Legislative strengthening : a synthesis of USAID experience

USAID has sponsored activities in this field for more than two decades, beginning in Latin America and Southeast Asia. In both regions, highly centralized military dictatorships gave way to fledgling democracies whose legislative systems lacked the capability to effectively represent constituents, introduce legislation, and act as a sufficient check to the executive power. In the past six years, several new democracies with similar legacies, from Africa to the former Communist bloc, have also undertaken efforts to strengthen the legislative branch of their governments with the help of USAID. This overview draws from evaluations, interviews, and lessons learned to examine the methodology and effectiveness of USAID supported legislative strengthening projects. A collection of lessons learned follows the overview, as well as an annotated bibliography and a contact list of organizations that have worked with USAID in this field. In all, this package attempts to synthesize existing information on USAID experience in legislative strengthening. It does not address the larger conceptual issues of whether legislative strengthening activities may be appropriate for a given USAID Mission"s democracy program. The first section of the overview focuses on the two main components of legislative strengthening assistance -- educational activities and information services development -- and reflects on some of the benefits of the approaches used. The second section highlights several variables involved in project implementation, based on the particular needs of different legislative systems. The final section examines potential problems and contains a warning: Legislative strengthening projects strike at the heart of sovereign political systems, and so implementers must take pains to avoid being accused of meddling in the host country"s internal affairs. The lessons learned on this topic indicate that careful coordination among donors, implementers, legislative leaders, and other political actors is the key to forestalling such concerns if and when they arise. (Author abstract)