Assessing public administration
Engaging with Parliaments: advice to civil society
How to engage with parliamentarians for social change?
Authors:
V. Ayer
Publisher:
South African Institute of International Affairs, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), 2008
This paper provides concrete suggestions that will assist well-informed civil society leaders who wish to influence their own parliaments to achieve legislative and social change. The challenges and best practices highlighted in this paper are based on the author’s work advising and training more than 120 civil society organisations in the Balkans, Middle East, South East Asia and Africa. While the paper does not focus specifically on the role that parliaments play in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), all the techniques described could easily be applied by civil society actors working to advance their issues in this way.
The author argues that criticism by civil society leaders of parliamentarians’ lack of independence displays a lack of understanding of the institution. By their design, parliaments concentrate power in select elite within a political party.
The author asserts that regardless of the country, building relationships with decision-makers in government institutions requires similar actions. These include:
- becoming familiar with the country’s electoral system
- gathering and analysing information in a non-partisan, accurate way, which can be presented to MPs who do not usually have the capacity to do research themselves
- identifying and supporting a strategically chosen 'champion' among the MPs
- understanding parliament, its limits and the role of MPs
- ensuring that civil society actors have the legitimacy that allows them to act as a moral authority.
The author points out that one of civil society’s most powerful tools is its unmatched ability to gather and analyse public opinion from all sectors. Further, civil society actors, unlike politicians, can advance arguments based on their legitimacy to act as a moral authority and their commitment to long-term, non-partisan approaches to human development. They also highlight the importance of working with the media, as well as monitoring performance and highlighting this to the electorate and the media.
