West Africa Chapter
News
The PNoWB West African Chapter held its first general assembly in Abidjan from July 5-7 2007. The event was hosted by the national assembly of Ivory Coast and brought together some 50 parliamentarians from 13 out of the 16 countries in the West Africa Region. Participants adopted a constitution, inspired by PNoWB International articles of association and tailored to the Chapter’s goals. Pursuing ideas developed during the Bamako launching meeting, parliamentarians agreed on an Action Plan which set up the following priorities: HIV/AIDS and Malaria; Education; Poverty and Agriculture. The final step of the meeting was the election of the board since the executive board elected in Bamako was an interim body. The newly elected Chair Mercy Almona Isei (MP Nigeria) paid tribute to the outgoing Chair Khalifa Sall of Senegal and praised him for his dedication to the network and outstanding leadership since the chapter was created a year ago. The World Bank and the African Development Bank staff throughout the region participated in the assembly, testifying to their willingness to engage parliamentarians and to partner with the PNoWB West Africa Chapter.
Click here to read the assembly report (French)
Click here to read the assembly report (English)
Click here to read presentation of World Bank's Country Manager of Niger
Download the Constitution (French)
Download the Constitution(English)
On February 19, 2007 PNoWB West Africa Coordinator, Moussa Tayé participated in a donor’s meeting held in Dakar and aimed at sharing information on ongoing parliamentarians’ capacity building projects in Senegal, to ensure better coordination and synergies between donors, civil society and government actors on their various strategies. The meeting, chaired by the Parliamentary Centre, brought together representatives of European Commission, UNDP, French Embassy, Netherlands Embassy, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Friedrich Ebert foundation, as well as Senegalese National Assembly and Ministry for Relations with Institutions. The meeting was the opportunity for PNoWB West Africa to increase its visibility among donors and civil society community, and to seek partnerships for the development of its activities.
Click here to read the full report (FR)
On January 26, 2007 PNoWB launched a local chapter in Sierra Leone at the Parliament Building in Freetown.
On January 23, 2007, the West Africa Chapter, including parliamentarians from Gambia and Guinea Bissau participated in a workshop organised by the Word Bank on the theme of “governance and fight against corruption”, in Dakar, Senegal.
On December 19 and December 20, 2006, meetings took place in Dakar with MPs and the World Bank Country Director and representatives from the Canadian Parliamentarian Center (Centre Parlementaire Canadien), which has a formal partnership with the West Africa Chapter to conduct joint activities in the region.
Governance Structure
New elected Chair of PNoWB West Africa Hon. Mercy Almona Isei (MP Nigeria) and Vice-Chair, Hon. Daleba Zozorro Jules, MP, Ivory Coast
The West Africa Chapter’s structure is based on the PNoWB International model. A board was elected at the first general assembly held in Abidjan on Jul 5-7, 2007; comprised of eight members: Hon. Mercy Almona Isei (MP Nigeria) was elected as the Chair and Hon. Daleba Zozorro Jules, (MP, Ivory Coast), as the vice-chair. A special effort was made when nominating board representatives to reflect the linguistic diversity of the West Africa region (English, French, Portuguese and Arabic are the 4 major languages) but also gender, four out of the eight members of the board are women.
Click here to view members’ list of the Board
Click here to read Mercy Almona Isei bio
Click here to view the contact information of the committee comprising presidents of national groups
Launching Meeting
The PNoWB launched its West Africa Chapter during a meeting in Bamako, Mali on June 14, 15-16, 2006.
Following the “2005 Year of Development”, when the richest countries committed to take concrete action on the continent of Africa, in particular during the G8 Summit, the PNoWB-West Africa represents a step forward in the worldwide commitment to Africa.
In line with the PNoWB’s mission, the PNoWB West Africa chapter aims at engaging parliamentarians in drawing-up country-owned Poverty Reduction Strategies, to monitor governments’ commitments to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), and facilitating relations between parliamentarians and the World Bank.
The meeting brought together some 30 parliamentarians from 15 countries in the region with the World Bank Country Directors, Country Managers and External Affairs Specialists, in addition to colleagues from the African Development Bank, IMF and other donors, as well as civil society organizations and other parliamentary organizations.
Click here to read the Bamako meeting's report (FR)