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Mission
The APKN will build on existing regional initiatives (e.g.Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie: Région Afrique; Réseau Africain des Personnels des Parlements; the ICTs Network of the SADC region; et.) and favour the establishment of other regional networks while providing a wider framework for the creation of greater synergies and and more sustainable common services thanks to a bigger critical mass and better economies of scale.
The Knowledge Network is meant to promote and enhance the sharing of ideas, experiences and good practices among parliamentary administrations in the areas of:
- Legislative Process
- Information and Research
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
- Communication and Public Information
These Thematic Networks will promote at a continental level the training and capacity development of parliamentary staff through the organization of seminars and training sessions, the establishment of online fora and shared services, the promotion of thematic working groups and information portals, etc.
The APKN strategic approach is to provide high value training and information services for parliaments in a cost-effective way while creating a critical mass necessary to build and sustain quality services.
More specifically the APKN will focus its activities on:
- Capacity Building. Building capacity is an important goal of the network. Parliaments that neglect their learning and training needs severely affect their ability to fulfil their constitutional mandate. Developing a capacity building strategy requires both the commitment of financial resources and up-to-date knowledge and a key understanding of the importance of ongoing training and education.
Parliaments have to be able to make the transition to being a “learning organisation”, that is an organisation whose Members and staff have the opportunity to continually expand their capacity and skills and where new patterns of thinking are nurtured. - Common information services and software applications. Shared ICT services and applications are more and more necessary both in dealing with the huge amount of information available and in effectively managing information within parliaments.
The APKN will have a strategic opportunity to cooperate in the development of capacity building activities and shared information services in a way that is currently not done in the parliamentary domain. While benefiting from a collaborative development effort, the role of actually delivering and using these services would be left to national parliaments and local training institutions that are better equipped to provide them in a cost effective fashion.
