URU, Alm.del - 2013-14 - Bilag 152: DIPD Annual Report and Plans Ahead

IntroductionThe Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy (DIPD) havetaken the initiative to set up a programme focusing on multi-party dialogue and cooperation in Myanmar in close consulta-tion with the political parties and other actors in Myanmar.Since January 2012 DIPD started to appraise the possibilities that we as a new de-mocracy institution could support the new democratic development in Myanmar. Weinvited the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) to join hands with usin exploring a possible role of engagement from NIMD and DIPD through analysis andconsultation with a broad spectrum of political parties, actors and stakeholders sup-porting Myanmar’s political parties in their quest to adjust to democratic politics. Theconsultations with political parties and other stakeholders have resulted in the devel-opment of a Multiparty Democracy Programme working on three main objectives:

3.Fostering relationships between political parties and civil society, the media andthe private sector around issues of mutual concern.A two-track approach has been taken so far. Firstly, starting to plan and sequencesupport around a number of priority issues in the field of multi-party dialogue, politicalparty capacity development and relationships with civil society and the media. Sec-ondly, developing the longer-term strategic and programmatic planning based on morein-depth understanding of the Myanmar context, political dynamics, political partylandscape, the regulatory mechanisms, etc. and the role of other local and interna-tional actors. The following themes are currently being developed into programmecomponents:

The themes and the thematic components are all suited for cross-party training andtailor-made follow-up mentoring within the involved parties as well as for fosteringcross-political dialogue and identification of joint issues and possibly reform measures.The core principles of MMDP when engaging in multi-party support are inclusiveness(inviting all parliamentary parties); impartiality (taking a non-partisan approach) andownership (local actors set the agenda).The current annual report is to a large extent based on the news reports and activityreports produced during the year, some of which are also available on our website.

Political parties in democratic transitionsA historic and unprecedented gathering of 50 political partiesparticipated in the Seminar on “The Role of Political Parties inDemocratic Transitions”, held 19-20 February in Yangon aspart of the Myanmar Multiparty Democracy Programme.“This is the first time for decades that so many parties are gathered around the sametable” one of the political party leaders claimed and continued: ”Moreover, we have notbefore jointly discussed our common roles and challenges as political parties”.To allow as open and free dialogue between the political parties the seminar was rununder “Chatham House Rules” allowing sharing all information, but no quotes and thatstimulated the debate a lot. How can parties move from personalized party character-istics? How can parties bettermake check and balances on theexecutive? How did other coun-tries change the situation wherethe military were assigned specialseats in the Parliament? Whatmeasures can increase women’spolitical participation?These and many other questionswere asked to NIMD and DIPDpartner representatives and inter-national resource persons; Dr.Ignas Kleden from Indonesia, Mr.Shaun MacKay, South Africa, Mr.CK Lal from Nepal and Mr. TomCormier, IDEA.

Dr. Ignas Kleden shared the democratization path as it developed in Indonesia andcautioned that the parties in Indonesia played an insignificant role in the reform pro-cess, stressed the need to take into account the role of the military and pursue negoti-ations that accommodate rather than confrontation.The experiences from Nepal’s ongoing transition were presented by Mr. CK Lal high-lighting the importance of strengthening the institutionalization of political parties, en-hancing civil oversight of the military and deciding on the most appropriate electoralsystem. Moreover, parties need to keep focus on being in political office for the goodof the people and seeking economic development that will enhance equal opportuni-ties and livelihoods. Without, a transition process can easily run off track.The seminar was held in cooperation with the local organisation Nyein Foundation,which opened the seminar. In introducing the Myanmar Multiparty Democracy Pro-gramme, Hanne Lund Madsen, Senior Adviser at DIPD, outlined that NIMD and DIPDhave had very positive preparatory consultations in the form of roundtable discussionswith political networks, civil society organisations and government advisers, whichconfirmed broad-based support for and appreciation of the proposed seminar and forthe Myanmar Multiparty Democracy programme, focusing on:Facilitating an inclusive and impartial multi-party dialogue platform that ad-dresses issues of national concern;Strengthening the capacities of political parties in a cross-party setting for ex-ample through trainingEnhancing the cooperation between political parties and civil society, the mediaand the private sector around issues of mutual concern.At the following press briefing,Hanne Lund Madsen (see photoleft) expressed appreciation of themany political parties’ active par-ticipation in the seminar and theirinterest in multi-party dialogueand in discussing issues of com-mon concern in the developmentof Myanmar. “We have noted thestrong request to us for conveningmore dialogue meetings and wewill see how we can best re-spond”, she answered the localmedia.

WHICH SYSTEM TO CHOOSE?The aim of the seminar was to highlight and inform in anon-prescriptive and impartial manner the objectives ofan electoral system and considerations to be madewhen designing and developing the electoral system.The seminar shared information regarding seat alloca-tions and several types of electoral systems includingfirst-past-the-post, proportional representation andmixed systems. The seminar also addressed the im-portance of representation, gender equality and socialinclusion.Designing an electoral system is a complex issue andpolitical parties have requested MMDP to assist in mak-ing information available as well as share experiencesfrom other countries in transition. “We think we knew alot about electoral systems, but now we know there isno ‘perfect’ electoral system. All have both advantages and disadvantages,” one politi-cal party member commented after the seminar.

A THREE DAY SEMINARFollowing the political parties’ own request to make this information available as widelyas possible MMDP held three parallel seminars for three consecutive days. The firstday was for parliamentary political parties, the second for non-parliamentary politicalparties, and the last day was for selected CSOs and media. In the seminar MMDPwas pleased to draw upon the broad expertise and experience of the International In-stitute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and InternationalFoundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) within the field of electoral systems aroundthe world.

In order to secure an open and free Q&A after each presentation as possible, theseminar was run under “Chatham House Rules”. This means that the participants areencouraged to share all information outside of the seminar, but not attribute any directquotes to people. Some of thequestions asked to the speakersMr. Thomas Cormier (Interna-tional IDEA) and Mr. Paul Guerin(IFES Myanmar) include: Whichelectoral system is better suitedfor Myanmar? How can smallerand ethnic parties be ensuredtheir chances to win in their ownregions? What is the trend ofchanging electoral system in oth-er countries?The translated and abridge ver-sion of the New InternationalIDEA’s Handbook 2005 on Electoral System Design was also distributed during theseminar. Moreover, the participants were requested to fill out the pre and post seminarquestionnaires in order to ascertain what they have learned from the seminar. “It wasa successful three days,” said Paul Guerin, one of the speakers. “We hope that theparticipants bring all take-away points to their parties and share with their friends andcolleagues,” Paul continued.

KEY LESSONS LEARNEDKhin Thazin Myint, Programme Coordinator of the Myanmar Multiparty DemocracyProgramme introduced the topics on political system and democratic culture; decen-tralization; municipal elections; and the role of key stakeholders in elections, whichhad been key topics during the KV13 Study Tour.Tun Tun Hein, central executivecommittee member of the Na-tional League for Democracy(NLD) presented his experienceon the political system and dem-ocratic culture of both the Nether-lands and Denmark. He high-lighted the differences of orienta-tion in changing from absolutemonarchy to parliamentary de-mocracy as well as citizens’ par-ticipation and electoral system inthe two countries. Following thispresentation there was debate onwhether or not the proportionalrepresentation (PR) system usedin Denmark can be suitable inMyanmar context. Or if moremixed electoral systems will bebetter suited.Tin Royal of the Chin National Party (CNP) spoke about the high levels of decentrali-zation and about the association of municipalities existing in both Denmark and theNetherlands. He in particular highlighted how municipalities in these countries managetaxes paid by citizens and provides the service delivery (such as public schools,maintenance of roads, health facilities and many more). He also found the high level

of cooperation between municipalities interesting. A lively question-and-answer ses-sion followed on resource allocation and decentralization in Myanmar.Kyi Kyi Maw of the Democratic Party (Myanmar) shared her experiences by observingthe campaigning, the voting and the counting of the votes. She also emphasized thatin a free and fair election not only is it important to ensure plurality of political partiesbut also an equal access to the funding by the different parties. Questions centeredon how political parties in Myanmar are financed at the moment and how an effectivefundraising can be undertaken for coming 2015 election.Htet Aung Kyaw of the National Demo-cratic Force (NDF) provided an overviewof the important roles of political parties,media, and civil society organizationsduring elections and how they work andpresent the mechanisms for reporting,monitoring, and supervision before andafter election. The past by-election inMyanmar was discussed by the partici-pants and ways to improve electoralpractices in the coming 2015 election inMyanmar. Both the participants in theKV13 Study Tour to Denmark and theparticipants in the local election coursein Myanmar agreed that all stakeholdershave an important role to play in ensur-ing free and fair elections and that goodvoter education, election management,and a level playing field in the politicalcompetition is key.Finally, Khin Thazin Myint expressedappreciation of the opportunity to exchange experiences on elections between Myan-mar Multiparty Democracy Programme, the Danida Fellowship Centre and Action AidGlobal Platform.In the beginning of 2014 the participants in the KV13 Study Tour will also share theexperiences within their respective parties and in the political party networks they formpart of.

Media and political partiesThe banks of Inya Lake in Yangon was the serene setting fora conversation between 43 political parties and journalistsfrom 36 leading media houses in Myanmar. The MyanmarMultiparty Democracy Programme and International MediaSupport (IMS) have joined hands to make this path-breakingevent happen. The purpose of the seminar was to make polit-ical parties and media persons talk to each other in a convivi-al atmosphere away from the compulsions of their profes-sions.Honourable U Tin Aye, the Chairman of Union Election Commission (UEC) of Myan-mar set the tone of the seminar by pointing out that media and political parties need towork together to strengthen democracy in the country. In the second session, Mr. Thi-ha Saw from Myanmar Journalist Association (MJA) and U Khin Maung Lay, Editor-in-Chief of Golden Fresh Land, highlighted the complementary roles that parties andmedia have in listening to thevoices of the citizens, in being ac-countable and in doing their workin line with professional ethics.Tin Maung Than of MDRI, a think-tank based in Yangon, empha-sized sensitivities of relationshipbetween media and political par-ties in times of transition andcalled upon participants to exer-cise restraint in dealing with eachother. A lively debate followed.The seminar broke for lunch with alot of ideas to consider and partic-ipants talked to one another abouttheir impressions.The afternoon session began witha presentation of the case study by Ratih Hardjono Falaakh, the Secretary General ofKomunitas Indonesia untuk Demokrasi (KID), about the relationship between politicalparties and media in Indonesia. She dwelled upon the importance of not hurrying theprocess of reforms but continuing with incremental changes in the desired direction.The afternoon session contained a case study from Nepal where, Mr. C.K. Lal, a polit-ical commentator from Nepal, presented an outline of ups and downs when democra-tizing a country while institutionalizing the cordial relationship between the press and

political parties. He advised small and ethnic parties to form alliances in order to at-tract media attention and told journalists to report about issues of marginalized peopleto increase the respectability of the free press in all sections of society. Mutual respecthelps deepen understanding, which is vital for the health of a long-lasting democracy.The last session turned out to be the most engaging. Six groups discussed and cameup with various recommendations to create and maintain working relationships be-tween political parties and the press. Everyone agreed that forums for such conversa-tions need to be institutionalized in Myanmar. Political party leaders have to be trainedin the skill of dealing with the media. Journalists also have to learn new ways of en-gaging in political parties.During the closing session, hostsexpressed satisfaction at the out-come of the seminar and pledged tocontinue to support such initiativesin the future in order to assist thedemocratization process in Myan-mar. The importance of free press ina functioning democracy requiresthat political parties become moremedia savvy. Areas for improvingcapabilities of political parties inhandling media before, during andafter elections have to be exploredto design effective intervention strat-egies in the future.

In the next phase,the media component will be a core activity ofMMDP with the overall objective of increasing dialogue and understand-ing between political parties and the media in support of democratiza-tion in Myanmar. Based on the above consultations, seminars and re-search activity clusters will be the following:Elections– Media and po-litical parties during election campaign and voting – including a codes ofconduct.Voice and Accountability–looking into how both parties andmedia are central in giving voice to the citizens and help in developingaccountability mechanisms.Tool box– Guidance and advice on how toorganize the internal and external communication in a political party.The component will be implemented in collaboration with IMS and localmedia organisations, while also drawing on the expertise of other inter-national organisations in the field.

Political party financingThe key issue of political party financing was addressed forthe first time in a seminar for political parties in Myanmar,where the challenges with fundraising, accountability andregulation were highlighted. More than 50 representativesfrom 46 registered political parties explored the role of politi-cal parties in party finance during a two-day workshop organ-ised jointly by the International Foundation for Electoral Sys-tems (IFES) and Myanmar Multiparty Democracy Programmein Yangon 28-29 November 2013.“Money in politics, or political finance, is linked to key aspects of any modern society.Management of political finance is necessary for credible and genuine elections andelectoral campaigns because it has the potential to skew competition between con-testants. While funds are necessary for political parties to operate it is equally im-portant that an appropriate model of oversight and transparency is developed in eachcountry”, says Magnus Ohman, guest expert for the training.

MONEY IN POLITICSThe workshop was a success dueto the close collaboration with theMyanmar political parties, the My-anmar Multiparty Democracy Pro-gram and the International Foun-dation for Electoral Systems(IFES). The workshop gave an in-troduction to key problems and so-lutions in political finance, also ad-dressing the global experience ofregulating political finance in dif-ferent countries and how regula-Political Party Expert Magnus Ohman shares experi-tions can be enforced. The work-ences from other countriesshop also highlighted the rules regardingdisclosure (financial reporting); bans andlimits on contributions and spending; the provision of public funding; the roles of otherstakeholders such as civil society and media as well as global lessons learned in theoversight of money in politics.The workshop also drew out views from key actors in political finance, the Union Elec-tion Commission, political parties and CSOs on regulating, enforcing and monitoring;to review existing law and practice in Myanmar and to look comparatively at challeng-

EXPERIENCES ARE SHARED LOCALLY“Money matters a lot in political decision making process. But money should only be a‘tool’ to the process. Therefore strategies for controlling money in politics must betaken into account,” says U SaoThan Myint, central executivemember of the Shan NationalitiesDevelopment Party (SNDP).Daw Khine Win Myint, executivemember of the Union of MyanmarFederation of National Politics(UMFNP), comments after theseminar that “money is a huge bar-rier for the small political partiesthat are facing a lack of politicaland campaign finances. Unlike thebigger parties, we are on a self-help basis and mainly relying onmembership fees and income fromBrainstorming for group discussion of party financeorganizing the events. To us as repre-sentatives from the small parties, today’sworkshop is very important because now the voices of the small parties are heard.This way I hope we will together find a solution to have access to funds to take part inthe coming election.”The translated version of the publication on controlling money in politics by Dr. Mag-nus Ohman was also distributed to the participants. Moreover, a similar training wasprovided to the Union Election Commission having a key role in the regulation of polit-ical party finance.The political party financing is a longer-term component of MMDP and the partieswere also requested to nominate two persons (one from leadership position and an-other from finance responsible) to set up task team within their parties on the issue.So far 38 parties have shown their interest to form a task team within their parties.

Women in political partiesIn consultations with the political parties in Myanmar, the im-portance of the role of women in political parties have beenstressed and all parties have encouraged the Myanmar Mul-tiparty Democracy Programme (MMDP) to contribute to a fur-ther understanding of this issue and assist in their delibera-tions. Therefore MMDP has entered cooperation with a wom-en’s expert, Shwe Shwe Sein Latt, to assist in the mappingand planning to find some operational recommendations forthe MMDP in the field of Women in Political Parties and thescope for cooperation.As part of the consultation several dialogues have taken place with selected politicalparties, women parliamentarians, international and local organisations working onwomen’s issues and government entities on their aspirations and plans regardingwomen and gender equality. The roundtable consultations addressed the followingkey issues:What is the current debate and state of affairs with regard to women in politicalparties in Myanmar?What are the main opportunities and challenges faced by political parties in thisregard?Who are the key international actors and local NGOs engaged in this field andtheir plans?How can the MMDP support the needs and opportunities within women in politi-cal parties?

ORGANISATION OF WOMEN IN POLITICAL PARTIESSome of the preliminary findings are that in Myanmar only a few political parties havea women wing or department. The roles and responsibilities of women departmentshave not been clearly defined and there are no clear guidelines and procedures to en-sure women’s equal access to and full participation in party structures and decision-making. In addition, there is also a lack of both short and long term capacity buildingprograms to promote women empowerment and leadership within internal party. Thestudy also finds that most local NGOs and the international community have carriedout relatively few activities so far on this issue. It is an additional challenge that there

WOMEN IN POLITICS IN MYANMARIn Myanmar, few women are representing decision-making roles in politics and publiclife although the country is experiencing reform process in many sectors. Although theMyanmar quasi-civilian government has already ratified the Convention to EliminateAll Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) since 1997 and launched theNational Strategic Plan for Advancement of Women (NSPAW) to improve status ofwomen and equal rights, women still have limitations to participate in politics and deci-sion-making. These includes that the definition of leadership is based on gender andculture, injustice, norms and stereotype, balancing home and work life, gender basedviolence, discrimination, lack of recognizing gender equality and lack of support towomen leaders.However, there were some improvements in the female participation in political lead-ership after bi-election in 2012. According to Inter-Parliamentary Union, the percent-age of female representation in the parliament has now reached six percent (26 out of431 members). Moreover, out of 37 ministers, the first female minister was appointedat the Ministry of Social Welfare and seven female deputy ministers were appointed.There were four female ministers at the state and regional level parliament (two in Ka-chin State, one in Yangon and one in Irrawaddy Region). There is no specific quota forthe female representation in parliament even though there are no specific limitationsfor women’s participation in politics in 2008 constitution.

RECOMMENDATIONSShwe Shwe Sein Latt is therefore suggesting MMDP to develop comprehensive inter-ventions to increase women’s participation in political parties and decision-making andthereby also help achievement of effective democratic transformations. In more con-crete terms, it is recommended MMDP to organize awareness rising and advocacytrainings with key decision makers from parliament, election commission, leaders frompolitical parties, and relevant government administrations. Unless the key decision-makers and policy actors are ready and willing to give priority to the promotion ofwomen’s rights and their participation in politics, the progress will be difficult toachieve.

Among the ideas recommended are mentoring and coaching programs among femalerole models and potential female leaders from political parties. It is also important toidentify male champions from different political parties and promote them to encour-age male members to support female leaders. Additionally MMDP is suggested to or-ganize political women forums, exchange programs, and study tours that could beused as an inspiration for political parties to find out how to bring women and women’sinterests into politics.MMDP will now consider how these recommendations can be carried out to the bene-fit of women and of the political parties.

Youth in Political PartiesThe engagement of youth in political parties in Myanmar hasin the consultations with political parties been identified as akey priority together with the strong interest in strengtheningyouth political education.Therefore MMDP has initiated a mapping study to assist MMDP in understanding thecurrent landscape in Myanmar with regard to youth in political parties and to assistMMDP in developing the contours of a three year component on youth in political par-ties. The study will in particular look at:The current debate and state of affairs with regard to youth in political parties inMyanmarThe main opportunities and challenges faced by political parties in engagingyouth and their current plans and aspirationsThe work of other international actors engaged in this field and their plans andinterest in cooperationAn appraisal of the relevance of translating the DIPD Guide: “How to build aYouth Wing” in to local language and the involvement of Danish Youth PartyLeaders as trainers and facilitators in Myanmar.

Resource and Dialogue CentreIn response to the requests from political parties in Myanmar,the MMDP immediately established a knowledge resourcefacility for political parties to access international knowledgeand experiences in a number of areas.Examples of areas covered by the Resource and Dialogue Centre are:Political party laws and regulationsPolitical party financing regulationsElectoral systemsElectoral cyclesMulti-party dialogue and multi-party cooperationRole and functions of political parties in democratic transitionsRelationships with civil society and the mediaCapacity development of political parties

In the next phase,the MMDP will further develop the resource centertapping national and international knowledge pertaining to the thematicareas of work and to the work of political parties in Myanmar. The re-source center will be a library and a physical meeting place for politicalparties and provide the facilities for the multiparty dialogues to takeplace on current issues of interest to the political parties.Moreover, there are plans of facilitating consultation meetings betweenthe political parties and the UEC focusing both on the priorities outlinedin the Strategic Plan of the UEC and on the priorities among the politicalparties.Sharing ideas and experiences on multi-party dialogue from other coun-tries are also planned for 2014 providing the Myanmar political parties afirst hand experience of multi-party dialogue platforms in countries likeTanzania, Kenya, Nepal and Ghana.

PartnershipsStarting from scratch in Myanmar made the establishment ofpartnerships both locally and among international actors ahigh priority. Most importantly has been the good relationswith and engagement from the Myanmar political parties,which are our main partners in the programme. Together alarge number of consultations, meetings and seminars havebeen undertaken, which have proved the relevance and needfor the work of the Myanmar Multiparty Democracy Pro-gramme.During the pilot phase the advice and sharing at the very start has been greatly appre-ciated from many organizations. In line with our mandate we have held as broad con-sultations as possible with political parties across the political rainbow, includingmembers of parliament, chairs of parliamentary committees, the existing political partyalliances, presidential advisers and political think-tanks. In the near future the setting–up of a MMDP Planning Committee with representation of the political parties will beexplored.MMDP has enjoyed cooperation with and support from NIMD on the overall pro-gramme identification, planning and start-up of activities in the pilot phase and withmany other organisations on specific components. For example with IDEA on electoralsystems, party financing and women; with IFES on electoral systems and party financ-ing; with IMS on Media and Political Parties; with Danida Fellowship Centre and ActionAid Global Platform on Knowledge Exchange on Local Elections in Denmark – KV13and with Shalom on the role of political parties in democratic transitions and institu-tional support to the MMDP in the very first start-up of the programme.Moreover, a number of local civil society organisations have provided valuable guid-ance and advice to the programme as well as providing excellent facilitation during ourseminars and workshops. The ongoing consultations with among other YangonSchool of Political Science, Myanmar Institute for Democracy, Sandhi and Egress areimportant. We are also grateful for the guidance provided in the pilot phase from Dan-ChurchAid, the Danish Burma Network and the Danish Representation.We have also enjoyed very good relationships with the Union Electoral Commission,which has been of great importance to the programme. Thus, the Chair of the UECopened the Seminar on “The role of political parties and media in democratisation”and the UEC participated in several of MMDPs information seminars i.e. on ElectoralSystems. Several bilateral consultations have been held with the UEC to consider co-operation and synergies.At the initiative of the MMDP a Coordination Forum among the Political Party SupportAgencies has been formed. This forum (with more than 20 organisations affiliated) has

existed for more than a year with rotating host and provides our programme and otheractors a valuable platform for information sharing and coordination.The MMDP is also participating in the Democratic Initiatives and Processes (DIP) co-ordination forum established by UNDP and the MMDP consults on a regular basis withUNDP, the EU delegation and other international actors.We have also briefed and met with several delegations both in Denmark and in My-anmar. First of all, DIPD met with Thura Shwe Mann and his delegation during the visitto Denmark at the invitation of the Speaker of Parliament in May 2012.Moreover, we have briefed and met with the following delegations in Myanmar:The Danish Parliament's Foreign Affairs CommitteeThe Danish Parliament's PresidiumSecretary General of IDEA and Board Member of DIPD, Vidar HelgesenThe Danish Policy Formulating MissionThe EU Election Expert MissionHRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and the Danish Minister for Develop-ment Cooperation

Delegation of Thura Shwe Mann visiting Denmark in May 2012