Democratization: Civil Society and Democratic Governance Activities In 2006, the ODIHR’s activities focused on the following areas: k Providing parliamentary assistance; k Supporting political parties; and k Building local capacity for political analysis. In a move to support domestic efforts to reform and strengthen parliamentary practices in Georgia, the ODIHR entered into a partnership with the Georgian parliament, as well as with the OSCE Mission to Georgia, to create the Centre for Parliamentary Reform. Based within the parliament and staffed by Georgian experts, the Centre’s main task is to formulate parliamentary reform strategies and to keep the parliamentary leadership abreast of reform initiatives. Sponsored by the ODIHR, the Centre is fully run by the parliament in order to ensure that the reform process is genuinely locally owned. During its initial phase of capacity-building and consolidation, the Centre has started to assist parliamentary leadership in the crucial tasks of donor co-ordination. One of the Centre’s staff members gained valuable experience during a month-long traineeship, facilitated by the OSCE Mission to Georgia, in the Bavarian Landtag. Its rules and practices, whereby minority parties in the parliament are in a position to contribute to governing (for example, in terms of agenda-setting and initiating legislation), are of particular relevance to the Georgian situation. The Centre’s staff also spent 10 days taking part in an intensive internship arranged by the OSCE Assembly Support Initiative in Kosovo. The experience greatly enhanced the staff’s expertise in donor co-ordination and underscored the valuable experiences the OSCE can share between its field operations. The Centre also carried out a quantitative needs analysis for the parliament, focusing in particular on communication and equipment. Through its publications, monthly donor coordination meetings, as well as its weekly brief- AGIM DOBI I. Providing parliamentary assistance ings to the parliament’s leadership, the Centre has established itself as the Georgian parliament’s main communication channel between international donors and the parliament in matters of reform. The Centre presented its experiences with donor co-ordination in Georgia at the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in November. The meeting also provided the context for a special side event, convened by the ODIHR together with the OSCE missions to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia. The objective was to consolidate the expertise of the OSCE field operations in South-Eastern Europe in the field of parliamentary assistance to participating States, and to draw out the emerging OSCE approach to this aspect of institution-building. The OSCE field operations in South-Eastern Europe have best practices to offer with regard to public participation and access, improving internal organization and procedures, developing the role and capacity of standing committees, and assisting national parliaments in the co-ordination of donor efforts, as well as valuable experience in assisting national parliaments in developing effective and fruitful bilateral arrangements with parliaments in other participating States. Building on the lessons learned presented at this meeting, the field operations in South-Eastern Europe encouraged further regional co-operation and exchange of experiences, experts, and knowledge. The ODIHR Annual Report  Members of the Albanian Assembly. The ODIHR has been building on the expertise of the OSCE missions in South-Eastern Europe in its parliamentary assistance projects in other parts of the OSCE region. 33