The APRN was created in 2003 in response to demands by African parliamentarians for a network that would bring together Members of Parliament (MPs) from all over Africa interested in central issues such as poverty reduction to discuss and share best practices, lessons learned and experiences in that area; as well as to improve their poverty monitoring capacity and increase their policy-making knowledge and build linkages with policy institutes.

Created under the Africa – Canada Parliamentary Strengthening Program (ACPSP), the Poverty-Reduction Network brings together parliamentary committees involved in the PRSP process, either for its design, its implementation or, as in most cases, for oversight of the process. The network serves as an avenue for greater group dialogue amongst members of parliament as well as offers them opportunities for ensuring effective implementation of poverty reduction programs, particularly through local level monitoring with community-based civil society groups.

To date, close to 20 various parliamentary committees from 15 countries have committed to the network, with the potential of more countries to join. The network includes key poverty-related committees from Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Mali, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. A the network first meeting took place in November 2003 in Ghana, thus coinciding with the launching of the network's main activity, an ambitious MPs and staff internship program implemented by a local policy institute program implemented by the Institute for Policy Alternatives (IPA), a local policy institute. The training and internship program also involved civil society groups in order to increase capacity and understanding of poverty-related committee members in their role in local monitoring of poverty measures.

In April 2000, in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), among other institutions, the Parliamentary Centre launched Parliament and Poverty Reduction with an on-line Parliamentary Development Forum Discussion. Drawing on this discussion, 15 parliamentarians from around the world then met in Canada for the 2000 Laurentian Seminar, on "Parliamentarians and Policies to Reduce Poverty". During the week, participants discussed face to face the practical ways in which Parliamentarians can assist in poverty reduction.

This set off an intensive consultation process by internet, through three video-conferences in Asia and Africa, and then via a week-long seminar in Vienna to help plan a World Bank Institute-Parliamentary Centre course on the PRSP Process. Experienced senior parliamentarians, parliamentary experts and World Bank and Parliamentary Centre staff analyzed Parliament and poverty reduction, and how to increase parliaments' involvement in the PRSP.

The lessons from all this work, plus the basis for future course presentations came together in a Handbook for Parliamentarians on Policies to Reduce Poverty.

The 2001-02 program then implemented pilot projects in Ghana, Ethiopia and Cambodia:

• Four weeks of video-conferences strengthened four key committees in Ghana – Finance, Public Accounts, Local Government and Rural Development, and Gender and Children; these committees insisted on a greater role in final review of the Ghana Poverty Strategy – improving the plan by stressing a smaller number of priorities.
• In Ethiopia, the Budget and Economic Affairs committees were beneficiaries of the course. A key result was Budget Committee work to monitor public PRSP consultations in the countryside, to assure that poorer Ethiopians were participating fully.
• Cambodia involved both Senate and House Banking and Finance committees and used direct inputs during the course by civil society groups of poorer Cambodians from different regions and occupations. The two committees agreed to work closely with local Cambodian experts to provide strong monitoring of the ongoing PRSP process.