Equatorial Guinea: Exchange of experiences and information for new MPs
In March 2009, the second phase of the project aimed at assisting the House of People's Representatives of Equatorial Guinea was launched. The project, implemented by the IPU, is being funded by the European Commission and the Government of Equatorial Guinea. Under the project, the IPU organized a capacity-building seminar for parliamentarians in 2008. It dealt with the role and functions of parliamentarians in a modern parliament and enabled participants to better grasp what being a parliamentarians entails and to examine the areas in which parliament is most active. This second phase will entail the implementation of a number of activities aimed at building the capacity of the House of People's Representatives, both for members of parliament and parliamentary staff. These activities will focus notably on gender partnership, the representation function and enhancing the work of standing committees.
Democratic Republic of the Congo: IPU launches activities in support of parliament
In May 2009, the IPU and UNDP signed a four-year partnership agreement in support of the national legislative and provincial assemblies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This agreement provides for the joint implementation of activities that had been identified on an annual basis as priorities. In 2009, under this agreement, the IPU will implement five activities for the parliament: an organizational audit, a needs assessment in terms of training and equipment for debate secretaries, staff training in legislative techniques and training of committee advisers and, lastly, training of communication officers at the national parliament. The first activity - the audit - took place in June 2009.
World Bank Institute-IPU partnership to deliver learning programme to post-conflict parliaments.
The IPU and the World Bank Institute have joined forces to develop and deliver, through distance learning technologies, a course for parliaments in conflict affected countries. The course, a first for IPU via video conferencing technology, included seven sessions on various aspects of the functioning of parliament, and took place in May 2009, with the participation of the parliaments of Liberia and Sierra Leone and the South Sudan Legislative Assembly.Over the past couple of decades, the world has witnessed a transformation in the nature of conflict. Traditional inter-State conflicts have become rarer as nontraditional intrastate conflicts, civil wars, armed insurrections, violent secessionist movements or domestic warfare continue to rage across the globe.
The evolving nature of conflict has created an impetus to reassess which actors can contribute to resolving this latest incarnation of conflict and more importantly, how these actors can contribute to the peace-building process, particularly in conflict-affected countries. Parliaments are coming to the fore, more than ever before, as natural forums which are uniquely designed to address contentious issues and relationships in conflict-affected societies, thereby contributing to peace-building efforts. Parliaments are in a unique position to address the root causes of conflict and articulate policies intended to resolve these causes.
The objective of this parliamentary course is to consider the contribution parliaments make to poverty reduction and the well recognized correlation between conflict and poverty, namely that poverty increases society's vulnerability to conflict, while conflict itself generates poverty.
The course examined the nexus between conflict, poverty from the perspective of parliaments and the vital role that parliaments have to play in managing conflict not just by addressing contentious issues and relationships, but by helping to avert poverty, particularly in conflict-affected countries.