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LEGISLATIVE ENHANCEMENT IN FRANCOPHONE AFRICA

Representing Diversity: A Legislative Exchange Between Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and the United States

Project Summary

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), with the support of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), is undertaking a legislative exchange program with parliaments of Francophone Africa to increase understanding and knowledge of how legislatures interact with diverse groups in society, to promote professional relations among nations, and to strengthen parliamentary institutions in general. This program will engage members and staff from the parliaments of Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal in exchanges with American legislative experts. The exchange activities will aim to demonstrate to them how legislators in the U.S. are open and accessible to diverse groups in society and how these groups engage in the legislature. Over the course of the program, exchanges will further create links between members and staff in the participating countries and between all countries involved.

Through a series of activities and trainings over twelve (12) months, the program offers technical support and assistance to the participating parliaments while at the same time creating relationships of mutually reinforcing interests and experiences.  Included among the planned activities are:

• Study tours of the U.S. for Francophone African parliamentary members and staff;
• A study tour to Africa for a delegation of U.S. representatives, culminating in a regional forum for members and staff of the participating nations; and
• Development and production of a session during the 2006 General Assembly of the Réseau Africain des Personnels des Parlements (African Network of Parliamentary Staff, or RAPP)

Program activities will be based on and drawn from NCSL’s extensive legislative experiences in the relevant issues and in the region. To properly represent diverse constituencies, legislators need to understand the correlation of religion, education and political discourse. Community-building aspects of NCSL’s Building the New American Community (BNAC) integration initiative and NCSL’s Trust for Representative Democracy have helped define that correlation. NCSL’s experience in Francophone Africa also enables it to profit from the experience of RAPP, an organization that actively provides legislative training to parliamentary staff in nearly all of the participating countries.

By providing these opportunities for professional development and information exchange between U.S. state legislative experts and Francophone African parliamentary members and staff, the program will enable parliamentarians to better fulfill their role as representatives of the people.  In doing so, the program will also promote a continued relationship between Francophone Africa and the United States, contributing to an improved foundation for lasting political stability and growth throughout the region.