Strengthening Deliberative Bodies IQC: Quarterly Report Number 5

The contract aims to assist legislative bodies in becoming more effective, democratic institutions through programs and activities designed to encourage more transparency, accountability, and pluralism. The LS IQC consortium includes Chemonics International, The Urban Institute, State Legislative Leaders Foundation, Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM) at American University, Partners for Distinct Change, LTL Strategies (SDB), and the Public Law Center at Loyola and Tulane Universities. Research organizations participating in the project include the Center for Legislative Development (CLD), Center for Legislative Studies and Analysis (CEAL), Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), International Roll Call, International Center for Democratic Governance at the University of Georgia, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Convex Associates, and MetaMetrics. Technical Leadership in Legislative Strengthening (TLTS) is a key task order under the LS IQC. The purpose of TLTS is to produce research and analysis on selected themes in the field of legislative strengthening. This information will be a critical contribution to USAID's overall legislative program analysis and retrospective study. Findings will be incorporated into USAID documents and training for personnel, and will also be shared with development practitioners and academics through publications and events. Deliverables under the TLTS task order include an outline of the proposed approach and topics, a reference paper addressing four themes in legislative programs, data entry of all USAID-funded legislative programs implemented by the contractor since 1995, and a workshop to discuss findings on legislative programs. The project management unit (PMU) conducted research, reviewed project evaluations, and submitted a draft of the reference paper to USAID on October 8, 2015. The final copy of the "Strengthening Deliberative Bodies Reference Paper" was submitted to USAID on October 23, 2015. The reference paper presents eight case studies on cross-sectoral programs, economic growth programs, accountability, and implementation and evaluation. Chemonics staff attended the October 30 Legislative Strengthening Conference, where John presented some of the findings of the reference paper, focusing on cross-sectoral programming and legislatures. USAID intends to leverage the recommendations and observations of the reference paper to develop a guidance document on legislative strengthening projects for future programming. Monitoring and evaluation results are not available at this time. Management and administrative issues are also not reported. The LS IQC PMU continues to address individual and collective concerns of consortium members, and no major issues have arisen. No new programmatic trends or administrative constraints to performance are reported.