News from the parliamentary monitoring community:

In Guatemala, Congreso Transparente is promoting an online campaign to press the Congress to adopt a Manual on Legislative Transparency, which is based on the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness.

In Chile, Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente, Fundación Pro Acceso, and Chile Transparente released an open letter raising concerns about a bill before Congress that would  amend the Chilean FOI law. In light of the current scandal, Sunlight Foundation and other regional PMOs also released a statement calling on the government to reform political finance regulations and the relationship between the public and private sectors.

Also in Chile, Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente released a study reviewing Chilean president Michelle Bachelet’s first year in office. The results showed that after one year in office she has introduced 41.8% of the laws promised during her campaign.   

In Morocco, Sim Sim Participation Citoyenne launched a new tool on its Nouabook.ma website that allows citizens to ask questions and get answers from their MPs using video. In particular, the new feature will help illiterate citizens interact directly with their MPs.    

In Uganda, Parliament Watch held a tweet chat with young MPs to discuss youth representation and how to make legislation more relevant to young people. Participants highlighted the importance of social media in bringing discussions about governance to the citizens and improving communication between youth and their representatives.

In Colombia, Transparencia por Colombia released results for the fourth national survey on anti-bribery practices in the private sector as well as an assessment that considers the transparency of sub-national government agencies.   

In Ecuador, Observatorio Legislativo presented a report analyzing the performance of  Ecuador’s National Assembly over the last two years. The report reviews laws discussed, MPs’ individual performance, government oversight, and institutional transparency.   

In the UK, following recent elections, MySociety has updated WriteToThem.com to allow citizens to contact newly elected MPs.

In Georgia, Transparency International Georgia won a freedom of information case against Georgia’s Ministry of Interior. This court decision sets a precedent that would make it more difficult government agencies to refuse information requests based on personal data protection claims. The organization also released its annual report.

In Cambodia, the Committee for Free and Fair Elections released an educational video to raise awareness about electoral reform, specifically looking at reforms that will improve elections in the country.

In Mexico, Borde Politico, in association with Harvard University and New York University, released an infographic that summarizes the results of a study which tracked the use of funds earmarked for infrastructure by municipal governments. The study reviewed audits from Mexico’s Supreme Audit Institution to identify how much money municipal governments had to invest in infrastructure and to find out what proportion of those funds was used to develop infrastructure projects that meet the needs of the poor.

In Spain, Fundacion Civio, in association with el  El Confidencial, Tecnilógica, Iron Hack, and CartoDB, hosted a hackathon exploring new ways to use, create, and share electoral information.  

Click here to read more.

Latin American legislatures have significant work to do to meet international standards on openness and transparency.  This is evident from the latest findings of the Latin American Index for Legislative Transparency, unveiled between 15-25 September during Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW) in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The average country score was below 40 percent. While Peru (55%) and Chile (53%) lead the index, Argentina (36%) ranks in seventh place, followed by Bolivia (24%) and Venezuela (21%).

What does the Index measure?

The Index comprises four dimensions: (i) Legal regulations; (ii) Parliamentary work; (iii) Budget and Administrative Management; and (iv) Mechanisms for Participation, Public Engagement and Accountability.

Click here to read more.

News from the parliamentary monitoring community:

In Germany, Parliament Watch described efforts to get candidates to sign a transparency pledge ahead of the September elections. Parliament Watch also recently worked with their media partner Der Spiegel to create an interactive election website for citizens to guess the outcomes of upcoming elections. Elsewhere, the German branch of the Open Knowledge Foundation visited the Code for America offices in San Francisco to begin the “Code for All” international partnership. A monthly report of all OKF Germany’s July activities is available here.

In Peru, the Congress faced a battery of criticism over appointments to a number of key posts in the country, with President Ollanta Humala calling on some of the new appointees to step down. Entorno Parlamentario suggested four areas of reform (and Transparencia Peru a further three), while La Republica criticized the ethics committee for lack of sanctioning members who receive formal complaints.

In Afghanistan, the Free & Fair Elections Forum (FEFA) released their June 2013 parliamentary monitoring report, which highlighted a number of positive developments, including on the activities of the Oversight Committee on Performance of the Government and the Committee on Women’s Affairs.

In Argentina, a new voting record tracking app, the winner of an April 2013 hackathon won seed funding to further develop and scale. An interview with the team is available and the source code is available on GitHub.

Click here to read more.

(This news update, by Dustin Palmer, is a continuation of that posted last week. Be sure to check back next week for news from this week (which isn’t covered in the update below… got it?))

News from the parliamentary monitoring community:

In Pakistan, during a citizens forum hosted by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab praised the role of PILDAT in improving the performance of the Punjab Assembly. The forum marked the release of a report by PILDAT on the performance of the provincial assembly over the last five years, including recommendations to further strengthen it.  The report is available in English and Urdu.

In Colombia, Congreso Visible released its yearly report on the legislature, examined the inadequate division of labor in the Congress, and considered the challenge of making legislative information visible. Additionally, Transparencia Por Colombia helped citizens to create a mural of transparency during a public meeting with the local planning council of the Bosa district of Bogotá. Citizens and local authorities renewed the Bosa Pact for Transparency and Governance. Transparencia Por Colombia also presented at the Andesco National Congress.

In Mexico, the LALT Network recently called on the international community to oppose efforts by the Mexico House of Representatives to restrict access to information and transparency. More context on these efforts - and the opposition’s response - is available from FUNDAR here and here. One factor is the lack of historical legislative data and research, which hampers the legislative process. Also in Mexico, Visión Legislativa urged legislators to to make more legislative information available, even as the Supreme Court ruled against disclosure requirements.

Click here to read more.

The first day of PDF Poland-CEE is over, but the unconference event begins tomorrow. There will be a session on PMO work, so follow along with the Twitter hashtag #PDFPoland and on the event’s website.

News from the parliamentary monitoring community:

In Libya, a new parliamentary monitoring project was launched called Eye on GNC. Check out the project’s website, and a quick news blip here.

In Pakistan, PILDAT launched their Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan for the year 2012. Read the story on PILDAT’s website.

In the US and the UK, the Sunlight Foundation and mySociety were awarded significant grants to expand their civic innovation programs. Read more about it on Sunlight’s blog and mySociety’s blog.

In South Africa, Parliamentary Monitoring Group launched its review of the parliament in 2012. The review details significant issues that arose during the last year in the parliament, gives awards to specific committees for exemplary work, and provides advice for improvement.

In Spain, Access Info Europe launched a campaign to raise the €3,000 fine imposed on them by the Spanish Supreme Court for attempting to access public information. They quickly raised more than €10,000 from supporters. 

Click here to read more.