The Parliamentary Centre is proud to announce the launch of the project “Building Parliamentary Research Capacity: the case of Shan State’s sub-national Parliament in Myanmar”. The project will be carried out with the aid of a grant from Global Affairs Canada, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.
Decentralization as mandated by the 2008 Constitution, which re-introduced sub-national governments and legislatures across Myanmar, is a key issue for the country’s long term development. Furthermore, the potential of the ongoing peace process leading to the negotiation of a federal model of governance means that the roles of sub-national institutions, including parliaments, would continue to increase substantially. Yet, the current capacity of sub-national parliaments to exercise their roles is low. Elected members need access to unbiased information and analysis to perform their work and at this stage parliamentary staff have little or no capacity for research services.
The project was implemented in partnership with the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF), an independent non-profit research organization working for the development of evidence based policy making and the revitalization of an independent research culture in Myanmar. The project focused on building and strengthening the parliamentary research capacity of a sub-national parliament, the Shan State Hluttaw, in Myanmar. It also assisted local Myanmar organizations to provide support in the strengthening of parliamentary research capacity across Myanmar and to measure the progress of this process.
In response to this long-term need, the project will focus on three areas:
- Two Myanmar think-tanks – the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF) and the Open Myanmar Initiative (OMI) – will be accompanied in building sustainable capacity to support the strengthening of gender-sensitive parliamentary research through a cost-effective “training-of-trainers” and “learning-by-doing” approach.
- The Parliamentary Centre will also team up with the two organizations in the implementation of practical initiatives that would lead to direct results in enhancing the parliamentary research capacity of the Shan State Hluttaw, Myanmar`s largest sub-national legislature.
- Support will also be provided to the EMReF to develop and test a methodology for measuring the performance of research support services in sub-national parliaments in Myanmar.
By investing in building the capacity of Myanmar’s own organizations, the project ensures results sustainability and ownership.
This project started on June 27th, 2017, and will continue for one year.
