A Solution in Search of a Problem? International Approaches to ‘Training’ MPs

Abstract

This chapter argues that parliamentary training in newer parliaments needs to change so that it is less concerned with ‘roles’ and more with helping MPs do their job better. Training should start with the problems that MPs face, and explain their roles in relation to political problem-solving. The chapter starts with a brief analysis of the difficulties in ‘teaching’ MPs how to be MPs and why this approach is a forlorn endeavour. The second section looks at two challenges facing parliamentary training, namely the difficulties of running induction programs and giving MPs the support skills they believe they need. In conclusion, the chapter suggests that in order to be effective, training should not be an isolated exercise but needs, critically, to be undertaken as part of a wider strategy to strengthen the parliament and build the norms and standards of behaviour that establish the wider parliamentary culture. (This chapter draws on the author’s experience in delivering assistance programs to a variety of parliaments around the world, and his analytical work on parliamentary support for donor agencies such as DFID, SIDA and DANIDA. He was also the author of the first Global Parliamentary Report (2013) published by the UNDP and IPU.)