The Parliamentary Centre in Asia

Tian'anmen Tower, Beijing

In Asia, governance reforms are unlikely to succeed without strong institutions to support them. The Parliamentary Centre therefore focuses on institutional strengthening and helps both parliamentarians and parliamentary staff. Taking into account the basic parliamentary functions of legislation, oversight and representation as well as governance values of accountability, transparency and participation, the Centre delivers technical assistance in legislative review, oversight, procedures/management and parliamentary staff development. The Centre also works in policy areas such as anti-corruption, poverty reduction and gender equality.

In March 2009, the Centre launched the implementation of the Parliamentary and Political Party Strengthening Program in Pakistan (PPPSP) with support from the Global Peace and Security Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada.  The Centre is implementing the project in cooperation with the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT). The project is focused on strengthening the role played by parliamentary committees and political party caucuses in the national budget making process.

From March 2001 until March 2010, the Parliamentary Centre implemented the Cambodia-Canada Legislative Support Project (CCLSP) with support from the Canadian International Development Agency. CCLSP was the longest-standing and largest project supporting the Cambodian Parliament. The project focused on strengthening the capacity of Parliament to exercise its legislative, representative and oversight roles.            

The Canada-China Legislative Cooperation Project (CCLCP), a CIDA-funded five-year project with the National People’s Congress was successfully completed in September 2009.  During the life of the project thirty-three major initiatives were undertaken, providing deputies and staff from the national and a dozen provincial congresses with enhanced knowledge, comparative perspectives, tools and practical skills on topics like legislative reform and analysis, budget processes, public consultation mechanisms.