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Recently, activities took place in Sri Lanka to explore crucial matters of public debt oversight and the role of parliament in monitoring and ensuring transparency in debt management practices.
WFD supported the parliament and the government in the preparation of its climate law through an unprecedented process of transparent, public consultation.
With half of the world’s population aged under 30, the survival and flourishing of democracy is highly dependent on the engagement of young people. WFD is working with the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Oslo Centre to support 40 young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa to reach their changemaking potential.
WFD has worked with the Parliament of Indonesia to raise the ambition of the country's climate action.
It is still common for disinformation about Ukraine and the war in Ukraine to make its way into Western media. So what should Western countries be doing to break this cycle and counter false narratives about the war in Ukraine? We asked some Ukrainian experts about what has worked in Ukraine and what other countries can learn from their experience.
Alongside the programmes we directly implement, WFD supports the international work of UK political parties, including the Labour Party, which is working to support women’s leadership in Africa and the Middle East.
WFD's Annual Report and Accounts, which were laid before Parliament on 13 July 2023.
2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). As we commemorate two decades of this groundbreaking treaty, we take stock of its significance and impact, and the work that still lies ahead.
WFD Nigeria – in partnership with the Nigerian National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) – is focusing making way for the inclusive and effective participation of underrepresented groups in political parties.
Supporting women’s political leadership and women MP retention through stakeholder mapping in Malawi
SNP WFD’s partnership with the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus (PWC) in Malawi focuses on enhancing women’s political representation to create a more just political environment. To achieve this, SNP WFD began a stakeholder mapping project. Stakeholder mapping surveys voters and other stakeholders and enables MPs to be more prepared for and understand what is expected of them within their constituencies. It also helps them identify and attain resources needed to achieve more equal representation in Parliament.
During the recent Ukraine Recovery Conference, WFD, alongside NDI hosted a roundtable for Ukrainian civil society on democratic aspects of the country's recovery. WFD's Senior Programme Manager (ECA), Rob van Leeuwen reflects on what we learned from our Ukrainian partners about the crucial role civil society has to play in helping communities recover and restore the damage done by the war.
The Senate of Kenya, with the support of Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), conducted a self-assessment on its utilisation of post-legislative scrutiny. Here is a breakdown of the findings and recommendations from the evaluation.
Following months of engagement with multiple national and regional stakeholders, WFD organised a high-level workshop to develop a draft resolution proposal to be presented at the 44th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). In addition to greater women’s political leadership, the draft resolution proposal also covers financial access and green jobs transition for women in Southeast Asia.
Making the law count: towards greater public consultation practices within the Parliament of Ukraine
While facing Russia’s brutal invasion of the country, the Parliament of Ukraine continues to build its democratic institutions. On the eve of International Day of Parliamentarism, on 29 June, three parliamentary committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU), the Parliament of Ukraine, presented their committees’ post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) inquiries to a wide audience of Ukrainian stakeholders, who came together in Kyiv. The inquiries ran from November 2022 - 2023 with the support of WFD and the USAID funded RADA Next Generation program.
As of June 2022, total public debt was at a 50-year high in low and middle-income economies. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, global inflation, impacts on exchange rates and the rise of interest rates have affected many countries, impacting on their ability to service their debts and prioritise development objectives. All these factors have resulted in a systematic decline in the quality of social services available to citizens, especially women and girls. Janet Bamisaye, WFD's Deputy Finance Director explains what this means and how we should work to ensure that policies and practices related to public debt do not negatively impact the delivery of public services.
