Projects
Have a look at selected projects and testimonials from partners and clients to see how PA Governance approaches democratic governance strengthening, how it achieves results and makes a lasting impact.
"Philipp was able to put together the right team for the task and then get the best out of them. Skilled and knowledgeable in parliamentary governance, in our joint work with Myanmar’s parliaments, he was consistently on top of detail yet remained focused on the broader vision."
Visioning & managing change across 17 Parliaments in Myanmar
Janelle Saffin, Member for Lismore, New South Wales Parliament & Parliamentary Strengthening Advisor
My team and I were facing a dilemma. With finite sources, and with our beneficiaries having had limited exposure to managing organizational change, how do we support 17 parliaments in purposefully and gradually developing their institutions and evolving their practices? We progressed gradually and flexibly. We spent considerable time listening and establishing relationships. Then we introduced an organized, trust-based process for designing and implementing change: We broke up the visioning and planning into digestible pieces in our Leadership Programme for Speakers. What started as a high-level parliamentary induction for senior leaders quickly transformed into a change steering process, happening semi-annually in an open and collaborative setting. In this process, Speakers would do shared visioning, discuss new initiatives and review progress on agreed priorities. Results were impressive: a major administration reform, the introduction of meaningful committee oversight, and the digitization of 17 parliaments - all in just a few years.
Future foresight analysis to adapt programming after Myanmar's Coup
On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's generals launched a coup, detained the country's civilian leaders and dispersed the parliamentarians that had come together to form Myanmar's 3rd Parliament. The country was in turmoil, the people protested first, then boycotted and then rose up against the new junta regime (called the SAC) . Development partners were facing a conundrum? What does this mean for our programming? How will the situation develop? Shall we continue to deliver our vital development assistance, and, if yes,, how? The World Bank in Myanmar engaged me to help them figure these things out for the country's education sector. For what is a political analysis-cum-foresight exercise, I designed and facilitated a scenario planning exercise that would allow the World Bank to prepare their responses based on the most likely scenarios, at the level of the education sector and at the wider-political-system level. The graphic shows you the political-system-level variables chosen for the definition of the political scenarios and the causal relationships between this variables.
"Philipp's in- depth understanding of the intricacies of Myanmar's political landscape proved crucial when describing likely scenarios, and his excellent writing skills led to a clear and comprehensive report that will continue to guide the Bank and development partners in years to come."
Lauri Pynnönen, Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank
Photo by Alessio Roversi on Unsplash
Strengthening Lao PDR's Institute for Legislative Studies
The National Assembly's Institute for Legislative Studies had a mandate to serve as the central research and training body for Lao PDR's National Assembly and its 18 Provincial People's Assemblies — but it wasn't living up to it. UNDP's STEPS project needed a strategy and a roadmap to transform the ILS into a genuine Centre of Excellence. The challenge: an institution with limited self-awareness of its own gaps, a cautious leadership culture, and a parliamentary environment where anything beyond one-off workshops was unfamiliar territory.
A patient, trust-building approach was key. Rather than imposing a reform blueprint, my work began with bringing ILS leadership along through targeted briefings and a draft long-term transformation roadmap. A skills audit of 19 staff — the first of its kind — established a credible baseline of competencies and service gaps. A technical workshop on training methodologies built both practical skills and the rapport needed for genuine institutional buy-in. Alongside ILS reform, I provided strategic guidance on linking ILS reform to the NA's broader HR management reform.
By the end of the engagement, ILS leadership had moved from hesitation to full ownership of the reform process — with a skills audit report, and a transformation roadmap in place.