Empowering Parliaments through the use of ICTs

At the request of the European Union, UNDP conducted a feasibility study on how the use of ICTs can empower Parliaments and MPs at both the national and global levels. The focus of the study is on Parliament as an institution and aims at assessing the overall status on the availability of, and support for, ICTs in Parliament in various countries.

One of the main findings of the study indicates that e-parliament is still an emerging area of work in most developing countries. Indeed, this area is still in its infancy when compared to similar work completed on National ICT for Development or e-government strategies among others. In addition, developing countries face critical challenges and gaps, ranging from access to connectivity to local capacity and governance issues. Furthermore, there are still very few systematic studies and research on the status of e-parliaments in developing countries. Finally, the study presents evidence from e-parliament initiatives that have been relatively successful and can serve as guide to other countries that are planning to introduce ICT to empower Parliaments and MPs.

Publisher: UNDP
Year of Publication: 2006