Aimed at improving development outcomes and human rights the project will support three partner parliaments (Ghana, Kenya and Togo) and parliamentarians to consider the differential impacts of policies, laws, and budgets on the poorest and most marginalized populations, particularly women and girls. The proposed initiative will be a pioneer effort in providing larger scale support to the strengthening of Parliament on inclusiveness and gender equality issues.
This four-year initiative (2022-2026) will provide support for partner parliaments to adequately assess gaps and strengthen their capacities to incorporate gender aspects across the exercise of their legislative, oversight and representation roles.
More specifically, ILGRP will enhance the capacity of the three parliaments to:
- formulate and operationalize detailed gender-responsive institutional strategies and plans,
- implement administrative reforms for efficient gender-sensitive resource utilization and service delivery,
- amend and pass inclusive gender laws, including gender-sensitive budgets,
- oversee the achievement of gender equality commitments by executive branches, and
- connect with citizens, in particular women and girls, to take into account their views and needs in legislative and oversight processes
The project will strengthen the knowledge of civil society organizations (CSO) and women’s rights groups (WRG) working on parliamentary-related issues and their capacities to engage effectively with parliaments and it will include a substantial focus on engaging civil society groups as well as individual women and girls and having their voices taken into account in the decision-making process. Ultimately, these experiences will inform institutionalization and the development of practices and tools aimed at making the parliaments’ legislative and oversight work more inclusive and gender-responsive.
Activities will include citizen engagement, institutional strengthening, knowledge exchange, parliamentary networking, and practical training. The project will explore mechanisms to facilitate citizen participation including the use of digital technology. Engaging directly with these three African parliaments in a concerted effort will be an efficient way for cross-fertilization and knowledge sharing amongst themselves and with Canada’s parliament. Experiences and valuable knowledge acquired during the project can provide opportunities to share lessons learned, good practices and models that can be scaled up across Sub-Saharan Africa.
As the Parliaments of Ghana, Kenya and Togo build practical capacity to apply a strong gender lens to the execution of their legislative and oversight roles, ILGRP will offer a deeper understanding of how governance challenges can be better addressed in achieving the goals of the Canadian Government’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), as well as larger internationally shared goals such as pandemic interventions and the SDGs.
The expected outcomes for this project include:
1) strengthened legislatures to represent the needs of the poorest and most marginalized populations, with a focus on women and girls;
2) improved abilities and effectiveness of elected officials to design and develop inclusive and gender-responsive laws, policies and budgets; and
3) improved engagement of civil society and marginalized populations, in particular women and girls, in decision-making and democratic processes, to ensure that policies and services better respond to their needs.
Ghana, Kenya, and Togo 2022-2026
Focus: Parliamentary Institution; Citizen Outreach and Engagement; Parliaments and Gender
Funders: Global Affairs Canada
