Parliament and the Budget: Effective scrutiny by the legislature of the budget process establishes the checks and balances essential for a transparent and accountable government. This course seeks to provide parliamentary staff with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to effectively participate, scrutinize and impact parliamentary staff in the budget process. This course will specifically consider:

• constitutional challenges for some parliaments
• the audit process for parliament
• the role of committees in budgeting
• timing for the budget process
• budgetary structure

Parliament and the Media: This module aims to help MPs, the media, and civil society to work collaboratively toward the development of a better legal and political environment in which the public is provided with all the information it requires to make informed democratic choices and decisions. This module is particularly concerned with teaching:

• Citizen rights to freedom of speech (expression, right to information, free press) and its role in politics.
• The benefits of free speech for democracy
• Parliament and media relations
• Self regulation of the media
• The importance of access to information
• The legal framework for good governance
• Cape Town principles

Parliamentary Ethics: In the course of the past decades, as a result of recurrent corruption scandals voters have increasingly developed a cynical attitude towards politicians. The purpose of this module is to provide parliamentary staff with a thorough understanding of the origins, structures and purpose of legislative ethics regimes. This module guides learners to a comprehensive understanding of the codes of conduct and codes of ethics and explains the differing circumstances in which each are most successful. Specifically, the ethics module covers:

• Ethics regimes and codes of conduct
• Ethics committees and disclosure rules
• Legal dispositions
• Ethics rules
• Misconduct
• Sanctioning