Date and time: Wednesday 29 April 2026, 09.00-10.00 UK / GMT+1 ; 10.00-11.00 CET
Speakers: Maria Mousmouti (Associate Research Fellow, Sir William Dale Center for Legislative Studies, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London), Halyna Shevchuk (WFD Country Director, Ukraine), Dinesh Wagle (WFD Country Director, Nepal); Ukrainian parliamentary staffer (TBC).
Chair: Alex Scales (Evidence and Learning Manager, WFD)
Registration: This webinar is open to all IPEN members and members of WFD’s Global Community of Practice for PLS
Details: Join the first joint webinar between Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and IPEN!
Post‑legislative scrutiny (PLS) is the process by which parliaments review how a law is working in practice after it has been adopted, including whether it is being implemented as intended and whether it is achieving its policy objectives. Effective public engagement is a core part of PLS, helping parliaments understand lived experience, unintended consequences, and implementation gaps that may not be visible through formal reporting alone.
This seminar will explore two challenging but contrasting examples of public engagement within the PLS process, including in wartime Ukraine and across geographically remote provinces in Nepal. The panel will reflect on why PLS was prioritised in their context and what objectives public engagement was expected to serve. Our discussion will then explore the practical design choices, trade‑offs, and constraints that shaped public engagement in these contexts.
From Ukraine, the discussion will consider how PLS and public engagement have been pursued under conditions of war and martial law, including constraints on time, security, and participation, as well as the importance of maintaining parliamentary accountability and citizen trust during crisis. From Nepal, we will examine the challenges of engaging citizens in PLS processes across remote and hard‑to‑reach communities, where geography, infrastructure, and uneven access to technology shape who can participate and how.
This will be followed by a Q&A and further discussion on what makes for a credible and inclusive public engagement process within PLS. Together, we’ll try to identify what design choices support effective consultation, even in difficult operating environments.
Featured image credit: G.Evgenij/Shutterstock.com