Democracy, Rule of Law and Equality
Westminster Foundation for Democracy worldwide programmes
Parliamentary strengthening programmes/crossparty programmes Party development programmes Parliamentary strengthening programmes/crossparty programmes and party development programmes
We also support freedom of association as an essential element of any democracy. The right to form groups, to organise and assemble together with the aim of addressing issues of common concern is fundamental, and mass protest is a potent symbol of the exercise of this right. To promote freedom of association we provide political and financial support to NGOs and the media, allowing them to operate in often difficult environments; we work with political parties whose ability to organise and campaign is key to democratic development; and we provide support for free and fair elections. Westminster Foundation for Democracy The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is an independent public body working to support sustainable parliamentary democracy around the world. It was established in 1992 by the FCO, to support democratic development in the newly emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. In 2009, WFD received a core grant from the FCO of £4.1 million, supplemented by funds from the Department for International Development (DFID), the British Council and others. WFD’s total income in 2009 was approximately £5.5 million. While WFD is an independent foundation, it seeks to align its strategy as closely as possible to that of the UK government so as to ensure that its work on democratic development complements the FCO’s human rights agenda. WFD specialises in strengthening parliaments and developing political parties. WFD’s core parliamentary strengthening programmes currently focus on four areas: financial oversight; parliamentary reporting and access to information; management and administration of parliament; and parliament–civil
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society relations. As support to legislatures is now recognised as a priority, in 2009 the Westminster Consortium for Parliaments and Democracy – a new collaboration of UK institutions engaged in parliamentary strengthening and led by WFD – began developing sustainable centres of learning in Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon, Uganda and Mozambique. These centres aim to build the capacity of both parliamentary staff and members as well as to share best practice. An equally important area of WFD’s work is political party development; WFD runs party-to-party projects with and through the UK political parties. This work aims to build the capacity of like-minded parties to develop effective policy-based platforms that give voters a real choice; to build party structures and enable elected representatives to engage more effectively with their electorates; and to assist with the development of campaigning and communication tools locally, regionally and nationally. WFD has achieved real impact across its programmes in 2009. In Kenya, WFD’s programme with the Kenya National Assembly’s Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit provided professional training in the latest journalistic techniques, enabling the Unit to connect people with their parliament, including through live broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings. In Uganda, WFD worked with the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative to strengthen local councils’ participatory budgeting and planning capacity, and public accountability and human rights awareness. This led to the production of a ‘Practice Guide on Good Practices in Local Government’, which is now being used by the Ministry of Local Government