Tech-Facilitated Parliamentary Monitoring: 8 Use Cases

Effective and capable parliaments are the bedrock of a healthy democracy. Parliaments are charged with enacting laws to advance the common good and with holding the executive branch accountable for their implementation. Citizen-led parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMOs) play a pivotal and increasingly potent role in monitoring and assessing the functioning of parliaments or their individual members in meeting their mandates. 

Monitoring the parliament is a complex task.  PMOs observations are crucial tools for upholding transparency, fostering accountability and facilitating public knowledge of parliamentary processes. By promoting public knowledge of what parliaments are doing and their strengths and challenges, PMOs support more effective public participation in parliamentary processes and democratic decision-making.

PMOs use a range of technologies to conduct their work. A 2011 survey by NDI and the World Bank Institute found that, at that time, around 40 percent of PMOs were already using e-democracy and e-participation tools. But the pace of technological change moves fast. Today, new technologies provide PMOs with new tools and innovative options for both monitoring and reporting on the activities of parliaments and their members. At the same time, PMOs are facing escalating threats to their work. Around the world, the civic space is shrinking, executive branch leaders are stretching the constitutional and political bounds of their authority, polarization is pushing communities apart, and information integrity is being compromised. Moreover, PMOs and other civic organizations face increasing funding shortfalls. 

Against this backdrop, the use of technology to facilitate parliamentary monitoring is increasingly urgent. Technologies offer potential benefits for PMOs to increase the efficiency, speed and scale of data collection, analysis and information dissemination.

This guide, published by NDI and Directorio Legislativo, assists PMOs to navigate the current landscape by leveraging technologies to more effectively support their work. Rooted in the real-life experiences of 12 PMOs from Asia, Latin America and Europe, this guide presents eight use cases, leveraging 20 tech tools, that may be adapted and tailored across contexts over time. 

Each use case includes multiple comparative country examples, descriptions of the technology type(s) in use, and describes the opportunities and challenges for each approach. Specific use cases include:

• Use Case 1: Legislator directory and activity monitoring
• Use Case 2: Public engagement with MPs
• Use Case 3: Legislative tracking
• Use Case 4: Discourse quality monitoring
• Use case 5: Budget and public finance tracking
• Use case 6: MP asset and conflict-of-interest monitoring
• USe case 7: Issue-based legislative monitoring; and
• Use case 8: AI transcription and interpretation.
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The guide also provides an overview of overarching trends in the use of technology to support parliamentary monitoring by detailing promising practices and persistent challenges that remain to be addressed. In the face of adversity, PMOs continue to adapt, collaborate and innovate to improve parliamentary effectiveness.