ParlAmericas held the Fourth Meeting of its Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament
ParlAmericas and the National Assembly of Ecuador held the Fourth Meeting of the Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament online on January 28, 2022. The meeting included a working session of thematic groups and a discussion panel featuring representatives of social and youth organizations.
The meeting convened parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, and representatives of civil society and youth organizations from Latin America to reflect on regional progress made in terms of legislative openness and to learn from citizen representatives about the results and impacts of the implementation of this agenda on society. The meeting was led by regional coordinators of the Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament who offered their contributions during the working group sessions.
In reference to the event, Member of the National Assembly Wilma Andrade (Ecuador), Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network for South America, highlighted that “it provides an opportunity to listen to reflections and analyses of the achievements reached and challenges that we still face in this sustained effort to incorporate the principles and actions of open parliament in our legislatures. This exchange of experiences and lessons learned will undoubtedly be useful for strengthening and enriching future undertakings towards legislative openness.”
Mr. Luis Rojas (Chile), Deputy Secretary General of the Chamber of Deputies, and General Coordinator of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament, noted, “We are no longer discussing whether or not to open our parliaments, but the manner in which to do it that ensures these practices can be sustained over time and institutionalized, and thus incorporate legislative openness, its processes and principles, in parliamentary work to include all voices of society and leave no one behind, in line with the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals.”
Mr. Bernardo Gutiérrez (Ecuador), Advisor to the Parliamentary Thematic Group on Open Parliament of the National Assembly, and Regional Coordinator for South America of the Parliamentary Staff Network on Open Parliament pointed out that “the Network seeks to provide an opportunity for us to gather together in a space that is conducive to dialogue, collaboration, and the exchange of experiences and good practices for achieving legislative openness, so that we can better support the initiatives taken by legislatures to advance this agenda.”
