ParlAmericas shares experiences in LegisTech Forum 2020: Global Conference on Digital Transformation in the Legislative
On Tuesday, October 26 and 27, Bússola Tech, a Brazilian organization that promotes the exchange of experiences and initiatives for bringing citizens and their representatives closer with the aid of technology, organized the LegisTech Forum 2020 “Global Conference on Digital Transformation in the Legislative” which brought together experts from the public and private spheres, alongside representatives from parliaments across the world to strengthen a global community for the digital transformation of legislative power. This forum provided over 24 hours of content to discuss the next steps for parliaments who took the opportunity that the pandemic provided to quickly innovate and transition to virtual parliamentary sittings. It focused on strategies to consolidate parliamentary openness and further improve the application of digital tools to strengthen parliament’s legislative and oversight functions.
Ms. Alisha Todd, Director General of ParlAmericas, participated as a panelist in a session entitled Interparliamentary Cooperation for Digital Legislative Transformation. She was joined by panelists Tiago Peixoto of the World Bank and Andy Williamson of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in this session moderated by Luís Kimaid, CEO of Bussola Tech. The session permitted a reflection on the benefits and challenges to date of remote deliberation systems, the next focus areas for digital transformation in parliaments and the role of multilateral institutions in supporting these initiatives. Ms. Todd emphasized that “it is fundamental for openness and transparency to remain core principles of any parliamentary digital transformation strategy, and for the goal of modernization to focus on enabling parliament to better perform its functions to achieve better results for citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic became a catalyst for quick innovation which has the potential to have a lasting positive impact on parliamentary practices, acting as a stepping stone to strengthened access to information, accountability and public participati43on. ParlAmericas continues to support such initiatives by fostering collaboration and peer exchanges across parliaments in the Americas and the Caribbean through its Open Parliament Network, its corresponding Parliamentary Staff Network and global coordination efforts through the Open Parliament e-Network.”
The webinar provided an opportunity to exchange experiences and lessons learned to guide the further development of digital solutions to effectively support the work of parliaments across the world while addressing challenges they face in their efforts to continue undertaking their critical functions and ensure effective and sustainable responses to support citizens and address this pandemic.
For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.
