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LEGISLATIVE ENHANCEMENT IN FRANCOPHONE AFRICA

New Member Orientation Programs and Parliamentary Staff Association

Project Summary

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), with the support of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Citizen Exchanges, orchestrated a legislative exchange program with the countries of Francophone Africa that encouraged institutional capacity building through the training of members and staff. The program connected U.S. state legislatures with the national assemblies of the participating countries; built upon extremely successful exchange programs recently undertaken on legislative staff functions; expanded upon those relationships to include legislator-level linkages; and extended the program to encourage participation of a large group of Francophone National Assemblies.

The first theme of this program – new member orientation programs – helped in the establishment, design, and implementation of post-election new member orientation programs in several Francophone national assemblies.  Such orientation programs help newly-elected U.S. legislators to better understand their new jobs, the parameters in which they work, the ethics expected of them, and the resources available to aid them. NCSL experienced that such programs were just as invaluable for newly elected African legislators.

The second theme of this program – the creation of a pan-assembly parliamentary staff association – facilitates and encourages relations and discussion among parliamentary staff in the participating Francophone National Assemblies. This association furthers the exchange of information, experience, and knowledge between National Assembly staffs. The association, called the Réseau Africain des Personnels des Parlements (African Network of Parliamentary Staff, or RAPP), provides on-going professional development opportunities for the staff that serve as the institutional memory of these important representative bodies.

Activities included a sensitization mission conducted by U.S. technical assistants who  visited the four national assemblies deemed to be the highest priority; a study tour of the U.S., which brought together selected participants from each of the four countries identified in phase I; regional workshops intended for legislative staff; a second U.S. study tour for senior staff from Francophone Africa; a conference in Africa on staff functions and professional societies; a technical assistance tour to Africa to assist national assemblies in preparing for their new member orientation programs; and technical assistance trips to help convene and facilitate meetings of the new association.