CONSTITUTION BUILDING

Constitution building is a key component of democratization and conflict management in divided societies. International IDEA supports inclusive and participatory constitution-building processes that result in constitutions with the following features: they are nationally owned, sustainable and sensitive to gender and conflict prevention dimensions.

Constitution-building processes with the above characteristics use dialogue to allow participants in the process to formulate long-term solutions and address their own democracy challenges. These may arise from deep political divisions, serious conflict, the denial of political participation, violations of other human rights, or from the failure to improve the quality of life for ordinary citizens. The voice of citizens is critical to the process due to the need to accommodate all legitimate perspectives if support for constitutional reform is to be achieved.

International IDEA has supported many constitution-building processes in 1996-2006 and is currently implementing a three-year (2007-2009) Programme with the following components:

Knowledge resources

• Constitution-Building Handbook, in partnership with Interpeace (an international non-governmental organization): The Handbook will provide comparative material and useful options for national actors and their advisors engaged in constitution building, with particular emphasis on the Global South.
• Website, in partnership with Interpeace: when completed (October 2009) ConstitutionNet will be the first web-based resource portal dedicated to constitution building. It is designed to assist constitution builders globally in designing context-specific solutions to constitution-building problems by giving them access to specifically designed, well targeted and need-based comparative knowledge tools. One of the key components will be a Virtual Library, which will give users access to primary documents from past and ongoing national constitution-building processes, articles by experts, policy option papers and relevant databases. More about ConstitutionNet
• Constitution-Building Training Curriculum: The Curriculum will assist national actors and their advisors, especially in the Global South. It will be based on comparative experiences and aim to contribute to improving the process of constitution building.

• Policy makers who are engaged in assistance for constitution-building processes will be invited to participate in a series of policy discussion forums. The Programme will be mapping international assistance to constitution building worldwide and identify policy options for supporting participatory processes.

Assistance to democratic reform

• Bolivia and Latin America: The Programme is providing assistance to constitution building in Bolivia in coordination with International IDEA offices on the ground.
• Nepal: The Programme is providing assistance to the constitution-building process in Nepal in coordination with the International IDEA country office.
• Africa: The Programme is working with International IDEA’s Regional Office on the continent on constitution-building activities. Specifically, support is provided to the implementation of the African Union-International IDEA Joint Activity Plan.
• Other countries: The Programme will respond swiftly to specific requests for assistance.

South-South component

• Besides incorporating a strong emphasis into all of the above components, the Programme is also holding one regional workshop per year (one each in Africa, Asia and Latin America) in which key actors from the Global South are sharing experiences and identifying comparative lessons learned.