Second APRN Regional Conference: "Parliaments, Poverty Reduction and the Budget Process" October 19-22, 2009

The second African Parliamentary Poverty Reduction Network (APRN) Conference which took place in Dakar, Senegal, from October 19 - 22, 2009 attracted a substantial number of participants (55) including members of parliament from twelve African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia); also present were parliamentary staff from parliaments of Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya Ghana and Senegal.  Representatives from North South Institute (N SI), International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Austrian Development Agency (ADA) also took part in the conference.

The APRN regional conference organized with the objective of promoting greater cross-Africa dialogue among members of parliament from different countries and providing opportunities for exchange and sharing best practices for improving effective implementation of poverty reduction programs utilized a range of approaches like presentation of papers, plenary discussion of important developmental issues and group work to achieve the set objectives. The various contributions made by participants ranging from comments on presentations, recommendations made during group work discussions, power point presentations as well as written texts submitted by the presenters   are being collated and eventually be developed into a handbook on parliamentary poverty reduction efforts.

For the full report, please click here.

APRN Conferences

APRN Launch and Workshop, Tamale, Ghana
November 7-8, 2003

The African Parliamentary Poverty Reduction Network was launched at a founding meeting and workshop held in Tamale, Northern Ghana on November 7-8, 2003. The workshop aimed at:

• deliberating on the broad conceptual issues that underpin the mandate of the Network: exploring the organizational issues and developing a tentative workplan for the activities of the Network;
• providing a forum for discussion on substantive issues of importance to the Network, the community monitoring of poverty reduction: sharing experiences on the engagement with civil society and a field visit to examine the ways in which Parliament could link up with civil society in conducting oversight for poverty reduction.

The workshop counted 30 participants from 13 countries, including 25 MPs, 4 parliamentary staff and 1 representative from a research institution. Invited guests included the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana; the Minister for the Northern Region; Hon. J.H. Mensah, Senior Minister; as well as a representative of the Canadian High Commission. There was also strong representation from the organizers, both the Parliamentary Centre and the Institute for Policy Alternatives.

For the full report, please click here.

Centers of Excellence (Consortium) Meeting
Nairobi, Kenya, February 3-4, 2006

Documents:

Centres of Excellence Meeting Report

Policy Dialogues

Second Africa-Asia Policy Dialogue
Corruption, Poverty and Growth: Progress, Prospects, and Challenges in Africa and Asia
Dar es Salaam , Tanzania , September 25-28, 2006

Final report on the second Africa-Asia Policy Dialogue

First Africa-Asia Policy Dialogue
Governance and accountability: sharing experiences of parliamentary oversight and poverty monitoring in Asia and Africa
Phnom Penh, October 4-7, 2004

Documents:

Parliamentary Oversight as a Mechanism for Accountability by Dr. Stephen Langdon, Parliamentary Centre, Canada

The Role of Parliament in the Implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers by Hon. L.J. Chimango, Malawi

Wilton Park

Wilton Park "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Parliaments: Challenges and Opportunities"
October 27-30, 2008

The 934th Wilton Park Conference under the theme “Enhancing the Effectiveness of Parliaments: Challenges and Opportunities” was organised in cooperation with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Department for International Development (DFID), World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Parliamentary Centre (PC). The Conference, which was heavily subscribed with ninety five participants from across the globe, took place October 27th to October 30th, 2008. Participants ranged from Non-Governmental Organizations, Government Agencies such as USAID, DFID, CIDA, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), and Parliamentary Centre (PC). Also represented were Members of Parliament from selected African countries, South Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe.

PC, with funding from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), sponsored eight African Members of Parliament from Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.

During the three-day conference, the following themes on enhancing the effectiveness of parliaments were presented and debated:

• Promoting Parliamentary Effectiveness: The Current State of Play and the Road Ahead
• Parliaments Strengthening Initiatives: Lessons Learnt and Good Practice
• Comparative Regional Perspectives on Parliamentary Perspectives (1): Latin America, SE Asia, The Pacific and Middle East
• Comparative Regional Perspectives on Parliamentary Effectiveness (2): Africa
• The Role of Parliaments in Fragile and Conflict Affected State 
• Parliaments and the Political Context
• Parliaments and Parliamentary Strengthening-A view from the South and Transition Countries
• The Role of Parliaments in Poverty Reduction and the Promotion of Gender Equality
• Understanding and Engaging with Political Parties
• Parliamentary Benchmarks and Initiative

For the full report, please click here.

Wilton Park “Southern Perspectives on Reform of the International Development Architecture”
May 19-21, 2007

This conference was organized by the North South Institute and Wilton Park. With the support from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the Parliamentary Centre and four Members of Parliament: Hon. Adhu Awiti (Kenya), Hon. Kenneth Thindwa (Malawi), Hon. William Okecho (Uganda) and Hon. Emmanuel Hachipuka (Zambia) were able to participate at this conference, which took place at Wilton Park in West Sussex, UK.  It focused on the findings from an ongoing North-South Institute project, which aims at bringing a southern perspective into the reform process of the international development architecture, as most of the previous input has been made by northern governments and experts.For the full report, please click here

Wilton Park 'Reducing Poverty: The Roles of Parliaments, Government, and Non-State Actors'
June 5-8, 2006

The conference sought to examine the role of parliaments, governments and non-state actors in the poverty reduction process. In particular, the conference looked at ways parliaments, donors, business, and NGOs co-operate and build partnerships to reduce poverty and fight corruption. More specifically, the discussions touched upon the following issues: how Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSPs) links economic growth and poverty reduction, correlation between Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and PRSP, improvement of capabilities in economic, social, political, transparency and security dimensions, and what could be learnt from poverty reduction efforts in Africa in particular.

Dr. Stephen Langdon and Dr. Rasheed Draman of the Parliamentary Centre as well as Hon. Anne Makinda (Tanzania) and Hon. Bagbin (Ghana), both members of APRN, all presented papers at this conference.

For the full conference report, please click here.

Wilton Park "Strengthening National Responses to Children Affected by HIV/AIDS: What is the Role of the State and Social Welfare in Africa"
November 14 – 16, 2005

For the full conference report, click here.

Wilton Park "The Millennium Development Goals: Ensuring Achievability and Accountability"
June 20-23, 2005

For the full conference report, please click here.

Wilton Park 'Economic Policy Choices for Poverty Reduction'
June 11-14, 2004

For the full conference report, please click here.

MIMAP

MIMAP and Africa-Canada Parliamentary Strengthening Program Workshop on “Growth, inequalities and poverty” Held jointly with IDRC.
Cotonou Benin, March 1 to 3, 2005

For the conference report, click here .