African Parliamentary Poverty Reduction Network - (APRN)

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.

The Network’s objectives are to:

• Help strengthen the accountability links between the Executive and the Legislature with the aim of making poverty reduction the overarching objective of national development programs;
• Play a proactive role in ensuring the effective implementation of PRSPs in respective countries through the active participation of parliamentarians and their constituents in poverty reduction dialogue;
• Raise awareness on current poverty reduction related issues and facilitate the collection and sharing of information especially at the grassroots with a view to improving the design of pro-poor policies;
• Ensure the inclusion of all stake-holders, particularly civil society groups representing the poor, in the monitoring and evaluation of poverty reduction programmes;
• Document lessons learned and good practices in poverty reduction in their various countries.

These objectives are met through three main activity sets:

• Establishing a viable and active Poverty Reduction Network . This activity will ensure that the Network becomes institutionalized and sustainable within partner parliaments. Linkages will also be formed with regional parliaments and the Pan African Parliament. A support office has been established in Accra, Ghana to strengthen support to the Network at a regional level.
• Community Monitoring of Poverty Reduction focuses on providing field-based continuous training and upgrading of skills of MPs and staff of key poverty-related parliamentary committees. In countries that have undergone the training, Community Monitoring Pilot Projects have taken place.
• Increasing committee policy-making knowledge and capacity on poverty reduction related issues, through strengthening connections with policy institutes . A strong focus will be placed on engaging Poverty Network MPs in policy institute reviews of select African Countries, through a series of workshops on lessons learned, participation of MPs in international assessment sessions, and dissemination of results.

For more information about the African Parliamentary Poverty Reduction Network (APRN), visit the APRN website www.aprnetwork.org

Africa Poverty Reduction Office (APRO) and the Learning Centre

Presently, the APRN is based in the Parliamentary Centre’s Africa Poverty Reduction Office (APRO), in Accra, Ghana. APRO is the Centre’s Regional Office for Africa and the Director of the Centre’s Africa Programs, Rasheed Draman is based in that office.

Meant to serve as both a field office and a resource centre, the APRO was officially opened in April, 2004. Its strategic location in the heart of West Africa allows t he Network to extend its reach to African parliaments in the region and across the continent. Located close to the Parliament of Ghana, the APRO serve at times as a training facility, as a drop-in resource centre for MPs, as well as a contact point for activity of the Poverty Reduction Network on the continent.

With funding from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), APRO established a Learning Centre, which opened in December 2006, where parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, academics and researchers can come in for technical expertise in terms of developing and delivering training programs, developing training modules and other training materials. With the addition of a documentation centre, the Learning Centre is useful to academics and researchers conducting research on poverty reduction and governance issues. The Learning Centre is equipped with a growing library of teaching and learning materials, several computers with internet access, and can accommodate approximately 15 people at the time .

Feel free to contact APRO and the Learning Centre directly, or drop by when you are in Accra!

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