Dimension: 3.2.3 Outreach activities
This dimension concerns parliamentary outreach, which typically focuses on creating direct contact between parliament and citizens through activities either on or off the parliamentary premises, such as school visits, open days, parliamentary weeks and mobile parliament events.
Many parliaments have adopted a dedicated outreach policy or strategy and annual plans, or have made outreach a part of their overall communication strategy. Effective outreach requires sufficient human and financial resources, including dedicated parliamentary staff to plan and organize activities.
Parliaments should seek to ensure that outreach activities are targeted at all groups in society. Participants in these events typically might include people from civil society organizations, universities, schools, think tanks, professional organizations and similar.
Parliaments support their outreach activities by producing explanatory and educational materials such as bulletins, guides, leaflets, videos, animations, journals and other publications that provide insights into the work of parliament.
Aspiring goal
Assess your parliament against this dimension
Assessment criteria
No 1: Outreach policy or strategy
Parliament has an outreach policy or strategy, as either a stand-alone document or a part of an overall communication strategy. Parliamentary staff create and implement an annual plan of activities based on this policy or strategy.
No 2: Outreach activities
Parliament organizes various outreach activities on and off the parliamentary premises, with the participation of the Speaker(s), MPs and a wide range of members of the public.
No 3: Explanatory and educational materials
Parliament produces explanatory and educational materials that support its outreach strategy.
No 4: Resources
Parliament has sufficient human and financial resources to support effective outreach to all groups in society.
How to complete this assessment
This dimension is assessed against several criteria, each of which should be evaluated separately. For each criterion, select one of the six descriptive grades (Non-existent, Rudimentary, Basic, Good, Very good and Excellent) that best reflects the situation in your parliament, and provide details of the evidence on which this assessment is based.
The evidence for assessment of this dimension could include the following:
- Strategies, policies, annual plans, procedures, reports or other documents describing parliamentary outreach
- Staff structure, and financial and other documents describing parliamentary resources dedicated to outreach
- Statistics on the number of events held, the number of participants, the number of publications produced and distributed, and the number of visits to the parliamentary premises, as well as statistics on visitors, and similar
Where relevant, provide additional comments or examples that support the assessment.
Sources and further reading
- Global Partners Governance, Parliaments and Public Public All the members of a community in general, regardless of their citizenship status. Engagement (2017).
Get help with this assessment
The assessment of indicators involves diagnosing and considering strengths and weaknesses, i.e. the things parliament is doing well, and the things it could do better or more effectively, taking into account established good practices that are described in the indicators.
Read the assessment guidance to find out what to consider when conducting an assessment against the Indicators. Find out how to prepare, how to set the objectives of the assessment, how to organize the process, and more. Contact the project partners for expert advice.
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