INTER PARES | Parliaments in Partnership

Image

INTER Pares is the European Union's global flagship programme for stregthening the capacities of parliaments in emerging democracies, funded by the European Commission and delivered by International IDEA. Inter Pares is part of the European Commission's WYDE initiative (Women and Youth in Democracy). The first phase of the project ran from 2019-2023 (€5 million), and the second phase, currently in progress, runs from January 2023 to August 2026 (€5.5 million).

The peer-to-peer model leverages the rich and diverse expertise from European Union Member State Parliaments (EUMSPs) and builds a coordinated network of parliamentary expertise within EUMSPs, beyond traditional support mechanisms, aiming to build stronger parliaments in all regions of the world. The project engages with parliaments, both at the political level, with elected Members of Parliament (MPs), as well as at the administrative level, with the staff of parliaments' secretariats, which are the "backbone" of effective parliaments. 

The project primarily supports parliaments' capacities to fulfil their core democratic functions: 

• representing the diverse perspectives of citizens in decision-making;
• proposing, amending, adopting and scrutinising legislation;
• holding government and other state institutions democratically accountable;
• scrutinizing and adopting the national budget, overseeing its execution and audit;
• institutional strengthening to enable parliaments to function effectively, transparently and accountably. 

The establishment and curating of peer-to-peer partnerships, collaborative identification and dissemination of good practices in strengthening democratic parliaments, and the development of knowledge products on parliamentary development all contribute to the project's goal of enhancing parliamentary functions and, by extension, democratic governance. 

Visit the INTER PARES website.

Activities 

Image

Image

Image

Results Highlights

Partner parliaments have so far introduced a total of 46 changes in processes, tools, or structures related to their core functions. Several partner parliaments, including Bhutan, Bolivia, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Maldives, Malawi, Montenegro, Panama, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago, exhibited significant improvements and modifications in different core functions of the parliament, contributing to the project's overall success. 

Partner parliaments also introduced changes in procedures and tools to promote gender equality and women's empowerment and to enhance citizen engagement, and 82% of participants said that they have used new knowledge and skills related to crosscutting issues like gender, youth, and climate change. 

Image

The project has also had success fostering collaboration among Parliaments, academics and practitioners, and contributes to the EU's role as a key partner in the field of parliamentary development. Three dozen new inter-parliamentary cooperation initiatives have been fostered, including the revival of the AGORA parliamentary information hub and the Parliamentary Development Community of Practice which has become a major convening point for discussions in the field. The Project has produced over 125 publications which have been downloaded by more than 875,000 unique individuals. 

Image

The second phase of INTER PARES (2023-2025) was funded as part of the European Commission's Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative (WYDE). The initiative seeks to strengthen the rights, empowerment, and participation in public and political life of youth and women as key actors of development and change. WYDE promotes political pluralism and the inclusiveness of democratic processes. An important thrust of these efforts is to strengthen the capacity of parliaments as core institutions of democratic governance. 

Image