Strengthening Legislatures’ Capacity in Pacific Island Countries (SLIP)

Summary

Strengthening Legislatures’ Capacity in Pacific Island Countries (SLIP) is a three-year project that focuses on strengthening the parliaments of five Pacific Island Countries1 to become more effective, efficient, inclusive and transparent. The project started in 2018 and runs till February 2021. It caters to the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Independent State of Samoa, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. The project focuses upon building institutional and human resources capacity of parliaments so that parliaments can better perform their three core functions of legislation, oversight and representation. The year 2020 was project’s last and final year under the current funding.

As project started implementation in year 2020, it met with global outbreak of the COVID-19. The outbreak of the pandemic proved challenging both for the Pacific parliaments and the project. Several countries in the Pacific, like their global counterparts, invoked states of emergencies, imposing travel restriction and safety measures such as social distancing and reduced/alternative work arrangements for state officials. Such travel restrictions and safety measures impeded the ability of several parliaments to perform their functions as they would regularly do. Likewise, the project team could not travel to Pacific countries to provide its usual support to the Parliaments. The extra ordinary circumstance required that both parliaments and project team adapt their ways of operation to stay relevant and operational.

The project team transcended to the challenges and managed to achieve many important results by providing critical business continuity support to the five Pacific parliaments. The project provided hardware and software solutions to four Pacific parliaments, namely the Congress of Federated States of Micronesia, Parliament of Vanuatu, Legislative Assembly of Samoa and the National Parliament of the Solomon Islands. The solutions enable the parliaments to perform their critical oversight and legislative functions. The project also provided technical advice to these parliaments in changing their rules to continue their mandate during the pandemic and helped devise business continuity policies and plans. Thanks to the technological solutions, the project also continued its regular capacity building support

1 The original project signed between UNDP and the government of Japan covered the assistance to 6 Pacific parliaments, as it also included the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji. In agreement with the government of Japan, the assistance to Fiji has been merged into the Fiji Parliament Support project (FPSP-II) and is therefore subject to a separate reporting.

through workshops, albeit with adoption. A brief summary of main achievements is presented below:

▪ Through project’s hardware and software solutions, the Congress of FSM became the first Pacific parliament to organise virtual sessions amid travel restrictions which impeded its ability to organise in person sessions. In its first virtual session, the Congress passed a USD 2 million stimulus package providing a solid basis to meet the unprecedent times int eh country. Overall, Congress organised around seven virtual sessions while its committees also operated virtually to carry on their oversight and legislative functions, which became more important than ever in FSM as the government-imposed travel bans and invoked emergency powers.

▪ The FSM Congress became the first Pacific parliament to adopt a sexual harassment policy at the beginning of year 2020. The policy defines the sexual harassment at workplace and outlines redressal mechanism. The adoption of the policy was an outcome of UNDP facilitated orientation session where a session on the topic was held in November 2019. Following this Speaker had directed his staff to prepare such policy for adoption. As next steps, Congress is now planning to implement it and roll out capacity building session in this regard.

▪ The Samoan Legislative Assembly received hardware and software solutions worth over $100,000 which allowed its five Permanent Committees and two Special Committees to continue operating virtually despite government’s travel, social distance and safety measures. The support enabled the Committees to scrutinise 3 bills referred to it by the House, examined the operations of government ministries through the review thirty-six (36) annual reports. The support also facilitated the virtual participation of relevant ministries staff, who were requested to appear before the Parliament Committees. Special Committees were able to organise three inquiries virtually

▪ In a significant development, the Parliament of Vanuatu approved its new Standing orders, which simplify and clarify many parliamentary procedures. Amongst the many improvements, the reformed standing orders strengthen the powers of parliamentary committees, which will now have strong powers to undertake oversight of the Government, in line with international parliamentary benchmarks. In particular, the committees will have the powers to summon witnesses and evidence. This was a longstanding approval that UNDP had supported under SLIP and it’s previous parliamentary programmes.

▪ The project used the virtual means to help organise induction workshops for new and returning members in Vanuatu and newly formed committees. The workshop was

▪ mandated as around 50% members were new. The project also helped Vanuatu parliament to organise a four-day national youth parliament where 52 youth, including half females, actively participated in sessions that exposed them to the working of parliaments and importance their engagement.

▪ The floating budget office was also organised virtually, starting with Tonga under UNDP’s parallel regional parliamentary programme. The initiative helped replicate the same virtual model in Vanuatu where researchers from Samoa, New Zealand and the Solomon Island and two international experts supported the Vanuatu parliament in undertaking budget analysis. The project piloted the advent of thematic briefings on COVID-19 response, gender and climate change part of the floating budget.

▪ The Solomon Island Parliament also benefited from projects support by organising a strategic planning workshop for the staff. The workshop provided the staff an opportunity to discuss how the parliament can stay operational and relevant during the times of pandemic. The project also supported the National Parliament through technical advice on revising its procedures to stay operational during the pandemic. The National Parliament also received software and hardware solution to help it stay ready to operate virtually in case the pandemic forces it do to so.

▪ At the regional level, the project initiated a webinar series on parliamentary innovation and response during the pandemic. Four webinars were organised during the series on topics such as parliamentary innovation during pandemic, emergency power and the use of information communication technology during the pandemic. Around 50 participants from 15 regional parliaments benefited from the series. To promote south to south collaboration, Speakers were also invited from the Maldives, Australia, New Zealand, and Pakistan.

▪ Building on the past youth parliaments, the project organised a youth parliament alumni engagement initiative on the eve of international day of tolerance Around 28 youth parliament alumni from Tonga and Solomon Island participated in the initiative which involved an orientation workshop, outreach activities in two countries and final feedback workshop to close the initiative. Together the alumni reached out to some ten thousand community members and reported their issues back to their respective parliaments

▪ UNDP kicked off year 2020 with a regional strategy meeting and exchange amongst the Pacific parliaments. The strategy meeting presented an opportunity to discuss bilateral work plans with each parliament. Due to travel restrictions two parliaments, RMI and Samoa, could not join, so their work plans were discussed over Zoom/phone calls. The regional exchange focused upon the role of parliament secretariate where the parliaments of Guam, led by its Speaker, and Palau also joined.

Challenges prevailed in the project’s engagement with Nitijela in the Republic of Marshall Islands. Project has made continues efforts to provide support to them; however, they have not engaged with the project beyond meetings to discuss potential support. Using the pandemic as a fresh impetus, the project once again reached out to them offering support on business continuity solutions, includingsoftware and hardware, proceduraladvice and capacity building support. But the parliament did not revert to the team after initial online conversations.

Despite the challenges emerging in the aftermath of the pandemic, the project showed its agility to quickly adapt to the situation and provide useful technical support to the Pacific parliament. The same has helped the Pacific parliaments to stay operational and relevant during the crisis. It has also showed the value of continued parliamentary support in the region. Such value was also reflected by Pacific Parliament in their letters requesting extension of the SLIP project.

Introduction

The design of the SLIP project was informed by the needs that five the five (5) beneficiary parliaments had expressed to the UNDP team. The needs largely focused upon strengthening of parliaments through the institutional development and capacity development of parliamentary actors, including MPs and staff. The parliaments had also expressed their interest in activities such as trainings, placements, development of manuals, updating of standard operating procedures, citizens’ engagement and inclusion, particularly targeting the participation of women, youth, minorities and other marginalized groups. As these are substantive needs, they require at least long-term support and accordingly a three-year project duration (2018 to 2021) was fixed to begin. The five parliaments - the Federated States of Micronesia, the Independent State of Samoa, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands – were selected because of their unique needs and express interest to receive additional support through UNDP.

The project sets the overall objective of strengthening the parliaments of five Pacific Island Countries to become more effective, efficient, inclusive and transparent. Specially, the project

contributes to strengthening the capacity of legislatures to undertake their legislative, oversight and representation mandates, with a special focus on engaging with key development issues. It aims to build capacities of Members of Parliament and the professional skills of parliamentary staff, as well as parliamentary institutional and budget process.

These objectives are linked to Outcome 5 of the United Nations Development Programme Subregional Programme Document (SRPD) for the Pacific Islands Countries and Territories (20182022):

• By 2022, people and communities in the Pacific will contribute to and benefit from inclusive, informed, and transparent decision-making processes, accountable and responsive institutions, and improved access to justice.

To help parliaments deliver on their three core functions – legislation, oversight and legislation – the project aimed to achieve the following four interlinked outputs:

• Output 1: “Committees have enhanced capabilities to undertake their legislative and oversight functions, including skills to ensure that the SDGs and development issues are mainstreamed across Parliament’s work, including gender mainstreaming”.

• Output 2: “MPs, including women MPs, and staff have increased capacities and improved professionalism to fulfil their obligations, benefitting from exposure to other parliaments through south-south triangular cooperation”.

• Output 3: “Parliamentary financial oversight is improved with system becoming more participatory and transparent”

• Output 4: “Increased number of potential women candidates are aware of the work of Parliament and increased number of citizens recognize women as potential parliamentarians”

Highlights of Activities in 2020

FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA

The Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) becames the first Pacific legislature to convene a virtual session.

The proclamation of COVID-19 as pandemic resulted in some interesting developments in FSM, which on one hand required parliament to perform its role and, on the hand, prevented its members from convening the session. The Government of FSM imposed international and national travel bans, while also declaring some emergency measures. As per the FSM Constitution, FSM Congress had to meet to review and approve the emergency measures. But Senators could not travel to Pohnpei due to the national travel bans. Additionally, two Senators were stranded in Guam But FSM Congress had some plans in place which helped it overcome the challenge. In 2018 under the SLIP project, the FSM

“We are lucky to have partnered with UNDP for the last few years. Through our collaboration with UNDP, we have received and made significant institutional improvements. We started with the resources (leadership and staff expertise) available within our institution and reached out to UNDP to help us with appropriate solutions. Their team provided useful advice on adopting suitable technology and looking at related issues such as addressing our procedures. We followed their advice on necessary frameworks, procedure and technological tools and hope to [further] improve upon them ourselves with their advice". Chief Clerk, FSM Congress

Figure 1: The Federated States of Micronesia holding its first virtual session since the announcement of the COVID-19 global pandemic

Congress, as part of its Capacity development activities had already put in place a plan to move towards an electronic legislature ("e-Parliament") With support provided by the UNDP, it had assessed its information technology infrastructure. Based on the assessment, it developed a plan to automate its business to be done through digital means, progressively. The implementation of the plan was slow, due to other priorities often taking precedent. So, the COVID-19 crisis presented an opportunity for Congress to use parts of the plan and introduce possibilities for organising a virtual session. The project worked with FSM Congress to activate the plan and make necessary arrangements for holding a virtual session as well and advised them the adoptions of potential teleconferencing software and changing procedural aspects.

The FSM Congress Secretariat accordingly selected digital solutions, including agenda building and teleconferencing software. Its teams then went ahead and conducted a mock session, to test the technology and allow Senators and staff to familiarise them with the new system.

Finally, the FSM Congress successfully organised its first remote session by bringing together its senators from across the states using technological tools. The session ran for ten days (between 13-22 April) and resulted in the approval of over 2 million USD stimulus package for the COVID-19. Ever since, the FSM Congress organised around 7 virtual sessions during year. During these sessions, it decided important matters such extension of state of the emergency and several normal and COVID-19 related bills and resolutions. Congress’s committees also continued to meet online regularly.

The FSM Congress well received the support and they much appreciated the project's assistance. According to the late Chief Clerk of the FSM Congress, Ms Liwiana Ramon, "We are lucky to have partnered with UNDP for the last few years. Through our collaboration with UNDP, we have received and made significant institutional improvements. We started with the resources (leadership and staff expertise) available within our institution and reached out to UNDP to help us with appropriate solutions. Their team provided useful advice on adopting suitable technology and looking at related issues such as addressing our procedures. We

followed their advice on necessary frameworks, procedure and technological tools and hope to [further] improve upon them ourselves with their advice"

The Honourable Esmond B. Moses, Vice Speaker of the Congress also recognised the value of support provided: "We overcame the challenges and successfully organised the session approving important COVID-19 budget amounting to over USD 2million. Hence, we enabled the Government to implement necessary measures directly and together with partners such as the World Health Organisation".

Their experience of the virtual session, which is the first in the Pacific region, provided a platform for other Pacific Parliaments in Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and beyond to adapt to the Pandemic. FSM Congress accordingly shared its experience with Pacific parliaments through a UNDP produced blog2 and webinar (more on the webinar below).

2 See the blog here: https://www.pacific.undp.org/content/pacific/en/home/blog/2020/fsm-congressbecomes-the-first-pacific-legislature-to-convene-a-virtual-session.html. UNDP team circulated the blog widely and it remained most read article on the website for nearly two weeks.

Adoption of the Sexual Harassment Policy

In a significant development, the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia adopted a sexual harassment policy in February 2020. By adopting the policy, Congress has become the only Pacific Parliament, and one of the few globally, to have such a policy. According to an InterParliament Union’s (IPU) publication, only about 20% parliaments have such system in place for Members, and 40% of Parliaments have such policies for staff. The FSM Congress’s policy covers both staff and members.3 The adoption of the policy was a result of a SLIP funded workshop held in Chuuk in November 2019, where the UNDP Pacific office provided technical support to Congress on ethics highlighting the need to adopt ethics code, including a sexual harassment policy. During the workshop, the Speaker had directed its staff to focus on drafting a sexual harassment policy as a starting point to incorporate ethics code. Following the seminar, Congress staff explored good practices and developed a policy. Congress team shared the policy for comments with Senators and UNDP in January 2020. UNDP team sent its comments in writing and held a call with Congress to discuss them further. Finally, the Speaker notified the policy to be incorporated into Congress’s ‘Administrative Manual of Congress’. The adoption of the policy

3 See IPU’s Gender Sensitive Parliaments A Global Review of Good Practices, http://archive.ipu.org/pdf/publications/gsp11-e.pdf, accessed on 16 April, 2020

Letter by Speaker FSM Congress notifying the Sexual Harassment Policy (also Annexed as PDF)

denotes a significant result of the project in institutionalising reforms within Congress. The policy’s scope covers both staff and Senators.

Following the adoption of the policy, the FSM Congress has requested UNDP to help organise training on the Policy for staff and Congress Senators.

Support in the Development of Business Continuity Policies

UNDP supported the FSM congress in developing business continuity policies and plans. With outbreak of the pandemic, it became clear business continuity policies and plans were needed by parliaments in the region to regulate their internal working in line with different safety measures being imposed. Based on this, the UNDP team provided technical support to the FSM Congress to develop business continuity plans and policies Through a call, it shared with the FSM Congress team key contents which could be covered through such continuity policies.

Following up on this, the team also shared with the FSM Congress staff some business continuity plans and policies developed by the parliaments of Tonga and Fiji, with assistance by UNDP. The FSM Congress team then presented the idea to the Speaker of the Congress, who tasked the team to develop similar policies for the Congress. Accordingly, the team worked on the policies and shared a draft with the Speaker’s office.

Independent State of Samoa

Hardware and Software Solutions to enable Samoan Committee’s to stay operational

Similar to other regional governments, the Government of Samoa also imposed an emergency in the country. In addition to the emergency, it also imposed various measures in response to COVID 19. The measures included limiting the number of people that can gather in a place to 5, reducing the working hours of civil servants and placing civil servants on work hour rotation to ensure a minimum number of people are in the office and interaction between people are minimised. These measures severely impacted the work of Parliament, especially the work of the parliamentary committees. The project, therefore, held discussions with the Legislative Assembly to provide it ICT support to enable a remote work arrangement for MPs who sit on Parliament Committees and Parliament staff who support the work of Committees. The project purchased and deployed hardware and software solutions worth over US$100,000 to facilitate the remote working of five Permanent Committees and two Special Committees. The support enabled the Committees to scrutinise 34 bills referred to it by the House, examined the operations of government ministries through the review thirty-six (36) annual reports. The support also facilitated the virtual participation of relevant ministries staff, who were requested to appear before the Parliament Committees. Special Committees were able to organise three inquiries virtually5 .

“This initiative is quite an achievement for the Parliament of Samoa which will enable our Parliamentary Committees to conduct meetings via teleconferencing and to receive online public submissions…Furthermore, this initiative has enabled Parliamentarians to be better equipped in carrying out their duties and responsibilities in an advanced and professional way. It will also assist our Parliamentary Committees in engaging and collecting more feedback from outer districts and communities”, Speaker of the Samoa Legislative Assembly

4 Constitution Amendment Bill 2020, Land and Titles Bill 2020, Judicature Bill 2020, 5 Privilege and Ethics Committee and Special Parliamentary Committee

The UNDP Samoa Resident Representative, Mr

Sorensen handed over the ICT Solution to the Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Leaupepe Toleafoa Fa'afisi at an official handover ceremony held on 21 April 2020 which was also attended by the representative of the Government of Japan to Samoa Ambassador, HE Mr Terasawa Genichi and other Members of Parliament, and the Parliamentary staff. Upon receiving the ICT Solution, the Speaker of Parliament said that "this initiative is quite an achievement for the Parliament of Samoa which will enable our Parliamentary Committees to conduct meetings via teleconferencing and to receive online public submissions…Furthermore, this initiative has enabled Parliamentarians to be better equipped in carrying out their duties and responsibilities in an excellent and professional way. It will also assist our Parliamentary Committees in engaging and collecting more feedback from outer districts and communities".

Since the Samoan Parliament, with the SLIP Project’s support was one of the first parliaments in the Pacific to make investments in ICT infrastructures to support the business continuity of the parliament to enable the institution to continue to remain open and operational during pandemic and at the same time comply with social distancing measures in place by the Samoan Government, the Samoan Parliament, therefore featured in two of the four webinars as a panellists presenting their efforts to adapt and respond to the Pandemic. UNDP has received very positive feedback on the webinars with 98% of respondents, including male and female parliament staff, rating the sessions as an excellent platform for shared experiences and learning.

Figure 2: UNDP's Resident Representative, Jorn Sorensen, with Japan's Ambassador, HE Terasawa Genichi, the Speaker of the Parliament of Samoa, Hon. Leaupepe Toleafoa Fa'afisi and Parliamentary Committee members at the handover of the video conferencing equipment

Jorn

Technical Advisory Services: Review of Standing Orders

Consistent with efforts to improve parliamentary oversight mechanisms and modernize its rules, the project provided technical advisory support to the Members and Staff on the review of their standing orders. In this regard, the Legislative Assembly organized a MPs workshop on revisions currently being undertaken on Samoa’s Standing Orders. UNDP deployed technical experts to share with Members and staff knowledge about good practices and options for reviewing various provision of the standing orders.

Following the workshop, the Samoa Legislative Assembly requested further technical support: i) to the Standing Orders Committee, especially with the provision of international good practices not only from Pacific Parliaments but also beyond; and ii) on a practical a workplan to guide the Samoa Legislative Assembly on the revision of their Standing Orders. UNDP provided these supports to the Legislative Assembly and also arranged subsequent meetings with MPs and staff. The work is ongoing and will continue into 2021.

Technical Advisory Services: Development of the Business Continuity Plans for Parliaments

Like other Pacific parliaments, the Legislative Assembly Samoa also engaged with UNDP on the development of business continue plan. UNDP provided technical advice to the Assembly staff on how to develop the business continuity plans. The assembly appreciated UNDP’s advice and undertook further internal consultations to move ahead with the development of the business continuity plans. However, the Government of Samoa had directed all government entities to first prepare disaster preparedness plans and include business continuity plans under that. As this was supposed to be a government wide effort, the Legislative Assembly decided to engage with the disaster preparedness plans first and then come back to UNDP for continuing the work business continuity plans.

Technical Support on Women Leadership Development Programme

As Samoa gears up for their next Legislative Assembly elections in April 2021, UNDP remained active in supporting the increase women parliamentarians. In this regard, the UNDP team provided technical support to the Samoa for conducting leadership development programme for aspiring women candidates for Samoa’s 2021 elections. The programme comprises of arranging practice parliament for the women and gives them advice on the good practices for parliamentary development and running for the office. In this regard, UNDP team shared concept note, draft agenda and structure with Samoa parliament. These documents provide a clear roadmap to the parliament on running the programme. The programme is expected to

be implemented ahead of Samoa’s elections in April and will be implemented in collaboration with UNWOMEN and UNDP.

Planning for the Induction of up-coming Parliament Members

With the next Legislative Assembly elections coming up, the parliament started its preparations for welcoming the new and returning members and putting in place necessary plans for organizing induction of the new members. In this regard, UNDP provided technical support to the parliament of the Samoa and shared draft agenda and concept note with the team of the Legislative Assembly.

The Solomon Islands

Procedural support on adopting to COVID-19

Like other Pacific Island Countries, the Government of Solomon Islands also declared a national emergency to contain the spread of COVID-19 and implemented social distancing and safety measures. Following the imposition of measures, the National Parliament of Solomon Islands wanted to continue its operations while complying with safety measures and tasked a committee to review its procedures to come up with options for the Parliament to remain operational during the Pandemic.

In response to a request for technical assistance by the Committee, UNDP developed an options paper presenting different options for the National Parliament to review and revise its procedures to adapt to and respond to the Pandemic. UNDP also held a series of meetings with the leadership of the National Parliament to discuss the options and provide further technical assistance on the discussions taking place within the Committee. Following the discussions, the parliamentary leadership started working internally to finalise the options.

Strategic Planning Workshop

In recognition of the importance of developing new ways of working for the “new normal” created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Secretariat staff of the National Parliament of the Solomon Islands participated in a two-day planning workshop, focussed on how they can better support Members of Parliament in fulfilling their mandate during the time of crisis, in particular with regard to their relations with constituents.

The initiative of the Solomon Islands parliament follows good international practices and provides an interesting experience for the region, highlighting that the strengthening and adaptation of democratic governance and processes to challenges raised by the crisis is crucial. Participants included the Clerk and his deputies, the heads of divisions, the committee clerks as well as senior Parliament staff.

In delivering his address at the opening of the workshop, the Speaker of the National Parliament of Solomon Islands, Honorable Patteson Oti, highlighted the importance for the legislature to review and chart a plan as they work to modernising its services.

He added, “As Parliament started to develop and increase its capacity to serve MPs, it is only right that the parliament management systems adapts with it and this two-day workshop allows you to take a fresh look at the needs of Parliament and to develop practical solutions to the new challenges the institution will face in the next three years.”

UNDP supported the National Parliament in designing and implementing the strategy planning workshop. It is now working with the parliament on implementing the plan.

Support in implementing ICT Plan to stay operational during the COVID-19

Along-side the support on revised their procedures, the Solomon Island's Parliament also started the process of amplifying their ICT set up to allow remote or hybrid sessions and committee meetings, in case the Parliament was forced to change its mode of operation. In this regard, the National Parliament beefed up the implementation of their ICT Plan, which

Figure 3 The Honourable Speaker Patterson Oti, UNDP rep to Solomon Islands and staff of Parliament at the Strategic Planning workshop

they had developed with the support of UNDP under the SLIP project Accordingly, the Parliament developed a comprehensive plan for equipping the committee rooms and chamber with necessary ICT hardware and software. UNDP provided the Parliament technical assistance in improving the plan. The discussion also includes necessary revisions to the rules of procedures and procuring essential software and hardware solutions.

Further the parliament requested UNDP to provide equipment for the implementation of the plan. In response to their request, the Solomon Islands National Parliament received a range of Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment as part of its COVID 19 preparedness strategy and continuing efforts to strengthen parliamentary openness, accessibility and effectiveness into the future. This was supported by both SLIP and the additional funding provided by Japan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Pacific.

The ICT equipment will ensure the National Parliament continues to effectively carry out its core functions in the event of a national crisis. Similarly, ICT infrastructure development will also enhance parliament’s transparency and accountability to citizens.

The unprecedented social and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the role of ICT in supporting Members of Parliament to effectively carry out their representation, law-making and oversight functions. The ICT equipment will enable MPs and staff to continue operating remotely, including face to face consultations during for Solomon Islands Standing Committee Meetings in the event of a national crisis.

Republic of the Marshall Islands

Support to Nitijela on Business Continuity During COVID-19

The challenges of moving forward the support to Nitijela continued throughout 2020 as well. Using the pandemic as a fresh impetus and following the imposition of travel bans in RMI, the SLIP Project team engaged remotely with Nitijela to provide them technical support for ensuring Nitijela's continuity, in case lockdowns were put in place in the country. In this regard, the team held a couple of calls with the Legislative Counsel of Nitijela and discussed different assistance options that can be provided to Nitijela to prepare it for operating under lockdowns.

The team exchanged information with Nitijela on how various parliaments within the Pacific and globally are adapting and responding to the Pandemic. Though RMI does not have any COVID-19 cases, the team suggested to the Nitijela that it was a good opportunity for them to

put in place business continuity measures. Such measures will prepare the Nitijela if any strict lockdowns are imposed due to COVID or because of natural calamities that the country otherwise faces. In this regard, the team offered its support to Nitijela in:

• Reviewing its procedures to allow for remote sessions and committee meetings,

• Making arrangements for physical distancing measures,

• Developing policies and business continuity plans for staff to work under different COVID-19 scenarios,

• Reviewing and adoption of any suitable technologies (software and hardware), and

• Facilitating remote technical briefings by experts on COVID-19.

The Legislative Counsel agreed on the team's proposals and suggested to get back to the team after consulting with Clerk and Speaker. The team continued to follow-up with Nitijela, but no substantive response was received. The SLIP team continues to face challenges in supporting RMI Nitijela as it is less responsive compared to the other Parliaments The project continued to follow-up with Nitijela using some of UNDP’s in-country staff as well. However, such efforts did not yield any results and the parliament did not engage with the team beyond phone calls.

VANUATU

Adoption of the Standing Orders to Strengthen Parliament and Its Committees

In a significant development, the Parliament of Vanuatu approved its new Standing orders, which simplify and clarify many parliamentary procedures. Amongst the many improvements, the reformed standing orders strengthen the powers of parliamentary committees, which will now have strong powers to undertake oversight of the Government, in line with international parliamentary benchmarks. In particular, the committees will have the powers to summon witnesses and evidence.

Under the new orders, the number of standing committees are reduced to four, namely: economic and foreign policy; social affairs; institutional affairs and public accounts. The reduced number will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of committees. Further clarifications have also been made for the membership of committees, formulation of annual work plans for plenary and committees, quorum requirements, sanctions against MPs for regular absence, and creation of a new deputy chair of committees to convene committee meetings when the chair is absent. The rules applying to the public accounts committee and the other standing committees are also harmonised

Since 2017, UNDP has rigorously worked with Vanuatu Parliament on the review of the standing orders, and it had also supported the Parliament in drafting newly adopted rules. The support was further amplified under the SLIP project. The project is now discussing with Vanuatu parliament the support on implementing the new regulations and conducting orientation workshops for members.

Upgrading ICT Infrastructure for the National Parliament of Vanuatu

Like other parliaments mentioned above, the parliament of Vanuatu was also struggling to continue its business amid travel restrictions and imposition of social distancing and safety measures. The National Parliament requested UNDP to provided technical support and relevant solutions so that the parliament could continue its operation. In response to the request, SLIP supported the upgrade of Vanuatu's ICT structures, enabling the Members of Parliament and Parliamentary staff to work remotely and also conduct virtual Parliamentary committee meetings in the event of a lockdown or national crisis. The setup was also helpful for the Vanuatu parliament to undertake induction of the new and returning Member of the Parliament following their 2020 elections.

“These tools will enable MPs and staff to continue operating remotely as we have begun to implement closure of non-essential businesses, limit large gatherings and face to face consultations during our Standing Committee Meetings.”, third Deputy Speaker, Honourable Sanick Asang said

Following the procurement of equipment, the UNDP arranged a handover of the equipment to the Vanuatu parliament In receiving the ICT equipment, third Deputy Speaker, Honourable Sanick Asang said “These tools will enable MPs and staff to continue operating remotely as we have begun to implement closure of non-essential businesses, limit large gatherings and face to face consultations during our Standing Committee Meetings.” “We are very grateful to our development partners in UNDP and the Government of Japan for this support as this also means we can operate through other crises such as a natural disaster or another pandemic,” said Honourable Asang.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan, H.E. Mr. CHIBA Hirohisa, highlighted the importance of ensuring the National Parliament of Vanuatu operated uninterrupted under any emergency. “This support for ICT Equipment includes procurement of hardware such as note laptops, headsets, routers, webcams, interactive white board, software licence and related technical services worth around 8,034,518 VUV (US$73,061), which were equally funded by the Government of Japan’s SLIP project and the Japans additional funding in response to it’s COVID 19 support in the Pacific region,” said H.E. Hirohisa.

“I am further pleased to say that, Vanuatu, like and other Pacific Parliaments, have benefited immensely from the upgrade of their ICT infrastructure. The ICT equipment is conducive to facilitating ‘Uninterrupted Operation of Parliament’ under emergency situations, including pandemics such as COVID 19.”

Induction for new and returning members of the Vanuatu Parliament

Approximately 50 per cent of the new Members joined in the 12th Legislature of the Republic of Vanuatu following the 2020 elections of the parliament Such high turnover required that members were briefed about the parliament’s functioning, parliamentary procedures, committees, and the roles of MPs. The UNDP supported the Parliament in designing and undertaking a five-day induction programme for new and returning members. The induction helped the MPs to understand better their role as legislators and tools they use to dispense their functions. The induction programme also focused on legislative and oversight work, and parliamentary outreach and citizen engagement.

Even the senior members found the induction very useful and appreciated the quality of the session. Veteran politician and Opposition Leader Honourable Ralph Regenvanu said he found the content of the induction program and discussions beneficial and productive, especially the session related to the revised Standing Orders of Parliament.6

6 See his tweet here: https://twitter.com/RRegenvanu/status/1270630709028241409

Figure 4: Opening of the MPs Induction Programme on 03 June 2020

Figure 5: Tweet by MP Ralph Regenvanu

Due to the current COVID-19 travel restrictions, the UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Resident Representative, Levan Bouadze, conveyed his remarks to the new Parliamentarians via teleconference from Fiji and congratulated the MPs for their successful election into Parliament. He also used the opportunity to encourage leaders to advocate for and support the participation of Vanuatu women in politics, especially in the political parties they are part of.

First-time Member of Parliament, Honourable Ulrich Sumptoh, expressed his gratitude on the usefulness of the Induction Programme. According to Honourable Sumptoh, "The induction has updated us new MPs on the work that we are supposed to do throughout this four-year term. It is interesting to me as a new leader because I must know where I am, what direction or course to take for the next few years, through the Government Strategic Plans that these institutions presented to us during these three days. This induction course is a good initiative to inform our new MPs on what is happening in the country, especially with the Government. I have learnt many things in this induction course"

Figure 6: UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Resident Representative, Levan Bouadze delivering his remarks to the new Parliamentarians via video conference on 03 June 2020.

Newly Elected Committee Members Induction

Following the elections and oath taking of new members, Vanuatu parliament formed its house and standing committees. The committee members required briefing and induction on committee system given that Vanuatu had changed its rules recently increasing committees powers and around 50% members were new. Accordingly, the parliament requested UNDP to help arrange induction for the members of the committees. The induction was aimed at increasing the understanding of Members and staff on the important roles parliamentary committees play in a legislature. The SLIP team provided technical support to the Vanuatu for designing and implementing the activity

The two-day program provided both new and returning Standing Committee members and interested MPs plus their staff an opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills, share information and exchange ideas on the workings of Standing Committees; their functions and place within parliaments, the roles of a Committee Chair and Clerk, how to convene meetings, committee rules and regulations and consideration of Bills and developing a report.

First time MP, Hon. Ulrich Sumptoh, commendedtheinductionprogramme “The induction has updated us new MPs on the work that we are supposed to do throughout this four-year term. It is interesting to me as a new leader because I must know where I am, what direction or course to take for the next few years, through the Government Strategic Plans that these institutions presented to us during these three days.”

In recognition of staff capacity and institutional knowledge, committee staff of the National Parliament were also used as resources in sessions like committee rules and regulations, support to committee members by staff, processes for Bills and the Standing Orders of parliament, to name a few. To broaden Members learning base, key government agencies briefed MPs on their mandates and engagements with Committees. This included: the Ministry of Health on COVID 19 response, the Auditor General and the Ministry of Justice & Community Services, to name a few.

Honourable. Ulrich Sumptoh, MP, VanuatuNationalParliament

Vanuatu MPs with the former Ambassador of Japan to Vanuatu at the Committees Induction

Staff Training Workshop on Revised Standing Orders

As a contribution to staff professional development, UNDP supported a one-day training workshop for Vanuatu National Parliament staff on the revised Standing Orders. Feedback received from staff was overwhelmingly positive, and many highlighted that the revisions will simplify parliamentary procedures and strengthen the parliaments, its committees and powers. Further, participants said this training workshop was important as it built their understanding of the requirements of the revised SO in relation to the support and advice they provide to Members daily. A total of 34 staff participated in the training, ranging from the Clerk to the office cleaners. 21 were males and 13 females.

Procedural Support on COVID-19

As was the case with other Pacific parliaments, Vanutua parliament was also grappling with strategies for adapting its business during the time of pandemic. They reached out the SLIP team help provide technical advice on this matter, with particular focus on revising their rules of procedures. UNDP team deployed the technical support and help meetings with the parliament staff Following the conversations, the team developed an options paper and presented to the Vanuatu parliament. The paper is currently being discussed and may result in further amendments to the standing orders.

National Youth Parliament Programme

The Vanuatu parliament arranged a four-day Youth Parliament for 52 young people, of whom half were females. Coming from diverse backgrounds, the youth actively participated this unique opportunity

Vanuatu parliament organised the event in very lively and practical manner with a range session. These included information sharing sessions on Vanuatu’s development priorities, the role of parliament, Members and Secretariat staff and how citizens can engage with parliamentary processes. The youth were also

Vanuatu Youth Parliament Minister for Youth and Sports, Ms. Melissa Fare, making an intervention

introduced to the law-making process, where they had the opportunity to assess and then debate the Youth and Sports Bill.

“Youth MPs have shown the maturity of this country while presenting themselves inside parliament and it clearly shows what this parliament will be like in the future with educated elected representatives,” Speaker Shadrack stated during the closing of the parliament exhibition and the youth parliamentary on July 29. The Speaker Shadrack said he is very happy to see gender equality reflected in the youth session as well.

Impressed with their level and quality participation throughout the program, political leaders present at the closing ceremony encouraged youth participants to consider engaging with political parties of their choice so they could further build on their interest in politics and enhance their leadership skills.

Parliament Open Day

Coinciding with the National youth parliament, the Vanuatu Parliament also organised an Open Day organized by for the citizen in July 2020. The open day provided citizens, including school children, an opportunity to learn more about the Parliament, its roles, the decision-making processes including how laws and policies are endorsed through the parliamentary procedures.

Pacific Floating Budget Office at the Parliament of Vanuatu (7 - 11 December)

The Pacific Floating Budget Office (FBO) is UNDP’s flagship initiative, which involves a flexible and innovative approach whereby Parliaments in the Pacific share expertise to be able to support each other during their respective budget processes. The initiative has received global recognition for its innovation to address capacity gaps and promoting South-South collaboration.

However, the travel restrictions due to pandemic made it difficult to physically send researcher to a host parliament. Therefore, UNDP team converted the floating budget into a virtual mechanism starting with its first online deployment in Tonga. The same modality was followed in the Vanuatu.

Five (5) researchers from the Parliaments of Solomon Islands, New Zealand and the Australian Federal Parliament and two (2) experts in the area of gender responsive budgeting and climate

finance worked with the researchers of the Vanuatu National Parliament to undertake an independent and rapid analysis of the national budget and drafted budget briefs.

Utilising the briefs, the National Parliament, the Vanuatu Association of Non-Government Organizations (VANGO) and UNDP will jointly convene a one-day briefing session for members of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in January 2021. This is in recognition of further empowering CSOs in their oversight role and holding government accountable to the budget passed by the legislature

Vanuatu’s participation at the Australian Pacific Hansard Editors Association (APHEA) conference in Sydney, Australia

SLIP supported the participation of two (2) female Hansard reporters of the Parliament of Vanuatu to participate at the Australasian Pacific Hansard Editors Association (APHEA) Conference in Sydney held on 28 – 30 January 2020. The main objectives of the conference included providing a platform for Hansard Editors to network with peer and develop a longlasting working relationship. More importantly, the conference provided the participated an opportunity to share ideas, especially around emerging technologies, best practices on issues that affect Editors in different ways, and live captioning of broadcasts and staffing strategies.

Participants at the APHEA Conference held in Sydney, Australia on 28-30 Jan 2020.

REGIONAL ACTIVITIES

SLIP Annual Partners Strategy meeting and Regional Exchange (February 26-28, 2020)

Annual Strategy meeting: UNDP organised an annual strategy meeting with SLIP partner countries in Nadi, Fiji from February 26-28, 2020. All five focus countries had confirmed their participation, however, with the global outbreak of COVID-19, the Governments of the Republic of Marshal Island (RMI) and Samoa instituted travel bans on their public officials, which limited their participation. UNDP was still able to collect their priorities and suggestions via email, Zoom and phone conversations and accordingly adopted the annual strategy plan for them.

‘In the last two decades, UNDP is the only organization which provided concrete support to FSM Congress. Through this support, the Senators are more engaged than ever before. We have also been able to move important institutional reforms, such the sexual harassment policy.’, Lam Dang, Chief Legislative Officer, FSM Congress.

During the strategy meeting, UNDP organised bilateral meetings with the delegates from the Solomon Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. During the bilateral meetings, UNDP discussed country priorities with the respective parliaments and took stock of the progress made to date. Later, the participants were brought together for planning regional activities for 2020, whereby UNDP presented the project’s achievements in the year 2019 and outlined regional plans for 2020. The team also discussed the outbreak of the COVID-19 and potential impact it might have on the activities. Participants were reminded that the year 2020 was the last year of the project. Hence, we needed to work proactively to implement all agreed activities. In all, five persons (two females and three males) participated in these meetings.

Bilateral meeting between the Delegation from the Federated States of Micronesia Congress and the UNDP Pacific Office (Fiji) Parliament Development Projects during the SLIP Strategy meeting.

Exchange on Parliamentary Secretariats: As part of the strategy meeting, UNDP arranged a technical dialogue on the ‘role of parliamentary secretariats in the effective and efficient functioning of parliaments’. Delegates from Fiji, Guam and Palau also joined this part of the meeting with FSM and the Solomon Islands participants. During the exchanges, representatives engaged in interactive discussions on good practices, practical solutions and challenges related to the following topics:

• The Role of parliamentary secretariats.

• The Role of the Clerk’s office in secretariat services.

• Assessing and responding to the needs of parliamentarians.

• Ensuring a resourceful secretariat, including staff capacity building.

• Providing active research and library services.

• Legislative drafting and its role.

A representative of the Embassy of Japan to Fiji also participated in the meeting and thanked all delegates for their dedicated efforts for improving parliamentary services in the Pacific region.

Mr Jean-Raphael Giuliani of UNDP Pacific Office (Fiji) addressing the participants at the SLIP Strategy meeting in the presence of a representative from the Embassy of Japan (Fiji).

Overall, 11 delegates (three males and eight females) participated in the exchange, besides UNDP and the Embassy staff. The Speaker of the Legislature of Guam chaired the opening and closing of the sessions and communicated appreciation for UNDP and the Government of Japan for affording such a unique opportunity to help to build stronger parliaments and a greater Pacific community. “In the process of just talking to the countries represented here this week, I have found the exchange vital for strengthening Pacific parliaments,” said Speaker of the 35th Legislature of Guam , Senator Tina Rose Muna Barnes, at the closing of the strategy meeting.

“Therefore, it is that much more vital that we continue to come together with these types of meetings so we can learn from one another, strategise, and find solutions that each of our islands has for dealing with similar situations.

“By empowering ourselves, prioritising our needs as island people, we truly will build resilient island communities.”

Participants on the Exchange of Parliamentary Secretariats meeting including representatives from the Legislatures of the Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Palau, Guam, and a representative from the Embassy of Japan (Fiji) and staff of UNDP Pacific Office Parliament Development Project.

She added, “We are very grateful to UNDP and the Government of Japan for convening this meeting.”

While the pandemic presented challenges for operations, it also showed some important opportunities for beefing up technical assistance to the Pacific parliaments. As parliaments globally had to continue their operations to both support response packages and oversight government actions, many new good and bad practices emerged within the parliamentary field. Using these as important test cases, UNDP planned and started a webinar series to promote the exchange of good regional and global practices and share the examples which should not be followed. The webinar series was rolled out with the following objectives:

• Facilitate an exchange on emerging good practices on continuing legislative functions to respond to the Pandemic situation;

Regional Webinar Series on Parliamentary Response and Innovation during the Pandemic

Figure 7: Participants of different parliaments during the webinar.

• Facilitate the sharing of knowledge on ICT tools and solutions deployed to facilitate business continuity;

• Draw lessons learned which could be applied to other emergencies (e.g. cyclones and tsunamis) within the Pacific and in other SIDS countries;

• Document and publish good practices, lessons learnt and ICT tools for replication in a future crisis.

A total of four online discussions (webinars) were hosted by the project focusing on a range of topics:

• 19th June 2020: “COVID-19 Crisis: Parliamentary Innovation and Response during the Pandemic” The first webinar allowed the participants to highlight strategic factors which led Parliaments to react to the crisis, as well as aspects that can be replicated or avoided during any future crises. Overall, around 50 participants from across 18 the Pacific Parliaments including Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand had confirmed their participation. However, 34 representatives, including 15 females, participated in the webinar.

• 5th

6th August 2020: “Innovations and Challenges for IST in Parliaments during the Pandemic”. In partnership with the New Zealand Parliament’s Tai A Kiwa Stronger Pacific Parliaments Programme, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Centre for Innovation in Parliament and UNDP, the webinar explored how Parliaments in the Pacific region developed an informational technology based response to COVID-19. The webinars discussed more broadly planning, resilience, business continuity, and contingency management in a regional context. Around 30 participants, including 8 females, from the Pacific parliaments participated in the webinar.

• 30th September 2020: “Emergency Powers and the Role of Parliament”. The Webinar shared the core concepts and standards related to a state of emergency, along with sources of these standards, shared and discussed the role that parliament should play based on the standards and the application of these standards within the Pacific context and the associated challenges. Around 28 participants, including 8 females, joined the session from across 15 Pacific Parliaments.

For comparison, the webinars drew on experiences made by other Parliaments in the region and SIDS, including the Parliaments of New Zealand, the Maldives New South Wales and Australia. Congress of FSM, Fiji Parliament, and Samoa Legislative Assembly presented their efforts to adapt and respond to the Pandemic. Also, UNDP's consultants and team presented on global good practices and standards related to the above topics

Speaking at the launching event, the Vice-Speaker of Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia TH Esmond B. Moses, one of the panellists, commented after the webinar that, "despite lack of resources, Pacific Parliaments have accepted the challenge bravely and responded tremendously…the FSM Congress has organised two consecutive virtual sessions, which resulted in the approval of US$2 million response packages, the introduction of 21 resolutions and approval of 32 bills". He further commended the project's efforts in supporting the Pacific Parliaments, including the FSM Congress, to strengthen legislatures and thereby improve the quality of democratic governance in the region. He said that "the new UNDP webinar series will continue the promotion of Parliamentary excellence in the region while also strengthening social and political cohesions during the pandemic"

UNDP has received very positive feedback on the webinars with 98% of respondents, including male and female staff, rating the sessions as an excellent platform for shared experiences and learning.

Budget Documentation Workshop

To enhance the capacity of key stakeholders, the project supported a regional virtual workshop building on the discussions and conclusions of the September 2019 Budget Documentation workshop. To ensure participants were available for the entire duration, the workshop sessions were spread over several one day sessions between 22nd September and 9th October 2020.

Participants to these workshops were invited from two different functional areas within government. Firstly, senior budget officials who are involved in budget formulation and implementation. Secondly, members of legislative secretariats who provide budget analysis to members of parliament (MP’s) from all PFTAC member countries7 . Participants from the second group composed of individuals who have been involved in the UNDP’s floating budget office as well as selected parliamentary staff and elected representatives. Members of the civil society engaging on the EU-funded Public Finance Management (PFM) project were also given the opportunity to participate in selected sessions. Such a diverse participation helped undertake discussion on common challenges and finding ways for mutually addressing them.

Regional Webinar on Emergency powers held on 30 Sept 2020 : More than 30 Participants from 12 Pacific parliaments in the third Webinar of the series, i.e, Parliaments from Fiji, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and NZ.

Participants shared good budget preparation and documentation practices within ministries of finance, enhancing participants understanding and awareness of contemporary expectations of what information should be contained within documents provided to the Legislature (and which are published) supporting the proposed budget. Additionally, the discussions focused on greater fiscal transparency across the region, a critical area of focus given the COVID-19 context where significant increases in public expenditure have occurred in response to the health issue and for economic recovery.

Senior budget officials from government agencies across the Pacific and SLIP project parliamentary staff who have been involved in the UNDP’s floating budget office and provide budget analysis to members of parliament (MPs) benefited from the workshop.

They included representatives of the Parliaments of Samoa, Solomon Islands and the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia. The workshop was delivered virtually whereas participants joined University of South Pacific campuses throughout the Pacific.

Youth Parliament Engagement Initiative on International Day of Tolerance

UNDP has helped a number of Pacific parliaments to organise national youth parliament through SLIP and other regional programmes. These programmes have remained very successful and popular both among youth and the parliaments, giving them an important platform to immerse into learning about the importance of parliamentary work while developing future leadership in the country. Most of these parliaments and youth participants have always expressed the need to continue the engagement beyond one-of national youth parliament events. To capitalise on this opportunity, UNDP designed and tested a pilot initiative on youth parliament engagement. The initiative had dual objectives of engaging youth parliament alumni, on one hand, and helping parliament carry out its outreach activities on the other hand. Two regional parliaments, National Parliament of the Solomon Islands and the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, participated in the initiative and brought back 12 and 15 youth parliament alumni members, respectively, back for the initiative.

The initiative was implemented in three phases. In the first phase, a two-day orientation was arranged for the alumni from two countries. This was hybrid event and included virtual and incountry sessions. For the virtual session, UNDP collaborated with UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, and oriented participants about the concept and importance of international day of tolerance using the international human rights treaties. The virtual session also involved discussion on the value to youth’s engagement into parliament with

visions of inspiring youth to also take part in the politics of the country. The second set of sessions was nationally led by the two parliaments and looked internally to relate the concept of tolerance within the national context and also plan for the outreach activities in the next phase.

Under the next phase, the youth delegates along with parliament staff carried out outreach activities in the national capital and outer Islands of the two countries. Here, they reached to different community groups such as youth, women, school children and elderly to first orient them on importance of tolerance and then discuss with them their issues relevant to tolerance. The two countries held 30 community meetings and reached out to around 10000 people in both countries.

Following the outreach events, the youth delegates came back to the national capitals to for the third and last phase. Here they set together in their respective country teams to consolidate the findings from their outreach activities. After consolidating the national findings, youth from two countries held virtual session to share their experience and findings. After this, they also presented their findings to the MPs in both countries with recommendations for using the parliamentary forums to help address the issues brought forward by the communities.

The initiative remained very popular among the youth participants, who not only appreciated the opportunity to bring them back to the parliaments, but to also learn about the new concept of tolerance and to interact with communities on behalf of the parliament.

Figure 8 Speaker of the National Parliament of the Solomon Islands speaking at the orientation workshop both to the in-country and online audience

A female youth member from the Solomon Islands shared that “it was first time for her to learn about tolerance. I was particularly surprised to learn that tolerance is not just social virtue but a moral and legal obligation on all of us”. All youth delegates recommended to continue this initiative and explore further topics in future.

Development of Briefing Papers and other knowledge products on COVID-19

To facilitate the discussions on the webinars and provide technical support on different aspects related to parliamentary response to COVID-19, the SLIP Project developed a briefing paper collating various models that have emerged globally from parliamentary adaption and response to COVID-19. The document captures practices on adjustments to plenary sessions, committee meetings, voting arrangements and business continuity plans. Coupled with the paper, the SLIP project has also compiled a database on some of the key resources that the parliaments can use to dig further information. The paper and database are being circulated to parliaments on the need basis while the information from them are regularly used in the SLIP project team's meetings with partner parliaments.

Conclusion

Despite the immense challenges that the pandemic presented to the Pacific Parliaments and UNDP team, the SLIP project made many headways during the year. It provided essential business continuity support to the Pacific parliaments through its timely and relevant hardware and software solutions. These ensured that two parliaments, Samoa and FSM, to operate virtually and responded to the pandemic needs such as passing the stimulus packages and helped the parliaments of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands stand ready to operate virtually if the situation so demands. The project’s technical support also helped parliaments to get ready and respond better to the pandemic. The webinar series provided much needed capacity building support. While responding to the pandemic related needs, the project did not loose focus on consolidating results from it’s on-going support. It this regard, project helped materialise the approval of Vanuatu’s revised standing orders, which empowered committees and simplified many other procedures. Likewise, the FSM Congress approved its sexual harassment policy providing for a more safer environment for staff and MPs. Engagement with

RMI remained challenged but the project has done it’s best to engage with Nitijela. The project’s support nonetheless appreciated by all benefitting parliaments, which also demonstrated by the letter of extensions that four parliaments sent to UNDP and the Government of Japan.

Annex 1: Financial Summary for the period: 01 January – 31 December 2020i

INTENDEDOUTPUTS RESULTS

Output1

Committees have enhanced capabilities to undertake their legislative and oversight functions, including skills to ensure that the SDGs and development issues are mainstreamed across Parliament’s work, including gender mainstreaming

Result 1.1: Chairs and members ofParliamentcommitteesprovided supporttoenable them to conduct their responsibilities effectively through the provision of trainings, briefs, technical assistanceandresearch

Result1.2: Assistanceprovidedtocommitteestaffand committee services through hands-on trainings, south -south attachments, technical expertise, guidance and trainings to capacitate their work to betterprovide assistancetotheirspecificcommittees

Result 1.3: Support provided to the work of committees through workshops, seminars, trainings, expertadviceandguidance,proceduraladviserelating tocommitteefunctions,

61,360.67

58,676.71

260,923.87

Output2

MPs, including women MPs, and staff have increased capacities and improved professionalism to fulfil their obligations, benefitting from exposure to otherParliaments through south-south triangular cooperation

Output3

Parliamentaryfinancial oversight is improved with system becoming moreparticipatoryandtransparent

Output4

Increased number of potential womencandidatesareawareofthe work ofParliamentand increased numberofcitizensrecognisewomen aspotentialParliamentarians

Result 2.1: Skills development provided to MPs through workshops onParliamentprocedures, briefs, attachmentsandtechnicaladviceandsupport

Result 2.2: Assistance provided to staff of theParliamentSecretariat as engine rooms ofParliaments,tobeabletofulfiltheirRoleassupport and backbone to the functions ofParliamentthrough trainingsetc.

Result3.1: forthePublicAccountCommittees(PACs)/ FinanceCommitteestoimprovetheirscrutinywork

Result 3.2: Seminar for MPs to improve budget processesandoversight

Activity 4.0: Potential women candidates trained on theworkofMPsandParliaments

62,548.96

11,840.63

55,515.27

15,719.31

Activity 5: Effective technical advisory services and projectimplementationincludingdirectprojectcosts 3,067.01

1 Note – These are based on draft figures taken from UNDP’s internal ATLAS system.