Strategic planning has emerged over the past two decades as a valued approach for many parliaments across the globe to enhance their effectiveness, service delivery and accountability. Inter Pares, in partnership with the National Assembly of Zambia (NAZ), convened the Parliamentary Strategic Planning High-level Workshop in September 2025. The NAZ hosted the workshop in Lusaka, bringing together senior officials from seven African parliaments, three European parliaments and the Canadian House of Commons. The workshop fostered rich peer-to-peer exchanges and practical insights on strategic planning in parliaments that have been distilled into this publication.

These guidelines promote the development and further usage of strategic planning in parliaments that wish to start or strengthen their planning processes. They are informed by a range of international approaches and lessons learned from the Inter-Parliamentary Strategic Planning Workshop in Zambia, hosted by the National Assembly of Zambia in partnership with Inter Pares. The workshop gathered eleven parliaments across Africa, Europe, and North America – Botswana, Canada, Denmark, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa Sweden, and Zambia.