The East-West Parliamentary Practice Project (EWPPP), headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, was founded in April 1990 as a joint initiative of the European Cultural Foundation (NL) and the Ford Foundation (US) with the aim of providing support for parliaments in the newly emerging democracies in Central/Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The EWPPP became an independent foundation under the law of the Netherlands in 1995. The EWPPP mission is to support and strengthen parliaments in countries faced with enormous challenges related to the long process of democratic, political, social and economic transition, as well as to promote sustainable partnerships between parliaments and civil society organizations.National and regional stability ultimately depend upon the development of legitimate democratic institutions. The EWPPP maintains a dynamic network of national parliaments and civil society organizations working to promote innovative approaches to good governance.Over the past twenty years, the EWPPP has developed and implemented capacity building programmes in the form of multinational roundtables, parliament-to-parliament study visits and targeted trainings which have brought together members of parliament, parliamentary staff and representatives of civil society organizations in East/Southeastern Europe and Eurasia with their counterparts from throughout Europe.EWPPP programmes are demand driven - designed and adjusted to respond to specific needs of parliaments in partner countries, focusing on the ways in which parliaments can effectively address a variety of political, organizational, procedural and policy issues. EWPPP programmes advocate a regional approach to challenges faced by neighboring countries in transition to multiparty democracy. EWPPP programmes are non-partisan in approach and pluralistic in participation, providing a politically neutral forum for the free exchange of information and experience.Support for the activities of the EWPPP has been provided by private U.S. and European foundations, the European Commission and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
