VIEW FROM THE CPA SMALL BRANCHES CHAIRPERSON
HOW CAN THE SMALLEST PARLIAMENTS DELIVER WITH THEIR LIMITED RESOURCES TO DEEPEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE? View from the CPA Small Branches Chairperson It was a humbling experience to be elected by the Branches, to share knowledge, best practice and CPA’s Small Branches Members at the 37th CPA strengthen capacity. Small Branches Conference in the margins of the As the incoming CPA Small Branches 64th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Chairperson, my aspirations are to work closely with Kampala, Uganda, in September 2019. I am the the newly created CPA Small Branches Steering second person to hold this post as the CPA Small Committee Members to include all of the CPA Branches Chairperson, a position first created Regions and their CPA Branches in the planning in 2016. This shows how the Commonwealth stages for the next CPA Small Branches Strategic Parliamentary Association (CPA) has evolved as Plan. The ambition is to continue what has worked a global network to recognise that, while being well, to add new initiatives, and to strengthen a community of Commonwealth Parliaments, collaboration amongst the Small Branches network, its smallest Parliaments have a specific set of Hon. Niki Rattle, recognising our diversity as a strength and in circumstances and challenges that need to be Chairperson of the CPA sharing best practices. Of course, there is also great addressed. Small Branches and value in working very closely with the staff at the I acknowledge with great pleasure the excellent Speaker of the Parliament CPA Headquarters Secretariat. The launching of work that was led and achieved by the first of the Cook Islands the CPA Small Branches Climate Change Toolkit Chairperson of the CPA Small Branches network, for Parliamentarians at the CPA Small Branches Hon. Angelo Farrugia, Speaker of the Parliament Workshop in Malta (led by CPA Programmes of Malta, who paved the way with the CPA Small Branches Strategic Assistant, Jack Hardcastle) is an excellent initiative that draws on Plan 2017-2020. Under his leadership, the CPA Small Branches the expertise within the CPA Small Branches network and utilises network has grown from strength to strength and the challenge the CPA’s global partnerships with international organisations like remains to keep up the momentum and carry the legacy with UNEP and the Commonwealth Small States Centre of Excellence. solidarity into the future. The recent CPA Small Branches Workshop This CPA toolkit is focused on the CPA’s Small Branches due to their on Sustainable Economic Development hosted by the Parliament vulnerability to the effects of climate change and gives advice and of Malta was a significant example of the bringing together of guidance to Parliamentarians with examples of focused means of Commonwealth Parliamentarians from the CPA Small Branches assistance. network, from six of the seven CPA Regions which have Small Undoubtedly, the citizens in small jurisdictions expect the same level of services as those in larger and better resourced ones, and so the real challenge is how the small Parliaments of the Commonwealth can deliver with limited resources to deepen democratic governance in the 21st century. This is a key focus for the CPA Small Branches Chairperson moving forward. The centenary of The Parliamentarian, the CPA’s Journal of Commonwealth Parliaments, is a celebration to be embraced by the CPA’s Small Branches. The Journal is a resource that many Parliamentarians have sought out for the rich and diverse information that can be drawn from its pages, to assist in many situations, especially for the CPA’s Small Branches. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) later this year is to be welcomed. The host for CHOGM 2020, Rwanda, is a relatively new member of the Commonwealth that joined in 2009 st and it is the first Francophonie Commonwealth nation to host the
“Undoubtedly, the citizens in small jurisdictions expect the same level of services as those in larger and better resourced ones, and so the real challenge is how the small Parliaments of the Commonwealth can deliver with limited resources to deepen democratic governance in the 21 century.”
10 | The Parliamentarian | 2020: Issue One | 100th anniversary issue 1920-2020
