INTER PARES Partnership with the Parliament of Botswana

PRIORITY 1 

Support in enhancing the functioning of parliamentary committees (May-June 2024).

• Currently, the National Assembly is considering amendments to its Standing Orders, including for improving the procedures governing the work of committees. The project proposes to facilitate a peer-to-peer exchange on various practices in the functioning of parliamentary committees; 
• Organize a workshop on the following topics:

  ➢ Parliamentary calendar: organization of work and distribution of time between plenary, committee and constituency work.
  ➢ Different models of committee systems; committee types and composition.
  ➢ Committee’s mandate and role in legislative process.

Support in strengthening staff capacities to provide support to MPs in law-making process. (September - November 2024)

• One of the planned amendments to the Standing Orders (mentioned above) is related to the referral of legislative bills to committees. To support the committee staff in the scrutiny of government bills or support of MPs in the drafting of Private Members’ bills, the project could contribute with a number of events.
• Organize two workshops on the following topics:

  ➢ Workshop 1. Legislative scrutiny and law-drafting
  ➢ Workshop 2. Post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) and public consultations in legislative process

Peer-to-peer exchange and dialogue among MPs on legislative/post-
legislative scrutiny. (January 2025)

• In October 2024, Botswana will hold Parliamentary Elections. The National Assembly will continue to organize an induction program for newly-elected parliamentarians. Upon the request of the National Assembly, the project will contribute to the induction program with the following activity:
• Organize a 3-day workshop for MPs, specifically:

  ➢ Day 1. Legislative scrutiny and the role of MPs in legislative process
  ➢ Day 2. Post-legislative scrutiny and public consultations
  ➢ Day 3. Roundtable Discussion between the National Assembly and CSOs: Civil Society Engagement in Practice.

• In advance of the workshop, together with the National Assembly of Botswana, identify several CSOs active in different fields (gender, climate, youth) and invite them to the Roundtable Discussion.

PRIORITY 2

Peer-to-peer exchange on budgetary processes and staff capacity building in
budget scrutiny and oversight. (June 2024- February 2025)

• The National Assembly of Botswana is interested to strengthen staff capacities to provide professional support to MPs during budgetary processes. It is also considering the establishment of a dedicated budget office. To that end, the project could contribute with the organization of a series of workshops on the following topics:
  • Workshop 1: Budget cycle and annual budget planning
  • Workshop 2: Institutional support in budgetary scrutiny and oversight
  • Workshop 3: Budget Expert exchange (or Budget Expert Facility)

Peer-to-peer exchange on the role of parliamentary committees in budgetary
oversight. (February 2025)

• As mentioned under the Law-making Priority, the National Assembly is considering amendments to its Standing Orders, including to improve the procedures governing the work of committees. The project could facilitate a peer-to-peer exchange on how the budgetary oversight is exercised in parliaments and what is the role of different committees, including Finance, Public Accounts and portfolio, in the process. The workshop will also focus on staff capacity building in budget analysis and scrutiny.

PRIORITY 3

Peer-to-peer exchange on public outreach and citizen engagement tools.

• Although the National Assembly of Botswana has done substantial work in introducing various representation and communication tools in its practices, it wants to pilot new and innovative mechanisms to reach out to different groups of society, raise citizen awareness and engage them more actively in parliamentary activities. The project could facilitate an exchange of experiences and dialogue on the following topics:
  • Workshop 1: Open parliament
  • Workshop 2: Civic education
  • Workshop 3: Digital tools and innovations for citizen engagement 

Staff Attachment: Parliamentary communications and citizen engagement.

• Short-term (length to be decided according to the contents of the attachment program) attachment of 1 or 2 staff members from the National Assembly of Botswana at one of the EUMSPs according to a pre-defined programme. The attachment will serve to raise staff knowledge on different public outreach and citizen engagement mechanisms used by parliaments and how they work in practice.
• Co-develop a Quick Guide on Petitions: INTER PARES is cooperating with the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) to produce a series of Guides on different citizen engagement mechanisms. Guides will be based on the experiences of INTER PARES partner parliaments and EUMSPs (and beyond) and co-created with their engagement.

Kick-off sessions on key areas in the work of gender-sensitive parliaments.

• The National Assembly is considering strengthening its work on gender and improve the functioning of relevant parliamentary bodies (Parliamentary Caucus on Women and Youth, Sports, Gender and Culture Committee). The project proposes to kick off discussions with the participation of the staff of parliaments to exchange knowledge and experiences on gender-sensitive work in parliaments:
  ➢ Organize three sets of approx. 2-hour sessions on following topics:
  • Session 1. Introduction to gender-sensitive parliaments and role of specialised committees/caucuses
  • Session 2. Becoming a Gender-sensitive Parliament
  • Session 3. Gender sensitive law-making and oversight
• Peer-to-peer exchange with MPs on institutional mechanisms and tools for advancing gender-sensitive work in parliaments.
  Based on the earlier exchange among the staff (Activity 1.1.), design the following 2 day workshop with the involvement of MPs and staff, on:
  ➢ Overview and status of gender equality in Botswana. 
  ➢ Gender-sensitive parliaments
  ➢ Gender-sensitive law-making, budgeting and oversight 

Priority 4 

Knowledge exchange among MPs and staff on biodiversity, climate change and conservation of wildlife.(January - April 2025)

• Kick off with a series of peer-to-peer exchanges and dialogue on the following topics:
  • Workshop 1. Parliaments’ role in the implementation of international agreements and conventions in the environmental field
  • Workshop 2. Green Parliament