Many parliaments around the world are engaged in various forms of international cooperation—sharing experience and learning with other parliaments and the international community in an effort to strengthen their respective institutions.

Since 2006, NDI’s Rinor Beka, senior program manager, of Kosovo has been at the center of his country’s democratic transition.  

Together with his NDI colleagues, Beka has built bridges between different players in Kosovo’s political arena, including members of parliament, political parties and citizen groups, to ensure that their priorities “focus on people” and continue to lay the foundations of democracy.

In Georgia, communication between elected officials and their constituents is often weak. But recent reforms by the government may offer new opportunities for interaction between leaders and the public.

In an NDI poll last month, 49 percent of those surveyed said the government is not pursuing policies that matter to them, compared to 44 percent who believe it is.

In Morocco, citizens rarely have the opportunity to interact with their members of parliament (MPs), particularly outside of election season. This is partly because the Moroccan parliament does not have an established tradition of citizen outreach, nor does it provide MPs with guidance or resources on how to communicate with constituents.

“There is a big difference between the working environment of MPs in the United Kingdom and Morocco. In the UK, parliament provides MPs with everything they need to perform their representative role,” said MP Naima Rebbaa.