The Registry of Political Parties in partnership with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) would be running a workshop from November 9th to 13th on the “State of Democracy (SOD) Assessment Framework Workshop”. The workshop is to consider the question of “How democratic is Papua New Guinea”. IDEA is an intergovernmental body that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. Its objective is to strengthen democratic institutions and processes. Internal IDEA acts as a catalyst for democracy building by providing knowledge resources, expertise and a platform for debate on democracy issues. It works together with policy makers, donor governments, UN organisations and agencies, regional organisations and others engaged on the field of democracy building. IDEA’s notable areas of expertise are; Constitution-building processes, Electoral processes, Political Parties, Democracy and gender and Democracy assessments. IDEA works worldwide. It is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has offices in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Recently an office was established in Canberra that is in charge for the Asia-Pacific regions. In April 2015, the Registry submitted a draft NEC submission requesting Papua New Guinea to be a member of IDEA. The Registry has not heard anything as yet from the Department of Prime Minister & NEC on this proposal. Becoming a member of IDEA would place Papua New Guinea the same as other member countries that have joined IDEA and also to cement Papua New Guinea’s leadership in the region that is committed to up-holding democracy and its principles. Papua New Guinea recently celebrated its 40th year of independence on 16 September 2015. Since its independence in 1975, PNG has maintained a relatively good record of democratic rule. However a comprehensive assessment, demonstrating how democratic PNG is and identifying what have been some of the gains of democracy for the country and its people, is missing and considered useful. One reason is that despite its transition to democracy, the country is facing challenges for instance related to corruption, weak governance, and/or the conduct of elections. It is in this context that the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission (IPPCC) wish to make use of the IDEA’s State of Democracy framework to undertake a democracy assessment that will enable them to self-reflect on PNG’s democracy. The assessment in particular hopes to assess the role of political parties within the country’s political environment; how political parties contribute to strengthening democratic processes and/or how shortfalls or weaknesses could be addressed. Ultimately, the goal of IPPCC is to undertake an assessment to help strengthen democracy in Papua New Guinea through identified reform agendas. IPPCC as the lead organisation invited International IDEA to present a step by step approach on how to undertake a State of Democracy (SoD) assessment. The workshop purpose is, in general, to provide IPPCC and its partners with key knowledge on how to conduct a SoD assessment in PNG, with a thematic focus on the role of political parties in strengthening the country’s democracy. One of the leading questions that IDEA is expected to provide expertise and experiences on is: “What does a SoD assessment involves from conception to the finalisation of assessment report?”, and “How to use the findings to support democratic developments in PNG?” In light of these questions the workshop format will follow a ‘hands-on’ approach with the IPPCC facilitating and IDEA presenting the main features of the International IDEA’s SoD assessment framework “Assessing the Quality of Democracy: A Practical Guide”. The purpose as defined by the IPPCC, of the assessment is to “determine the level of democracy in PNG. The assessment will use the specific questions under the four SoD pillars. Emphasis would be given to the role of political parties because that is what the IPPCC is mostly interested in. However the assessment can take on board 1 or 2 questions in the other pillars that would be of interest to IPPCC and the stakeholders. It will be from the assessment that IPPCC can accurately and confidently talk about the status of political parties and their contributions to democracy, and also what can be done to address any shortfalls”. Political party executives were informed of this activity during the third Learning and Development Workshop in September this year. The expected outcome of the assessment is “to provide the real situation of democracy in the country. Based on the findings of the assessment, IPPCC and its stakeholders can work in collaboration with other actors to improve the level of democracy in the country”. Some key topics covered by the workshop include: • Rationale, goal and reform purpose of SoD in PNG • The quality of democracy in PNG • The role of Political Parties in strengthening democracy in PNG • Other SoD experiences in Asia/around the world • The SoD assessment framework – the five main assessment steps • Key features of SoD design, data collection, partnerships and implementation approach • SoD thematic focus areas and start adjusting relevant SoD questions to PNG context • Agree on key (group) decisions and next steps • A State of Democracy (SoD) assessment exercise ideally should involve a cross of various sectors (academia, government, CSOs among others). The assessment team itself are representatives of key organisations committed to this undertaking. The SoD assessment also includes a Reference Group who are experts, decision-makers, or whose opinions may influence reform agendas. These two groups work closely from the onset of the assessment exercise. A SoD assessment exercise is a home grown effort, taking stock of a country’s democratic institutions and processes and thus the role of ‘outsiders’ are limited to support and facilitation such as technical trainings to transfer skills/knowledge of the methodology, and learning from experiences of other countries. International IDEA will bring in resource persons from the Philippines and Indonesia who have had led and experienced conducting SoD/SoLD assessments. IPPCC is the lead organisation of this initiative, and invited the following workshop participants: 1. Political Science Strand – University of Papua New Guinea 2. National Research Institute 3. Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission 4. Department of Prime Minister & NEC 5. Papua New Guinea Trade Union Congress 6. National Council of Women 7. Caritas Papua New Guinea 8. Transparency International – PNG Chapter An open invitation to CSO’s was placed in the two dailies however the response has been disappointing. This however will not affect the progress of this activity. The Registry urges those partners mentioned to confirm their participation with the Registry as soon as possible.
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