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The virtual parliament

A process of participatory advocacy

The virtual parliament is a process and a space for dialogue between the population and the authorities on the challenges and problems faced by the community.

The virtual parliament is an initiative of Duhamic-Adri, a member organisation in Rwanda. Virtual means that it is not an elected parliament, but a local process and space to address and solve community problems, such as: gender-based violence, child protection and fatherhood, full meals for children in schools...

Community-based organisations (CBOs) work with local allies to identify issues, develop a roadmap, and present their thoughts and solutions to local authorities in a face-to-face and mediated session.

This process allows for a real empowerment of the participants and the community, as Thabee, a trainer at Duhamic-Adri, describes below:

"Participating in the virtual parliament process creates a group of people who share common issues and are fully aware of the problem for their community. These people gain access to ways of expressing their problems, they feel more comfortable communicating with the local authorities and exposing the identified problems, but also proposing solutions. The community is thus more identified and recognised by the authorities. The community in general benefits a lot from this process, even if it comes from a small group mobilised in the community. Solving the community’s problems is for everyone and there is a kind of trickle-down effect for the wider mobilisation of the community in the future."