ICT policy briefs for MPs Institutional Communication

Communication and public information

In democratic societies, parliaments should ideally routinely consult, interact, and exchange views and information with the public, so that citizens can express their preferences and provide their support for decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods. While elections are the most common mechanism linking citizens and their parliament, they are occasional and citizens participation is generally limited to casting a vote.

Dealing with elected representatives on an on-going basis strengthens the relationship between legislators and constituents and increases the possibility of legislators acting on their behalf. Effective member of parliament -constituent relationships contribute to democracy by strengthening the people’s connection to their parliaments, and by providing "real life" assessments of how programs are actually working on the ground.

Parliaments and MPs are faced with the challenges and opportunities of using ICTs to share ideas and discuss how to make Parliament more relevant and closer to their citizens.

An effective parliament represents constituents, influences law and policymaking, and acts as a constraint on executive power by exercising a degree of oversight. Member-constituent relations can affect each of these functions by shaping member motivations and incentives, by providing local content and human context to decisions, and by providing a way for constituents to measure performance of legislators and to assess government actions.

Members of Parliaments are most likely to represent constituent interests when:

1. they know precisely who their constituents are;
2. they interact with them frequently;
3. their political futures depend on gaining and keeping constituent support.

Relations with constituents, stakeholders, and public in general are becoming more and more important both for MPs and also for a healthy democratic process. Constituents, stakeholders, and the public should be seen as “laboratories” to determine the effectiveness of government programs and services.

Being able to communicate effectively with constituents, stakeholders, and the public concerning the new of legislation and the effect of legislation on their lives but also being able to monitor the effectiveness of on going programmes and regulatory frameworks are strategic skills that Parliaments as institutions and MPs as people's representatives need to master.

Citizen political engagement can be categorised in various levels:

• first level: unidirectional communication in which MPs/Parliaments send people information, publish information and hope that they read it;
• second level: bidirectional communication, an actual exchange of information, such as when a constituent poses a question to an MP’s office and receives an answer;
• third level: consultation, such as when departments or committees reach policy conclusions and disseminate findings for discussion.  In this case, individuals may be invited to attend meetings and make their views known;
• fourth level: direct dialogue between citizens and parliamentarians, in which each side is prepared to listen and learn from the other.

The idea here would be to create an online “citizen-engagement resource centre” where MPs and parliamentary staff could find resources for training staff, and products such as kits containing essential tools for effective citizen engagement. On one end, it is incumbent upon  parliaments and members of parliaments, as representatives of the people, to communicate their deliberations and decisions with the public. On the other hand, it is important that mechanisms are introduced to enable and encourage constituents and civil society groups to contact and influence their legislative representatives.

Following the Cairo Conference it is proposed that the APKN – Communication and Public Information Group articulates its capacity building activities of the first year focusing on:

• Institutional Communication: how Parliaments can inform and dialogue with citizens;
• MP/Parliaments and media: opportunities and challenges;
• Learn how to run a productive “town-hall meeting”;
• Learn how to communicate effectively;
• MP Web sites as tool to communicate, engage and interact with the constituency;
• How to design polls and collect data;
• How to manage committee hearings.

ICT policy briefs for MPs Institutional Communication