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In April 2019, WFD launched a new and innovative activity and outcome monitoring system called the Evidence and Impact Hub (EIH). WFD has certainly not found a magic solution to this problem, but we can report very good uptake and a large amount of usable data in our 8th month after launching it.
12 December 2019
What does it take to organise a successful citizens’ assembly on climate change?
25 November 2021
COVID-19 could affect a shift towards a surveillance culture. Once introduced, privacy-infringing technologies may be difficult to reverse. The next generation of digital technology and artificial intelligence could enable autocratic countries or those with weak democracies to identify and curb opposition. In democratic countries, there is a need for open discussion on how to prevent the emergence of a public-private surveillance state that compromises the fundamental right to privacy which is a bedrock of a functioning democracy. How parliaments address the concerns around increased surveillance and help to provide consensual solutions to challenges posed by new technologies may determine if they are seen as relevant in the modern age.
18 November 2020
On 8 November, women MPs from across the world met in Westminster for an historic one-day event to discuss how to make politics more inclusive.
29 November 2018
Improving women’s political leadership is never simply about adding more women to democratic institutions – it is a complex and disruptive process that challenges age-old power relations. Delivering programmes on this topic requires an adaptive, learning-centred approach, and this in turn requires a MEL system that is collecting and producing relevant and accurate data, analysis, and insight.
Briefing | 17 November 2020
Democracy promoters cannot avoid these trade-offs, but with systematic evaluation of past programmes they can navigate them more effectively. This policy paper draws on the Westminster Foundation for Democracy’s experience in parliamentary strengthening to suggest how this might be done.
Briefing | 05 September 2017
Published in 2019 as part of the House of Commons Hluttaw capacity-building project, this manual is designed to help Myanmar Hluttaw Research and Committee staff develop the skills needed to conduct high-quality research for Members. Whether the task is to write a briefing, identify potential stakeholders or investigate new topics of interest for Members or Committees, the skills covered in this manual will help staff produce research that is accurate, clear, impartial, and fully referenced.
The publication was developed by the House of Commons as part of their support towards Myanmar Parliaments under the FCDO-funded “Strengthening Governance and Accountability in Myanmar” programme, for which WFD is the main implementer. This House of Commons project is one of the components of our wider WFD Myanmar Programme.
The publication was developed by the House of Commons as part of their support towards Myanmar Parliaments under the FCDO-funded “Strengthening Governance and Accountability in Myanmar” programme, for which WFD is the main implementer. This House of Commons project is one of the components of our wider WFD Myanmar Programme.
Myanmar | Guide | 04 November 2020
The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual workers across all sectors is matched within the institutions of our democracies. This commentary piece analyses, like all other organisations, how parliaments are still learning, adapting, and switching between in-person and virtual processes to deliver democracy.
30 June 2021
On 6 November, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, endorsed a recommendation by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) that “Parliaments should use updated Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Benchmarks on Democratic Legislatures as a tool to ensure their contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 16 (on inclusive and accountable governance)”.
29 November 2017
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, over 100 countries have passed emergency laws or declared states of emergency. While science gives a strong justification for controlling the rapid spread of the coronavirus by limiting the movement of people, closing businesses and enforcing social distancing, there is a serious risk of creating an unintentional wave of authoritarianism by curtailing civil liberties on a massive scale.
01 April 2020
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.
23 July 2020
Deliberative democracy complements representative democracy to enhance certain policy outcomes but should not be seen as competing against existing political authorities.
14 September 2021
Published in 2017, this manual is designed to help support the experienced researchers to deliver training courses to the new or junior staff members, providing guidance on the important tasks: enquires, writing briefings, and an introduction to the core policies underlying parliamentary research work.
Myanmar | Guide | 09 November 2017
How parliaments implement peace agreements, how they formally operate, and how they govern in relation to peacebuilding has an impact on the peacebuilding process. For WFD and other democracy assistance practitioners there are a few key takeaways for our work.
09 December 2020
Around the world, certain limitations to our freedoms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been accepted as necessary to uphold our collective and individual right to public health, not to mention our fundamental right to life. As a result of this COVID-19 pandemic, key human rights are at risk due to the enactment of emergency laws that are sometimes inconsistent with international human rights law and standards.
15 May 2020