INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR PARLIAMENTARY STAFF

WORLD BANK-MCGILL INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR PARLIAMENTARY STAFF 2016 - 2017 Residency Seminar - May 16 - 20, 2016 McGill Uni...
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WORLD BANK-MCGILL

INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR PARLIAMENTARY STAFF 2016 - 2017 Residency Seminar - May 16 - 20, 2016 McGill University, Montreal 5 Online Courses - September 2016 - June 2017 Start with Residency Seminar or with Online Courses

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER AT:

WWW.MCGILL.CA/SCS-PARLIAMENT

INTRODUCTION The goal of this program is to advance parliamentary democracy by enhancing knowledge and understanding of democratic governance. Parliaments are a critical component of a country’s governance system. Typically, they oversee the executive arm of the government, represent the electorate, and formulate and enact legislation. To perform these roles, parliaments need to have in place strong parliamentary strengthening training programs that will ensure effective, proactive, and responsive personnel. Building the capacity of staff ensures that the demands and needs of all members of the legislator are met, and in doing so, helps sustain parliamentary institutions for the challenges of tomorrow. At a time when public expectation for improved democracy is on the rise and that the executive power is still weakening the structure of parliamentary governance in many countries, it is more important than ever to build stronger parliamentary workforces. For this reason, and to better ascertain the training needs of as many parliaments as possible, the World Bank (WB) conducted a thorough capacity enhancement review with over 150 legislatures of the Commonwealth and La Francophonie. A focus group of senior parliamentary staff from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America analyzed the data and formulated recommendations to structure a comprehensive training program for parliamentary staff that would address international, national, and regional standards, customs, and historical realities. The WB and the School of Continuing Studies (SCS) at McGill University in Montreal, in collaboration with international partners, developed a curriculum based on the capacity enhancement review. The result is a university-based professional development program for parliamentary staff, consisting of an intensive one-week Residential Seminar at McGill University, and expert-moderated online courses and one-on-one professional mentoring. There is flexibility of starting the program with the Residency Seminar or with the online courses. The McGill-WB program ensures that a well-trained cadre of mid-and senior-level staff helps bolster parliamentary democracy. By equipping staff to become the ‘corporate memory’ of parliament, the program helps build the legislatures of tomorrow.

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NATURE OF THE PROGRAM UNIQUE—the program is a unique training and skills building plan for mid-level and senior parliamentary staff. Combined with both a theoretical and practical approach, it uses a blended learning methodology of face-to-face training, online courses, and, where appropriate, video-conferencing for its delivery. ACCESSIBLE—E-learning allows for increased access, cost efficiency, convenience, and flexibility to the participants. ADAPTABLE—The program is structured in such a way as to allow participants from diverse parliamentary backgrounds to benefit and learn from experienced parliamentary theoretical and practical experts, as well as from each other. Furthermore, the program is designed to allow other participants working in association with the parliamentary environment to participate.

KEY PROGRAM FEATURES •

Enrich your parliamentary knowledge through a curriculum designed from feedback from parliaments from all over the world and endorsed by the World Bank and other leading international partners.

• Attend McGill University, ranked among the world’s top 25 universities (QS-World University ranking 2015) for a one-week residential seminar.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

• Experience the flexibility of online courses, enabling participants to complete program requirements with a minimum of disruption to their work and family schedule.

• To strengthen the capacity of parliamentary staff to support parliaments in fulfillling their constitutional and statutory obligations

Note: Your online courses will include an introduction to the topic, module content presentations, questions for debate, relevant research papers and publications for further reference.

• To enhance knowledge and understanding of the role of parliament in the democratic governance process

• Apply theories to your own parliamentary environment and choose your own practical research projects.

• To offer a curriculum based on international best practices focusing on their application to parliamentary settings within different political systems and cultures

• Work with, and be mentored by, a highly-qualified teaching team combining high-level practical parliamentary experience and world-class subject-matter experts. •

School of Continuing Studies upon successful completion of the program.

• To help develop professional skills and abilities with a pedagogical approach that includes a strong practical facet

Share your work experiences and network with your international colleagues to ascertain best practices and explore the possibility of short-term parliamentary attachments.

• To build a dependable corporate memory of parliament and ensure a sustainable parliamentary staff development for the future.

• Receive an attestation of completion from McGill University’s

“Leadership training within the World Bank-McGill University Parliamentary Professional Education Program is an excellent tool to help grow participants’ clarity on their leadership style, capacity to influence change and the complex systems within which they work.” - Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro, Professor of Practice, McGill University 3

MAY 16-20, 2016

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

are required of parliamentary staff. Discussion on these topics will permit participants to share their views, and to acquire a better appreciation of each other’s parliament, and to “set the stage” for the more intensive e-learning component of the program. Distinguished keynote speakers will be invited to give their perspectives on the topics covered. During the Residency, each participant will be introduced to a mentor, who will be available for consultation throughout the entire program.

The program is designed for mid-level parliamentary staff that has the potential to reach the highest levels of parliamentary management. Priority will be given to procedural staff, administrative staff involved in the corporate governance of parliament, and to research staff. Staff from the executive and judicial branches of the Government, political caucuses, international development and assistance agencies, journalists from the parliamentary press corps, mid-career professionals who wish to work in parliament will also be considered if space permits. Participants should possess a university bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.

TOPICS COVERED • Democracy, Accountability, and Parliaments • Legislative-Executive Relations • Core Functions of Parliament-Oversight

CURRICULUM 1.

• Representation • Legislation

FIVE-DAY RESIDENTIAL SEMINAR AT MCGILL UNIVERSITY IN MONTREAL

• Strategic Communications for Parliaments • Corporate Management of Parliament • Parliamentary Procedure and Practices

Participants will complete a weeklong intensive residential, face-to-face training program at McGill University in Montreal. The various sessions will provide an overview of democratic principles, how parliament works, and the particular skills that

• Parliamentary Research and IT • Leadership

“The course content at the McGill residency was excellent and relevant to my needs. It gave me opportunities to interact and share experiences directly with parliament scholars and participants of other parliaments.” – Md.Ohiduzzaman, Senior Assistant Secretary, Bangladesh Parliament 4

WWW.MCGILL.CA/SCS-PARLIAMENT Good corporate governance plays an important role in supporting democracy by helping parliamentarians to fulfill their constitutional obligations to represent, to legislate, and to exercise oversight on the Executive. Parliamentarians, as agents operating in the best interests of citizens, are expected to maintain an understanding of those interests when deliberating on policy issues from the perspective of the public good, and engaging citizens in the process. In assisting parliamentarians to perform these tasks, staff need to possess the practical skills to develop communication strategies and prepare media releases, and related communication tools.

Past Keynote Speakers include: • Kevin Page; Canadian economist, Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer from 2008 to 2013; currently teaches at the University of Ottawa. • RT. Hon. Joe Clark; Former Prime Minister of Canada • Jean Paul Ruskowski; President and CEO of the Parliamentary Centre • Mitchell O’Brien; Team Leader, Parliamentary Strengthening Program, World Bank •

This course explains how parliaments can meet the expectations of the public through clear and coherent corporate governance structures and processes, and optimal utilization of available resources, while, at the same time, being able to reach out to them.

Mark Baskin; Former Senior Associate for Academic Affairs at SUNY/CID and research professor in the political science department at Rockefeller College at the University of Albany.

Note: Topics and speakers vary from year to year.

The course is divided into two parts, each containing four units.

2. ONLINE COURSES

PART ONE: will focus on general concepts of good corporate governance and their pertinence and applicability to parliament, on the role of key stakeholders and the importance of strong inter-relationships, and on the management of human and financial resources in a parliamentary setting.

Participants are required to complete five online courses within a period of 10 months (September - June): I) PARLIAMENTARY CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (PARTS 1 AND 2)

Increasingly, parliaments are challenged to manage their own affairs, free from the restrictions imposed upon them by the executive. Distinct from the private corporate world and the government public sector, parliaments are entities created by human resolve for self-determination, shaped by culture and history, and driven by the will of the people. Parliaments, by their very nature as “houses of the people”, elicit very stringent calls for robust management structures and systems. Civil society sets the bar for “good corporate governance” in parliament, with heightened expectations of probity, accountability, and transparency. Good corporate governance helps to ensure that the “public interest” is well served, thus protecting the integrity of the parliament.

PART TWO: Will emphasize how a coordinated approach to planning can play a key role in meeting the parliamentary corporate needs of today and of tomorrow with a specific objective to better serve the, “public interest”. The course will also explore how public outreach programs can fulfill the expectations of the public. In this regard, two units were designed to build the practical skills of the Secretariat to be able to develop communication strategies and to prepare media releases, as well as related communication tools. The final unit reviews the effectiveness of various management performance assessment tools (i.e performance reporting, surveying, benchmarking etc.) and their applicability in the parliamentary context. A management accountability (MAF) drafted from international good practices and from the course content, will be presented as a model, which can be used to carry out a capacity assessment exercise of a parliament.

“It was an enriching experience all the way. The program helped me to understand the importance of capacity building for parliamentary staff and even parliamentarians in ensuring good governance and accountability.” – Aisha Ali Kotoko, National Secretariat of Nigerian Legislatures, National Assembly 5

MAY 16-20, 2016 Course objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to: •

Appreciate the concept of “good corporate governance” and its applicability to parliament and the importance of strategic planning as means to achieve it.



Develop the professional skills necessary to create a workplace that engenders professional, ethical, democratic, and people values, as well as a workforce that is productive, effective, and sustainable.



Apply management techniques based on international good practices to a broad range of strategic and operational decisions and actions.



To develop skills in designing and implementing communications strategies for parliaments and in creating tools for media outreach, including the preparation of media releases.

Course objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to: • Highlight the importance of parliamentary committees; • Underscore the importance of training committee staff to support their committees.

• Acquire general knowledge, and a better appreciation of performance management systems in the parliamentary context.



III) PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES

This course looks at what parliamentary committees are, the role that they play in the work of parliament (focusing on the legislative process) and the factors that contribute to their success, or otherwise. It considers the procedural, administrative, research, and analytical support that committees need to undertake their work and focuses on the ‘bread and butter’ of committee work, namely, the process of conducting committee inquiries. It also examines the important role that committees play in terms of accountability and engagement.

Explain the key functions of committee staff (guiding committees, providing procedural direction, being the first point of contact between the committee and its stakeholders, undertaking the research and analysis for the committee, fulfilling a vital administrative role, and preparing the committee’s findings for presentation to parliament).

IV) PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Public financial management (PFM) is the system of rules, processes, procedures, and regulations through which decisions on financial resources are made and implemented. In a broader perspective, PFM also defines the relation of the state to its citizens. The major dimensions of the domestic context of PFM are the quality of governance and capability of institutions in the country. As such, PFM is a large, and rapidly developing area of study that has particular importance to parliamentary staff, and those who engage in the field of legislative development.

The course is both interactive and practical; it is designed to assist committee staff in their work. It does not provide all the answers; rather it shares some global good practice from parliaments around the world, with the intention that this will assist committee staff in their work and in their professional development.

The PFM course aims to provide a basis for better understanding core concepts, objectives, and issues in PFM as they relate to the

“I have valued the wealth of information introduced and the wide-ranging viewpoints on the various discussion areas. The courses… have not only been interesting, but also instrumental in providing me with a better understanding of my role within parliament.” – Vernanda Raymond, Clerk of Parliament, Dominica 6

WWW.MCGILL.CA/SCS-PARLIAMENT V) PARLIAMENTARY RESEARCH AND IT

functions of the legislature. It considers the context of PFM, as well as the “upstream” and “downstream” stages of the budget. A particular focus of the course—both in the core material and e-discussions—will be to examine how PFM arrangements impact on budgetary outcomes and the objectives of aggregate financial discipline, allocative efficiency, and operational efficiency.

This course will serve as an introduction to the importance of research and policy analysis in the legislative process and will demonstrate how parliamentary staff can utilize successful methods to contribute effectively to that process. The course will begin with an overview of the role of staff in the formulation of policy and legislative proposals, highlighting various staff functions and how they contribute to policy and legislative development, the organization of staff services, internal and

Course objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Understand the major dimensions of the internal and external context of the budgetary system

external relations to which staff research and analysis is vital, and a detailed examination of how staff can best support the work of parliamentary committees. Next, the course focuses on the particulars of research and policy analysis, highlighting the differences in purposes and methods between legislative and academic research and proper staff preparation for policy analysis work. This is followed by an in-depth examination of various types of policy analysis, the role of the parliamentary policy analyst, the analytic process, and six critical steps necessary for useful policy analysis in a legislative environment. The final phase of the course will address the effective use of information in parliaments and proper presentation for legislative audiences/consumers. Key topics will include the value of objective information to legislators and other staff, the particular value and uses of partisan information, and “writing for legislators”.

• Explain the meaning and relevance of the three main objectives of PFM and how they interface with parliament and political choices • Understand how public budgeting fits into the macroeconomic framework • Appraise the role of the legislature throughout the key stages of the budget process across different jurisdictions • Ask key questions and be aware of different techniques when reviewing revenue and expenditure plans, financial accounts, and actual performance.

“As Deputy Director and Financial Advisor, the program helped me develop my skills. I now have a better understanding of parliamentary procedure, the roles and responsibilities of parliaments, and the core functions of legislatures; not only in Namibia, but also of other parliaments. I was able to exchange information and share views with other parliamentary staff from different parliaments. My competences became stronger.” – Dorota Haitengi, National Assembly of Namibia 7

MAY 16-20, 2016

YOUR SUPPORT TEAM WORLD BANK PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Rick Stapenhurst is a Professor of Practice at McGill University. He is a former board member at Parliamentary Centre, member of Transparency International, and North American co-chair of the Research Committee of Legislative Specialists. His most recent publications include Corruption and Legislatures (Routledge; 2014), which he co-wrote with Riccardo Pelizzo and Parliamentary Indicators and Benchmarks, which he co-edited with Mitchell O’Brien and Lisa von Trapp (World Bank, 2015). ADVISORY BOARD

• Joe Clark (former Prime Minister, Canada) • Robin McLay (former Executive Director, ISID, McGill University) • Mitchell O’Brien (Parliamentary Program Team Leader, World Bank) • Malcolm Russell-Einhorn (Professor, State University of Massachusetts) TEACHING STAFF

The Program will enable you to have access to a team of the most qualified academics and practitioners in the field of parliamentary governance.

Course objectives:

• Paul Belisle (World Bank consultant, former Canadian Clerk of the Senate and of the Parliaments)

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to: • Understand the growing role of information management in parliamentary business.

• Rasheed Draman (President, Centre for African Parliamentary Studies; former Director of African Programs, Parliamentary Centre)

• Understand how parliamentary research differs from purely academic and scientific research, what models are typically employed by parliamentary researchers. •

• Anthony Staddon (Professor, University of Westminster; former Deputy Director, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)

Understand good research practice in parliaments, such as sources of information networking inside and outside the parliament, drafting for parliamentary research and the value of oral briefings.

• Rick Stapenhurst (Professor of Practice, McGill University; former Team Leader, Parliamentary Strengthening Program, World Bank Institute) • Craig James (Clerk, British Columbia Legislature, Canada)

• Explain the role of Document management Systems and acquaintance with encryption and security techniques that will protect sensitive parliamentary information.

• Guy Lindstrom (Former Director, International Department, Parliament of Findland)



In addition, senior international experts from partner institutions will participate as guest lecturers and faculty.

• Warren Cahill (Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP Parliamentary Program, Mayanmar

Explore outreach techniques that will help make parliamentary work an integral part of national life, including use of web sites, social media and simulated parliaments for students and the public.

Brooke Prater coordinates the e-learning component of the program.

“I am glad to have been part of this program. I got a promotion at my place of work and we are fully using the financial management course to inform other staff through the Institute of Parliamentary Studies of Uganda.” – Josephine Watera, Principal Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Parliament of Uganda

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REGISTRATION INFORMATION

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT

To register and request an invoice please visit:

EARLY BIRD:

WWW.MCGILL.CA/SCS-PARLIAMENT

Register by January 30, 2016, and receive a $10% discount (on fees below)

REGISTRATION INQUIRIES

$5,995 US dollars

McGill School of Continuing Studies, Career and Professional Development Telephone: 514-398-5454 | E-mail: [email protected]

DEVELOPING NATIONS:

PROGRAM INQUIRIES

$4,995 US dollars

Dr. Rick Stapenhurst: [email protected] Ms. Vienna Pozer: [email protected]

REGULAR FEE:

According to the World Bank classification, low- and middleincome countries are considered developing nations (http://data. worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups).

VISAS

It is the responsibility of the participant to procure a Canadian visa. Upon payment of the program fee, a formal acceptance letter can be requested from McGill and used to facilitate your visa application. Canadian immigration authorities might require up to four months to issue a visa, so early application is advisable. (In the event that an accepted applicant does not receive a visa in time to participate in the Residency Seminar, the applicant will be able to join the online courses that year, and participate in the following years Residency Seminar.)

RETURNING PARTICIPANTS (RESIDENTIAL SEMINAR ONLY):

$2,000 US dollars DISCOUNTS:

Two (2) or more participants from the same organization receive a $500 discount, per person. Note: Tuition includes all course-related fees and materials, coffee/ tea breaks daily, as well as some breakfasts and lunches during the Residency Seminar in Montreal.Tuition does not include: airfare to/from Montreal, hotel accommodation, dinners and incidental expenses (such as telephone, laundry, in-room service).

I joined the one-week residency program and it was a fantastic experience. The topics included everything important for us as administrators in parliaments, and I feel what I gained from your course is invaluable to my work. Up to now we have finished two components, IT & Research and Corporate Management I. Both courses have been excellent, and sharing our experiences has been immensely helpful to better shape our own practices and mechanisms. In short, this program has been excellent, with wonderful moderators and mentors. I am looking forward to the rest of it with great expectations. – Kushani Rohanadeera. Assistant Secretary-General of Parliament of Sri Lanka

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