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Introduction
Background
Background
Parliamentary powers in modern-day democratic societies are vested in the following roles:
- Representation: an elected parliament that is socially and politically representative, and committed to equal opportunities for its members so that they can carry out their mandates.
- Legislation: Parliament is responsible for approving new laws (legislation). The government introduces most plans for new laws, or changes to existing laws - but they may also originate from MP's, or even a member of the public or private group. Before they can become law, representatives must debate and vote on the proposals.
- Oversight: Parliament is there to examine and oversee the work of the government. The principal methods are questioning government ministers, debating, and the investigative work of committees. The government can publicly respond to, explain, and justify policies and decisions.
There is a general consensus that the goals that modern parliaments should try to achieve can be grouped in the following three broad area1. Each parliament will want to establish its own priorities within each of these areas as a part of its strategic planning process
- to be representative of the social and political diversity of the people by ensuring equal opportunities and protection for all the members of society;
- to be transparent by being open to the citizens in the conduct of its activities by making available information on its activities through the available channels and media in open and reusable formats;
- to engage the public by involving citizens, associations and civil societies in its work;
Parliament's effective performance of these duties and roles depends especially on the availability of high quality, accurate and timely information. This enables MP's and parliamentary bodies to make more informed decisions, provide greater access to parliamentary documents and activities, and support the engagement of civil society and other stakeholders.
In the age of the Information Society, providing access to parliamentary information rests on the ability of parliaments to make the best use of technology and on their commitment to manage and disseminate documents in a timely and effective way through the most appropriate channels for their different constituencies.
Purpose and Scope of this document
Purpose and Scope of this document
The purpose of these Guidelines is to present a set of best practices and methods on how to carry out the strategic planning process and draft a strategic planning document for parliament. These Guidelines aim to address critical issues and share best practices and methodologies for developing a successful “Strategy for a Parliament”. The strategic planning process facilitates a structured mobilization of resources, capacities and resources to achieve a balanced integration of functions, and services and processes. It is also instrumental in gaining the commitment of the parliamentary political and administrative leadership by providing justifications for the allocation of valuable resources toward the achievement of the strategic goals.
To be effective, a strategic plan must establish realistic goals and objectives that reflect parliament’s aspirations and vision, within a defined time frame that is understood and agreed by both technical and non-technical key stakeholders, including the Speaker, Secretary General or Clerk, MPs, heads and senior officials of the various parliamentary departments, offices and units.
These Guidelines intend to explain why and how to conduct a series of strategic planning steps that will lead to the development of a parliamentary strategy and the articulation of specific action plans - in this edition specifically concerning Public Communication and Outreach and Information and Communication Technologies to support parliament's core functions and processes. Other areas, such as Core Parliamentary Services, covering plenary and committee/commission activities, Supporting Parliamentary Services, covering: research, libraries, and archives; and Management Services, covering administration, human resources and finance” are in development.
The Guidelines provide the reader with useful methods and techniques for systemically gathering and structuring information and conducting analyses in order to assess key functional areas within parliament. Furthermore the Guidelines explain how to facilitate an inclusive process of engaging and assisting key stakeholders to develop the vision and strategic goals, identify challenges and gaps, and ultimately come up with recommendations and action plans. Finally ,the Guidelines provide methods and techniques for measuring and evaluating the results of implementation, and recommending corrective measures.
Target audience
These Guidelines are aimed at:
- The political and administrative leadership of parliaments to guide them in creating a framework and environment conducive for strategic planning. They will be responsible facilitating and overseeing the strategic planning process resulting in the development of a shared parliamentary strategy document. This audience will be especially interested in “why” certain requirements need to be met and what steps can be taken to address them;
- Senior staff and officials of parliaments (or even external consultants) who are likely to be tasked with authoring the parliamentary strategy document, as well as its implementation. For this audience the Guidelines will provide direction on “how” to carry out specific strategic planning steps.
Format
In describing the strategic planning steps the Guidelines explain their rationale and purpose; and present methods on how to collect, structure and analyse information including through the use of sample questions, forms and templates (see appendices). In addition at the end of each step, links are provided to further reading, including on-line resources where readers can learn more about different approaches, methods and techniques.
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