Parliaments Responding to a Pandemic: Lessons Learned for Emergency Planning
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the work of parliaments worldwide. Measures intended to curb the spread of the virus posed novel challenges to parliaments in fulfilling their essential lawmaking, oversight, and representation roles. To reflect on lessons learned during the pandemic and provide recommendations for building more resilient institutions in preparation for future crises, the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), in collaboration with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), created this resource to support guidance for members of parliament and staff. This resource outlines the ways in which parliaments have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic since its onset in key areas such as legal frameworks, operational continuity, transparency, and technological innovation, and identifies guidelines for institutionalizing lessons learned to allow parliaments to better carry out their essential functions in times of future crises and disruption.