
• effectively connected with the National Assemblies of Partner
States as well as other African and non-African Parliaments.
Moreover, the 2nd Assembly concluded their legislative and over-sight
work on reports and bills in the form of public hearings,
auditing of laws, EAC auditing and site visits, interaction with civil
society and interaction with National Assemblies through the Speak-ers’
Bureau. The 3rd Assembly focused on building the capacity of
the standing Committees in order to enact a smooth transition,
since strong Committees are essential to the effectiveness of a Par-liament
in implementing its powers.
Example Activity
Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution Committee Public Hear-ings.
April 2012. Kenya and Uganda.
The Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution (RACR) Committee held
public hearings on pastoralist border communities in Kenya and
Uganda. The objective was to appreciate and lobby for pastoralists’
issues in both countries and to enable pastoralist communities to
influence policy, legislative processes and attitudes at the local and
East African Community level. The results of the meetings led the
RACR Committee to offer a number of recommendations. These
recommendations were compiled in a report that was tabled at the
EALA Plenary in May 2012. Strategies were developed for raising and
sharing pastoralists’ concerns with EALA, Kenyan National Assembly
and Uganda Assembly members. These actions will lead to the pro-motion
of pastoralism as a viable livelihood.•
Villagers head for Ugandan border as unrest in DRC continues.
UN Photo/Sylvain Liechti
In June, elections were held for the office of the Speaker of the
East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). After several years of
exceptionally good understanding with former Speaker Hon.
Abdirahin H. Abdi, we are now pleased to welcome Hon. Margaret
Nantongo Zziwa as the new Speaker.

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consequences of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. In Africa it is
estimated that more than 90 million girls from ten years of age and
above have undergone FGM/C. Along with international migration,
FGM/C has become an issue of increasing concern in Europe as well.
To successfully promote the abandonment of FGM/C, legislation
for repression and care must be accompanied by a strong effort of
information, providing sensitisation and education within the com-munities
where FGM/C is practiced. Awareness-raising must take
place at all levels, from governments to elected officials, from local
administrations to traditional chiefs and religious leaders, women
and youth organisations as well as of course the communities con-cerned.
It is also crucial to continue implementing support measures
for victims and finding alternative employment opportunities for
women whose main income depends on the practice.
As for Europe, cultural relativism must be avoided at all times. The
same standard (e.g. human rights) must apply to women with differ-ent
cultural backgrounds as to European women.
After a successful partnership in 2011, AWEPA cooperated again in
2012 with UNFPA and UNICEF towards the abandonment of FGM/C
in the context of their joint programme Female Genital Mutilation:
Accelerating Change.
Objectives
The overall objective of AWEPA’s FGM/C programme is the abandon-ment
of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Africa
and Europe within a generation.
The purpose of the programme is to enhance the capacity of se-lected
African parliaments – initially Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal
- to exercise their oversight, representative and legislative functions
with regard to the practices of FGM/C. The programme focusses on
one hand on FGM/C legislation and the monitoring of its implemen-tation,
and on the other hand on education and sensitisation from a
community-based approach.
Impacts
• parliamentarians in Burkina Faso and Mali are more aware of
the issue of FGM/C in general and the cross-border FGM/C issue
between Burkina Faso and Mali specifically;
• parliamentarians in Burkina Faso are better equipped to
contribute to the drafting of the law on violence against
women, including FGM/C;
• sharing of experience and expertise between African and
European parliamentarians has increased mutual understanding
and political will for cooperation;
• increased interaction between CSOs, citizens in Burkina Faso
and African/European parliamentarians on the issue of FGM/C;
• there is a strengthened dialogue on the topic between
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
Programme
Donor
Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the United Nations Popu-lation
Fund (UNFPA)
Hon. Els van Hoof, Belgium
Senior Political Advisor
Hon. Petra Bayr, Austria
Background
Worldwide around 100 to 140 million women are suffering the
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Parliamentary Forum of the
International Conference on the
Great Lakes Region (PF-ICGLR)
Donors
Belgium Ministry on Foreign Affairs
Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC)
Hon. Alain Destexhe, Belgium
Ms. Therese Frösch, Switzerland
Background
In 2006, the Joint Secretariat “United Nations - African Union” re-quested
AWEPA to facilitate parliamentary activities related to the
Pact on Security, Stability and Development of the Great Lakes Re-gion.
The aim was to allow the ownership and the ratification of the
Pact by the country members of the International Conference on
the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). Furthermore, parliaments had not
been sufficiently involved in the process and parliamentarian action
was required for the ratification of the above mentioned pact.
AWEPA, in collaboration with the Executive Secretariat of the ICGLR,
facilitated meetings of the Steering Committee in charge of the cre-ation
of a Parliamentary Forum. This Forum was formed with the
aim of working on a framework of dialogue between parliamentary
institutions while supporting the efforts of their governments for
achieving the goals of the Pact. Since its creation in 2008, the Forum
addresses content issues which are discussed by the Heads of State
and Government in the context of conflict management.
Objectives
The main objective of the Programme is to contribute to the pre-vention
of conflicts through parliamentary diplomacy and capacity
building of the Forum’s secretariat. In 2012, the Forum focused on
illegal exploitation of natural resources as well as active or latent
conflicts.
In addition, AWEPA facilitates the meetings of the Executive Com-mittee
and the Plenary Sessions of the Forum, in compliance with
the objectives of the Pact on security, stability and development.
The 3rd Plenary Session of the Forum took place in January 2013.
Impacts
2012 as part of the support programme to the Parliamentary Forum
parliamentarians and local leaders;
• the parliamentary handbook “Guidelines for parliamentarians:
abandoning Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting” has been
published and disseminated;
• as a follow up to the parliamentary meeting on the
abandonment of FGM/C in June 2012, Dutch Members of
Parliament signed in July 2012 the Gender Multiparty Initiative,
by which they declared a common commitment to equal
opportunities and rights of women worldwide. In addition,
two Parliamentarians tabled two motions on violence against
women and on FGM/C which were adopted in the Dutch
Parliament on 5 July 2012;
• related to the issue of FGM/C, AWEPA established in 2012 a
partnership with the Girls Not Brides (GNB) Campaign. GNB is
a campaign with a mission to end another harmful traditional
practice, that of child marriage.
Example Activity
Seminar on the role of parliamentarians in the abandonment of
FGM/C. April 2012. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
In April 2012, the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, in cooperation
with AWEPA, organised a National Workshop entitled Le rôle des
parlementaires dans l’abandon des mutilations génitales féminines/
excisions (MGF/E) (the role of parliamentarians in the abandonment
of FGM/C). Nearly 40 parliamentarians participated, as well as repre-sentatives
from the government, the National Council, local NGOs,
as well as UNFPA and UNICEF. The First Lady of Burkina Faso, Ms.
Chantal Compaoré, was present and opened the workshop. The
main outcome of the workshop was the adoption of proposed “Key
parliamentary actions” that Members of Parliament can undertake
to favour FGM abandonment. Following the workshop, a group of
parliamentarians led public consultations in two villages in the prov-ince
of Yatenga, organised jointly with local NGOs, to exchange
views with the citizens on the issue of FGM/C.•
AWEPA co-organised two public audiences in northern Burkina Faso
to exchange views with the citizens on the issue of FGM/C.
In April, Hon. Dominique Tilmans met local women in the Yatenga
province (Burkina Faso) on the occasion of public audiences
regarding the abandonment of FGM/C.

In April, AWEPA and EALA hosted a seminar on the integration of
children and youth in East African societies. Nairobi, Kenya.
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of the International Conference on the Great Lakes (ICGLR-PF):
• AWEPA contributed to the organisation of the statutory
activities of the Parliamentary Forum. The Executive Committee
meeting held in November 2012 had the task of establishing an
agenda for the Plenary Assembly to be held three months later.
• the AWEPA Programmes in DRC, Rwanda and the Great
Lakes region as a whole created a synergy which facilitated
the meeting of DRC and Rwandan parliamentarians in the
framework of the Parliamentary Forum;
• a delegation of DRC and Rwandan parliamentarians met in
the Executive Committee of the ICGLR-PF and agreed on the
ambitious agenda of the Plenary Assembly. At the Assembly,
Congolese and Rwandan delegates met for the first time to
discuss the volatile situation in eastern DRC. Furthermore,
the venue allowed delegates from North and South Sudan to
further dialogue in view of finding constructive and peaceful
solutions.
• in order to contribute to peace, security and development in
the Great Lakes region, meetings between DRC and Rwandan
parliamentarian delegations have been scheduled to continue
taking place in the future.
Example Activity
Plenary Assembly of the Parliamentary Forum of the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region.
The most important activity of this AWEPA Programme during 2012
was the co-organisation of the Plenary Assembly of the Forum to-gether
with the Forum General Secretariat and the DRC Parliament.
Attended by seven speakers, all the Forum parliamentarians and a
delegation of South Sudanese parliamentarians, the Plenary Assem-bly
allowed the participants to address important common issues
and make strong resolutions. The several debates resulted in the
adoption of a Declaration and the following five Resolutions:
• on the security situation in the Central African Republic;
• on the security situation in eastern DRC;
• on the security situation in Sudan and South Sudan;
• on sexual violence based on gender in the Great Lakes region
and;
• on the parliamentary follow up of the decisions taken by the
Heads of State and Government of the ICGLR.•
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Strengthening Regional Parliaments
Towards Achieving the Millennium
Development Goals
Donors
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)
Hon. Holger Gustafsson, Sweden
Senior Political Advisor
Hon. Wolfgang Pirklhuber, Austria
Background
In September 2010, world leaders gathered in New York to reaffirm
their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
and evaluate progress. With the 2015 target date only a couple of
years away the campaign results are spread unevenly across the
continents, with least achievement in Africa.
Certain goals are still achievable, but good governance is required to
achieve the set objectives. Unfortunately, there is a striking lack of
systematic engagement of elected representatives of the affected
populations in the process of policy formulation and implementa-tion.
African parliamentarians face the daunting task of providing
oversight of legislation, policies and development funds towards
the MDGs without access to research on policy impacts, information
on budgets allocations and foreign aid flows.
Through the MDG Programme, AWEPA aims at capacitating parlia-mentarians,
thereby strengthening evidence-based policy dialogues
and parliamentary democracy as a means towards Africa’s achieve-ment
of the MDGs over 2011-2015.
In 2012, discussions to shape the post-2015 development agenda
gained momentum, but only an inclusive consultative process will
ensure that all actors, including parliaments, are involved in its im-plementation,
monitoring and, eventually, its success.
Objectives
The overall objective of the MDG Programme is to contribute to
the realisation of democracy, poverty reduction and sustainable de-velopment
in Africa through supporting the capacity development
of regional African Parliaments (PAP, CEMAC Parliament, EALA,
ECOWAS Parliament, SADC-PF), and through promoting a better
understanding among European parliamentarians of the challenges
for achieving the MDGs in Africa. Achieving the Millennium Develop-ment
Goals is contingent upon supporting locally-owned solutions
for poverty eradication, enhancing transparency and accountability
of governance frameworks, reinforcing regional integration and
peer-learning mechanisms. It also entails that policy makers at the
national, regional and international levels acknowledge the cru-cial
role of Members of Parliament in attaining most of the MDGs
targets and sub-targets, as well as the role of policy coherence in
Europe.
Impacts
• Discussions and recommendations made within regional
parliaments are taken increasingly into account in the
international MDG-related policy debate;
• a number of activity recommendations and communiqués
were tabled for plenary discussions and adopted by
regional parliamentary bodies, including on the sustainable
development of the Lake Chad basin, on making agricultural
investment work in West Africa and on Youth Employment in
the East African Community (EAC) region;
• regional parliaments were invited to consultation meetings to
shape the post-2015 development agenda;
• increased engagement from parliamentarians of the Pan-
African Parliament (PAP) in the Comprehensive Africa
Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP);
• strengthened North-South dialogue through the exchange of
lessons learned on the fair management of natural resources.
Example Activity
Parliamentary Seminar on the integration of children and youth in
East African societies. April 2012. Nairobi, Kenya.
In April 2012, AWEPA and the East African Legislative Assembly
(EALA) hosted the seminar “Towards Parliamentary Action for In-Plenary
Assembly of the Forum of Parliaments of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region. January, Kinshasa, DRC. tegration of Children and Youth in East African Societies”, which

Exchange visit of the Committee of Petitions of the Mozambican Parliament to the Gästrike Återvinnare (environmental and recycling
plant), in Sweden, in November. The delegates learned about the Swedish waste system of collection, separation and treatment, planning,
Page 26 AWEPA Annual Report 2012 Page 27
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Mozambique Strategic Vision
Programme
Donors
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) via Diakonia
The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique
Austrian Development Agency via North South Dialogue (GEZA)
The Frisian Urban Sanitation Programme (FUSP)
Hon. Bodil Ceballos, Sweden
Ms. Maria Antonia Avilés Perea, Spain
Background
AWEPA has been supporting the democratic process in Mozambique
since 1992. While starting with major civic education programmes
and election observation projects, it shifted its focus to capacity
building programmes for elected organs in the past ten years.
AWEPA Mozambique works in the framework of its Multi-Annual
Programme, which consists of four components: the Parliamentary
Programme, the Local Government Programme, the Political Parties
Programme as well as Research and Publications. Cross cutting is-sues
such as HIV/AIDS, Gender and Child Rights form an integral part
of the programmes.
In 2012, significant laws were approved to enhance good govern-ance
and transparency in Mozambique. The Parliament prepared
five laws to amend the electoral legislation that will pave the way
for municipal elections in 2013, and national elections in 2014. There-fore
the focus for AWEPA’s Mozambique programme in 2013 will be
on training members of Political Parties and journalists on the new
electoral law and their role as electoral observers.
In addition, AWEPA collaborates with the Frisian Urban Sanitation
Project (FUSP) in partnership with the Ministry of State Adminis-tration
and the Mozambican National Water Directorate. FUSP is a
consortium of Dutch Water Partners (Water Board Fryslân, Vitens
Water Company, Province of Fryslân, and the Association of Frisian
Municipalities) which aims to address the sanitation and hygiene
challenges in urban and peri-urban areas of Mozambique.
Objectives
The aim of the programme in Mozambique is to contribute to the
development of a democratic process, with properly functioning
democratic institutions, a fair knowledge of and respect for the rule
of law and human rights, for the benefit of the Mozambican citizens.
AWEPA works in cooperation with different partners, primarily with
the Parliament, Municipalities, Provincial Assemblies and Political
Parties, by building their capacities and by creating opportunities
for the exchange of information and best practices.
AWEPA’s work in Mozambique is built around three main axes:
• Parliamentary programme: AWEPA contributes to
strengthening the capacity of the Parliament to perform its
oversight, legislative and representative roles more effectively
and to oversee government spending;
• Local Government Programme: AWEPA contributes to
strengthening the capacity of Municipal and Provincial
Assemblies to perform their oversight, legislation and
representation roles more effectively in general, and to enforce
accountability and transparency of government spending;
• Political Parties Programme: AWEPA contributes to
strengthening the capacities of Political Parties in order to
participate more effectively in the multiparty democratic
process during non-electoral and electoral periods and to build
a constructive relationship between Members of Parliament
and Parties.
Impacts
In total, 980 people participated in the activities organised by
AWEPA in 2012. The following impacts can be attributed to the
capacity building actions of AWEPA’s parliamentary programme in
Mozambique:
• parliamentarians’ institutional capacity was enhanced,
especially in terms of parliamentary administration and
regulations, as well as Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT);
• parliamentarian’s representative function was stimulated
facilitated an open discussion about the current state of youth
and children-related policies in the region as far as education and
employment are concerned, and brought about a series of recom-mendations
to enhance the role of regional parliaments in youth
empowerment. The two-day seminar was attended by parliamentar-ians
from EALA and from other regional parliaments. Commitments
were made to monitor the implementation of the laws, charters and
declarations related to the well-being of youth as well as to promote
a structured dialogue and a consultation process with East African
institutions to ensure the coherence of youth-related policies. •
through an exchange visit of the Committee of Petitions
to Sweden; Mozambican legislators gained information on
matters dealing with the concerns of the citizens;
• parliamentarians strengthened their skills and gained
knowledge on legislation through two seminars: a seminar to
review with the Committee of Constitutional Affairs, Human
Rights and Legality, and a seminar to sensitize the Committee
of Social Affairs, Gender and Environment on the new family
law. Moreover, journalists were introduced to the Mozambican
Penal Code;
• targeted Parliamentary Committees were sensitised to specific
international or national laws. The Women Parliamentary
Cabinet was sensitised on unsafe abortion, while the
Committee of Planning and Budgeting was sensitised on the
operationalisation of the Busan recommendations;
• the parliamentary oversight function was strengthened
through the training of parliamentarians on development aid
monitoring;
• after attending the 31st session of the SADC Parliamentary
Forum, held in Maputo, parliamentarians were sensitised on
the importance of strengthening parliamentary democracy in
the SADC region;
• the skills of parliamentary staff were strengthened through
training in public relations and interaction with the public.
In 2012, AWEPA’s Local Government programme achieved the
following results:
• the skills of Councillors, staff and members of the
Municipalities were enhanced, especially in terms of
budgeting and planning;
• the capacities of members of the Provincial Assembly were
strengthened through seminars on their prerogatives and
on the interaction with other institutions and civil society;
• a cooperation project was launched to improve sanitation
in urban and peri-urban areas in Mozambique with FUSP,
the Ministry of State Administration and the National Water
Directorate.
Lastly, AWEPA’s Political Parties Programme:
• The capacities of Political Parties on planning and budgeting
were strengthened. Fundraising strategies for the parties
Frelimo, Renamo and Mozambique Democratic Movement
(MDM) were elucidated;
• Reflection on the peace process was stimulated through a
seminar on the 20 years since the Peace Agreement and the
taxes and fees.

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Network Of Women
Parliamentarians Of Central Africa
(RFPAC)
Donors
Hon. Magda De Meyer, Belgium
Hon. Els van Hoof, Belgium
Background
The Network of Women Parliamentarians of Central Africa (RFPAC)
was established in March 2002 on the request of women parliamen-tarians
attending an AWEPA conference in the region. With AWEPA’s
assistance, RFPAC has since formed all-women parliamentarian plat-forms
that gather at least once a year. The network includes women
parliamentarians from Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, and Republic of Congo.
The network statutes assimilate key statements such as the Pro-tocol
to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the
Rights of Women in Africa, the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the UN Resolu-tion
1325 and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
consolidation of democracy in Mozambique.
• Furthermore, various Political Process Bulletins were published
by AWEPA on topics such as the anti-corruption legislation
package, the Mozambican response to carbon credits and the
municipal by-elections. These bulletins are published jointly by
the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP) and AWEPA, and have been
covering elections and democratisation in Mozambique since
1992.
Example Activity
Exchange visit Committee of Petitions of the Assembly of the
Republic of Mozambique to Sweden. 5-9 November. Stockholm,
Sweden.
In 2012, the Mozambican Parliament, through the Committee of Pe-titions,
undertook the process of reviewing the Petitions Law (Lei
de Petições) and Parliamentary Internal Laws (Regimento) with the
aim of simplifying citizens’ exercise of the right to petition to the
Parliament. Through this exchange visit the Mozambican delegation
exchanged information and experience with their Swedish col-leagues,
since Sweden has a long-time experience in this matter and
is a model to other countries being the first to establish an Ombuds-man’s
office in 1809.
The delegation was headed by the Chair of the Committee Hon.
Mário Sevene and composed of Hon. Latifo Ismael Xarifo, Hon. Lu-ciano
Andrè de Castro, Hon. Ana Antonia Dimitri, Hon. Ângelo Thai
and Hon. Miguel Anlauè Mussa. The then Political Coordinator for
the AWEPA Mozambique programme, Dr. Jan Nico Scholten was
also part of the delegation. Hon. Sevene explained that in Mozam-bique
this Committee is dealing with petitions put forward by all
civilians, including foreigners, who reside in Mozambique; “we call
this Committee the door through which citizens can go to Parlia-ment”
Hon. Sevene said.
The delegation had several meetings in the Parliament, Municipal-ity
of Gävle, donor agencies Sida and Diakonia and other institutes
such as the Federation of Swedish Farmers and Swedish Coopera-tive
Centre.•
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Objectives
RFPAC aims to contribute to the political, economic and social pro-motion
of Central African women, the construction of a gender
balanced democracy, the enhancement of women’s representation,
the preservation of peace and the implementation of impartial jus-tice.
RFPAC seeks to accomplish these goals through strengthening
and supporting women parliamentarians in their legislative, ex-ecutive
oversight, and constituent’s representation functions; and
representing the voice of women in their countries.
Through the RFPAC programme, AWEPA aims to improve the posi-tion
of all women in the region, by supporting women candidates in
elections, encouraging women’s economic prosperity and enhanc-ing
the capacity of women.
Impacts
2012 as part of the RFPAC-AWEPA programme:
• Guidelines for parliamentarians on abandoning Female Genital
Mutilation/Cutting, produced together with Pan-African
Parliament’s Women Caucus, were finalised and distributed by
women parliamentarians for use in Central African parliaments;
• women parliamentarians drafted a plan of action to implement
regional and national strategies of accountability directed
toward future generations, with regard to MDG 3: Promote
gender equality and empower women through education;
• workshops empowered women parliamentarians and
strengthened their roles within their national parliaments; they
succeeded in bringing gender-related topics to their home
parliament’s national agenda;
• women parliamentarians succeeded in integrating gender into
the AWEPA organised seminar on Managing Africa’s natural
resources towards achieving the MDGs, held in Rome in
September 2012.
Example Activity
Regional Conference of RFPAC on MDG 3: Promote gender equality
and empower women through education. 24–25 October 2012.
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
Women parliamentarians from Central African member countries
met for two days in Equatorial Guinea to share best practices, experi-ences,
testimonies and to suggest practical solutions for promoting
“women and education” (an aspect of MDG 3). The event addressed
essential concerns and the discussions that emerged showed that
not only is education crucial to development, but that it is also the
anchor for all MDGs.
Eminent figures also contributed to the success of the conference:
the President and First Lady of Equatorial Guinea attended, as well as
experts from the United Nations, various Ministries and universities.
RFPAC established legislative plans of action in order to implement
regional and national resolutions to reduce gender disparities at all
levels of education.•
Honoured by the President and the First Lady of Equatorial Guinea, RFPAC held a conference in their capital, Malabo.
The regional RFPAC conference held in October addressed women em-powerment
as a means to achieve Millennium Development Goal 3.

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Parliament of Rwanda
Donor
Hon. Alain Destexhe, Belgium
Background
AWEPA has provided parliamentary support to both Chambers of
the Parliament of Rwanda since 2003, which includes activities with
parliamentarians and staff members. In 2012, the programme also in-volved
Parliamentary diplomacy, conflict prevention as well as peace
consolidation.
AWEPA’s Programme in Rwanda is focused on implementing projects
such as field visits of Parliamentary Committees to provinces, parlia-mentary
seminars and workshops in collaboration with experts, as
well as visits in the framework of peace building. Training on technical
issues has also been organised with staff members. Furthermore, the
AWEPA Programme in Rwanda is working with the Chamber of Depu-ties
on its evaluation, with the aim of making a critical and prospective
assessment during the current legislature and identifying good prac-tices
and weaknesses.
Objectives
AWEPA’s objective in its partnership with the Parliament of Rwanda
is to support the Parliament’s tripartite mission of legislating, con-trolling
the actions of government and representing the people. To
achieve this goal, AWEPA’s specific objectives in 2012 were the follow-ing:
• contributing to the capacity building of Rwandan
parliamentarians on the submission and the development of
legislation but also on the oversight of government action;
• contributing to the functioning of the joint Chambers Ad Hoc
Committee on the situation in eastern DRC;
• strengthening the representative function of Parliament by
facilitating field visits;
• performing a critical and prospective assessment of the work
done by the Chamber of Deputies during its first legislature;
• enhancing the capacity of the administration, especially in
archiving;
• enhancing parliamentary diplomacy and conflict prevention
in the Great Lakes region via exchange visits and meetings,
especially between Congolese and Rwandan parliamentarians.
Impacts
The following impacts can be attributed to the actions of AWEPA in
Rwanda:
• administrative services of the Parliament were enhanced after
a group of librarians and archivists attended an eight-month
capacity building training;
• field visits strengthened the representative function of
parliamentarians. Rwandan parliamentarians were made
Supporting Legislative Institutions in
Somalia
Donors
Delegation of the European Commission in Kenya
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Dr. Jan Nico Scholten, the Netherlands
Hon. Maria Martens, the Netherlands
Background
AWEPA has actively been supporting Legislative Institutions in Soma-lia
since 2002, first with support from the European Commission and
later with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nether-lands.
Partnerships have also been developed with the United Nations
Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) and the United Nations Develop-ment
Programme (UNDP) in Somalia, with whom activities have been
carried out under the Somali programme. New agreements have been
concluded for the continuation of support with both the Netherlands
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union. A systematic co-ordination
mechanism is also in place to ensure that AWEPA’s support
remains relevant.
Objective
The overall objective of this programme is to contribute towards the
democratic development of a modern state, which embodies the
principles of good governance, effective representation, account-ability
and transparency, and respect for human rights. This is done
through supporting the capacity and development of Somali Legis-lative
Institutions to perform their functions. Besides the traditional
functions of representing constituents, debating, amending and pass-ing
legislation, and exercising oversight over executive actions, in the
Somali context, an additional function can be added; to reconcile op-posing
parties.
In 2012, the AWEPA programme assisted the newly inaugurated Fed-eral
Parliament to develop its capacities to play its role in stabilising
the political environment, re-connecting with citizens, and perform-ing
the traditional roles of a Parliament. In tandem with the support to
the Federal Parliament, the programme also serves and responds to
the needs of the Houses of Assembly in Somaliland and the Puntland
Parliament. All support given has the full ownership of the Legislative
Institutions concerned.
Impacts
Training has proceeded at institutional level as well as at the levels
of Leadership, Committees and staff on both general and special-ised
topics, depending on the priorities identified by the institution
more aware of the status and prospects of foreign refugees in
Rwanda;
• in the aim of contributing to conflict prevention and peace
consolidation between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC), an Ad Hoc Committee successfully analysed
and reported on the evolution of relations between the two
countries over the past 15 years.
Example Activity
The Parliament of Rwanda has decided to set up an Ad Hoc Committee
to analyse the evolution of relations between DRC and Rwanda since
the late 1990s. A report was written by the Ad Hoc Committee in Kin-yarwanda.
The Parliament of Rwanda requested AWEPA´s support for the transla-tion
of the report in English and French as well as for its dissemination.
This operation aimed at producing a document which could be useful
for Rwandan Parliament partners and their Congolese counterparts to
explore the reasons underlying conflict, while attempting to jointly find
peaceful solutions. •
Meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Parliament of Rwanda to analyse the evolution of relations between DRC and Rwanda. From left to
right: Hon. Bazatoha, Hon. Mukansine, Hon. Karangwa, Hon. Mukabalisa and Hon. Kayinamura.
Late 2012, daily life in Mogadishu returns to normal.
UN Photo/Tobin Jones

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Pan-African Seminar on Regional Parliamentary Development held in May in Johannesburg, South Africa.
www.awepa.org
Strengthening Regional
Parliamentary Capacity in the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC)
Donor
Austrian Development Agency (ADA)
Minister of State Ms. Miet Smet, Belgium
Background
The transformation of the Southern African Development Com-munity
Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) into a Regional Parliament
is essential to the regional development of the SADC’s 258 million
citizens. The project aims at making a contribution to the fulfilment
of the priorities outlined in the 2011-2015 Strategic Plan of the SADC-PF
towards its eventual transformation to a fully-fledged Regional
Parliament. The first portion of the project aims at strengthening
the capacity of the staff as closer engagement between the Forum
and SADC national Parliaments on the one hand, and the SADC Sec-retariat
on the other, begins. From there, selected priority activities
will be implemented within the framework of the project through to
the close of 2013.
Additionally, participation by SADC-PF in the 4th High-Level Forum
(HLF-4) held in Busan in 2011, and subsequent participation in the
post-Busan discussions, has assured a voice to the SADC position
on the aid and development reform process. At the same time,
the programme has ensured that SADC-PF’s institutional develop-ment
efforts are informed by emerging lessons and assessments
conducted within the context of the evolving aid and development
effectiveness architecture.
Objective
The project aims to support the SADC-PF in developing its institutional
capacity to function as a Regional Parliament.
pected to function based on the principle of cooperative governance.
In this framework service delivery is located with the provincial state
level – and the provinces share concurrent powers with the national
sphere to formulate and implement policies related to education,
health, housing and social welfare, amongst others. The Provincial
Legislatures have also had the additional responsibility to oversee
the performance of the provincial departments and facilitate public
participation in governance processes. As the first decade of post-apartheid
South Africa was mainly dedicated to policy formulation,
concerned. These and other facilities have improved institutional ca-pacities
to respond to a broad variety of challenges. Although there
continue to be challenges on the security front, the project has been
able so far to mitigate these obstacles, and facilities provided at the
request of the institution concerned, continue to be implemented. A
new development is that Mogadishu is now accessible. Thereafter the
new Federal Parliament is meeting regularly. •
South African Provincial Legislatures
(SAPL)
Donors
Swiss Agency for Development (SDC)
Belgian Embassy Flemish Representation
Hon. Jan Roegiers, Flanders
Hon. Johan Verstreken, Flanders
Background
Since 1996, the AWEPA South African Provincial Legislatures (SAPL)
Programme has operated in a broader South African political context,
whereby constitutional power is shared between three spheres of
government (national, provincial and local government), which are ex-
Members of the Legislature and the chairpersons of the Municipal
Public Accounts Committee pledging their commitment to the
newly established Provincial Public Accounts Chairpersons Forum,
by way of creating an artwork containing handprints.
Impacts
In close partnership with the Secretariat of the SADC-PF, the pro-gramme
has further developed and professionalised, and has
established a solid foundation for achieving the transformation
process. Activities began with SADC parliamentary participation in
the HLF-4. The experience gained at this international gathering was
employed during the extraordinary meeting of the Trade, Develop-ment
and Regional Integration Committee held in Maputo in July
2012, as the Committee began the process of formulating a SADC
perspective on the outcomes of the HLF-4 and the aid reform pro-cess.
In the meantime, other project activities gathered preliminary data
from each of the organs of the SADC-PF, its parliamentary counter-parts
in other regions, and Member Parliaments in the region on the
best way forward in terms of a successful transformation process.
Towards these ends, amongst other activities, a regional survey
amongst the National Parliaments was conducted and a regional
parliamentary seminar aimed at the collection of best practices and
lessons learnt from other regional parliaments was executed in 2012.
Example Activity
Pan-African Seminar on Regional Parliamentary Development. 17-
18 May 2012. Johannesburg, South Africa.
The seminar served as a platform for dialogue on key issues towards
strengthening SADC-PF’s strategic approach and its transformation
agenda. Participants discussed and compared the varying insti-tutional
development paths taken by the East African Legislative
Assembly (EALA) and the Parliament of the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS). This included information exchange
on best practices in terms of membership, mandates and how these
parliaments have been able to maintain financial autonomy, as well
as how to face challenges and setbacks. In doing so participants had
the opportunity to reflect on the institutional strengths, roles and
coordination of Africa’s regional parliamentary bodies in the evolv-ing
development aid landscape.•

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the second decade is mainly devoted to the proper implementation
of policies through oversight and public participation.
It is in the context of this second decade that the SAPL Programme
has become even more relevant, now focusing on the promotion
of service delivery and poverty reduction. As a response to the call
for the Provincial Legislatures to exercise more vigorous and effec-tive
oversight, the AWEPA-SAPL Programme has contributed to the
capacity building of the Provincial Legislatures, as well as to those in-volved
in public participation and law-making.
Objective
To enhance the performance of the South African Provincial Leg-islatures
in their oversight, legislation roles, as well as to better
facilitate public participation.
Impacts
The Programme has been particularly effective in advancing the
capacity of members in fiscal oversight, by facilitating and devel-oping
Provincial Speakers Forums and Municipal Public Account
Committee Chairpersons Forums, and other relevant workshop in-terventions.
Furthermore, the programme has allowed the sharing
of best practices regarding ethics and accountability to eradicate
corruption and foster transparency. Some of the examples of the
impacts generated by the AWEPA SAPL Programme include:
• assisting in the development of and formulating a strategic
plan for the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Speakers Forum;
• establishment of Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC)
Chairpersons Forum in the Northern Cape Province;
• improved transparency and fiscal oversight capability through
training for the Limpopo Provincial Legislature Speakers Forum;
• enhanced capacity of the Limpopo Legislature to adhere to
legislative rules and procedures in order further strengthen and
bring about the inherent democratic values contained in the
rules and procedures.
Example Activity
Workshop to establish and capacitate the Municipal Public Ac-counts
Committee Chairpersons Forum of the Northern Cape
Provincial Legislature. 29-30 November 2012. Port Nolloth, South
Africa.
In 2012, AWEPA contributed to the establishment and initial capaci-tation
of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee Chairpersons
Forum of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature. The MPAC’s are
an initiative suggested by the National Assembly of the Parliament
of South Africa to strengthen the fiscal oversight capabilities of local
government. Due to the highly technical nature of providing fiscal
oversight, AWEPA was requested to facilitate a training module for
the members of the Forum.
The feedback and experience gained from this training, which was
organised in partnership with the Institute for Democracy in South
Africa (IDASA), has led to a refinement and expansion of the mod-ule
to include further workshops centered on technical aspects and
on site mentoring during the preparation of the annual oversight
report.•
South Sudan’s Legislative Assembly
and State Assemblies
Donor
Delegation of the European Commission in Sudan
Dr Jan Nico Scholten, the Netherlands
Senior Parliamentary Advisors
Mr. Johan Van Hecke, Uganda (Belgium)
Hon. Désirée Bonis, the Netherlands
Background
In the wake of South Sudan’s independence on 9 July 2011, promot-ing
sustainable peace, good governance and economic stability
through institutional development have become crucial, as ethnic
relations after so many years of civil war remain fragile. AWEPA is
currently implementing a two-year capacity building programme
in the National Legislative Assembly and the State Assemblies. The
programme, sponsored by the European Union, consists of gen-eral
and specialised trainings, technical consultancies, study visits
and secondments, legislative support, participation in parliamen-tary
conferences, community outreach programmes, media action,
publications and parliamentary handbooks. The focus of this pro-gramme
is to remedy the weak legislative regime in the Assembly,
insufficient organisational systems and procedures, inadequate hu-man
resource management policies, weak governance and the lack
of civil society participation in matters of their governance.
Objective
The overall objective of the programme is to contribute to achieving
meaningful participatory leadership, good governance, account-ability
and improved service delivery in South Sudan through an
effective legislature. The programme and its activities serve the spe-cific
objective of improving the capacity of the South Sudan National
Legislative Assembly (NLA) and the ten State Assemblies in South
Sudan to respond to the challenges they face while enacting their
legislative, oversight and representative functions.
Impacts
The following impacts can be attributed to the actions of AWEPA in
South Sudan:
• technical legislative support was provided in scrutiny, analysis
and drafting of bills;
• all Members were trained in budget scrutiny, oversight and
analysis;
• radio talk shows with members of the NLA were sponsored;
• administrative capacity of the NLA was strengthened through
skills-based training for staff of the Assembly in Public Relations
and Protocol, Records and Information Management, Public
Sector Finance Management and transcribing and editing;
• the staff structure of the NLA was reviewed and the roles and
functions of the different departments were clarified;
• several publications were produced and distributed: a manual
on Records and Information Management, a manual on Budget
Scrutiny, Analysis and Oversight, the Hansard Style & Usage
Guide and Transcribing Guidelines;
• human resource policy manuals were developed;
• public participation was strengthened through public hearings;
• the NLA became a Member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
(IPU) Assembly;
• a plan of action for the first year of the NLA was developed;
• all Clerks and Deputy Clerks of the State Assemblies were
trained in parliamentary procedures and practices.
Example Activity
Support to the Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) in analysing
and scrutinising the National Audit Chamber (NAC) reports. 20 July
– 18 August 2012, South Sudan.
AWEPA supported the Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) in
analysing and scrutinising the National Audit Chamber (NAC) reports
for the periods that ended on 31 December 2007 and 2008. By
supporting the scrutiny of NAC Reports AWEPA made a significant
contribution in strengthening the role of the National Legislative
Assembly, by examining how resources are used to deliver critical
services to the people of the Republic of South Sudan.
Compliance with the relevant laws, regulations and literature on
public sector financial management in the Republic of South Sudan
was reviewed, and the PAC members were briefed accordingly.
Briefing papers were produced to help the members interrogate
witnesses during public hearings. Committee members were able
to interrogate accounting officers about the queries raised by the
National Audit Chamber of the Republic of South Sudan.•
Closing session of the training for Councillors in Mvolo County

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South Sudan’s Legislative Assembly
and Local Councils
Donors
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Dr Jan Nico Scholten, the Netherlands
Hon. Désirée Bonis, the Netherlands
Background
South Sudan is marred by bitter ethnic divisions that date back
more than 100 years. AWEPA believes they can only be solved by
education, economic development and responsive governance.
This programme strengthens the capacity of ten Local Councils
of Western and Central Equatoria States through the training of
all Councillors in five extensive training modules using a Train the
Trainer methodology, publications and community outreach visits.
Special emphasis is placed on the promotion and respect of human
rights, peace and reconciliation and gender equality in the interest
of easing tensions between communities and improving human se-curity.
The programme ensures a consultative law-making process
and serves as a cornerstone for participatory and democratic gov-ernance,
giving society the resilience to resolve conflicts without
resorting to violence.
Objective
The Parliamentary Capacity Building programme, implemented by
AWEPA in close cooperation with the National Legislative Assem-bly
(NLA) in South Sudan, serves the overall objective of improving
human security, strengthening the state of law and decreasing
structural poverty, through participatory leadership, good gov-ernance,
accountability and improved service delivery by effective
legislatures in South Sudan.
The Programme organises community outreach visits in order to
help Councillors and NLA Members strengthen their relationships
with the people they represent. Furthermore, it facilitates dialogue
between Councillors, Members of Parliament, Community Based
Organisations (CBOs) and Faith Based Organisations (FBOs). It
also supports the interface between the Assembly and the public
Parliament of Uganda
Donor
Hon. Denis Naughten, Ireland
Background
The Parliament of Uganda and AWEPA first signed a Memorandum
of Understanding in 2001, which was renewed in 2005 and 2011.
The current Parliament is the 9th post-independence Parliament.
It commenced in May 2011 and will expire in May 2016. Of its 374
members, 212 are first-time parliamentarians. This means that the
majority of the Members had never been exposed to parliamentary
work; hence, guidance on certain basic principles of parliamentary
practices and procedures is necessary.
Objective
AWEPA’s Parliamentary Support Programme seeks to strengthen
and better equip Parliament and parliamentary Committees so that
they will be better able to execute their oversight function, formu-late
policies and draft laws on their respective areas of focus. Also,
the programme seeks to empower Members of Parliament to en-gage
in current issues affecting Uganda’s democratic development.
Impacts
• The newly created Human Rights Committee was able to
conduct a study on human rights and present two reports to
the Parliament;
• AWEPA printed the business plan and information package
of the Institute of Parliamentary Studies and facilitated its
launch. As a result, the Parliament carried out the first trainer
of trainees session for parliamentary staff and Members of
Parliament;
• the induction of women parliamentarians on the role of
legislators in implementing the Convention on the Elimination
of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) enabled
the Parliament to amend the rules of procedure.
Example Activity
through printed and electronic media.
Lastly, with the increase of tribal violence in South Sudan under-mining
the stability of the new state, special attention is given to
enhancing the role of parliamentarians in conflict prevention and
resolution, peace building and respect for human rights. Therefore,
AWEPA also facilitates reconciliation meetings between the Mem-bers
of the NLA and the tribal leaders.
Impacts
• The first training module on decentralisation and the local
South Sudanese Government system was developed and
published;
• 20 South Sudanese (two staff members from each of the ten
Local Councils) were trained as local trainers for Councillors
at the first training module on decentralisation and the local
government system in South Sudan.
Example Activity
Training of Trainers on decentralisation and the local government
system in South Sudan. 12-17 November 2012.
After the development of the first training module on decentralisa-tion
and the local government system, AWEPA organised a training
of trainers for 20 South Sudanese. The participants were two staff
members from each of the ten local councils. The purpose of the
training was twofold. First, it provided trainers with different facilita-tion
methods for delivering the training to the Councillors. Secondly,
it provided them with key concepts about the decentralised system,
the local government system and the local council procedures and
practices.•
Training of Local Councillors on decentralisation and local
government system, in Mundri West.
Two staff members from each of the ten South Sudanese Local
Councils received training in 2012.

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Parliament of Zimbabwe
Donors
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)
Delegation of the European Commission in Zimbabwe
Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher
Education (NUFFIC) via Management for Development Foundation
(MDF)
Hon. Maria Martens, the Netherlands
Background
AWEPA’s activities of support and assistance in Zimbabwe started in
2012 and feature two main components. On the one hand, AWEPA
facilitates capacity building of parliamentary members and staff; on
the other hand, AWEPA capacitates a Zimbabwean-based civil soci-ety
organisation, the Southern African Parliamentary Trust (SAPST)
, to offer domestic support in terms of legislative analysis and draft-ing
and the enhancement of oversight in regards to human rights
and gender equity. AWEPA’s assistance to parliamentary staff takes
the form of study exchange visits to gain further knowledge about
best practices concerning facets of parliamentary business such as
research, dissemination and storage of information, public partici-pation,
drafting legislation and improved oversight and monitoring.
AWEPA understands its contribution to strengthening the parlia-mentary
democracy of Zimbabwe to be difficult not only because
of the overt political issues facing the country but also because of
the lack of sufficient resources facing the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
AWEPA’s contribution, although small, is thus greatly appreciated
by the participants. All involved in the project understand that
strong parliaments are the engine room of democracy, economic
sustainability and poverty alleviation not only in Zimbabwe but also
for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the
African continent.
Objective
The objective of the AWEPA programme in Zimbabwe is to support
the development of an open and participative Parliament that ex-cels
not only in the discharge of its duties of oversight, law making
and representation, but also in anchoring peace and good govern-ance
in Zimbabwe.
The programme provides capacity building support both for parlia-mentarians
and the staff. A number of activities involve visits by the
staff and parliamentarians to other Parliaments in Africa, in order to
Seminar on the role of parliamentarians in implementing the CE-DAW
Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination
against Women. March 2012. Kampala, Uganda.
The Seminar enabled the Parliament of Uganda to discuss the 4th,
5th, 6th and 7th observations and recommendations made about
Uganda’s progress report by the UN Committee on Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Consequently, a motion was moved to amend the rules of proce-dure
by ensuring that, before Ministries and parastatal organisations
present country status reports to the United Nations and other
stakeholders, these reports are first discussed and adopted by the
Parliament.
The workshop guided participants on how Uganda can make its na-tional
legislative and policy framework fully into compliance with
the Convention.•
share experiences and best practices.
Impacts
• Enhanced capacity of the Zimbabwean Parliament to recognize
the dangers associated with climate change and its adverse
effects on sustainability. Enhanced regional coordination to
better mitigate the impact of climate change;
• strengthening of mechanisms aimed at supporting
Zimbabwean parliamentarians in protecting human rights and
enhancing gender equity;
• enhanced levels of cooperation between parliaments of
Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa, as a result of study
exchange visits of Zimbabwean parliamentary staff to the
parliaments of Zambia and South Africa;
• enhanced knowledge of parliamentary staff in the areas of
research, dissemination and storage of information, public
participation, drafting legislature and improved oversight and
monitoring.
Example Activity
Seminar on Climate Change. November 2012, Zimbabwe.
The programme started with a seminar in November 2012, for the
Committee on Environment, Natural Resources Management, Tour-ism
and the Hospitality Industry on Climate Change. The purpose
of the seminar was to brief members of the Committee on the cur-rent
parliamentary discussions on climate change and the role of the
Parliament within the debates. The seminar was also attended by
Hon. Frolick, Chairperson of the Climate Change Committee of the
Parliament of South Africa and Hon. Thibeti, Member of the Agricul-tural
Committee of the Pan African Parliament. They shared their
experiences, in terms of the preparations for COP 18 and the Com-mittee’s
role in the Climate Change legislation. The seminar served
also to prepare the Members for their participation in the World
Legislator’s Summit on Climate Change, which they attended in Jan-uary
2013 at the UK Parliament. The seminar ended with the official
launch of the Programme, by the European Union Ambassador to
Zimbabwe, His Excellency Aldo Dell’ Ariccia.
At the World Legislator’s Summit on Climate Change, the Zimbabwe-an
parliamentary delegation was able to launch a climate legislation
initiative which will support Zimbabwean legislators to advance cli-mate
change legislation between 2013 and 2015.•
Launch of the Parliamentary Institute. AWEPA contributed to this
event by printing the Institute of Parliamentary Studies business
plan and prospectus in September.
Seminar on Climate Change. November, Zimbabwe.

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