Legislative Support Programme

EISA has initiated a pilot programme that aims to strengthen selected parliaments in Africa and encourage interaction between parliaments and civil society for improved participatory democracy. This programme is part of the larger Africa Democracy Strengthening Programme (funded by DFID) whose major goal is to contribute to the strengthening of democracy and governance on the continent. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Kenya have been selected for the pilot phase of the project which runs from 2007-2008.

Activities 2009

EISA will be hosting a Policy Dialogue on democracy protection institutions in southern Africa on 14 July 2009.

About the programme

The legislative support programme covers the following areas:

• Providing support to parliaments in order to strengthen the capacity of their members of parliament to play their legislative, representation and oversight functions effectively;
• Assisting parliaments and national civil society organisations to develop effective mechanisms for engagement and greater stakeholder participation in parliamentary processes;
• Peer learning and sharing of best practices from the African continent

Specific interventions are informed by fact-finding missions undertaken in each country and strategic plans of the respective parliaments.

Pictured above EISA fact-finding team meets with the Speaker of the Kenya National Assembly, Hon. Kenneth Marende (center), in Mombasa, where he was attending a workshop on Parliamentary watchdog committees.