Latest activity
News, commentary, and stories from WFD
Image
Filter
Celebrations for International Youth Day (IYD) 2020 on 12 August may have gone virtual, but young people are still the big stars. IYD 2020 comes in the shape of a virtual podcast discussion, delivered from youth to youth, alongside creative artists.
Corruption is detrimental to the successful functioning of democratic political systems, economic development, and the provision of public services in society. To overcome corruption, countries in transition increasingly count on the role of an Anti-Corruption Commission or Agency (ACA). In this blog, Franklin De Vrieze and Luka Glusac discuss the role of the parliament of Ukraine and the country’s ACA in combating high-profile corruption.
WFD, through its inclusive and accountable politics programme, is working towards greater access and inclusion of women and marginalized groups in formal and informal political participation.
As women’s equality activists, we are often questioned: Why is this important? What difference could it possibly make? Won’t women politicians make just as much of a mess of things as men?
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a wide range of responses from government institutions around the world, and parliaments are not an exception. This unprecedented crisis is causing public institutions to adapt their work in response to the new COVID-19 reality.
To mark the launch of WFD's new Environmental Democracy Initiative, a virtual parliamentary roundtable featuring legislators from the United Kingdom, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sierra Leone was hosted in July 2020.
Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD)’s Inclusive and Accountable Politics programme achieved a major success this year, helping devise a strategic plan for the 15th National Assembly of Pakistan which sets out the ways in which Pakistan’s legislature will improve its effectiveness, building on the successes and learning from the shortcoming of previous attempts.
Our planet needs democracy. To be exact, it needs environmental democracy. That is why Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is launching a new environmental democracy initiative to support the mutually dependent goals of strong democracies and protecting our planet.
The recent announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson of plans to merge the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) into the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will undoubtedly impact the UK’s approach to development assistance for many years to come.
In a few short months, we will witness the debut of the newly merged Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the budgetary impact of the economic recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the end of the transition following the departure of the UK from the European Union. It is a moment at which the UK can choose to take a leadership position – and do development democratically.
On July 14th, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) released its new brief, entitled “The Role of Parliament in Public Debt Management Weathering the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond”. Here are five compelling arguments, discussed in the brief, for parliamentary involvement in public debt management.
Three areas are important for the political process and public discourse around elections: election campaigns; electoral observation; and the information landscape.
To break the current trends of shrinking democratic space and increased inequality, it is important to ensure that the emergency powers – although vital in protecting health – are not used to shrink the democratic space.
This new website provides a greater scope for two-way communications practices, as it offers several remote services such as requesting visits to the parliamentary building library, getting media accreditations, and submitting internship applications.
To foster LGBT+ inclusive democracies, parliamentarians need to listen to LGBT+ voices, as well as access to more and better information. WFD is focusing on addressing these issues.
