The organisation administers the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP), a network across the Commonwealth which promotes greater representation for women in Parliament, the CPA Small Branches network, representing parliaments and legislatures with populations below 500,000 people, and the Commonwealth Youth Parliament, an annual gathering of young people hosted by a Commonwealth Parliament.

CPA UK (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)



The “Association” since 1911…. The CPA Commonwealth is governed by an International Executive Committee which controls the management of activities and business of the Association. The Committee consists of 35 Members: the Officers of the Association, the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians and three Regional Representatives from each Region except Africa which, as a large Region, has six Representatives. The Committee meets just prior to the General Assembly, to which it reports, and holds a second meeting in another Commonwealth country midway between General Assemblies. Based in the heart of the UK Parliament, CPA UK has worked to support and strengthen parliamentary democracy across the Commonwealth since our establishment in 1911. Working with over 60 countries and jurisdictions across the Commonwealth our approach of peer to peer learning is central to our methodology. We design bespoke programmes and projects between parliamentarians and staff in the UK and other Commonwealth parliaments to enable and facilitate knowledge-sharing and development of good-practice. https://www.uk-cpa.org/who-we-are/the-commonwealth-parliamentary-association Commonwealth nations work together to implement our shared values and principles which are in the Association.

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The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association – The CPA was founded in 1911 at a meeting of Heads of Government in Westminster Hall as the then-Empire Parliamentary Association and its affairs were administered by the UK Branch. The original members were Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

1911 – South Africa – Commonwealth Parliamentary Association