Following the successful launch of the Parliamentary Development Community of Practice (PD CoP) in 2021, the Working Group met April 2023 to reflect on the learnings since then and discuss the potential next steps to ensure that the PD CoP remains a coveted venue for advocating for parliamentary development.

To meet the objectives set in the concept note of the PD CoP, several activities were organised throughout the year 2021-22. These included public sessions that welcomed over 500 participants cumulatively, the launch of a website and the development of a communication strategy, regular meetings of the Working Group.

During the meeting members discussed 4 core outputs of the CoP, reflecting on challenges met earlier, and providing for new approaches in developing the community.

Some of the ideas included looking into creative ways to engage a wider CoP community, for instance via monthly informal meetings and/or by introducing a chat function on the AGORA portal.

The members also discussed a 3-step/2-step session model to knowledge sharing which is one of PD CoP’s core obhectives. This entailed introducing a pre-event survey and/or a post-event report to not just collect more feedback from the participants but also encourage participation and active engagement. The participants also shared best practice examples from their own organisations that the PD CoP could benefit from. 

Members of the CoP discussed 2023 calendar of the communities events which includes public session on topics related to Parliaments and environmental democracy, academic research, fight against hate speech, artificial intelligence.

As for the next steps, based on the discussions between the participants, the members agreed to revise the concept note of the PD CoP, work on a new calendar and also reflect on ways to incorporate the feedback and exchange of ideas to ensure effective development and functioning of the CoP.