KEY CHALLENGES AND LESSONS FOR PARLIAMENTS IN … · which institutions should develop in the radically new conditions, creating prospects for modernization and optimization of parliamentary

KEY CHALLENGES AND LESSONS FOR PARLIAMENTS IN CONTEXT OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Review of the Results of the inteRnational online confeRence

June 2020

At the end of 2013, the East Europe Foundation began to implement in Ukraine a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Project entitled “Program RADA: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly.”

The main goal of the RADA Program is to promote an accountable, responsible and democratic representative body, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This publication was made possible due to the support of the American people provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Program “RADA: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly.”

The ideas and statements expressed herein may not coincide with the standpoints of USAID or the US Government.

The electronic version of this publication is available on the website of the Program “RADA: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly” – www.radaprogram.org.

This publication uses photos by Igor Golovniov, Palinchak / Depositphotos.com

©USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly, 2020.

The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC

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INTRODUCTORY REMARKSUnder conditions of the pandemic, the world needs qualitative changes more than ever. The hybridized communications, the substantial transformation of the usual processes, and the sharp increase in the needs for technical support have undoubtedly posed a serious challenge to parliaments. The COVID-19 pandemic has in fact outlined the direction in which institutions should develop in the radically new conditions, creating prospects for modernization and optimization of parliamentary practices. That is why today an important role is played by exchange of international experience, discussions, debates, and joint search for effective solutions to universal problems.

On June 11, 2020, an international online conference “The Key Challenges and Lessons for Parliaments in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic” was conducted within the framework of the USAID RADA Program.

The aim of the conference was to discuss and analyze the key challenges facing parliaments and MPs during the pandemic, the approaches and tools used for addressing them, and to identify the lessons learned for promoting democratic processes and increasing parliamentary efficiency in the post-pandemic period.

The participants in the event included representatives of the Parliament of Canada, the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Parliamentary Center (Canada), the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, the Education Center of the UK Parliament, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the European Center for Parliamentary Research and Documentation, the Institute for Parliamentary Research (Germany), the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, and the Civil Network OPORA.

The USAID RADA Program would like to express its deep gratitude to all the participants in the conference. We are certain that under the extremely difficult conditions currently faced by the world community discussions of this sort and exchange of international experience are of vital importance. We sincerely hope that the dialogue and cooperation with the respected speakers and participants in the conference will continue.


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TAbLE OF CONTENTS

Conference agenda 6

Welcoming address 10

Parliamentary Rules of Procedure and the legislative process under pandemic conditions: changes and adaptation 13

Digitalization of legislative work: introduction of electronic tools to support parliament’s remote operation 17

Civil parliamentary education and visitor services under COVID-19 pandemic conditions 23

Communication with voters and work in the constituency: new approaches and tools 25

Conclusions 32

Speakers 35

Useful links 42


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CONFERENCE AGENDA


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Welcoming address

Igor Kogut, Director of the USAID RADA Program, Ukraine

Ruslan Stefanchuk, First Deputy Chairperson, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ukraine

Thomas White, Director, Democracy and Governance Office, USAID, USA

Avinash bikha, Project Officer, Centre for Innovation in Parliament Inter-Parliamentary Union, Switzerland

Tom Cormier, Chief Executive Officer, Parliamentary Centre, Canada

I. Parliamentary procedure and legislation during pandemic

Moderator: Tetyana Bibik, Deputy Director, USAID RADA Program, Ukraine

Mykhailo Tepliuk, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat, Ukraine

Pavlo Frolov, Member of Parliament, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

Dr. benjamin Höhne, Deputy Director of the Institute for Parliamentary Research (IParl) and Anastasia Pyschny, Fellow at IParl, Germany

Dr. Victoria Hasson, Senior Parliamentary Adviser, Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), UK

Till Heyde, A/Principal Clerk, Table Research, Chamber Operations and Procedure Office, Senate of Canada and Jeremy LeBlanc, Principal Clerk, Journals Branch, House of Commons, Canada


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II. Digitalization of legislative work: electronic instruments for Parliament`s remote work

Moderator: Serhiy Cherednychenko, Program Manager, USAID RADA Program, Ukraine

Jerry Hilbert, Coordinator AoI ICT in Parliament, European Center for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD), Belgium

Ludovic Delepine, Head of Archives Unit, Office of the Secretary-General, European Parliament, Coordinator of the IT governance thematic hub from the Centre for Innovation in Parliaments, Luxembourg

Patricia Gomes Rego de Almeida, Coordination of Digital Innovation, Governance and Strategy, Chamber of Deputies, Brazil

Jan Menzer, Policy Advisor, Lecturer, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Parliamentary Research (IParl), Germany

Oleksii Sidorenko, Head of ICT Department, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ukraine

III. Civic parliamentary education and visiting services during COVID-19

Moderator: Maryna Tereshchuk, Head of the Parliamentary Education Centre, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ukraine

David Clark, Head of Engagement and Education at the UK Parliament, UK

beth Plemmons, Director General, Visitor Center, US Capitol, USA

Mykola Shevchuk, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat, Ukraine


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IV. Work in constituencies: new approaches and instruments

Moderator: Lesya Nechyporenko, Program Manager, USAID RADA Program, Ukraine

Dr. Sven Siefken, Political Scientist, Lecturer, the Martin Luther University, Halle Wittenberg, Germany

Roman Kaptielov, Member of Parliament, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ukraine

Andrii Tokarskyi, Regional Coordinator, «Civil network OPORA», Rivne branch, Ukraine

Questions and answers

Closing remarks

Oleksandr Piskun, Democracy Project Management Specialist, Office of Democracy and Governance, USAID, Ukraine

Igor Kogut, Director of the USAID RADA Program, Ukraine


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WELCOMING ADDRESS


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Ihor Kohut, USAID Program Director, sincerely thanked the participants in the conference. Mr. Kohut emphasized that the current crisis caused by the pandemic is a crisis not only of parliamentarism but of representative democracy as a whole. Ihor Kohut stressed that the Ukrainian parliament had successfully adapted to the current conditions, and thanked the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for demonstrating the high potential of modernization and change. Moreover, Mr. Kohut underscored the important role of the Information Research Center that collected data on how other countries and parliaments addressed the crisis and was able to provide that crucial information to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The welcoming address to the participants in the conference was delivered by First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk. Mr. Stefanchuk underlined the importance of maintaining efficient and proactive democratic institutions of power, protecting democracy, and ensuring the rule of the people. Furthermore, the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine focused on the foundation for further digitalization of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine that had been laid down at the beginning of the 9th convocation of the Ukrainian parliament, in particular transition to an electronic paper management system.

Referring to Ukrainian experience, Mr. Stefanchuk accentuated the impossibility to suspend the operation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine under conditions of the pandemic. Remarkably, the Committee meetings were immediately switched to online mode. Thus, the implemented measures were instrumental in ensuring effective work of the Ukrainian parliament, leading to the adoption of a number of important decisions.

Mr. Stefanchuk thanked the international partners for their support at the beginning of the pandemic. In particular the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine expressed deep gratitude to the USAID RADA Program for creating a series of electronic tools that became part of the parliament’s unified electronic document management system, for provision of expert support when the organization of remote operation of the Committees was planned in cooperation with the Computerized Systems Department of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, for trainings and technical support for the holding of Committee meetings.

Thomas White, Director of the Democracy and Governance Office of the United States Agency for International Development Mission, sincerely thanked the participants. Mr. White pointed out that remote work results primarily from the need to diminish the threat of the spread of COVID-19. Moreover, Thomas White emphasized that maintaining communication is important for the legislative process.

Igor Kogut

Ruslan Stefanchuk

Thomas White


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Mr. White highly appreciated the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine under conditions of the pandemic, underlining its openness and transparency. Thomas White also expressed gratitude to the RADA Program for its efforts related to expert assistance and support to Committees in their online meetings, online trainings for Ukrainian MPs and their teams, and also to the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which will ensure continuity in maintaining due level of the parliament’s performance.

Thomas Cormier, Chief Executive Officer at the Parliamentary Center of Canada, noted that the pandemic plays, in a certain way, a consolidating role, in view of the necessity to share experience in addressing challenges common to the world’s parliaments. In Mr. Cormier’s opinion, the main challenges for parliaments include the speed and scale of the spread of the pandemic, challenges to remote decision-making from laws and constitutions, and the problem of communication with constituents and with other bodies of authority. Under the quarantine conditions, Canada’s Parliamentary Center is primarily involved in searching for tools to support the MPs’ communication among themselves as well as with representatives of the public and of the international community.

Avinash bikha, Project Officer of the Center for Innovation at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, briefly outlined the results of the campaign “Parliaments in a Time of Pandemic” which was conducted at the early phase of the pandemic and was aimed at exchange of experience among the world’s parliaments under qualitatively new conditions.

The results of weekly surveys conducted in 87 parliaments of the world show that most of the parliaments have established a practice of holding online meetings (for 40% of the parliaments, these meetings are part of Committee work; for 12%, this refers to plenary meetings) and that most parliaments have no problems with organizing a stable workflow. Mr. Bikha focused on a number of crucial issues faced by parliaments under quarantine conditions. In particular these include increased workload on the IT departments, compliance of procedures with the legislation, and cybersecurity of parliamentary meetings. In the opinion of Mr. Bikha, under the current conditions the main challenges consist in implementing qualitatively new practices and using the experience in the activities of the world’s parliaments.

Mr. Bikha’s presentation is available here

Thomas Cormier

Avinash Bikha

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vL_-45siCEnhRdyZ9jGbw3qagGD9KQTC/view?usp=sharing


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PARLIAMENTARY RULES OF PROCEDURE AND THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS UNDER PANDEMIC ConDItIonS: CHANGES AND ADAPTATION


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The COVID-19 pandemic has had an essential impact on the structure of the legislative process. The qualitatively new working conditions necessitated immediate response from MPs to create a stable normative legal framework for ensuring an uninterrupted parliamentary process even during the quarantine period. The first panel of the conference was devoted specifically to discussing the measures that the parliaments had to take to ensure the performance of their key functions.

Mykhailo Tepliuk, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, provided in his speech a detailed description of all the steps that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine had to take for ensuring a stable legislative process.

The Parliament of Ukraine adopted a decision changing its workflow procedures, in particular cancelling all plenary sessions. In view of the need for prompt decision-making, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, with the support of the Conciliation Board, was empowered to convene plenary sessions if necessary.

Apart from that, the parliament was forced to make significant changes to the journalists’ accreditation procedure and actually to restrict their access to the premises of the parliament; at the same time, however, all conditions were created for effective conduct of journalistic activities.

Mr. Tepliuk gave a very high estimate to legislative changes which had made it possible to hold Committee meetings in the form of video conferences during the quarantine period and had also changed the procedure for considering particularly large bills. Between the beginning of the quarantine and June 11, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted 37 laws, 12 of which were directly related to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In the current situation, Mr. Tepliuk sees great prospects for developing the Ukrainian legislation, which will enable the institutions of authority to adapt more effectively to the non-standard conditions.

Ukrainian MP Pavlo Frolov stressed that when the quarantine began, the Parliament of Ukraine had already been fully prepared due to the previously adopted laws on transition of the legislative procedure and the management of documents to electronic form.

One month before the beginning of the pandemic, 50 Articles of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Rules of Procedure were revised and electronic procedures were introduced (the e-Parliament). The MPs of Ukraine can submit draft laws, amendments, proposals, inquiries and appeals to the Government in electronic format; also, they can perform the oversight function due to being involved in the system of interaction of state authorities. In the speaker’s opinion, one of the most positive points in the online operation of the Committees is the considerable increase in the level of the Committees’ openness and transparency.

Mykhailo Tepliuk

Pavlo Frolov


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Mr. Frolov is hoping for further development of already existing models, in particular as regards the possibility for stable and safe remote holding of Committee as well as plenary meetings.

Dr. benjamin Höhne, Deputy Director of the Institute for Parliamentary Research, noted in his statement that, while the performance of the legislative function continued in Germany during the pandemic, the Parliament’s operating conditions did change radically. Dr. Höhne emphasized the necessity to look for new ways to strengthen the German Parliament. The speaker also noted that the German executive federalism had been raised to a qualitatively new level as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Anastasia Pyschny, researcher at the Institute for Parliamentary Research, spoke of the main changes in the operation of the Bundestag under the quarantine conditions. Thus, there was a decrease in the attendance threshold for quorum at plenary as well as Committee meetings; changes were made to the pattern of placement of seats in the session hall; the parliament’s agenda as well as the working week during a plenary session were shortened; it was allowed to conduct meetings in the form of video and audio conferences, in particular during Committee and plenary meetings, but without the possibility to vote online.

Ms. Pyshnyi noted that the coronavirus pandemic had provided a good opportunity to raise the level of digitalization of the Parliament’s operation. Moreover, the speaker stressed that it is undoubtedly possible to strengthen parliaments after the end of the crisis, and that it is necessary for parliamentarians to communicate with their voters and inform them of the work inside the parliament.

When describing the challenges facing the British Parliament, Dr. Victoria Hasson, Senior Parliamentary Adviser at Westminster Foundation for Democracy, focused on several key aspects, in particular ensuring internal democracy inside the parliament to guarantee external legitimacy, using digital technologies, the need to support new practices in line with the key accountability principles, and also inclusiveness and effectiveness.

Dr. Hasson revealed a number of specific features in the workflow of the House of Commons under the quarantine conditions. In particular, from April 21 a hybrid parliamentary procedure is in force (50 MPs are to be physically present at the meetings while the other 150 attend them online). Moreover, meetings on Thursdays and Fridays were cancelled; a system of so-called asynchronous voting was implemented for remote decision-making.

Summing up, Dr. Hasson noted that the effectiveness of the Parliament’s online operation is at the same level with physical meetings. Moreover,

Dr. Victoria Hasson

Anastasia Pyschny

Dr. Benjamin Höhne


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while it is necessary to strive for procedures keeping in line with the modern trends and realities, all changes must comply with the criteria of democratic legitimacy. The key principles must be those of accountability, relevance, transparency, inclusiveness, and effectiveness.

Jeremy Leblanc, Principal Clerk of the Journals Branch, the House of Commons of Canada, highlighted in his speech the specifics of the workflow of the House of Commons under the pandemic conditions and drew the attention to a number of problematic issues: accessibility and inclusiveness in connection with the time zone difference and quality of access to the Internet; appropriateness of remote voting; representation of the interests of the whole society; transparency; and restriction of the Parliament’s oversight function. At the same time, Mr. LeBlanc accentuated the successful start of the Committees’ remote meetings as well as the prospects for holding hybrid plenary meetings as early as this summer. Furthermore, the speaker focused on the successful creation of a special Committee comprising all MPs as its members. Its meetings were held several times a week in different modes – remotely, with physical presence, and a hybrid combination of the two; this made it possible to promptly resolve a number of crucial issues, in particular regarding accountability mechanisms.

Till Heyde, Principal Clerk of the Chamber Operations and Procedure Office of the Senate of Canada, noted the necessity for a substantial reduction in the number of plenary meetings and of the Senators attending them, as well as the impossibility at this point to conduct plenary meetings of the Senate remotely. Most importantly, organization of work in an online mode poses quite a few challenges before the parliaments, in view of the need for technical and staff support. However, a cautious approach to introduction of long-term changes enabled the Senate of Canada to successfully organize the work of the Committees in video conference mode.

Summary:

thus, although the parliaments of all countries actually faced almost identical challenges and problems, the measures they took to overcome the crisis were different. Certainly, the primary task for the representatives of each country remained the same: to ensure safe and stable operation of their Parliament. Even in spite of the significant difficulties resulting from the transition of most of the institutions to remote operation, in a very short time the parliaments succeeded not only in adapting the legislative framework to the new conditions but also in laying down a strong foundation for its further improvement and modernization.

Jeremy LeBlanc

Till Heyde


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DIgItalIzatIon of lEgISlatIVE WoRK: INTRODUCTION OF ELECTRONIC TOOLS TO SUPPORT PARLIAMENT’S REMOTE OPERATION


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The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a number of functional issues before all parliaments without an exception. Moreover, there were no fewer regulatory and legislative issues. Online voting, holding plenary and Committee meetings in video conference mode, remote work on draft laws – all these and a lot of other issues have been in the focus of attention of parliaments in different countries over the past few months. And many of those issues have already been successfully resolved. The second section of this conference was dedicated to such success stories, new challenges, best practices and visions of future digital transformations in the work of parliaments.

Mr. Jerry Hilbert, Coordinator for Information and Communication Technologies in Parliaments at the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD), noted that even though parliaments remain the “central sites” of democracy where people can physically communicate, discuss and adopt decisions, approaches to parliaments’ digitalization have been substantially altered in connection with the pandemic. Thus, before the epidemic the priority direction was to move towards paperless technologies in the work of parliaments – to introduce state-of-the-art means of exchange and circulation of electronic information, broadcasting of meetings, publication of expanded information on resources, interaction with citizens through social media; but with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the questions of how parliaments should adopt decisions during such a crisis and what processes can be implemented electronically (submission of draft laws, debates, consultations and adoption of decisions, voting) came to the fore. Moreover, how this can be done safely and in line with current regulations and what appropriate changes are required to be made to parliaments’ rules of procedures.

Mr. Hilbert briefly presented the Center’s information on the dynamics of exchange of experience among parliaments under the new conditions: what kind of programmatic decisions were used by the parliaments, what approaches were taken to their integration with the existing parliamentary systems and to organizing online plenary meetings and Committee meetings, etc.

According to ECPRD data presented by Mr. Hilbert, at the point when the pandemic began there were not enough legislative provisions to conduct online voting and relevant technical means were lacking. Remarkably, parliamentary Committees appeared to be more flexible and more dynamic in resolving the issue of online meetings and voting. In the past few months, various parliaments, in accordance with their needs and capabilities, succeeded in adapting different approaches to the conduct of voting in the course of plenary and Committee meetings – from a show of hands during a video conference and email voting to providing MPs with secure voting machines and services.

Mr. Hilbert’s presentation is available here.

Jerry Hilbert

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dr5g5maHX3bvzQ8pGCLWRvz8SY1Or2pM/view?usp=sharing


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The experience of the European Parliament was reported by Mr. Ludovic Delepine, Head of the Archives Unit at the Office of the Secretary-General in the European Parliament. He noted that the European Parliament had not suspended its operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing all 705 MEPs with the opportunity to attend meetings, unless they were ill or had visited the so-called risk territories in the past 2 weeks. Furthermore, appropriate conditions were created for all MEPs to work while complying with the social distancing requirement. The MEPs who were unable to be present at the Parliament were allowed to work remotely, using the capabilities of the existing electronic document management system and of the electronic voting system that had been commissioned on March 20, 2020.

Mr. Delepine briefly described the electronic devices and hardware used by the European Parliament for various working modes, which enabled 695 MEPs to take part in a voting session.

Mr. Delepine emphasized the following lessons learned by the European Parliament in the period of work under conditions of the pandemic:

• support for “remote work culture.” It is not enough just to provide the deputies with devices and access to services. It is necessary to provide them with instructions, training, and technical support;

• the European Parliament supports translations into 24 languages. Switching on an MP’s camera is a precondition for that MEP’s statement to be translated;

• in online format, the culture of moderating and administering meetings is different (for the moderators themselves as well as for the participants);

• use of remote participation options for all who cannot be physically present (deputies, experts and other potential participants);

• sharp increase in the use of relevant mobile devices by MEPs and their aides.

Mr. Delepine’s presentation is available here.

Ludovic Delepine

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NckIP7Q3Y_PBPMoY4eOMVRsG92S-tWd_/view?usp=sharing


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When presenting the experience of the Brazilian Parliament, Patricia Gomes Rego de Almeida, Coordinator of the Digital Innovation, Governance and Strategy Department of the Brazilian House of Representatives, noted that their approach to addressing issues related to the work of MPs under the new conditions consisted in first resolving issues pertaining to the Rules of Procedure; in turn, the solutions enabled the MPs to take part in the meetings using only a smartphone. The Parliament adopted a resolution in line with which a so-called virtual plenary structure was developed and implemented.

Ms. Almeida presented the technical details of the mobile application developed to implement the required functionalities embedded in that architecture: capabilities, safety, usage algorithms, registration, discussion, voting, informing, etc., and also demonstrated the dynamics of using the digital solutions, which showed that the length of meetings had not decreased compared to offline meetings – while in fact there was an increase in the number of MPs taking part in online meetings and in the number of online votings.

In the opinion of Ms. Almeida, the Brazilian Parliament managed to achieve such results owing to three key factors: support from sponsors; a powerful group of experts providing technical support at all levels; and also a series of appropriate measures taken at the right time (development of the information application, of the electronic system for registration of bills, use of agile techniques, launching of the electronic legislative process).

Ms. Almeida’s presentation is available here.

Jan Menzer, political advisor, associate fellow at the Institute for Parliamentary Research (IParl), spoke about the experience of organizing the work of the German Bundestag during the pandemic.

Mr. Menzer emphasized that, on the one hand, digitalization creates opportunities for the Parliament’s leadership to organize stable work, but on the other hand, it brings along challenges related to ensuring transparency of the parliamentary process and debates.

As to the actual operation of the Bundestag Mr. Menzer noted that although the leaders of the parliamentary factions agreed to conduct virtual meetings of parliamentary groups, so far plenary meetings had only taken place with physical participation of MPs. Moreover, the Bundestag has established a system for balancing the relations between the majority and the minority.

Patricia Gomes Rego de Almeida

Jan Menzer

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18HlIq85jo8IuQi2kLKLpfu6bIOavuErU/view?usp=sharing


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According to Mr. Menzer, the electronic tools have made it much easier for nearly all representatives of the Parliament, their aides and advisors to switch to remote work.

Mr. Menzer also emphasized certain challenges faced by the Bundestag in connection with its partial transition to remote operation. Primarily, these are problems of technical support and cybersecurity.

On the whole, all leaders of the Parliament concurred that the Bundestag can continue working under such conditions and that emphasis on digitalization is crucial for the Parliament’s further operation under the non-standard conditions.

During the presentation of Ukrainian experience, Head of the Computerized Systems Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat Mr. Oleksiy Sydorenko noted that owing to the prompt adoption of amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,” which were aimed at regulating the holding of meetings in video conference mode, the Ukrainian MPs already held more than 200 online meetings. This also became possible due to regular learning sessions and trainings for all categories of users of the electronic document management system; when the quarantine began, MPs and Committee secretariats were regularly trained and advised on the holding of Committee meetings in video conference mode.

Mr. Sydorenko underlined the special role of the Ukrainian Parliament’s partners: the USAID RADA Program and the company Microsoft Ukraine.

During the presentation, Mr. Sydorenko provided information on the launching in February 2020 of the Unified Automated Document Management System at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for working with 118 types of documents to be created in that system – primarily draft laws and resolutions, all supporting documents to draft laws, tables of amendments and proposals to draft laws being prepared for the second reading, and many others.

Also, the speaker briefly presented the experience acquired in implementing the technology of virtual workplace of an MP of Ukraine, which transformed the system into a real digital platform for remote work of the MPs of Ukraine and the structural units of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine under the quarantine conditions.

Undoubtedly, the conclusions that Mr. Sydorenko and his IT team arrived at during the Parliament’s operation in the special mode are quite interesting.

Oleksii Sydorenko


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• Lesson one: avoid panicking, mobilize human resources to cope with the challenges of the time.

• Lesson two: temporally fast adaptation and transformation of available software and hardware is a guarantee of the Parliament’s uninterrupted work under the pandemic conditions.

• Lesson three: international and inter-parliamentary cooperation, in particular sharing of experience and best practices, is the most valued tool for overcoming the challenges of the day and the potential threats in the future.

Mr. Sydorenko’s presentation is available here.

Summary:

the exchange of experience within the framework of this panel clearly demonstrated the inevitability of changes in the approaches to the functioning of parliaments: today 11% of the parliaments can already hold plenary meetings in an online or hybrid mode and more than 40% of the parliamentary Committees no longer require the MPs to physically gather at the Committee meeting halls. a number of parliaments have already tested and implemented safe cutting-edge tools for online registration, voting, discussing, and legislative work. Even more parliaments have been working towards implementing similar solutions in the nearest future, relying on the positive experience of colleagues from other countries. at the same time, technical innovations of this sort necessitate urgent revision of the current regulatory and legislative provisions for optimal harmonization of digital capabilities and new challenges while preserving the parliaments as the “central sites” of democracy where discussions result in the adoption of decisions.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qa1uFjTn3scZWLeLCHonWgJu-HiwVxLJ/view?usp=sharing


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CIVIL PARLIAMENTARY EDUCATION AND VISItoR SERVICES unDER CoVID-19 PANDEMIC CONDITIONS


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The panel discussed challenges faced by parliament visitor centers and education centers throughout the world. Under conditions when direct access of citizens to buildings had become impossible, all had to look for new ways of interacting with the public.

Mr. David Clark, Head of the Engagement and Education Department at the UK House of Commons, noted that the main challenge in the COVID-19 pandemic today is to ensure public access to the Parliament. He presented the results of the research “Parliaments, the Pandemic and Citizen Involvement” conducted by the community “International Forum of Parliament Visitor Centers”; also, he emphasized that parliaments are switching to online formats of interaction with the public.

As to the UK Parliament enormous resources are currently available for electronic parliamentary education; and it is planned that on July 1, 2020, the British Parliament’s Education Center will start operating online.

beth Plemmons, Chief Executive Officer the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, stressed that the practice of educating citizens visiting the Capitol had started decades ago. The Capitol tries to take a creative approach to problems caused by the crisis, actively using social networks (Facebook, Instagram), videos, and conducting video excursions and virtual exhibitions for young people of different age groups (such programs are categorized; special programs have also been developed for the youngest visitors – often information is targeted at middle school pupils). On the Capitol website, an online excursion can be ordered; at present, the number of such orders is much higher than before.

Mykola Shevchuk, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat, spoke about the Education Center of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine primarily as an effective tool of communication between citizens and the Parliament. During the pandemic, the work of the Education Center of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine focuses on the following areas: (1) conducting online meetings with deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; and (2) conducting online education meetings using the format of parliamentary Committee meetings in Ukraine, in the form of play and debates for youth.

Summary:

thus, the crisis caused by CoVID-19 has stimulated the parliament visitor centers to develop areas of online work with the public. and, according to research results, these practices are rather successful

David Clark

Beth Plemmons

Микола Шевчук


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COMMUNICATION WITH VOTERS AND WoRK In thE ConStItuEnCy: new APPROACHES AND TOOLS


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The representative function is a key one in the functioning of a democratic parliament. It provides for various forms of communication with voters and of work in the constituency and is an integral part of the exercise of the powers of a member of parliament.

How the pandemic and the quarantine affected MPs’ work in the constituencies and their communication with voters, what challenges were faced by MPs and their teams, how they adapted to the new conditions, what tools they used to build work and communicate with the constituents – these questions were discussed during the fourth, final panel of the conference.

Dr. Sven Siefken spoke about the preliminary results of a study conducted by the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. A few years ago, the university conducted a large research on MPs’ work in the constituencies. It was planned that students would work with the data from that research, but the pandemic situation led to a change in the approach and the university began collecting new data. The process is still going on. In-depth interviews are conducted with members of the Bundestag, with the interviewees answering questions about the way their work is organized in the constituencies under the conditions of the pandemic and their adaptation to such new conditions. The interviews last from 20 to 60 minutes; the conversation is recorded, decoded, and the data is used for analysis.

Although the research work still continues, Dr. Siefken reported some preliminary conclusions.

1. The members of the Bundestag easily switched to work under the new conditions and adapted to them; their work continued without interruption. There were favorable factors for such an easy transition. Firstly, a well-developed basic infrastructure was available for use. This does not mean that such infrastructure had been actively used before; however, there was no need to invent or create new technical solutions. Secondly, the smooth transition was facilitated by decentralized work of the members of the German Bundestag in their constituencies – it is not regulated at the parliamentary or party level, there are no restrictions or special regulatory procedures similar to those established for the decision-making process in the Parliament or at the level of parliamentary factions and groups. Such work is in the hands of individual MPs and their aides working in the constituency. Thus, the basic infrastructure and the team (aides) contributed to the easiness of the transition.

2. Each deputy and team had to decide what would be optimal for themselves and then work out such solutions. From the perspective of the organizational theory, a crisis helps to delegate responsibilities to the lowest level and streamline the processes. This is what happened

Dr. Sven T. Siefken


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to the deputies. They were free to choose the means and the methods. Some were using Zoom, others preferred WebEx, etc.; everyone was looking for and using their own approaches. Everyone could decide what would work best for him or her.

3. Protection of information is still an important issue. Some MPs voiced apprehensions about data protection, were unwilling to use cameras, caring for protection of information.

4. From the viewpoint of practical work in video conference mode, telephone conferences focus primarily on the internal organization of work in the constituency, work of the MP’s office staff, aides, or work of parliamentary factions and groups. Such tools are less relevant to working with citizens. Many deputies noted that they can and will use such working tools in the future.

5. Such tools as video conferences or telephone conferences were not widely used for interaction with citizens. As regards contacts with citizens the MPs said they had begun to use much more frequently tools such as Facebook, broadcasts, or video podcasts, and were going to actively use them in the future.

6. A significant transformation took place in the work of an MP’s office in the constituency. Before the pandemic, open offices of MPs were operating – citizens could visit them and express their concern about some or other issue; after the imposition of the quarantine and the restrictive measures, however, such offices were closed. But hour intervals were established for making phone calls to the office or personal calls to the MP. A voter could call at a specific time to discuss an issue of importance to him/her or to the community.

7. There was an essential change in the content of the work. Talking about representation and communication in a constituency, they have two key components: collection of information and leadership in a certain aspect. Before the pandemic, the information collection component was superior to the function of leadership in the constituency. The research showed that there were shifts in that ratio. During the quarantine, the function of leadership prevailed over that of information collection. The deputies provided more clarifications, more information to the public. At present, it is hard to say whether that trend in the style of communication will persist in the future.

8. Digitalization proved to be efficient as a method for countering the crisis. But MPs noted that the latest methods worked well only because effective communication with citizens, government offices and partners in the constituencies had already been established.


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Ukrainian MP Roman Kaptyelov spoke of his experience in organizing work in the constituency and communication with voters under COVID-19 conditions.

He noted that during the quarantine the parliamentary workload on the aides had decreased and now they were more focused on remote work with the constituents. Appeals kept coming in, but the dynamics of personal meetings diminished. The main task of an MP is not to lose the rhythm of communication with voters who hope for the resolution of problems in the constituency and for receiving feedback. Communication with constituents must not be suspended; modern technologies can be very helpful in this respect.

Roman Kaptyelov singled out the following new features in MPs’ work.

1. A call center was established in the constituency; work with constituents was conducted via telephone calls. The office functioned on a regular basis, but remotely.

2. The most frequently used tool was Zoom; this practice will continue.

3. Facebook webinars on COVID-19 were organized for voters, who were informed about the situation, provided with clarifications on the safety measures to be taken, etc. Many people got interested and watched the broadcasts, asked some questions.

4. Work in Facebook was continued – and was scaled up; information was provided through paid advertisements – this proved to work very well. Thematic videos are released and promoted using targeted advertising in the constituency. “This results in higher quality and efficiency compared to using local media, which are inaccessible,” Roman noted. Each video gets 60 to 80 thousand views from the audience which is interested in these subjects.

5. The tools that are used and will continue to be used added up to give rise to the “Smart District” project. The project is planned to be launched in the next few days. It provides for voter-to-MP feedback so as to ensure openness and accessibility of the functions that Ukrainian MPs have at their disposal. “The Smart District” will offer more than 20 online services and constituency maps of various types: appeals, investment maps, electronic queue, etc.

6. The introduction of electronic document management at the Parliament has substantially optimized and alleviated the work of the MPs. As a result, they can work under any conditions if they can

Roman Kaptyelov


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access the Internet. An MP’s aide prepares draft documents; then the MP reviews the drafts, endorses them, sends them out and receives feedback. This scheme is very convenient and fast, modernizing the work and improving electronic democracy.

The Civil Network OPORA focuses on public control and advocacy, in particular in the spheres of elections, parliamentarism, local self-governance, as well as on collecting and analyzing open data. The RADA Program supported the implementation of the Project “Deputy from A to Z” of the Civil Network OPORA office in Rivne; under that project, among other things, work of MPs during the quarantine was analyzed. The results of the monitoring were presented by Andriy Tokarskyi.

OPORA experts analyzed the MPs’ remote work, in particular the use of social media by the deputies. The latter are familiar with such tools, since during the election campaign period they already used Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and YouTube for communicating with the voters. While campaigning, MPs were actively using tools that were popular and widely used by their voters. During the pandemic, the quarantine restrictions which made live communication impossible, such active use of social networks became “the next wave.” The MPs began presenting more information in social media. Not just presenting but also receiving information in various ways from their voters. What social networks are most frequently used by the MPs?

1. In Facebook, 394 MPs were found. The speaker noted that it should be taken into account that a person can be present in a social network in different ways – for example under a pseudonym. Or an individual may be avoiding public exposure and using “other names” to watch what is going on in the social networks. However, the experts succeeded in identifying 394 deputies using their real first and last names in Facebook. Characteristically, MPs’ communication with voters in Facebook involves the former presenting information on their work to the latter. The solutions that are popular during the pandemic are those which are either adopted in the parliament or pertain to what was mentioned by most of the MPs: charity, assistance they have been providing – primarily within their constituency – to healthcare workers as well as to constituents.

2. Ranking second in popularity among the MPs is the Instagram network. That communication channel is used by 201 deputies. Most of the reports contain information on the work that has been performed or announcements of future events.

3. Less popular and less actively used are Telegram channels.

Andrii Tokarskyi


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4. Still less popular are YouTube channels (38 MPs) – deputies use them primarily to inform voters of their participation in public events or to post recordings from TV channels. However, there is a number of MPs who actively use YouTube to form their own content – not just to repost information previously provided e.g. in mass media or by other subscribers, but also to present their own statements, declare their own stand, to communicate, to discuss some or other issues on the agenda with other MPs or with their voters.

5. The experts were unable to find 28 MPs in any of the social networks; hence, one may conclude that not all MPs use state-of-the-art communication channels – or they probably consider it best to participate in communication with voters in some other way.

As to the subjects proposed for discussion Mr. Tokarskyi had the following to say. Apart from providing information through social media about their own activities, the MPs also indicated how they work with voters, how their reception office operates in the remote mode, how they can be contacted: via telephone, through Facebook, or during online reception of voters.

The key findings of the monitoring are as follows:

1. During online reception of voters, the tools most often used for communication were Skype and Zoom.

2. The level of activity on MPs’ personal websites was increased.

3. Video statements were mostly used to highlight issues on the Parliament’s agenda.

4. Many MPs highlighted their activities in cooperation with the Parliament’s Education Center or informed their audience of enlightenment activities under other education projects or curricula.

5. In respect of parties and factions, the monitoring revealed that there is no single common approach to organizing remote work with voters – all MPs decide in their own way what should be done when organizing such activities.

Mr. Tokarskyi’s presentation is available here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tDCO-GAZXvR2TQnN2eimUV6wJrKXiY9r/view?usp=sharing


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Summary:

the pandemic became a challenge, but modern technologies help MPs to work and to promote representative democracy.

fast transition to remote work became a challenge for the parliamentarians in their work in the constituencies. Some of them were able to adapt fast to such work, based on previous experience and skills; others adapted slowly or simply ignored the opportunities and stopped communicating with voters.

Communication with voters must not be lost; modern technologies help to communicate with voters as well as to optimize the organization of work of MPs’ teams. there is no substitute for live communication, but online communication will remain an important part of the tools of an MP’s communication with voters in the future.

online communications have their challenges: cybersecurity, Internet coverage, use of Internet services by older people, online communication skills. these issues are to be addressed by parliaments and governments. the quarantine provided opportunities and showed how modern technologies, online platforms, social networks can help – by optimizing work, saving time and overcoming distances, in particular the distance between an MP and his/her voter.


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CONCLUSIONS


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In the course of the discussion, the participants agreed that, while the coronavirus pandemic became a serious challenge to the institutional capacity of parliaments, modern technologies greatly contributed to organizing stable work and to promoting representative democracy.

Undoubtedly, fast transition to remote work burdened MPs with a lot of difficult tasks; some adapted to such work faster, due to past practices and skills; others were slower to adapt, considering not only their own previous experience but also national peculiarities and legislative specifics. At the same time, the practice of many countries shows that in certain aspects the pandemic has had a positive impact on the parliamentary process. In particular, in view of the qualitatively new working conditions and tools, it has become almost impossible to block the work of the Parliament.

A number of parliaments have already acquired some experience in implementing safe cutting-edge tools for online registration, voting, discussing, and legislative work. Even more parliaments have been working towards implementing similar solutions in the nearest future.

Undoubtedly, remote work and online communications have their challenges: cybersecurity, Internet coverage, use of Internet services by older people, online communication skills. While at present the resolution of these issues is a very urgent matter for parliaments and governments, adaptation to the new specifics of the working process is a matter of time.

Certainly, the crisis caused by the pandemic stimulated parliaments and their structural units to develop areas of online work with the public. On the whole, the quarantine provided opportunities and showed how modern technologies, online platforms, social networks can help to optimize work and hence to create a multitude of new opportunities for communicating, sharing experience, and developing. The modernization processes in the communication sphere that created opportunities for the Parliament’s fast response and immediate communication with the voters, stakeholders and relevant organizations will undoubtedly become an integral part of parliamentary practice in the future.

Thus, the modern changes necessitated by the non-standard circumstances of today will not only remain an important part of the tools of parliamentary work, but will also lay down a strong foundation for further development, transformation and modernization of world parliamentarism. Representative democracy enters a new era, where work involving representation of voters’ interests, adoption of laws, and oversight of the Government in the plenary hall, at Committee meetings or parliamentary hearings will be harmoniously combined with online opportunities, imparting a new, “hybrid” character to the work of parliaments and parliamentarians.


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SPEAKERSWelcoming address

Ruslan Stefanchuk is the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Adviser to the President of Ukraine, the President’s representative to the Verkhovna Rada and the main ideologue of the “Servant of the People” party. In 2011-2013, he headed the Department of National Legislation Development at the Institute of Legislation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Until 2019, he was engaged exclusively in scientific activities, worked at the Khmelnytsky University of Management and the National Academy of the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine.

Thomas White is a USAID Foreign Service Officer with 20+ years of overseas experience. This includes work in Eastern Europe (2016-present), Asia (2006-2016) and the Middle East (1996-2006). His background has included both specific country-based projects and regional programming addressing governance and human rights issues; complex emergencies and humanitarian relief; and post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation. Currently manages USAID’s democracy and governance assistance programming for Ukraine.

Igor Kogut – USAID RADA Program Director since 2015, expert on parliamentarism, civic participation, electoral processes, political and civic education. In 2012, a member of the Constitutional Assembly; and in 2015, a member of the Constitutional Commission. He was an expert of the Council of Europe on the Strategy for Enhancing Public Participation in Decision-Making, and an OSCE / ODIHR expert on parliamentary ethics, as well as an OSCE consultant on public consultations. In 2000 he became a co-founder of the NGO “Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives”. He was also the founder of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies.

Avinash bikha is a Parliamentary Innovations Advisor who has directly advised the administrations of over 30 national parliaments in the South-East Asian, Caribbean, Pacific, Middle East, Horn of Africa, and Eastern European regions where he provided ICT visioning and strategic planning assistance. As independent consultant between 2012 and 2018 he supported several UNDP and EU-funded parliamentary strengthening projects with ICT strategic planning missions. And since 2016 he is attached to the Inter-Parliamentary Union where he continues to support the World e-Parliament Conference and Report activities, as well as inter-parliamentary knowledge networking activity through the IPU Centre for Innovation in Parliament.


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Tom Cormier is a democratic governance expert with over 30 years of experience in over 30 countries in Europe, Eurasia, Asia, the Americas and Africa. Involved in national politics in Canada for over a decade, Tom participated in numerous election campaigns and worked as an advisor to several Members of Parliament. Working internationally for over 20 years, Tom has designed and directed numerous initiatives in a variety of challenging political environments to support democratic transition, increase accountability and enhance effectiveness of democratic institutions. Tom has worked on behalf of and in collaboration with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD); the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD); the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA); the National Democratic Institute (NDI); Democracy International (DI); ParlAmericas; the International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights and Democracy); Global Affairs Canada; The European Union (EU); the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR); the World Bank; and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) among others. A 4th-generation Ukrainian Canadian, Tom served as Country Director for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Ukraine from 1999-2002.

Parliamentary Rules of Procedure and the legislative process under pandemic conditions: changes and adaptation

Mykhailo Tepliuk has occupied the positions of the Deputy Chief of the Staff of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Head of the Legal Department of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. He obtained Ph.D. in Law and Doctor of Law. He was the Head of the Legal Department of the Secretariat of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and Head of the Legal Department of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from 1997 to 2002. Also, he was a Senior Consultant, Head of the Sector, Deputy Head, First Deputy Head and the Head of the Legal Department since 1991 to 1997.

Pavlo Frolov was elected member of the 9th convocation from the party “Servant of the People” – he was number 126 on the list as a non-partisan. Member of the faction of the same name. Member of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Deputy Ethics and Organization of Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Chief Consultant of the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. He previously worked in the State Committee for Natural Resources of Ukraine as Head of the Independent Department for Interaction with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and Coordination of Legislative Work, as well as in the Office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Deputy Faction, Chief Consultant of the Special Control Commission on Privatization.


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Dr. benjamin Höhne is Deputy Director of the Institute for Parliamentary Research in Berlin. Until 2016 Höhne worked as an academic policy consultant in several security institutions (including the Planning Office of the Bundeswehr in Munich) and for the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation. Höhne has been lecturing at the Martin-Luther-University’s “Parliamentary Questions and Civil Society” programme since 2016, attaching importance to interfaces between theory and practice and connections among various levels of government, for example through excursions to the European Parliament, the German Bundestag and state parliaments. Höhne’s dissertation, “Recruitment of EU Parliamentarians. Organization, Actors and Decisions in Parties”, was awarded the Science Prize of the German Bundestag in 2015.

Anastasia Pyschny is a Doctoral candidate at the Martin-Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg after completing her B.A. and M.A. studies in Political Science and Romanic Languages. Her primary research interests are the French political system, parties and party systems in Europe and comparative electoral studies. She is also an experienced editorial assistant, having worked for the Journal for Parliamentary Questions, ZParl.

Dr. Victoria Hasson is a Senior Parliamentary Adviser at Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Victoria provides technical expertise in the design and development of WFD programmes. She leads on Political Economy Analysis and conducts technical assessments, delivers learning experiences related to core areas of parliamentary strengthening, produces research papers and develops new products for WFD. Victoria provides advisory support to the Africa, Latin America and Asia programme teams. Her main areas of interest include: parliamentary innovation and MP leadership development. With a doctorate on parliamentary procedure and democracy from the University of Sheffield, Victoria has ten years of parliamentary experience and worked in the National Assembly of South Africa for four years before joining WFD.

Till Heyde joined the Senate in 1998, and has occupied various positions with the Committees Directorate and the Chamber Operations and Procedure Office, most recently as head of the new Table Research service, which is responsible for long-term publications and outreach. Master of Arts in International Affairs from Carleton University, and Bachelor of Social Sciences (Political Science) from the University of Ottawa.


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Jeremy Leblanc began his career at the House of Commons as a page in 1995 and held a variety of part-time positions there and at the Library of Parliament. He became a procedural clerk in 2000 and worked in a variety of areas, including the Table Research Branch and the Committees Directorate. In 2005, he became executive assistant to the Clerk of the House of Commons and was named a deputy principal clerk and a Table Officer in 2007. After assignments in the Committees Directorate and the International and Interparliamentary Affairs Directorate, he was appointed Principal Clerk of the Journals Branch in 2014. In that capacity, he oversees procedural support for Chamber sittings as well as the publication of a variety of official parliamentary documents. He is also responsible for the Private Members’ Business Office and the Page Program.

II. Digitalization of legislative work: electronic instruments for Parliament`s remote work

Jerry Hilbert conducts studies on Information Technologies and Geomatics (Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). He has been working since 1989 in European institutions – first in the European Commission and then he joined the European Parliament IT services in 2007. Projects managed in the EP IT services focuses on websites related to legislation and networks with National Parliaments. He has taken over since early 2016 the responsibility of ECPRD Coordinator for ICT in Parliaments.

Ludovic Delepine has more than 25 years’ experience in IT, including IT governance for public administration, strategy, planning, enterprise architecture and digital transformation, including academic and research experience. In recent years, he played a key role in leading the Interinstitutional Working Group on Information Systems and Project Offices in the context of enterprise architecture, and specifically its business layer. He leads the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s IT governance thematic hub. Currently, he is Head of the Archives Unit at the Office of the Secretary-General in the European Parliament. He holds a Ph.D. in IT from the University of Bourgogne, where his principal areas of specialisation were artificial intelligence, and the internet and communication technologies. He has also worked as a lecturer at French universities and as a researcher in these fields at CNRS laboratories for over eight years.

Patricia Gomes Rego de Almeida is coordinator of Coordination of Digital Innovation, Governance and Strategy of Brazilian House of Representatives, where she has been involved in many actions related to digital parliament, open parliament, virtual plenary, agile methodologies and artificial intelligence. She also coordinates the innovation hub on open data of the Inter-parliamentary Union. She has a Master degree in electric engineer in the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and is studying for her PhD on Business Administration in University of Brasilia focusing on artificial


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intelligence governance and regulation. She was professor of University of Brasilia in Computer Science Department and had also worked as network analyst at Caixa Econômica Federal.

Jan Menzer is an associate fellow at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) in Vienna. His research focuses on German and U.S. policy toward Russia and Ukraine, security policy in Eastern Europe and NATO. From 2015 to 2018, he was an associate fellow at the Kyiv Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation (IEAC). In cooperation with the USAID RADA program, he has been advising parliamentary reform in Ukraine since 2016. At the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK), he conducted research from 2015 to 2018 on conflicts in Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict. For many years Jan Menzer has been a spokesperson for the regional research group “Eastern Europe/Caucasus/Central Asia” of the Cologne Forum for International Relations and Security Policy (KFIBS) and Regional Representative for the Berlin Office of KFIBS.

Oleksii Sydorenko – Head of the ICT Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine since 2006. Responsible for development and implementation of modern ICT technologies and solutions in the practice of the legislative process; initiator and co-author of the e-Parliament Strategy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. With his direct participation, a number of modern parliamentary systems were developed and implemented: the Integrated Electronic Document Management System, the Electronic Bill System, the Electronic Committee Meeting System, the Electronic Agenda of Plenary Meeting, the Parliamentary e-Petitions Portal, the Open Data Portal, the Citizens-Rada Legislative Discussion E-Platform, and MPs’ virtual workplace technology.

III. Civic parliamentary education and visiting services during CoVID-19

David Clark is the Head of Engagement and Education at the UK Parliament. From 2011 to 2015, as a Deputy Chief Executive / Head of Programmes and Policy at the British Youth Council, he was responsible for coordinating all UK programmes and activities for over 10,000 young people each year. Works as a Head of Education and Engagement / Designated Safeguarding Lead, leading the Education and Engagement Service. He works with people and communities across the United Kingdom to inspire the public understanding of, and engagement with, the UK Parliament. Engaging with over 1.5 million people every year through visits to the world class education centre, the annual UK Parliament Week festival and a range of other products and services. As a Head of Engagement and Education, he works with the Members of both Houses, the UK Government, the voluntary sector and schools.


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beth Plemmons is the Chief Executive Officer for Visitor Services at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, leads an expert team of more than 200 employees whose mission it is to “inform, involve and inspire” each of the more than 2 million guests who visit the United States Capitol every year. As CEO, Ms. Plemmons is responsible for maintaining a high quality visitor experience through delivery of world-class service standards, ensuring operational readiness, and managing maximum visitor flow in a safe and secure environment. Prior to joining the Architect of the Capitol, she served as Associate Director for Guest Services at George Washington’s Historic Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens where she supervised guest services operations, ticketing and group sales.

Mykola Shevchuk — Deputy Chief of Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In 1992 he graduated from Ivan Franko University of Lviv. He has experience working for multiple TV companies. He worked as the Advertising Director of UNIKA-TV, the Commercial Director of the National Television Company of Ukraine, and the General Director of the Lviv Regional State Television and Radio Company. Since 2015, he has been coordinating the work of communication units in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat. He sees great prospects in the activities of the Educational Center of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which opened in the summer of 2019.IV. Комунікація з виборцями та робота в окрузі: нові підходи та інструменти

IV. Work in constituencies: new approaches and instruments

Dr. Sven t. Siefken is a political scientist with a special focus on parliaments and public administration. He is nominated to be full professor of governmental research and policy studies at Martin-Luther-University in Halle, Germany. Previously, he taught as professor of public administration at Harz University of Applied Science and is a visiting professor of European Government at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, USA. He has worked on parliamentary oversight, district work of MPs in France and Germany and the role of expert commissions in the political process.

Roman Kaptyelov is a member of the Parliament of Ukraine of the 9th convocation, election district No. 36 (Dnipropetrovsk oblast), member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Budget, Servant of the People faction. Co-chair of the Interfactional Deputy Union “For the Development of Ukrainian Rocket Engineering.” Entrepreneur, co-founder of the LLC “Operative Sociology.” Previously, he worked at the Logos Corporation and the House of Vintage Cognacs “Tavria.” Also, he was a senior project manager at the Foundation “Dnipropetrovsk Our Home.” A graduate of the Russian State Social University, as a specialist in “Political Science.”


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Andrii Tokarskyi — founder of the Rivne Region branch of the All-Ukrainian NGO “Civil Network “OPORA”. In 2010 he was elected as a chairman of OPORA in Rivne Region. He performs coordination of regional and national level campaigns. In 2008, he graduated from the Ukrainian National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Agroecology and Land Management. He has long term experience in management, monitoring, analysis, coaching, etc.


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USEFUL LINKS

1. Conference materials

2. Video recording of the conference (in English)

3. Video recording of the conference (in Ukrainian)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sdxkQSJ8x79EVhZ9HSYCW9MYCe6DP2Ft?usp=sharing

https://youtu.be/NfruzDC8vVM

https://www.facebook.com/radaprogram/videos/257811509002479

Documents

KEY CHALLENGES AND LESSONS FOR PARLIAMENTS IN … · which institutions should develop in the radically new conditions, creating prospects for modernization and optimization of parliamentary