BUILDING RESILIENCE IN THE CPA SMALL BRANCHES NETWORK
BUILDING RESILIENCE IN THE CPA SMALL BRANCHES NETWORK: A VIEW FROM MALTA Marking the 40th anniversary of the CPA Small Branches network, the Speaker of the Parliament of Malta outlines measures to build resilience for the network. The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) has a long and respected history of supporting small Parliaments and Legislatures in the Commonwealth. There are more than 40 CPA Branches out of the over 180 Branches of the CPA which are classified as ‘Small Branches’, currently defined as jurisdictions having a population below 500,000. 2016 saw one of the most notable developments in relation to the CPA’s Small Branches: the establishment of the role of a CPA Small Branches Chairperson. At the 35th CPA Small Branches Conference held in London, UK, in which 47 Commonwealth Parliamentarians participated, held as part of the 62nd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, I had the honour to be elected as the first CPA Small Branches Chairperson. In this role, I sat on the CPA Coordinating Committee as well as the CPA International Executive Committee with the aim of bringing a voice for Small Branches to the governing body of the CPA for the three years to follow. Throughout my tenure, the CPA Small Branches engaged in a wide range of activities to promote parliamentary development and cooperation, including the publication of quarterly articles in this journal. Two webinars were also hosted by the CPA Secretariat with the aim of connecting the newly elected Chairperson with other CPA Small Branches members, offering the opportunity to discuss their priorities and challenges. The webinars provided the opportunity to communicate my vision for CPA Small Branches and allowed Members to provide recommendations to feed into the new Strategic Plan which was being formulated for the purposes of supporting smaller jurisdictions.
In fact, one of the first milestones was the launch of the CPA Small Branches Strategic Plan 2018-2020, which I presented during the 36th CPA Small Branches Conference in 2017, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The aim of the Plan was to bring a strengthened and renewed focus to assisting CPA Small Branches and their jurisdictions in addressing their unique common challenges and strengths. One of the major challenges identified was the issue of climate change which affects the smallest nations much more adversely, as small jurisdictions in the Commonwealth face increased logistical, financial and infrastructural demands. Climate change was also on the agenda of the 36th CPA Small Branches Conference, where during the launch of the new strategy, Parliamentarians met to examine the unique challenges they face. The Strategic Plan identified five strategic outcomes for the CPA Small Branches network and set out a roadmap to achieve them. The smallest members of the CPA noted that they strive to meet the same expectations of service delivery as larger legislatures and in so doing, they recognise the importance of constantly innovating in the face of the emerging fiscal and human resource constraints. The new strategy focused on key thematic areas and development activities with measurable outcomes to build parliamentary capacity for the CPA Small Branches members while creating greater opportunities for the sharing of knowledge, strengthening Parliaments and parliamentary cooperation. Climate change is of great concern to the 54 Commonwealth countries, especially its 31 small and developing states which are often the least polluting but the first casualties of climate change.
Hon. Anġelo Farrugia, MP is the Speaker of the House of Representatives
in the Parliament of Malta. He was first elected to the Parliament of Malta in 1996 and he has held many positions including Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Chairman of the Standing Committee for the Consideration of Bills and Member of the Privileges Committee before being elected as Speaker in 2013. He was the first elected Chairperson of the CPA Small Branches network from 2016-2019.
22 | The Parliamentarian | 2021: Issue One | 100 years of publishing
