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KEY CHALLENGES and LESSONS for PARLIAMENTS in CONTEXT of CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC Review of the Results of the International Online Conference

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KEY CHALLENGES and LESSONS for PARLIAMENTS in CONTEXT of CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC Review of the Results of the International Online Conference 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 Introductory remarks Under 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. 4 The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC TABLE OF contents Conference agenda 6 Welcoming address 10 Parliamentary Rules of Procedure and the legislative process under 13 pandemic conditions: changes and adaptation Digitalization of legislative work: introduction of electronic tools to 17 support parliament’s remote operation Civil parliamentary education and visitor services under COVID-19 23 pandemic conditions Communication with voters and work in the constituency: new 25 approaches and tools Conclusions 32 Speakers 35 Useful links 42 5 The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC CONFERENCE agenda 6 The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC 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 7 The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC 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 8 The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC 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 9 The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC Welcoming address 10 The Key Challenges and lessons for ParliamenTs in The ConTexT of The CoVid-19 PandemiC 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 Igor Kogut 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 Ruslan Stefanchuk 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
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