Activities
PNoWB is a unique parliamentary platform for policy dialogue on development issues. It engages not only the World Bank but also other multilateral and bilateral donor organizations. The IMF Managing Director, the WTO Director General, and several EU Commissioners have participated in PNoWB's annual conferences and have established working relationships with PNoWB. The Network has formed effective partnerships with other parliamentary organizations and with civil society groups.
Working with PNoWB, the Bank has taken steps to become more open to parliamentarians, through a Question and Answer System for parliamentarians where they can ask questions directly to the World Bank; through a Field Visit Program coordinated by an independent rapporteur, parliamentarians visit Bank projects, meet with local Bank staff, civil society representatives and government officials, and review the PRSP process; through a Policy Dialogue Series jointly run by PNoWB and the World Bank, using video links to connect parliamentarians from around the world to exchange views on relevant development issues. Most recently, PNoWB has been involved in a Video Conference Series, initiated by the Bank’s Development Policy Dialogue team as part of the greater plan to strengthen parliamentary inputs to World Bank and IMF policies.
The VC series with World Bank country offices will lay the ground for effective dialogue between the MPs and the World Bank. The VCs provide the opportunity for the country office staff to share success stories and difficulties in engaging parliamentarians; and ultimately build upon the outcomes of these exchanges to develop a comprehensive and sound mechanism to dialogue with MPs, across the field offices. So far VCs have involved Francophone and Anglophone Africa World Bank offices.
PNoWB has developed a range of communication tools to inform parliamentarians about the World Bank such as the Parliamentarian's Guide to the World Bank, a handbook jointly developed with the World Bank to provide MPs with an overview of the Bank’s governance structure, projects and policies. MPs could also access information through the PNoWB website: www.pnowb.org and through the World Bank website for parliamentarians:www.worldbank.org/parliamentarians. Regular attendance of PNoWB members to the IMF/World Bank Spring and Annual Meetings enables them to have firsthand experience of IMF and World Bank policies.
Since 2000, PNoWB has expanded through the creation of national chapters, such as the India Chapter, and the Japan Chapter (launched in 2004); and through regional chapters such as the East Africa Chapter(launched in 2003), the Middle East and North Africa Chapter (MENA Chapter, lauched in 2004), as well as the West Africa Chapter which was formally launched in June 2006, and the Balkans Chapter, launched in September 2006. Also an informal group of Donor Country Parliamentarians was established in Naples, Italy in February 2005. PNoWB annual conference in Cape Town in March 2007 will also provide the opportunity to launch the Southern African Chapter. The PNOWB Board is working on launching the Latin America and Caribbean Chapter, in 2007.
The network has also set up a pioneering Parliamentarians' Implementation Watch (PIW) to keep governments and multilateral organizations to account on their development-related pledges.