2017 event partners
The House of Lords is working with a number of organisations to deliver the 2017 chamber event.
The English-Speaking Union
The English-Speaking Union (ESU), an educational charity, was founded in 1918 by the writer and journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench. It is a membership organisation with branches throughout the UK and has a presence in over 50 countries worldwide. The ESU's vision is to provide people in the UK and internationally with communication skills, confidence and networking opportunities. It endeavours to see that the value of good communication as an essential attribute for individual, community and global development and understanding is publicly recognised and widely integrated into education and social policy.
British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union
The British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU) has responsibility for the UK Parliament's engagement with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) which is the world body of Parliaments with headquarters in Geneva serving 173 members. The key objective of the IPU is to be the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue for peace and encourage cooperation among parliaments in support of representative democracy. The IPU convenes twice-yearly Assemblies of its membership and also arranges a wide variety of international parliamentary meetings on major global issues, often in cooperation with the United Nations.
BGIPU also arranges bilateral inter-parliamentary exchanges in hosting delegations from other IPU member parliaments to the UK Parliament and organising outward delegation visits of UK members to counterpart parliaments overseas. Membership of the BGIPU comprises all members of the House of Commons and House of Lords, across all political parties and the cross-benches. BGIPU's primary objective is to advance the parliamentary dimension of Britain's foreign relations.
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) exists to develop, promote and support Commonwealth parliamentarians and parliamentary staff to identify benchmarks of good governance and to implement the enduring values of the Commonwealth. The CPA is an international community of more than 180 Commonwealth parliaments and legislatures working together to deepen the Commonwealth's commitment to the highest standards of democratic governance.
The CPA is the only Commonwealth organisation to represent national, state, provincial and territorial parliaments and Legislatures. The CPA holds the annual Commonwealth Youth Parliament in a different region each year with young people from across the Commonwealth and has a wide range of public outreach projects from the CPA Roadshows for young people in schools and universities to the CPA Commonwealth Parliamentary Lecture Series.
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK (CPA UK), based in the UK Parliament, works to strengthen parliamentary democracy throughout the Commonwealth. It undertakes international parliamentary outreach activities involving MPs and peers from the UK Parliament. By bringing this expertise and experience together with stakeholders from a range of sectors, CPA UK facilitates dialogue on a wealth of issues contributing to sustainable development and supporting democracy, good governance and human rights.
Royal Commonwealth Society
Founded in 1868 and constituted by Royal Charter, the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is the oldest and largest civil society organisation devoted to the modern Commonwealth. With a global reach through our extensive network we operate at the forefront of Commonwealth affairs to improve the lives and prospects of all Commonwealth citizens.
Our education, youth-focused and policy and research programmes seek to promote the value, and values, of the Commonwealth and to address the global challenges that face the Commonwealth today. The RCS is a registered charity, is non-partisan and is independent of governments.