BDD Study Tour Report 2016

Report from

A study tour on DANISH DEMOCRACY

Bhutan Democracy Dialogue (BDD) Delegation 13-19 November 2016

Copenhagen, November 2016

BDD Study Tour to Denmark November 2016

Report from the Bhutan-DK Study Tour 2016.

Published by DIPD in January 2017. Written by Mette Bloch Hansen, Project Coordinator. Edited by Bjørn Førde, Director. Unless otherwise mentioned, all photos belong to DIPD.

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INTRODUCTION

Bhutan is one of several countries around the world chosen by DIPD for multi-party activities, and we have been working with partners in Bhutan since the end of 2011. The country is relatively small, both in size of the territory and the population. However, it is also a country that has had the courage and capacity to define its own vision of development, based on an understanding of change being measured according to the principles of “gross national happiness”. From the political perspective, Bhutan had democracy ‘handed back to the people’ by the King through a new Constitution, followed by the first political party based National Assembly elected in 2008. The second round of parliamentary elections were conducted peacefully in 2013, and they resulted in a convincing victory by the opposition party. The Constitution only allows for two parties to be represented in the Assembly, but there are presently five registered parties. DIPD has been engaging with representatives of the political parties in Bhutan since 2014, when party representatives visited Denmark for the first time. This resulted in the parties coming together to form the Bhutan Democracy Dialogue – BDD platform, established in cooperation with the Election Commission of Bhutan, which also functions as the secretariat for BDD. The delegation included two representatives from each of the five parties, as well as two from the Election Commission. Danish democracy is much older than the young democracy of Bhutan, and the political parties expect that they can learn from Denmark. Not with the intention of duplicating or copying what we have done in Denmark, but to get inspiration. From the programme, you will note that many topics have been covered, and different methods have been used. Delegates were presented with the successes as well as the challenges Danish democracy continue to face. This is the way it should be! The programme included seminars, field trips and a public meeting. The delegates from Bhutan experienced Danish democracy both at the local level (being hosted by local party branches) and at the national level (visiting political parties in Parliament). None of this would have been possible without the support offered by a lot of people and political parties, and we would like to thank all of them. In particular, I would like to thank members of the political parties for taking time to host the delegates both on the local field trip day and in the Parliament. A special thanks to the presenters, who shared their knowledge on many aspects of Danish democracy, including how to develop political strategies, campaigns and communication strategies and build local branches.

Bjørn Førde, Director

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CONTENTS

1. Objectives and programme

2. Party strategy, campaigning and communication

3. Local branches of political parties

4. Visiting parties in the Municipalities

5. Visiting parties in the Parliament

6. Public meeting and dialogue with the audience

7. Creating an Action Plan

ANNEX

A. Participants from Bhutan B. List of presenters C. List of background documents and resources D. Programme

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OBJECTIVES AND PROGRAMME The overall purpose of this study mission is to strengthen the capacity of participants and parties from Bhutan to contribute positively to the development of a democratic system of well-functioning political parties in a democratic culture in their home country, based on the inspiration from 1 the Danish democratic tradition and culture of dialogue.

OBJECTIVES

The overall purpose of the BDD (Bhutan Democracy Dialogue) delegation to Denmark in November 2016 was to draw upon experience and insights from Danish politicians and parties – enhancing the capacity of political parties in Bhutan with regard to: 1. Development of political strategy, policies and campaigns 2. Communication strategy and internal and public outreach 3. Local level Democracy and political work at District community level 4. Parliamentary work, dialogue, coalitions, negotiations and decisions

FORMAT

Seminar days consisted of lectures, training sessions and dialogue. Fields visits provided the opportunity to discuss tools, theories and strategies with practitioners at local and national level, gaining insights and inspiration from the ‘real world’ at municipal and national level. The Debriefing day allowed for reflection on learning and developing a strategy for how to ensure insights are conveyed to party members at home and learning brought back to enhance the political parties of Bhutan.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF STUDY TOUR

1. To offer an opportunity to Bhutanese party members to interact with Danish political parties in their local settings to potentially learn from their experience as parties; 2. Provide training in the role of parties between elections and formation of government, building on Danish experiences; 3. Provide training in areas of fund mobilization and accountability; strategy and organizational development; campaigning and creating local branches.

STUDY TOUR PROGRAMME

The study tour programme was tailored to meet the specific needs and preferences of the Bhutanese delegates, both with regard to the specific political situation and with a view to how the study tour will feed into DIPD programming in Bhutan. The first day of training was crucial in providing knowledge, concrete skills and tools to be applied by the Bhutanese parties. The second day, focusing on political parties local

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branches and political party financing, offered insights into how local level political parties organise themselves in order to engage members. Overall, the activities for the Bhutanese delegation focused on learning from Danish political party experiences on select issues including the institutional stability of parties; the role of parties after elections and in the formation of government. Activities also included capacity development in concrete organizational skills such as accountability, leadership and organizational development and campaigning. The study tour concluded with an Action Planning workshop in which the delegates reflected on their observations during the study mission, how to apply within their respective party and the future perspectives for the Bhutan Democracy Dialogue. Below you will find an overview of the programme. The detailed programme is included as Annex E.

Dates Subjects/Activities

Monday Political Strategy & Strategic Planning Communication and Media strategy

Tuesday Party Financing & Political work at Local level Official dinner

Wednesday Field visit Political parties municipal level

Thursday Field visit Danish Parliament Visit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Public meeting with Friendship Association

Friday Debriefing Day Action planning Reflections around future of BDD

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PARTY STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION The objective of this session was to enhance knowledge on how political parties can effectively develop political strategies to guide their work. Representatives from five different political parties were invited to present 2 different perspectives on how their party worked with this.

WELCOME

DIPD Director Bjørn Førde, welcomed the delegation and opened the seminar by explaining the aim of the efforts of DIPD in Bhutan: “Working with political parties to be strengthened within comfort zones of the Constitution and blessing of the Election Com- mission. It is always challenging working on maturing political parties. Democracy is not a straight forward distance to accomplish, but a long Journey.” During the two seminar days, participants were given an introduction to the Danish political system, its institutions and processes, formal and informal rules, with a focus on the work and experience of political parties. Including developing political strategy, developing communication strategy (external and within party) and various modalities and sources of political party financing.

SESSION NO 1 DEVELOPING A PARTY STRATEGY

The objective of the session was to enhance knowledge on how political parties can effectively develop political strategies to guide their work.

BY NIELS TH. DAHL, HEAD OF PRESS, THE LIBERAL PARTY

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Mr Dahl delivered a comprehensive presentation on Denmark’s governance system including the national political institutions (parliament and the cabinet), as well as the administrative subdivisions (regions and municipalities) and their respective elected bod- ies. He began his presentation by outlining the overall political landscape and providing historical background of his own party. Originating as the farmer’s party with a history of improving life prospects through education and liberalisation – challenged by the de- cline in agriculture finding itself in the need to develop policies relevant also for people outside agriculture. Today most Danish political parties state that they will preserve the welfare state, though Mr Dahl describes it as a bumblebee, which should not really be able to fly. Showing the relative positions of the Danish parties in the political spectrum, he elaborated on the challenges of the Danish society according to the Liberal Party and their strategy to address these challenges. Further he explained how to communicate their political strategy to the citizens as well as navigating in the current parliamentary situation and hereby providing arguments for how to developing a party strategy. First, it is important to understand that the political and economic context is important, and then to understand the dynamics and perceptions of the population. Sharing various statistics showing that the welfare and tax level in Denmark is amongst the highest, that Denmark is characterized by the highest score on social trust and that “Denmark is the least corrupt country in the world according to Transparency Interna- tional's study of corruption perception worldwide. No bribery and an open and well-functioning public sector have placed Denmark in top of the ranking since the first study in 1995,” according to Transparency International. Delegates were curious to understand, how Denmark arrives at such a prominent score, as avoiding corruption is a critical concern in the young democracy. Amongst the ex- planations certainly is the high level of social trust, reflected in both political and economic spheres of society, and the fact that Denmark has been a deeply regulated society for many years. Furthermore, it may also be conducive for a corruption free society that civil servants in the administration are paid well. Mr Dahl went on sketching the political context his party must navigate and summarized: ”We are a party with no voters, in a government without seats, in a country without money – we’re going to have a blast!” The rationale of the party strategy and concrete political proposal launched as a “Plan for Denmark” was to signal that the Party has huge ambitions for Denmark and do take on the responsibility to lead the Country. Fur- thermore, the party wanted to embrace the entire population departing from its historical role as the farmer’s party. Important aspects of the strategy:  The helicopter (insist on talking about the broader vision for Denmark, avoiding being questioned on concrete details regarding how to arrive on specific results).  Responsibility (for the future of the country).  Attack (other parties for free riding).  The agenda of average Danes (so-called common-sense approach). The delegates then wanted to know how political parties are held to account for their promises in-between elections – and if any sanctions apply if promises are broken? There do not exist formal procedures. The role of the media are to investigate and ex- pose, while the voters are in the position to signal dissatisfaction and the opposition may attempt to gather support for a “vote of no confidence ", forcing the Government to call

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an election, although this rarely happens. In Denmark we have an accountability mech- anism called the Ombudsman, to which individual citizens can make claims whenever they observe any law is being compromised or they want to submit complaints about any entities of public administration. Finally, Mr Dahl touched upon some of the challenges of balancing between the vision in the party Manifesto and the daily politics running the country and delivering as resort ministers. Appreciating the challenges of this act of balance, the delegates were keen to deepen their understanding of the balance in the role of civil servants vis-a-vis politicians. The Danish political system is characterized by its relative decentralization. The su- preme legislative assembly is the parliament, Folketinget, which since 1953 has had only one chamber. The parliament has 179 seats elected by proportional vote with a 2 percent electoral threshold. Though it is legal to run as independent, party candidates fill practically all seats and so the party is the single most significant electoral unit. There is a high degree of party cohesion within the parliament and MPs rarely act inde- pendently (by voting against their party line) though it happens in certain rare cases, usually issues perceived as pertaining to personal convictions. The parliament proposes and approves national laws. The right of initiative (the right to propose new laws) lies with both the government and the parliament. While both the government and the opposition parties have the right to propose laws, the majority of proposals are from the government. The Danish parliament is not elected for fixed terms; it is the prerogative of the government to decide when to call an election, though elections must take place at least every four years. While local elections are fixed for the third Tuesday in November every fourth year. In Denmark, a party or coalition of parties can form a government, as long they do not have a majority voting against. This is referred to as “negative parliamentarism”, which often results in minority governments. A minority government will need other parties to support it. In technical terms, a supporting party is a party that would not vote in favour of a vote of “no-confidence”.

SESSION NO 2 DEVELOPING AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN STRATEGY The objective of the session was to acquire skills and insights on how a political party can effectively develop political campaign strategies. This was pursued by offering the experiences and perspectives of a party with long history and traditions followed by those of a newly founded party, which just entered the Parliament.

BY MATTIAS BREDDE, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL, SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

Mr Bredde delivered an insightful and honest presentation based on lessons from previous elections. A good campaign strategy will propose viable solutions to what people perceive as the main problems. Before elaborating further on how to arrive at a good strategy Mr Bredde outlined three key characteristic of a bad strategy – what to avoid:  Failure to face the challenges – understand what people are concerned about.  Mistaking goals for strategy – avoid confusing path to achieve goals with a plan to overcome obstacles.  Identify bad strategic objectives – which are considered less important by voters.

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The key to develop a good strategy on the other hand is to carefully identify core challenges for the society. The individual political parties will have different answers to these problems based on their ideology or vision. Therefore, strategies will divert, when it comes to presenting the means to overcome the present time challenges facing the society. First step in the campaign strategy will thus be diagnosis – which is to be undertaken through dialogue with citizens about their dreams, hopes and concerns. Understanding how people define the problem is critical for the parties to develop relevant answers – solutions to the challenges that resonate with citizens. The next step is to develop policies visualising how the party intends to address key concerns, which political initiatives and how these will bring the society in a prosperous direction. A good campaign strategy depends upon the party being coherent in policy and action. A party will be judged on not only messaging, but also equally which concrete policies were implemented under the party’s watch. The final step in developing and executing a strong election campaign is to aligning communication of all entities of the party. Therefore, you will at this stage revisit the party’s guiding principles and distil the overall focus. Summarising, a good strategy is developed by systematically applying the following steps:  Diagnosis – weak diagnosis is a dangerous Achilles heel.  Developing guiding policies.  Coherent actions and communication of all entities of party – keep focus. Mr Bredde emphasised that that a key to successful campaign is focus and the core of party work, whether it is to recruit more new members or to attract voters to win an election - is engaging with constituency. This happens through various channels from local meetings, “door-to-door” mobilising and media – it is critical listening to people. Maintaining focus on one main problem strengthens communication and help consolidating strategy. Of course complex responses are needed in solving our days challenges for society and while keeping focus parties may relate to other policy issues. For example if “unemployment” is main concern – “job creation” could be the overall answer, while policy solutions could include investing in sustainable energy/windmills, infrastruc- ture or education. It is valuable for every political party to evaluate past experiences truthfully. For example a lesson from leading a coalition government is that it would have been a strength being honest about the party’s inability to achieve and realise the pure policy of the party. Explaining voters that compromises inevitable had to be made balancing all coalition parties’ positions, while being clear on own policies the party would work hard to achieve.

BY DANIEL HAUBERG, HEAD OF CAMPAIGN, THE ALTERNATIVE PARTY

Mr Hauberg provided inspiration on how to design an alternative election campaign by sharing the ideas and campaign components of his party’s campaign, bringing the young party unexpected success at the latest Danish general election. The Alternative Party does not depart from any specific ideological cradle and refuse to position itself according to a left-right dichotomy. The key political issues defining the party are, what they label as the 3 crisis: The climate change crisis - jeopardising the

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future of our planet; The empathy crisis - increasing gap between rich and poor and The system crisis – the economic doctrines of the past has failed. As a new party the Alternative Party identified following challenges defining their campaign strategy: no money, no experience, no recognition in public and being ruled-out in advance by the media. In the view of these challenges they defined their success criteria prior to the general election as follows:  Creating a campaign that established parties would respond to – hereby achieving media interest.  Promoting key political issues, climate change was identified as main focus – hereby branding the party.  Strengthen the party’s organisation - hereby prepare for the next local elections  Gaining at least 4 seats in the Parliament – hereby gaining a platform for developing and disseminating alternative political ideas. The methodology of the campaign was developed within above-mentioned constraints depending to a high extend on volunteers, social media, activism and happenings/street theatre to create attention without a communication budget. A main campaign compo- nent was organising a sort of open live political talk shows in main cities. This compo- nent was oriented towards creating space for dialogue with people in combination with media attention. Since most candidates were unknown to the public the party leader travelled the country endorsing and presenting them.

The Session was concluded with reflections on similarities and differences between the approaches as well as comparison with the procedures guiding elections in Bhutan. Delegates were interested in knowing, whether focus is mostly on the candidates or the core principles and ideas of the party rather than persons. According to Mr Hauberg, the focus the Alternative Party’s election campaign was on their party leader although candidates and activists played a key role orchestrating the campaign. While Mr Bredde

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explained, that the Social Democratic Party historically has been rooted in principle programme with strongholds of loyal members. Nevertheless today the share of the population being members of a political party in Denmark has declined and voters are less loyal. The Social Democratic Party will in its election campaigns combine the analysis of present problems of society and developing social democratic answers rooted in their principle programme. The key is presenting your party’s solutions.

SESSION NO 3 DEVELOPING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY The objective of the session was to enhance knowledge in the field of political communication acquiring new skills in strategies for political communication.

BY MR BENT NICOLAJSEN, PROGRAM MANAGER WITH THE DANISH LIBERAL DEMOCRACY PROGRAMME

Mr Nicolajsen opened his presentation by justifying the importance of a strategy for communication. For political parties and politicians being aware that communication is happening all the time - both when intended and not - is key. Furthermore, it is worth noting that internal and external party communication is interlinked. The very simplest form of communication strategy clarifies four basic questions: Who – What – How – Why. In other words, which target group would we like to reach with which message by what means and the principal question: What do we want to achieve with the communication? Diving a little deeper Mr Nicolajsen introduced a 9-step approach to developing a comprehensive communication strategy. 1. Deciding, who to involve in the communication and ensure ownership - it is critical that those who are to deliver feel they are part of the process shaping the party’s communication. 2. Analysing the situation and context - applying systematic methodology for background analysis ensure all areas are covered – PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological Environmental and Legal) and SWOT (Strength, Weak- nesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis are recommended – note that both the external context and the internal background is relevant. 3. Linking manifesto and communication strategy - agree on which parts of the party manifesto the communication should focus on as this have implications for the communication. - A strong strategy for political party communication is linked to the core principles/values of the party, its’ vision and mission. Considering the vision, more than one party may subscribe to the same vision for Bhutan; the Mission on the other hand refers to the specific role of the individual party towards achieving the vision or various political themes. 4. Identifying target audience – who to reach and understanding how they compre- hend the world is critical in tailoring communication in order to ensure it reach intended target audience. 5. Developing messages, considering content and language that resonates with tar- gets audience as well as messenger (who to deliver the messages), how and when - timing is often essential.

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6. Selecting vehicles to carry the messages, what medium to be used for communication (e.g. Radio, community drama, written (pamphlets, newspapers) etc. choosing the right vehicle should be based on not only target audience, but also how long the communication is to last, the importance of genuine participation/dialogue - and the available budget 7. Planning & implementation - include establishing overview of the various tasks, clarity on the objective to be achieved, which are to guide understanding of out- puts and outcomes of the communication intervention, assigning specific responsibilities to individuals and draw a timeline for all to have an overview and keeping track of the various components of your communication strategy. 8. Monitoring and ensure feedback from target audience by following what is happening, while it is happening to adjust communication strategy. 9. Evaluating the outcome of the communication to draw lessons for future strategies – assess what was achieved compared with planned results set out in the strategy and analyse why. For example the town hall dialogue meetings may generate political debate while party rallies may spur a more confrontational atmosphere. Following the presentation of the 9-steps to develop a communications strategy the delegates was assigned group work party by party. They were asked to reflect upon if and how the various components of developing a communication strategy could inspire their party including considering which of the steps they found most relevant and important in a Bhutanese context. The Election Commission of Bhutan are organising public meetings and dissemination of materials from all political parties during elections – providing in this regard a level playing field.

SESSION NO 4 COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR MEMBERS WITHIN THE PARTY The objective of the session was to enhance knowledge on how political parties can develop strategies to strengthen their internal communication.

BY AUGUST VIGEN SMOLARZ, COMMUNICATION AND CAMPAIGN ADVISOR, SOCIALIST PEOPLES PARTY

Mr Smolarz began his presentation based on concrete experiences of internal party communication, stipulating the value of strong internal communication as critical to grow and gain influence as a political party. Continuous internal communication is what keeps a political party together. Well-organised internal communication enables a party to make good campaigns and facilitate sharing of ideas and inspiration across local branches in various geographic areas. Furthermore, lack of open internal communication may cause disruption and discon- nects between different entities of the party. This was a lesson drawn by the Socialist Peoples Party, evaluating what were the challenges they faced being in Government for the first time. Local members and constituencies were not adequately informed and involved in shaping the policies of the parliamentary group of MPs - or prepared for the consequence of being member of a coalition Government, where compromise is part of the daily work and own party priorities may be overshadowed.

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Designing an internal communication strategy entails analysis of the context – the specific characteristics of your particular party. It is important to establish a clear understanding of what information is valuable to share and with whom. Then you will have to develop an internal structure to facilitate communication between the various parts of your Party e.g. the Leadership, Parliamentary Group, political committees, local branches and individual members. Mr Smolarz then went on presenting various means of communication to be applied for different purposes.  Email is an excellent means for one-way communication, to bring a lot of information to a large number of people, who have signed up to a newsletter or sub- scribed to specific information from the party.  Face-to-face communication provides the opportunity for dialogue and enables relation building and creation of trust amongst party members and representatives – It is important establishing space for sharing of ideas and political view- points within the party e.g. branch meetings or meetings on political issues.  Facebook and Twitter and features such as What’s App or other social media represent both new opportunities for direct communication with a large audience and enable two-way communication. This new arena for political dialogue and debate, however also bring about new challenges, as it is harder to control the audience. Nevertheless Social Media is utilized as a media for feedback from members – e.g. from a MP opening an internal political dialogue on the position of the party on a specific political issue and hereby involving members beyond a designated political committee.

 SMS -text message is relevant to communicate very brief messages or information to a large number of people instantly. Visualising the multiple channels and importance of carefully planning and coordination of communication, Mr Smolarz shared a chart of the internal communication “web” of his party. From the chart it became clear that communication happens through many streams within a party. All of following actors or entities are interlinked through communication via formal and informal channels: Annual National Congress – National leadership – Daily Leadership Local Branches – Policy Committees – Parliamentary Group – Ordinary Members. Recapitulating Mr Smolarz emphasised that developing the internal communication strategy includes analysing the current situation and context as it determine the specific needs of a party. Needs may differ depending on whether the party is in Government or in Opposition, inside or outside Parliament. Furthermore it is important to ensure the right frequenting and segmentation of communication - considering, which groups exist within your party – do they require different information or receive their information from different channels. Then decisions are to be made on what to be communicated – how, when and to whom. Finally it is essential continuously to measure the communication in order to adjust if it does not fulfil indented purposes or new needs are discovered. During the group conversations amongst participants on how to apply the inspiration in a Bhutanese context - the challenge of reaching out to rural population was raised. One of the obstacles identified was that political parties are not eligible to seek representation in local governments. This is amongst the causes explaining the political parties of Bhu- tan being mostly capital based, and local political activities mostly taking place at the occasion of general elections.

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LOCAL BRANCHES OF POLITICAL PARTIES In the strategy of DIPD, the local branch level of the political party has been chosen as a key priority area. One reason is that the local branches are important for the democratic functioning of the party. Another reason 3 is that Denmark has a long tradition in this area.

SESSION NO 5 POLITICAL PARTY FINANCING

The objective of the session was to enhance knowledge about and understanding of political party regulation with a particular focus on Denmark and party financing.

BY KARINA KOSIARA-PEDERSEN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

Ms Kosiara-Pedersen delivered an excellent lecture, drawing upon her comprehensive knowledge from being a member of the Committee on Transparency of Party funding, which delivered a comprehensive report including recommendations for alternative models improving the Danish regulations. The lecture covered different models of party financing and their strength and weaknesses, implications of party funding models on political parties and democratic development as well as the importance of funding and the impact hereof on how parties may develop. Political party financing is to be understood within the broader framework of laws regu- lating political parties. Therefore, Ms Kosiara-Pedersen initially provided some background on the Danish situation. In the Danish Constitution, political parties are not even mentioned. There exists no law on how political parties are to organise themselves with regard to candidate nomination, enrolment etc. Neither do we have laws e.g. encouraging professionals to join politics. Political parties nevertheless play an indispensable role in our democracy and are protected by the laws on freedom of association and freedom of speech. Ms Kosiara-Pedersen explained that in Denmark, an old democracy having evolved over time, minimal regulation exists compared with newer “instant democracies” which tend to be installed with more formal regulations. The existing regulations, managed by the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice, cover: who may present candidates at election, public party funding and a ban on political commercials. The regulation on party financing relates to income (e.g. abolishing certain types of income foreign- ers/anonymous beyond a certain amount) and expenses (e.g. total sum of campaign expenses) as well as level of transparency and public funding. In Denmark, transparency at national level is secured by requesting political parties to report their income according to following five categories: member dues, public party funding, private support, subsidies from the European Union and “other”. Political parties are also requested to specify any person or company who contributes more than DKK 20.000. Both public and private support needs to be disclosed in order for citizens to know about potential bias. Finally, political party accounts must be professionally au- dited. However, the regulation does not apply at the local level. The Committee on

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Transparency of Party funding recommends in its report, including contributions at local level and for individual candidates in the regulatory framework. Reflecting upon what types of regulations are necessary in order for democracy to work well in Bhutan, delegates emphasised that in Bhutan a huge challenge for democracy is involvement of citizens. People are hesitant to register as members while only registered members are allowed donate an amount of 500.000 N therefore members’ contri- bution constitute a minimal source of funding. Further, it was stated in the discussion that in a young democracy it is critical to put comprehensive regulation in place in order to ensure level playing field between the political parties in addition to avoiding corruption through transparency. Ms Kosiara-Petersen went on to elaborate on three different categories of public political party funding: Direct, which can be based on parliamentary group on the basis of number of MPs - or party organisation e.g. based on members/voters. Indirect, which could include research institutions, educational programmes or support for youth organisations. In kind for example access to public areas for meetings or communication channels. It was explained how different incentives are affiliated with different types of funding. Danish political parties benefit from public funding both as parliamentary groups and as local branches receiving support per voter. The funding for political parties is necessary in order for them to carry out the multiple tasks of a political party: Recruit- ment and training of political leadership, campaigning, policy formulation, organise parliamentary work and political mobilisation and socialisation. The delegates were encouraged to discuss advantages and disadvantages of being funded by dues and contributions from members and individual supporters, or on the contrary by organisations and businesses. The reality in most places is that parties are funded through a combination of sources. Furthermore, delegates were asked to reflect upon implications of funding on how parties organise themselves. For example the role of volunteers vis á vis paid party staff. One of the issues raised in the discussion was the challenge of recruiting, mobilising and engaging members in the Bhutanese context, where no one asked for democracy in the first place and people tend to be suspicious of members of political parties. It was additionally identified as an obstacle that public sector employees are prohibited from party membership and that youth organisation members and even volunteers are to be registered. In order to transform the negative perception of being member of political parties it was suggested to combine civic education with face-to-face dialogue carried out by party members serving as ambassadors approaching friends, colleagues and family members. The challenge of bringing on board members is shared between Bhu- tan and Denmark where today only 4 per cent of the population are members of a political party in contrast to the past when nearly to half of the population were affiliated to a political party.

SESSION NO 6 WHY ARE LOCAL BRANCHES IMPORTANT? The objective of the session was to enhance knowledge of value, role and functions of local branches for democratic development.

BY KARINA KOSIARA-PEDERSEN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

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The lecture provided a solid foundation for understanding the value and importance of local branches of political parties to ensure parties are capable of delivering on the needs and aspirations of citizens. Ms Kosiara-Pedersen stipulated the importance of local level branches with regard to enhancing political parties’ strength, accountability and credibility between elections and during election campaigns. She began her lecture by defining the core role of political parties to nominate candidates for elections to public office and providing a unique and very important linkage between elected and electorate. A political party organisation consists of party leadership incl. parliamentary group and a party bureaucracy with both professionals and volunteers and member organisations. The specific organisational structure is determined by historical factors, culture, election system, ideology and profile of the individual party. Nevertheless, the overall assignments of a political party are the following:  Recruitment and training of political leadership, candidates etc.  Vote structuring and campaigning  Interest aggregation  Policy formulation  Organise parliament, government etc.  Political mobilisation and socialisation providing citizens a channel for political participation In Denmark, local branches play an important role delivering on the assignments above. Local branches of most political parties gather at annual meetings electing a board and a local chair as well as delegates for the Party Congress and nominate local candidates. The local board will meet frequently, organising events involving the members. Mobilis- ing at local level may help discovering and identifying potential candidates and allow them to develop their skills by being assigned tasks and responsibilities. The delegates were assigned to sketch out the administrative structure of Bhutan and reflect upon the implications for their way of organizing themselves as parties. In Bhutan there are 20 districts, and all political parties are requested to nominate candidates for all the 47 constituencies. Campaigns are organised at national level 3 month in before Election Day. The Election Commission of Bhutan organises voter meetings and television debates with representatives from the political parties. It was pointed out that in the process of developing the democratic culture of Bhutan, political parties additionally could engage in political work in between elections. This could include sharing political positions on various political issues either locally or via media. It could also include practising democratic dialogue between representatives from multiple parties and hereby demonstrating to the public, that it is ok to disagree within an atmosphere of respect. Finally, during the time in between elections representatives of political parties should interact with people within constituencies. Initiating dialogues on matters of their concern offer the opportunity to better understand their interests and needs. It is recommended that parties make statutes on internal party roles including rules for local branches. Local branches of political parties are important components in internal party democracy with the potential of involving members throughout the country in policy formulation and nomination of candidates and campaigning. Local branches may further help secure national ownership to the evolving democracy by offering channels for political participation outside the capital. Reflecting upon how to involve citizens in the democratic processes, various ways of party affiliation were brought up, ranking from formal due-paying members over various

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sorts of light memberships or social networks around political parties. It may be benefi- cial to broaden the base of affiliates beyond formal members to include sympathetic people receiving information on policies of the party and serving as “ambassadors” within their network, encouraging people to vote for the party. Affiliates in local constituencies can also serve as “eyes and ears” of the party conveying valuable information about local concerns to the party. This may enable the party bettor tailoring policies to local needs and enhance representatively of political parties. The session concluded on the note, that thinking outside the box, creating alternative ways of engaging people is needed to bring about a democratic culture in a context with many restrictions and constraints to citizens’ democratic participation.

SESSION 7 ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL BRANCHES The objective of the session was to enhance knowledge about role and function of local branches as means for coordination of political interests of political parties.

BY ROLF AAGAARD-SVENDSEN, FORMER MAYOR, CONSERVATIVE PEOPLES PARTY, MEMBER OF DIPD BOARD

Mr Aagaard-Svendsen provided an insightful presentation, sharing experiences from his own extensive political career starting when he was 15 years old, including as member of City Council for more than 30 years, representing the Conservative People’s Party. The presentation was also drawing upon the DIPD publication Political Parties at Local Level, to which Mr Aagaard-Svendsen contributed. The presentation elaborated on the various functions of local branches within the structures of the political parties at regional and national level. Further the presentation was illustrating how local branches facilitate coordination of political interests and in that way enable parties to gain national influence. The five key functions of Local Branches making them invaluable to the national party are the following:  The local branch is a home for every party member, where you feel belonging.  The local branch elects delegates for party congress – which is the highest authority within the party democracy.  They serve as “ambassador” of the national party enabling face-to-face dialogue with the constituencies and local representatives.  It is the local branch, which is responsible for the direct contact to the members and recruitment.  In many parties, it is the local branches, which elects candidates and run campaigns for National, Regional and Local elections – and conduct fundraising activities. Based on insights from the Conservative People’s Party Mr Aagaard-Svendse explained that the national party organisation will undertake training of candidates for the parliament, while the local branch is responsible for educating candidates on local political issues. The local branch is responsible for making the candidates renowned and recognised in the constituency and nationwide by approaching media, organising public meetings and meetings with local influential persons and local MP etc. Mr Aagaard-Svendsen then went into depth explaining the planning process for local elections, listing the various steps in the planning process. First step is “taking stock of

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political backing in the municipality” this entails thoroughly analysing promises and ac- tual deeds in election period with the purpose of assessing strength and weaknesses. The next initial step is establishing a calendar of all the meetings and tasks to be carried out during the election campaign period both internal party meetings and public events and the nomination of candidates. Hereafter begin the process of developing strategies for particular elements of the campaign and budget. This is including developing political strategy, communication strategy and strategy for promoting the party candidate for the position as mayor and strategy for electoral pacts with other political parties. Aagaard-Svendsen illustrated how branch members are involved in executing various tasks during an election campaign. The local Board or a campaign committee is to main- tain the strategic and political overview while branch members take on responsibility for concrete tasks such as organising events and election meetings or writing letters to newspapers depending on their preferences and competences. Branch members also contribute to the visibility of the party and the candidates by “street canvassing” and by distributing election pamphlets etc. Finally social gatherings of members and followers are an important aspect of motivating members and mobilising volunteers for the party campaign. Concluding the session, the delegates reflected upon modalities for party members’ influence on a party’s policy and what could be relevant and feasible roles of local branches in the Bhutanese context where political parties are currently not eligible to nominate candidates for local government and the membership base of the parties is limited. In this vein they also discussed criteria for party membership and alternative categories of party affiliation and involvement and inspired by ideas from Denmark.

SESSION 8 HQ AND THE LOCAL BRANCHES The objective of the session was to enhance knowledge on how a political party can effectively develop strategies to embrace and fertilise local branches.

BY ROLF AAGAARD-SVENDSEN, FORMER MAYOR, CONSERVATIVE PEOPLES PARTY, MEMBER OF DIPD BOARD

The presentation covered various aspects of the process of organising a local branch, identifying potential members and establishing democratic procedures within the party. Mr Aagaard-Svendsen explained the process of mobilising local branch party members based on concrete examples from the process of revitalising a local branch of the Con- servative Peoples Party. Focus for the presentation was on how cultivating local branches and enabling members to be involved in either political issues or practical tasks of the branch. Furthermore, the presentation provided inspiration towards strengthening internal democracy and structures conducive for cooperation between various levels within a party. Considering establishing a local branch, it is critical to assess the potential political le- gitimacy and sustainability before proceeding. It is important to understand the constituency and carefully map the political landscape seeking indication of prospects of solid local support. Hereafter the process of forming a local branch can begin, including establishing democratic procedures, organisational set-up etc. In order to consolidate the local branch it is important forming a political platform with clear links to the values and

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vision of the national party. Ownership by members is key to an effective and lasting political platform, therefore a participatory process is strongly recommended. With a view to elaborate on how to enhance involvement of party members at the local level, Mr Aagaard-Svendsen illustrated the various layers of target groups for the party, ranking from voters to dedicated active members with an “onion-model” of the ideal local unit. In the centre of the onion is the Board. Next layer is active members, who are invited to contribute to various activities and tasks of the local branch, including: policy development in committees on political issues, communication both internal and external or organising events e.g. constitution day meetings and social gatherings. Third layer con- stitutes of members, who pay their due and are eligible to take part in nomination of candidates etc. and may be present at the annual general assembly – and volunteer for election campaigns. Fourth layer consists of voters belonging to the party and finally the fifth layer consists of voters in the municipality still to be won over by the party. By offering a palette of different activities and delegating tasks previously carried out by the board, more members were mobilised and involved in the work of the local branch in between elections, which eventually contribute to strengthening branch and party. The local branches play a key role in recruiting new members and welcoming them to the party as well as motivating their active involvement. The recruitment and training process is also where leadership talents are identified, nurtured and encouraged to take on positions within the party or as candidates. The continued education and relation building amongst members is essential for building the human capital of the party. All units of the party including local branches are eligible to present political proposals at the annual congress of the party, which is important for creating ownership to the party’s policies. Even when elected for Parliament, the representatives are expected to partic- ipate in local branch meetings of their constituency. This is a valuable opportunity to ensure that concerns of the constituency are brought to the national level, while at the same time help to ensure that local members are well informed about the national political positions of their party for which they serve as ambassadors in their respective communities. Based on the inspiration and insights throughout the sessions of the day, delegates were encouraged to consider strategy for how their party will recruit and motivate new members. The parties of Bhutan indicated that they are in the process of developing strategies for involving more people including civic education, which also played an important role shaping the Danish democratic culture. Concluding the session, Mr Førde emphasised the importance of action: “You are at a watershed mark of the democratic development of Bhutan. You need as political parties, finding the key to motivate and secure participation and ownership in the democratic development at local level you need to clarify what you as party can offer people at local level. They need to know what they can do, how they can engage.”

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VISITING PARTIES IN THE MUNICIPALITIES Members of the political parties hosted groups of delegates for a day in local communities. Delegates went to Hillerød, Egedal, Allerød, Freder- iksberg and the City of Copenhagen. The objective was to present the 4 life of the parties at local municipal level. THE HOSTS

Local branch party representatives in the Copenhagen metropolitan area hosted the four groups of Bhutanese delegates. The hosts included current and former elected politicians as well as volunteer party activists. The Bhutanese politicians were introduced to local city council members, mayors and visited municipal offices and local institutions such as the public library and benefited from the opportunity to ask questions about how parties function at the local level as well as the Municipal Council in the Danish context.

The Social Democratic Party Per Kristensen Hillerød

The Social Liberal Party Lone Loklindt Frederiksberg

The Liberal Party Niels Kirkegaard Allerød

The Socialist People’s Party Peter Hansen Egedal

The Red Green Alliance Gorm Gunnarsen Copenhagen

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Delegates were observing how the political party representatives works at local level within the Danish democratic institutions at local level including the work of the municipality, areas of responsibility, council procedures, and how local politicians are engaging with stakeholders. They were also presented with the Danish tradition of consultative processes, “public hearings” in which citizens have the right to submit their response to certain political proposals, voicing their concerns and sharing their perspectives. The local hosts and party representatives shared their experiences and insights on the work of a political party at the local level, including building coalitions across party lines. They also explained the relation between local branch and HQ and the relation between elected representatives, their political party and local branches Throughout the day, delegates enhanced insights in the work of different political parties at local level as well as the work of political representatives of the parties serving as member of a municipal council or as Mayor. Delegates benefited from the insights and opportunity for direct dialogue on political strategies and areas of concern at municipal level, which provide inspiration strengthening local level presence of their own parties.

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VISITING PARTIES IN THE DANISH PARLIAMENT Each hosting party organized its own programme for the group, meeting former party leaders and MPs. The dialogues concerned various aspects of the political work in parliament, party strategies, coalition building and 5 political settlements as well as the organizational structure of parties, and political communication.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the field visit to parties and politicians at the parliament was to understand the modus operandi of the Danish Parliament, and gain insights in the national work of political parties as member of government and as member of opposition. Includ- ing the work as parliamentarians in political committees keeping the Government/Min- isters to account - procedures of hearings, mandates and questions for the Minister.

THE MINISTER AND THE PARLIAMENT

BY MR RASMUS HELVEG PETERSEN, FORMER MINISTER AND MP, THE SOCIAL LIBERAL PARTY - AND INCOMING DIRECTOR OF DIPD

Mr Helveg Petersen delivered an insightful introduction to the Parliamentary system of Denmark, drawing upon his own experiences as MP and Minister, explaining the role of the Government vis-à-vis the Parliament and the relation between parliament and Min- ister formally and in practical terms.

In brief, the role of a Minister is to serve the nation and the parliament. The Minister will be consulting with the parliament, gathering representatives from each party on the subject matter seeking support for various initiatives and policies. Ministers run the country

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in accordance with the laws enacted by the Danish Parliament though most Bills are drafted and introduced by the Government. Delegates were interested in the relation between the political influences of the party vision compared to the highest-ranking civil servant. Civil servants in Denmark are not replaced after elections or when a new Minister is appointed. As a minister, you will have to be prepared for a number of fights to advance a political proposal. First, you will have to convince the administration, then your colleagues in government and finally gain the support from parliament. You will never achieve the policy of your own party 100 percent. In Denmark, governments are often coalitions consisting of more than one party. Forming a coalition government entails tough negotiations on a common political programme. Hereafter each of the parties in the government will fight to ensure their positions are brought forward. In Denmark there is a tradition of forming long-term settlements on big issues such as energy, health and defence. This tradition means that even as opposition you have some influence in these areas. The long-term settlements are playing a stabilising role, as political agreements on these big issues will not be changed but will last beyond elections. The session concluded with questions considering the delicate balance of authority between municipalities and parliament and with discussion around both checks and bal- ances in the Danish system and the constitution, which not exactly reflect current state of affairs. The Constitutional Act gives the Monarch the authority to appoint and dismiss Ministers. In practice, it is the Prime Minister who selects Ministers, and subsequently the Monarch formally appoints the Ministers recommended by the Prime Minister Denmark received its first free constitution in 1849. The present constitution is from 1953 and lays down the basic values on which the Danish society is built and to which all laws are subject. The constitution specifies that Denmark has a parliament whose members are elected on the principle of free and equal suffrage, and a government sitting as long there is not a majority against it. The constitution clarifies the division of powers in society, by the separation of the legislative, executive and juridical institutions of power. The constitution also stipulates that all Danish citizens enjoy a range of basic rights essential in a healthy and open democracy, including the freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of political activity.

THE PARTIES AND THE PARLIAMENT

BY MR MICHAEL AASTRUP JENSEN, MP LIBERAL PARTY, VICE CHAIR OF DIPD

Mr Aastrup Jensen shared insights on the procedures for law making both the formal and informal aspects from the perspective of a minority government. Both as member of government and as a member of parliament you may put forward a proposal and every member may take the floor in the Chamber at any time. Mostly political parties appoint spokespersons. They are responsible for certain political areas and will speak on specific issues. Your proposal could be a) a draft Law – often by the Government benefitting from the capacity of the administration; b) a Political Proposal – often the Opposition will use this format to request the Government to draft a law or c) a Resolu- tion – which is a way for a party to express an opinion. Mr Aastrup explained the process of making a law: Every member of the Danish Parlia- ment is entitled to propose bills and proposals for parliamentary resolution. However,

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the Government introduces most bills. A minister have the ability to set up a commission or working group of experts and involve parties of parliament in the process of drafting. A bill must be read three times in the Parliament before it may become law. At the first reading, the MPs discuss the bill in general terms. The bill then proceeds to committee stage, where it is scrutinized by one of the Standing Committees. At the second reading, MPs discuss any suggested amendments to the bill, proposed by either the Government or MPs. At the third reading, MPs vote on whether to adopt the bill. Once a bill has been adopted, it needs to be signed by the Queen and the Minister to have force of law.

Mr Aastrup then went on explaining about work of the standing political committees. The committees primarily discuss the Bills and proposals for parliamentary resolutions introduced in the Chamber of the Parliament. However, they also exercise parliamentary scrutiny of the Government by asking questions to Ministers about their administration of existing laws. The Political Committees further provide access of civil society to present their point of views. Finally Danish media do have offices at the parliament and debates in the chamber are streamed and made available to the citizens on television. Delegates were curious to learn how Denmark deal with lobbyists, if there is any regulation preventing. The fact is, that there exist no rules on lobbyism in Denmark at the moment. No registration requirements apply in Denmark contrary to the European Par- liament, where lobbyist are obliged to register either from NGO or from private sector. Furthermore, delegates were interested in learning more about the role of civil servants and political advisors. Civil servants serving the Committees are politically neutral as are civil servants of the Ministries whereas the political parties employ political staff and a Minister may employ a few political advisors.

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LUNCH WITH PARLIAMENTARIANS

The delegation enjoyed Lunch with Mette Gjerskov former Minister, MP, Social Demo- cratic Party and Vice Chair of DIPD, and Rasmus Nordqvist, MP, Alternative Party. It was an opportunity to for delegates to hear the perspectives from the opposition and engage in informal dialogue with MPs from both one of the old political parties and the youngest party in the Parliament.

MEETING THE PARTY SECRETARIATS

Delegates visited the secretariats of the political parties at the Parliament divided in sub groups party by party. The aim was creating an atmosphere of trust fostering concrete peer-to-peer dialogue on political strategies as well as various aspects of the political work in the parliament and the national work of the party including: work of political party’s parliamentary group, party leadership, internal structures, involvement of members, party strategies and the shaping of political strategies and policies. These bilateral meetings with politicians were highly valued by delegates and the Dan- ish politicians building on their mutual understanding as politicians with aspirations for the future of their countries. The Bhutanese delegation was meeting with seasoned politicians and party leadership of the following parties.

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The Social Democratic Party Mr. Jan Juul Christensen Secretary General

The Liberal Party Mr. Claus Richter Party Secretary

The Socialist People’s Party Mr. Holger K Nielsen MP, former Minister

The Alternative Party Mr. Rasmus Nordqvist MP

MEETING AT MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

BY MR. MARTIN BILLE HERMANN, STATE SECRETARY FOR DEVELOPMENT POLICY, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AND FORMER AMBASSADOR

Mr Bille Hermann welcomed the delegation from Bhutan stipulating the long friendship between Bhutan and Denmark. Democracies old and young can learn a lot from each other, and new challenges present themselves for Danish democracy. He shared his insights on the state of affairs with Danish development cooperation. The successful adoption of the sustainable development goals and the Agenda 2030 was a result of an unprecedented global inclusive process involving people around the world. The defining feature of the Agenda 2030 is that it is universal, meaning every country is to deliver on the 17 goals. In Denmark all the line ministries are in the process of planning how they can contribute to pursuing the SDG’s both abroad and at home Delegates expressed their gratitude for the extensive Danish assistance in the past and emphasised their hope for continued cooperation between the two countries based on shared democratic values. Mr Bille Hermann conveyed to the delegates how Denmark takes pride in having been part of the democratic development of Bhutan. Forward look- ing the mutual interest in how democracy develop and shared values may be the ground on which the two countries will cooperate internationally.

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PUBLIC MEETING ON BHUTAN

In Danish democracy, there is a strong tradition of public meetings, where citizens have direct access to politicians and party representatives engage in dialogue. The delegation from Bhutan was exposed to this in a 6 public meeting, sharing their knowledge, insights and point of views.

THE FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION

After a long day at the Parliament and then Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all the party delegates from Bhutan participated in a Public Meeting on Bhutan’s Development of Democracy – How to enhance citizens involvement in the world’s youngest democracy? Organised in collaboration with the Denmark-Bhutan Friendship Association. All five registered parties of Bhutan were represented in the panel, which also included the incoming director of DIPD, Rasmus Helveg Petersen. The debate was moderated by Ms Ellen Buch-Hansen, the Chair of the Friendship Association.

THE PANEL

 Mr Tandi Dorji, President of Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa;  Mr Suk Bahadur Ghalley, Executive Member of Druk Chirwang Tshogpa;  Mr Sonam Jatso, General Secretary of People's Democratic Party;  Mr Ugyen Dorji, Executive Member and Former MP for Druk Phuensum Tshogpa;  Mr Sonam Tobgay, President of Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party  Mr Rasmus Helveg Petersen, DIPD.

THE DEBATE

The debate touched upon various aspects of the journey towards democracy in Bhutan. The debate opened on the positive note that the democratic transition of Bhutan has been uniquely peaceful. Nevertheless challenges remains at the continued process to- ward democracy, which was reflected in the first question for the panel. Mr Bahadur Ghalley, the first speaker explained: “Bhutan is a tiny kingdom. In our context democracy came from His Majesty the King. We did not fight for it but received democracy as a gift.” Mr Tandi Dorji continued, “Trying to convince people that politicians can be trusted is truly a challenge. Our responsibility is that democracy succeed in the manner His Maj- esty have foreseen.” Mr Sonam Tobgay echoed: “The biggest challenge is that people did not want democracy, therefore it is difficult to make people embrace democracy.” Mr Ugyen Dorji further explained, “All democracies face challenges, and in the case of Bhutan one of the challenges is a potential leadership vacuum if the King is not contin- uing to be leading the country.”

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Maybe prompted by the fact that the BDD delegation consisted of only men, it was raised that there exist a severe underrepresentation of women in the elected offices, even though more women than men are registered as voters and that progress was observed during the latest local elections. Not at least thanks to the hard work of one of the other DIPD partners in Bhutan, the Bhutan Network on Empowering Women, who trained more than 3000 women as candidates prior to the election. Furthermore it was questioned why civil servants in Bhutan are abolished from being involved in politics and that all candidates for political office must be between 25 and 65 years of age and hold a bachelor’s degree – which inevitable is an obstacle for inclu- siveness and representatively of the political system. Several of the party representatives responded. Then the audience was interested in understanding the political differences between the five parties. And each representative elaborated on key priorities of their party and differences occurred for instance with regard to their approach to foreign policy. Mr Sonam Jatso provided some background: “Foreign policy is very important for a tiny country between giants, landlocked as we are. Historically Bhutan isolated itself except

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from relations with Tibet and avoided having relations with any super power. We have joined the UN and over the years relations have evolved carefully through foreign affairs policy and development assistance.” Finally the challenge of including youth was debated and various concerns brought forward.

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DEVELOPING AN ACTION PLAN.

DIPD study tours should provide information about Danish democracy, and offer an opportunity to reflect on what is good and what could be improved. At the end of the day, participants must reflect on how this 7 information can be inspirational for democracy in their home countries.

WHERE WILL BDD GO?

The purpose of this study tour was, on one level, to generate concrete ideas that will feed into the DIPD programmes in Bhutan, and on another level to generate ideas that might inspire the further development of functioning multiparty systems and democratic culture in Bhutan. Thus the last day of the study tour was meant for debriefing, action planning and reflections on the future of Bhutan Democracy Dialogue.

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Participants then shared their immediate impressions and reflections on what they had experienced during the week – at the seminars, during the field visits to the local municipalities and Christiansborg, the parliament and at the bilateral dialogues at the party secretariats. The delegates each presented, what they found to be the most significant observations and themes of the study mission, both gathered during the seminar days and at the field visits and in dialogue with Parties at the Parliament.

DANISH AND BHUTANESE VALUES

With the purpose of prompting reflections on inspiration and lessons, the delegates were divided into smaller groups and asked to identify and then compare Danish and Bhu- tanese values:

VALUES FOR BHUTAN  Receptive to learning  Disciplined politicians  Stable government  Easy and quick resolutions  Ministerial financial influence  Trust & Respect (different from the Danish)  Faith (in religion, system etc.)  Compassion  Leadership  Respect for King & Monarchy  Respect for Elders  Close “knitted” society  Culture (also religion, community)  Care for others  Hierarchy  More limited social trust  Gross National Happiness GNH

GROUP 1

Experience in Denmark Bhutan Values

 Trust  Receptive to learning

 Consensus-building  Disciplined politicians

 Altruism  Stable government

 Functional flexibility  Easy and quick resolutions

 High level democratic understanding  Minimal financial influence

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GROUP 2

Experience in Denmark Bhutan Values

 Trust  Culture

 Sincerity  Trust

 Discipline  Faith

 Competence  Compassion

 Respect  Leadership

GROUP 3

Experience in Denmark Bhutan Values

 Trust  Respect for monarchy

 Voluntarism  Tha-dam-tse / Lay-ju-day

 Ownership (decentralization)A  Close-knit society

 Willingness (tax)  Culture

 Responsibility (stakeholdership)  Care for others

GROUP 4

Experience in Denmark Bhutan Values

 Lack of hierarchy  Hierarchy

 Social trust  United

 Socio-cultural values  Tha-dam-tse / Lay-ju-day

 Danish identity  Bhutanese national identity

 Community & vitality  GNH

Mr Førde then presented the 20 values proposed for the “Denmark Canon”, while also asking: “Where are the differences most significant and where do we have commonali- ties?” The values were discussed by the delegation those of highest importance for democracy are a marked in bold below - and the most significant differences were outlined by the delegates as “The strength of national identity” and “Accountability and the admittance of mistakes”

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DENMARK “CANONICAL”  Popular movements  Helping your fellow human beings, altruism,  Close distance to those in power  Welfare society  Room for diversity  Public information/civic education – adult education (the “Folk Highschool”)  Danish Language  Denmark in the world (Humanitarian tradition)  Gender Equality  Cooperative organisation  Landscapes and architecture  Equality under the Law  Tolerance  Craftsmanship  Christian Cultural inheritance  Voluntarism and associations  Cosiness  Trust  Freedom  Participatory democracy  Discipline, competence, respect

BRINGING BACK HOME

As an important feature of the debriefing day the Bhutanese political parties were asked to discus amongst themselves and then to share key areas in which the plan to utilise lessons and inspiration from the study mission to Denmark:

PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY, PDP 1. SWOT analysis 2. Party strategy and activity plan 3. Manifesto strategy – consulting the people 4. Communication strategy 5. Fundraising strategy 6. More meetings internally

DRUK CHIRWANG TSHOGPA, DCT 1. Manifesto 2. Bottom- up policy 3. Gap between rich and poor – equality 4. Reaching out to poor 5. Transparency 6. Women investment 7. Education 8. Mobilising voters 9. Media

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DRUK PHUENSUM TSHOGPA, DPT 1. State funding of political parties 2. Consensus building culture 3. Grassroots participation – also in decision-making 4. Awareness criticism & advocacy 5. Sincerity/honesty... not promising too much 6. Transparency and accountability 7. Functional flexibility

BHUTAN KUEN-NYAM PARTY, BKP 1. Gender 2. Voter’s turnover 3. Education on role of media 4. Constituency candidates 5. Funding 6. Capacity building 7. Voter’s education 8. Inclusivity 9. Legal framework 10. Leadership

DRUK NYAMRUP TSHOGPA, DNT 1. Proportionate representation 2. Parties at local level 3. Local level taxation 4. Understanding democracy 5. Constitutional disparities 6. State funding of political parties 7. Accountability of elected officials 8. Transparent decision-making 9. Learn from good examples

***

Mr Førde concluded the session by opening up for a brief discussion on the activities and practices of BDD, drawing up experiences from DIPD’s other platforms in Tanzania and Nepal. He encouraged all the delegates to initiate national activities in between the larger international seminars, in order to autotomize the platform and strengthen its rel- evance in the Bhutanese process of consolidating a democratic culture.

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Annex A PARTICIPANTS FROM BHUTAN

Name: Mr. Sonam Tobgay Title: President of Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party Party: Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party (BKP)

Name: Mr. Karma Loday Title: Executive Member of Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party Party: Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party (BKP)

Name: Mr. Ugyen Dorji Title: Executive Member and Former MP for Druk Phuensum Tshogpa Party: Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT)

Name: Mr. Karma Wangchuk Title: Executive Member and Former MP for Druk Phuensum Tshogpa Party: Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT)

Name: Mr. Tandi Dorji Title: President of Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa Party: Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT)

Name: Mr. Phurba Title: Party General Manager of Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa Party: Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT)

Name: Mr. Sonam Jatso Title: General Secretary of People's Democratic Party Party: People's Democratic Party (PDP)

Name: Mr. Tshenda Dorji Title: Executive Member of People's Democratic Party Party: People's Democratic Party (PDP)

Name: Mr. Suk Bahadur Ghalley Title: Executive Member of Druk Chirwang Tshogpa Party: Druk Chirwang Tshogpa (DCT)

Name: Mr. Kinzang Dorji Title: Regional Party Coordinator of Druk Chirwang Tshogpa Party: Druk Chirwang Tshogpa (DCT)

Name: Mr. Phub Dorji Title: Director, Department of Election at Election Commission of Bhutan Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB)

Name: Mr. Dorji Wangdi Title: District Electoral Officer at Election Commission of Bhutan Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB)

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Annex B LIST OF PRESENTERS

Name: Mr Matias Bredde Title: Vice Party Secretary, Social Democratic Party CV: Matias Bredde is the Vice Party Secretary of the Danish Social Democratic Party, responsible for the party’s organizational development and campaigning. He has previously worked as a consult-ant at the Danish Labour Union. Mr. Bredde holds a master in communication from Roskilde Uni-versity.

Name: Mr Jan Juul Christensen Title: Secretary General, Social Democratic Party CV: Before assuming his position as Party Secretary, Mr. Christensen was Partner at the Public Affairs agency, Rud Pedersen. He holds a master in social science from Roskilde University and has previously been the campaign manager for former Prime Minister, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. He has also worked as an editor and journalist.

Name: Mr Niels Th. Dahl Title: Head of Politics and Communication at the Liberal Party Secretariat CV: Niels Th. Dahl is the Head of Politics and Communication at the Danish Liberal Party. He has also held the title of head of public relations at both the Danish Liberal Party and the Danish Libertarian Party. He has previously worked as a political journalist. Mr. Dahl holds a master in theology from the University of Copenhagen.

Name: Mr Bjørn Førde Title: Director of the Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy CV: Before joining DIPD, Mr. Førde was Director of the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre, a global thematic facility in the Democratic Governance Group of UNDPs Bureau for De- velopment Policy. Previously, he was the Resident Representative of UNDP and Resi- dent Coordinator of the UN in Botswana.

Name: Ms Mette Gjerskov Title: Vice-chair of DIPD, MP for the Danish Social Democrats and former Minister CV: Mette Gjerskov is the vice chair of DIPD. She is the former minister for food agriculture and fisheries and currently a MP for the Danish Social Democrats. She is the Social Democratic spokesperson on Development Cooperation. Ms Gjerskov holds a master in Agronomics form the Royal Danish Veterinary and Agricultural University.

Name: Mr Gorm Gunnarsen Title: Member of City Council for the Red Green Alliance Copenhagen CV: Gorm Gunnarsen is a member of the Municipal Council of Copenhagen Municipality and Vice chair of the committee on youth and education. He is teaching history and English at upper secondary school. For several years he was the chairman of the Danish anti- apartheid movement (SAC). He has published several books e.g. on South Africa. Mr Gunnarsen holds a MA from the Institute for History and a PhD from the English Institute, University of Copenhagen, where he has worked as a lecturer.

Name: Mette Bloch Hansen Title: DIPD Project Coordinator CV: Mette Bloch Hansen serves as project coordinator for DIPD multiparty programmes in Bhutan, Tanzania and Malawi and of multiple Party-to-Party partnerships in Nepal, and several African Countries. Before joining DIPD, she served as advisor and programme manager in international development, poverty reduction, gender equality and sustainable development with the UN, UNDP HQ, civil society organisations e.g. Action Aid and policy networks as the Danish 92 group forum for Sustainable Development. Holds a Master in International Development and Public Administration, Roskilde University.

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Name: Mr Peter Hansen Title: Member of City Council for the Socialist People’s Party in Egedal CV: Peter Hansen is a member of the city council of Egedal municipality. He serves as the chairman of the committee on technical and environmental affairs. He is also part of the committee on economic affairs. Mr Hansen has served as a local politician since 1986. He has previously taught at a Business School and served as a public school teacher.

Name: Mr Daniel Hauberg Title: Political Advisor and Head of Campaigning for the Alternative Party CV: Daniel Hauberg is a political advisor and Head of Campaigning in the Alternative Party. He has previously worked at the Parliament and at the Prime Minister’s office. He holds a master in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen.

Name: Mr Martin Bille Hermann Title: State Secretary for Development Policy Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs CV: Before assuming the positon as state secretary in 2004, he was Danish Ambassador to Indonesia 2012-2014 and also accredited to East Timor and Papua New Guinea and representative of Denmark to ASEAN. He has also been head of department policy; and Deputy Head at the Danish Embassy in Nepal. He holds a master in Economics from the University of Copenhagen and an MSc in Development Management form London School of Economics.

Name: Mr Michael Aastrup Jensen Title: Vice-chair of DIPD, Member of Parliament for the Danish Liberal Party CV: Michael Aastrup Jensen is the Second vice Chairman of DIPD. He is the former Mayor of Randers and is currently a member of the Danish Parliament for the Liberal Party. He is currently the Liberal Party spokesperson on development cooperation and foreign affairs, and chairs the parliamentary committee on European Affairs. Mr. Aastrup Jensen holds a BSc in Economics from the Danish Commercial Academy in Randers.

Name: Mr Niels Kirkegaard Title: Member of the Allerød city council for the Danish Liberal Party CV: Niels Kirkegaard is a member of the city council in the municipality of Allerød. He served as the international secretary for the Danish Liberal Party for 24 years. Mr. Kirkegaard was the founder of SILBA (Support Initiative for Freedom and Liberty in the Baltic States) and has been the coordinator for the Liberal Party’s DIPD supported projects in Zambia and Kenya. He is also a major in the reserve of the Danish Defence Force and works as an adult teacher in history, social science and Danish language and culture.

Name: Ms Karina Kosiara-Pedersen Title: Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen CV: Karina Kosiara-Pedersen is an associate Professor at the Department of Political Sci- ence, the University of Copenhagen. She conducts research in elections, currently in particular party membership, party organizational development and candidate recruitment. Ms Pedersen is also the Director of Center for Voting and Parties (CVAP) and sits on the Department’s Research Committee and PhD Committee. She is co-editor of a number of academic journals in the political science field and previously served as executive editor of Scandinavian Political Studies. She holds a master and a PhD from the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen.

Name: Mr Per Kristensen Title: Member of the Hillerød local branch of the Danish Social Democrats CV: Per Kristensen is a trained teacher, working as teacher in Hillerød and as consultant for the Ministry of Education. He also serves as vice principal and as project- and program leader associated with educational projects in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Addi- tionally, Per Kristensen worked as a social democrat with democracy development in Swaziland and Ghana.

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Name: Mr Bent Nicolajsen Title: Consultant and DIPD party coordinator CV: Bent Nicolajsen is an independent development consultant and the programme manager for DIPD supported projects of the Danish Liberal Party. He has previously worked with UNEP, MS Action Aid, and as an independent communications consultant. He holds a master in history and studied citizenship education.

Name: Mr Holger K Nielsen Title: Former Minister and Party Leader, MP Danish Socialist People’s Party CV: Holger K. Nielsen is a Danish politician and member of the parliament for the Socialist People's Party. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the previous government. He was leader of the Socialist People's Party from 1991 to 2005 and has also served as the Minister for Taxation.

Name: Mr Rasmus Nordqvist Title: Member of Parliament and co-founder of the Alternative Party CV: Rasmus Nordqvist is a member of parliament, the political spokesperson and co-founder of the Alternative Party. Mr. Nordqvist holds a Bachelor of Arts in Design from the Royal Danish Arts Academy. Before starting his political career he was an entrepreneur and teacher at the Danish School of Arts.

Name: Mr Rasmus Helveg Petersen Title: Former Minister and Member of Parliament, Social Liberal Party CV: Rasmus Helveg Petersen is a former Member of Parliament, Minister for Development and later Minister for Climate and Environment. Before that, Mr Petersen held the position as Head of Communication and Fundraising at WWF. He has also worked as a policy advisor at DanChurchAid and as a political correspondent at the Danish newspa- per, Information. Mr Petersen is educated as a journalist. Mr Petersen is assuming the position as Director of DIPD on January 1st 2017.

Name: Mr Claus Richter Title: Party Secretary Danish Liberal Party CV: Claus Richter is the Party Secretary of the Danish Liberal Party. He has previously been the Director of the Danish Agriculture and Food Council. He holds a master in politics and public administration from the University of Aalborg.

Name: Mr August Vigen Smolarz Title: Campaign advisor at Socialist People’s Party CV: August Vigen Smolarz, serve as organizational and campaign advisor at party secretariat at the Danish Parliament for the Socialist People’s Party. He has also been a parliamentary candidate for the party since 2014. Mr Smolarz holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Copenhagen

Name: Mr Rolf Aagaard-Svendsen Title: DIPD board member and former Mayor CV: Rolf Aagaard-Svendsen a board member at DIPD and is presently the chair of the international committee of the Conservative Party. He is former mayor and member of the City Council in municipality of Lyngby-Taarbæk. He has also been chair of the Conserva- tive party in his constituency. He holds a Master of Science in Engineering and a Ph.D. in systems engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. Professionally, he has worked as a management consultant for Danish and international private as well as public companies and has held management positions in various companies. He is now working as an independent consultant.

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Annex C LIST OF BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

 Guide on political parties at local level http://dipd.dk/wp-content/uploads/DIPD-POLITICAL-PARTIES-LOCAL.pdf

 Political party financing – a summary from a Danish report http://www.justitsministeriet.dk/sites/default/files/media/Pressemedde- lelser/pdf/2015/Betaenkning%20Partistoetteudvalg.pdf

 Guideline for preparing a communication strategy for political parties http://dipd.dk/wp-content/uploads/Creating-Effective-Party-Based-Communica- tion-A-Guideline-for-Preparing-a-Communication-Strategy-for-Political-Parties.- CMD-Kenya-Oct.-2012.pdf

 DIPD Strategy http://dipd.dk/wp-content/uploads/STRATEGI-DIPD-UK.pdf

 Information about the Danish Democracy & Parliament http://www.thedanishparliament.dk

 Information about accountability - the Danish ombudsman institution http://en.ombudsmanden.dk

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Annex D FULL PROGRAMME

14 November 2016 Seminar day at DIPD

Monday POLITICAL STRATEGIES & COMMUNICATION

09.00 - 09.30 Welcoming remarks by DIPD Director

Putting the study tour in context with other efforts. Presentation of purpose/objectives and programme.

09.30 - 11.00 DEVELOPING A POLITICAL PARTY STRATEGY Objective: Enhance knowledge on how a political party can effectively develop practical political strategies to guide their work. Presenters: Mr Niels Th. Dahl, Head of Press and Head of Center for Commu- nication and Politics, the Liberal Party Output: Understanding the cornerstones required for a political strategy and the main steps and key actors in a strategic-planning process; Pre- pare questions for meetings with party officials later in the week.

11.00 - 12.30 DEVELOPING ELECTION CAMPAIGN STRATEGY Objective: Acquire skills and insights on how a political party can effectively develop political campaign strategies. Presenter: Mr Matias Bredde, Deputy Secretary General, the Social Demo- cratic Party and Mr Daniel Hauberg, Head of Campaign, the Alter- native Party. Output: Critical components within a successful campaign strategy; Famili- arity with the key steps in developing an election campaign; Inspi- ration and ideas for a campaign.

13.30 - 15.00 DEVELOPING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Objective: Enhance knowledge in the field of political communication acquiring new skills in strategies for political communication. Presenter: Mr Bent Nicolajsen, - Programme Manager with the Danish Liberal Democracy Programme DLPD, Denmark

Output: Insights and inspiration for developing communication strategy; Fa- miliarity with key components of a strong communication strategy and sequencing of various steps.

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15.00 - 16.30 COMMUNICATING WITH MEMBERS & WITHIN PARTY Objective: Enhance knowledge on how a political party can develop strategies to strengthen their internal communication with members. Presenters: Mr August Vigen Smolarz, Communication and Campaign, So-

cialist People’s Party, Christiansborg Output: Understanding the value of strong internal communication as critical means to develop, grow and gain influence as a political party; Ca- pacity to apply key elements of an internal communication strategy in your own party; Familiarity with a menu of means of communication.

16.30 – 17.00 How to apply in Bhutan? End of the day reflections about some of the most obvious useful inputs from the day – and some obvious areas where Danish experiences will not be helpful!

15 November 2016 Seminar day at DIPD

Tuesday POLITICAL PARTIES AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

09.00 - 09.30 Conclusions from Day 1

What stands out as key lessons learned? How will the participants work with these ideas at party level? How will they use the ideas in multiparty context?

09.30 - 11.00 POLITICAL PARTY FINANCE Objective: Enhance knowledge on the Danish example of party regulation with a particular focus on party financing. Presenter: Ms Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, Associate professor at the Depart- ment of Political Science, University of Copenhagen Output: Attaining knowledge about various dimensions of Political Party Fi- nancing including regulatory framework; Understanding various implications of party financing models political on political parties and democratic development

.11.00 - 12.30 WHY ARE LOCAL BRANCHES IMPORTANT? Objective: Enhance knowledge on value, role and functions of local branches for democratic development. Presenter: Ms Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, Associate professor at the Depart- ment of Political Science, University of Copenhagen Output: Recognition of the intrinsic democratic value of Local Branches as well as instrumental value insights; Overview of general role and functions of local branches.

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13.30 - 15.00 ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE LOCAL BRANCHES Objective: Enhance knowledge on role and function of local branches as means for coordination of political interests of parties. Presenter: Mr Rolf Aagaard-Svendsen, former Major, Conservative People’s Party, member of DIPD Board Output: Overview of the on role and function of local branches; Insights in various benefits of strengthening local Branches as a means to consolidate democratic Development.

15.00 - 16.30 HQ AND LOCAL BRANCHES Objective: Enhance knowledge on how a political party can effectively develop strategies to embrace and fertilise local branches. Presenter: Mr Rolf Aagaard-Svendsen, former Mayor, Conservative People’s Party, member of DIPD Board Output: Understanding how establishing and cultivating local branches may help enabling party better to deliver on the expectations of citizens; Understanding how local branches can help strengthen internal democracy, positioning of a party and accountability; Practical advice and inspiration towards internal structures conducive for cooperation between levels.

16 November 2016 Field visits

Wednesday PARTIES AND POLITICIANS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Description Objective: Exposure to the life of the political parties at local level, and political work of the parties at municipality level. Issues to be covered: Democracy at local level; Political parties at local level; Work of representatives at municipal level Format: Introduction to Municipality and political work at local level by local party member, dialogue and opportunity to ask questions and observe selected meetings Output: Enhance knowledge on how a political party work at local level; Inspiration for local level activities of your respective parties.

10.00 – 12.30 MEETING MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL BRANCH Objective: Enhance knowledge on how a political party work at the local level, areas of work, building coalitions across party lines. Output: Insights in the work of political parties at local level; Insights in the work of political representatives at local level as members of municipal councils/ serving as Mayor; At the end of the day the groups will have been presented for different approaches, and are therefore asked to prepare brief presentation to share insights at the debriefing.

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14.00 – 16.00 MEETING THE MUNICIPALITY AT WORK Objective: observing how the political party representatives work at local level within the Danish democratic institutions at local level. Issues to be covered: Working of the municipality, council procedures, political work; Engaging with stakeholders, tradition of consultative processes/ “public hearings”; Relation between elected representatives their political party and local branches.

Format: Attending meetings of the Municipal council and/or meetings of selected committees e.g. with constituencies or local political stakeholders depending on the agenda of the host Political party representative. Output: Concrete hands on insights in work at municipal level; Inspi- ration for strengthening local branches; Insights in political strategies, areas of concern at municipal level.

17 November 2016 Field visits

Thursday PARTIES AND POLITICIANS AT PARLIAMENT

Description Objective: Understanding the modus of operandi of the Danish Par- liament and political parties at national level including insights in the shaping of political strategies, policies etc.

Format: Presentations by representative from Government and Op- position Q&A and reflections. Lunch with the parliamentarians. After- noon divided in smaller groups visiting Party Offices within the Parlia- ment.

10.00 – 11.00 FOLKETINGET/PARLIAMENT Objective: Overall insights in history and function of the Danish Par- liament. Issues to be covered are the history and function of the Dan- ish Parliament. Format: The group hear about the role of the Government and the parliament and relation between Minister and Parliament. Presenter: Mr Rasmus Helveg Petersen, Incoming Director of DIPD, former Minister and MP Social Liberal Party.

11.30 – 12.30 HOW DOES FOLKETINGET/PARLIAMENT OPERATE Objective: Understanding the modus of operandi of the Danish Par- liament and political parties at national level. Presenter: Mr Michael Aastrup, MP, Danish Liberal Party, Vice Chair DIPD Output:  Overall understanding of the national work of political parties; Insights in the various parliamentarian disciplines such as dialogue, negotiations, coalitions, developing political strategies.  Lunch at the Parliament – hosted by Ms. Mette Gjerskov, MP, So- 12.30 – 13.30 cial Democratic Party, Vice Chair DIPD.

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13.30 – 14.30 MEETING THE SECRETARIATS OF POLITICAL PARTIES Delegates will visit party secretariats in groups of 2-3 delegates – meaning two from two different political parties. Objective: Observe the daily work of parliamentarians and gain insights in the national work of political parties– as member of Opposition or as ruling parties in Government. National work of political parties parliamentary group, Party Leadership, internal structures, involvement of members. Work as parliamentarians in political committees keeping the Government/Ministers to account - procedures of hearings, mandates and questions for the Minister. Developing policies and drafting new bills or amendments. Presenters: There will be presenters from hosting political parties party secretariat including parliamentarians, to ensure that different aspects of the political work will be presented: Output: Knowledge on how different political parties carry out their parliamentary work in political committees. Insights in the political work within the parliamentary party group and in coalitions or alliances with other political parties.

15.00 – 16.00 MEETING AT THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Mr Martin Bille Hermann, State Secretary for Development Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and former Ambassador, will share his insights on the present state of affairs with Danish development cooperation.

17.00 – 20.00 PUBLIC MEETING Title: “The Democratic Development in Bhutan – How to include citizens more the the worlds youngest Democracy?” Issues to be covered: Achievements and challenges ahead for the young democracy of Bhutan

Speakers: Representatives from the 5 political parties in Bhutan and the incoming DIPD Director, Rasmus Helveg Petersen Organizers: DIPD and Bhutan-Denmark Friendship Association Venue: Kvarterhuset, Jemtelandsgade.

18 November 16 ACTION PLANNING Friday

Description Objective: Ensure that knowledge and insights presented can be used in the management of political parties in Bhutan. Format: Combination of shared reflections on achievements, insights and lessons and “individual” drafting of action plans in political party groups, as well as reflections on the future of BDD. Output: Action plan for bringing knowledge home and translating knowledge and inspiration into increased capacity of the parties. Plan for how to take BDD forward, in discussions within the parties and in discussions with the ECB.

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09.00 – 10.00 DEBRIEFING FROM FIELD VISITS Objective: Sharing insights gained from different political parties at local level and at national level as delegation members. How are Danish Parties organising themselves at level both inside and outside Munici- pality Councils. What are the key roles of local branches? How are parties ensuring accountability and enhancing credibility amongst members and constituencies in their internal and external communication Format: Each group present 5 key insights from their field visits at local level and each group present key insights from their visit in the Danish Parliament (duration of presentations 3-5 minutes). Facilitator: Bjørn Førde, DIPD Director.

10.00 – 12.00 DEVELOPING ACTION PLANS Objective: Developing action plans to ensure to bring knowledge and insights back into political parties at home. Format: Plenary introduction followed by group work organised by party. Output: Actions plans for each Political Party. Overview of key components of political strategies, tools methods to be applied and shared at home. Important insights and inspiration for strengthening political parties at local level and at national level incl. parliamentary work to be translated into the Bhutanese context and applied.

13.30 – 15.30 THE FUTURE BDD STRUCTURE Objective: Deliberations on the future Structure of BDD to foster multiparty dialogue and strengthening political parties and democratic culture. Issues to be covered: Vision & mission of BDD. BDD lessons so far: achievements / challenges. What are the aspirations of the parties and purpose for being part of BDD. How to organise to achieve objectives - ways forward.

Format: Presentations, followed by debate and exchange of views. If time allows there could be a brief session of group work. Facilitator: Brief introduction by BDD Chair and the session will be facilitated by DIPD. Output: Initial point of departure for further strategic conversations amongst members of BDD in view of Bhutanese context. Reflections on BDD’s role and potential in fostering democratic culture and multiparty dialogue with reference to DIPD vision and Strategy.

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