Involving Parliaments in Poverty Reduction CIS Roundtable on “Parliaments, Governance and Poverty Reduction ” Istanbul, Turkey: March 2004 Katrina Sharkey (PRMPR)

Focus of Presentation: Parliamentary Involvement Context – Institutionalizing participation in PRSPs Why Involve Parliaments – a summary Some Entry Points for Parliaments Design Phase Implementation Phase Comparative Involvement of Parliaments Lessons learned Bank and non-Bank work with parliaments Conclusion

Context: 2000 – 2003 period highlights relevance of broad-based participation Consultation vs. Participation Stakeholder Involvement Intra-governmental Societal

4 Institutionalising the PRSP within government POLICY FORMULATION INTEGRATION COORDINATION MONITORING EVALUATION DECENTRALIZATION

Institutionalising the PRSP outside government: The participatory process Government Citizens Intermediary organizations Parliament Consultation/ working groups Alison Scott: DfID, UK, 2002

Core Functions of Parliaments: Legislative Function: Passing laws Participation in policy making Oversight Function: Holding Governments to account Representative Function: Representing constituents, giving voice

Why Involve Parliaments in the PRSP? Reasons relate to 3 functions of parliament: legislative, representative, oversight ENDS To enhance country ownership To enhance Government Accountability MEANS To increase and institutionalize participation To strengthen M&E systems via local and existing institutions

Limited Involvement to date Mainly government MPs and not parliament 2002 Progress Report Parliaments overlooked in design process 2003 Progress Report indicates increasing involvement Implementation gaps emerging Donor partners and NGOs concerned about impact on governance

The PRSP Policy Process… locating entry points for Parliament

Examples of how Parliaments can be included: Consult MPs early in the process (Niger, Albania) Link involvement to the budget process (e.g. BiH + Tanzania) Facilitate information flows to Parliaments where Executive does not (e.g. Ghana) Use committees and sub-committees (e.g. Albania, Serbia) Engage MPs and committees in policy dialogues with the WB (e.g. Mozambique, Nigeria)

Parliamentary Involvement in PRSP Policy Cycle: PRSP Working Groups: MPs are members of WGs Examples: Montenegro, BiH Presented to Parliament: More Draft or Full PRSPs being presented to Parliament. Examples: Niger, Tajikistan and Ethiopia, Vietnam Policy Prioritization: Limited given Parliament’s constitutional role vis-à-vis the Executive. Examples: Kyrgyz Republic, Nicaragua Review by Committee: Some PRSPs being given more detailed review. Examples: Mozambique, Malawi, Ghana, Ethiopia, Monitoring and Evaluation of PRSP by Parliament: Limited involvement to date Emerging area of concern Georgia = case of good practice

Sharkey and Dreger, “Parliamentary Involvement in the PRSP” World Bank (2003)

Global “Snapshot” of Parliamentary Involvement: Albania:  Ad hoc committee on PRSP to be established to increase parliamentary involvement Georgia:  Parliament to evaluate status / development / achievement of PRSP objective; will receive quarterly reports to allow impact Burkina Faso:  PRSP presented to both houses of Parliament for ratification prior to submission to Bank and Fund Tajikistan:  Participation of MPs in PRSP preparation working groups  Parliamentary approval of PRSP Uganda:  Presentation and discussion of the PRSP in Parliament shortly prior to submission Mauritania:  Reps from Upper House were members of the working committee monitoring PRSP process  Debates of poverty in parliament  Parliamentary approval of PRSP Azerbaijan:  MP participation in some 15 PRSP working groups; PRSP committee FR Yugoslavia:  Creation of Standing Committee on PRSP  Strengthened links with Finance and Budget Committee Nicaragua:  Forestry policy consultations between Ministry of Agriculture / Forestry & NA commission on Environment / Natural resources

Building Capacity to support Parliamentary Involvement: World Bank and IMF and donors realize need for parliamentary involvement to sustain mechanisms for participation and oversight PRSP Trust Fund supports capacity development of Executive, Parliament, Civil Society Weak parliamentary capacity (Members, staff) often inhibits parliament’s involvement WBI and PREM supporting efforts to raise awareness within and outside Bank

Lessons Learned: First Generation: Knowledge and Awareness MPs in many countries still learning about PRSP Parliaments missed opportunities in design phase “Participation Gap” but some parliaments flexing Constitutional ‘muscle’ (Ghana, Nigeria, BiH, Albania)

Lessons Learned: Second Generation Issue identification & Action-oriented The budget cycle, linked to the PRSP, provides best opportunities for sustained input of Parliament Challenge is in sustained follow-up, including with staff Capacity building / skills training Macro and Finance issues Sectoral issues

Bank and Non-Bank Approaches to support parliamentary involvement: Through Lending: e.g PRSCs and IDF Grants Through WBI-PREM: Awareness –raising and action-oriented capacity enhancement activities External Partners: PNoWB taps WB/IMF donor expertise

Conclusions: If PRSP is to have meaningful country ownership, participation is to be institutionalized, receive genuine political support Parliament needs to be involved Given parliament’s constitutional mandate, PRSP process creates obvious “entry points” for its meaningful involvement in design and oversight of poverty reduction Parliament itself should determine level of involvement, not donors