Global Partners Governance Foundation (GPGF) Iraq: Strengthening Parliament

This is the first agreement with GPGF (Global Partnership Governance Foundation), which is running from 1 May 2023 through 30 June 2025. The activity period has been shortened due to the decision of the Swedish Government to phase out the development cooperation with Iraq. As a result of the volatile situation in the MENA-region, GPGF has not been able to realise all the planned trips for 2024, but in this case GPGF has tried to compensate this through remote support with both GPGF staff and well as the contracted associates. Furthermore, the position of Speaker of the Parliament has been vacant part of 2024, which has further affected the project. However, due to the previous visit to the British Parliament, the Iraqi counterpart have expressed an interest to follow-up previous visit, and also to have more time to discuss issues such as transparency and to visit the UK, together with the Welch audit bodies. There are no general, major changes to the planned objectives, other than the changes to the activities planned for the work with the constituencies at local level, due to the shortened activity period.

The main aim of the contribution is to support an improved policy, legislation and accountability in Parliament, tackle corruption and improve basic service delivery. This will be done by working with the Parliament, the Committees, Members of Parliament, and the Office of the Speaker to better improve capacity, knowledge, transparency and accountability. This will be done in three project stands: Improving policy, legislation and ministerial accountability in Parliament, through, - direct support to MPs in Committees on Policy and legislation - professionalism of the parliamentary administration - strategic support to the Office of the Speaker Tackling corruption through improved financial oversight, through - direct support to the Finance Committee - improved links between the Supreme Audit Institution and Parliamentary Committees - improved oversight skills of MPs - enhanced audit function of all the committees Improving local delivery by strengthening links between local and national, through, - developed and implemented practical systems for managing casework, and improving the provision of local services - work with existing regional offices to improve links between regions and Parliament - turning constituency concerns into national policy and legislation