Democracy International conducted an evaluation of USAID’s Parliamentary Program of Azerbaijan (PPA), which seeks to strengthen the effectiveness and representative capacity of the parliament of Azerbaijan. This evaluation, which covers Phase I and II of the program, provides the USAID Mission in Azerbaijan with a comprehensive analysis of program’s performance and offers recommendations for future programming in this sector. DI fielded a team to conduct this assessment from June to August 2011.

DI’s team evaluated activities implemented by Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) utilizing interviews conducted during a three-week stay in June and July of 2011 and available documents and published reports.

DI found that close involvement of the parliamentary administration had mixed effects on the program: while the members of parliament have improved their constituent services there is little understanding of representation and there is very little engagement between the parliament and civil society. Based on these findings, the team recommends that USAID continue working with the parliament with continued technical support to the parliament, but do so with a stronger emphasis on representation and participation by citizens.