GPG newsletter

May 2021

Insight

This month, parliamentary expert and GPG Associate Alex Brazier wrote a blog in which he outlines the challenges and development of our project with the National Assembly of Armenia and provides an overview of the core subjects this work is set to tackle. You may find the blog here.

GPG partnered with Rights LabRUSI, and Waging Peace on an essential project investigating the impact of Covid–19 on human trafficking in Sudan. We interviewed high-level practitioners as well as political and academic figures working on human trafficking in Sudan. The findings of these interviews conducted by us and our partners provide insight to continue combatting modern slavery in the region. On Wednesday 26th May, we held a successful webinar with our partners and experts to present our findings. You can find the full report of our findings here.

New website

If you’re reading this, you may have noticed – GPG got a brand new website! We are very excited to share this fully refurbished platform with you. We paid close attention to the way its navigation works, as we want it to best display GPG’s global experience and the breath of our projects.

In particular, we encourage you to have a look at our portfolio of expert, international Associates.

To fully understand how GPG articulates its work, explore our five Areas of Expertise. These five great themes encompass all of our projects and their individual pages will describe them in more depth while indicating all the related resources we offer.

For a brief overview of our thematic areas, we encourage you to read the blog we published on the topic.

You reviews and opinion are always welcome – don’t hesitate to reach out through our Contact Us form. We hope you love our new platform!

Sudan

Sudan MSPEC: Report on Impact of Covid-19 on Human Trafficking in Sudan Launch

GPG launched the final report on the impact of Covid-19 on Human Trafficking in Sudan. The report is the culmination of 3-months of data collection, analysis and interviews into how the pandemic impacted human trafficking landscape in Sudan.

The report was preceded by a virtual launch event that brought together experts in different sectors. The speakers shared insights and impressions on the report, while exploring possible responses to the findings’ recommendations from their backgrounds as sudanese politicians, international implementer’s and sudanese public bodies officials.

We would like to extend our gratitude to our partners at the Rights Lab, RUSI, and Waging Peace—in addition to interview participants and colleagues who participated in the development of this report.

You can download the report and we will also make the online event available online in the coming weeks. For more information on the research project visit GPG’s website.

Sudan Modern Slavery: Phase 2 of the project fund officially comes to an end

It has been a challenging, yet productive project period for both GPG and our delivery partners at the National Committee for Combatting Trafficking (NCCT). GPG is honoured to support the committee in their efforts to improve Sudan’s human trafficking response, through a bespoke and innovative approach. From the establishment of a subcommittee to review the anti-trafficking law to research papers, remote workshops, and online events—the pandemic offered a unique opportunity to explore more innovative means of project delivery.

GPG is currently expecting confirmation of a formal extension under the fund and hopes to resume work in early July, focusing to discuss next steps and support with our stakeholders throughout June by formalising an extended Memorandum of Understanding with the NCCT.  We will keep you posted on any developments!


Iraq

Newly created Implementation Team to support Iraq’s Parliamentary Directorate in their reform agenda

GPG is continuing to support the Iraqi Parliament in improving the coordination and communication between the Parliamentary committees and the Council of Representatives Regional Offices (COROs) to better reflect citizens needs in the policy process. Following GPG’s advice, the Parliamentary Directorate identified an “Implementation Team” that will lead on this reform process with GPG’s guidance and parliamentary expertise. 

Moreover, our team is currently supporting the Youth and Sports Committee on parliamentary inquiry based on the third recommendation of GPG’s “Economic Drivers for Youth Political Discontent in Iraq” research. The inquiry will look into the legislative and regulatory barriers for youth’s employment. GPG is also working with the Finance Committee on the scrutiny of the government economic reform programme, also known as the White Paper. GPG will be helping the Committee develop a legacy report that would act as an institutional memory for the committee and aims to document its achievements and challenges that would be built upon and addressed by the successive committee in the new parliament.