What We Do

In our work to promote parliamentary democracy and good governance, we undertake an extensive range of programmes, project and activities. We use a number of approaches which are specifically targeted at parliamentarians, some of which are: online courses, workshops, webinars, conferences and the development of publications, toolkits and handbooks. Our work is focused on parliamentary practice and procedure, but we have a number of cross-cutting themes on subjects ranging from COVID-19 to the Sustainable Development Goals. Our values are Commonwealth centred and seek to uphold the highest values and principles the Commonwealth promote and adhere to.

The CPA seeks to nurture an open and wide-ranging understanding of parliamentary democracy that takes account of the national context and is in line with the Association’s non-partisan, non-prescriptive and non-intrusive approach, as well as the priorities set by jurisdictions and parliaments themselves.

Through its programmes, the CPA seeks to capture the diverse experiences of parliamentary democracy from across the Commonwealth. Through the sharing of ideas and practices the CPA is able to expand its comparative knowledge on parliamentary strengthening recognising the diverse challenges that many Commonwealth jurisdictions face.

The CPA’s programme activities for strengthening the functioning of parliaments builds on the Association’s convening power and ability to facilitate dialogue at the national, regional and pan-Commonwealth levels.