The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) has introduced a new strategy to address the unique developmental needs of its smallest legislatures
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) has introduced a new strategy to address the unique developmental needs of its smallest legislatures.
The CPA represents over 180 parliaments and legislatures in 52 Commonwealth countries, with a network extending to over 17,000 parliamentarians and parliamentary staff. It exists to support these individuals in implementing Commonwealth values and to promote benchmarks of good governance.
This new strategy is the first of its kind in the association’s history.
Small branches are defined as jurisdictions with a population below 500,000 people and make up 43 of the over 180 branches of the CPA, which hopes to build their parliamentary capacity and establish better opportunities for disseminating knowledge and parliamentary cooperation across the network.
The new CPA small branches Chairperson, The Honourable Angelo Farrugia MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Malta, is leading the strategy and hosted a consultation meeting to discuss and develop the plan with representatives from CPA regions containing small branches.
Constant innovation and perseverance in the face of human resource and economic limitations have been highlighted as key objectives, as has the central role of parliament in combatting the further challenges of corruption and climate change within some of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable members.
CPA will launch the strategic plan at the 36th Small Branches Conference, due to take place November 2-3, 2017 alongside the 63rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Bangladesh from November 1-8, 2017.
As Chair of CPA small branches, Angelo Farrugia said: “We have a pressing need for the small parliaments and legislatures within the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to come together, within their smallness, to address the common difficulties and strengths and the shared experiences of their assemblies to enhance good governance and parliamentary democracy for our citizens.
“All CPA small branches need to learn to appreciate their strengths as a small legislature; being flexible enough to be able to work with other parliaments, yet being influential within their regions.
“The new CPA small branches strategic plan will focus on the key areas of work to achieve these objectives and will strengthen and promote the CPA small branches network for the benefit of its members.”
