Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung@ 40 in Ghana which made it possible for Parliament to launch outreaches outreach programmes to all the 10 regional capitals of the country. This assistance positively impacted the awareness drive and served to galvanise increased public participation in Parliamentary forums at which issues of public concern were addressed. Parliament was encouraged by the overwhelming public support for the programme to institutionalise the establishment of Parliamentary Centers to leverage public involvement in its programmes and activities. Way forward for FES cooperation with the Parliament of Ghana In forging the way forward for future FES cooperation with the Parliament of Ghana: • FES may adopt the Parliamentary Training Institute for conversion into a regional training institute to cater for the training needs of Parliamentarians and staff of Parliaments in Africa. Considerable goodwill exists among African Parliaments to see such an institute established in Ghana, as a bastion of parliamentary democracy, to fill that void. The institute will not only serve will serve not only as a rallying point for the harmonisation of parliamentary processes, policies and programmes that cut across the continent but also provide an impetus to regional integration and interoperability of IT applications in the various African Parliaments. • Parliament may also be supported by FES to foster its anti-corruption and ombudsman roles. An elaborate system may be developed to enable Parliament to more effectively handle petitions that the public may present to it as a means of expanding the frontiers of grievance resolution and management. • FES may set up a special fund to promote Private Members Bill initiatives to deepen Ghana's fledgling democracy and also broaden the legislative spectrum of Parliament. 23