33089 Capacity Development S H A R I N G K N O W L E D G E A N D L E S S O N S L E A R N E D b r i e f s DEVELOPING CAPACITY THROUGH NETWORKS Lessons from Anticorruption Parliamentary Coalitions Meaghan Campbell and Frederick C. Stapenhurst 1 National, regional, or global networks of parliamentarians are proving important vehicles for enhancing their capacity and the effectiveness of parliaments and parliamentarians in developing countries. The networks have been particularly active in fighting corruption and mitigating its negative impacts on economic and human development. This Capacity Development (CD) Brief reviews the activities of several such networks worldwide at the individual, regional, and global levels that are making a difference in the ability of parliamentarians to address corruption in their countries. One critical lesson learned from the World Bank of African parliamentarians to fight corruption Institute's (WBI's) work with parliamentarians is the and promote good governance. importance of networks in developing capacity and · Participants from South East Asia first opted to improving effectiveness of parliaments and parlia- create the South East Asian Parliamentarians mentarians in developing countries. against Corruption (SEAPAC) network, which This lesson emerged as a by-product of activities failed due to a lack of resources. The group, how- under the "Laurentian Seminar" program for parlia- ever, later formed a chapter of GOPAC, which has mentarians. A joint effort of WBI and the Canadian 2 installed new leadership and is actively support- International Development Agency (CIDA), this pro- ing individual parliamentarians in challenging gram helped facilitate a number of encounters among corruption in their countries. parliamentarians that have led to creation of national, · Southern Asian members of parliament (MPs) regional, and global networks that are active in build- were initially reluctant to establish a formal net- ing awareness, support, and understanding of the role work, although they did hold a regional seminar, that parliamentarians can play in development. but are now in the process of establishing a South Regional networks for Africa, South Asia, and South Asia chapter of GOPAC. East Asia have emerged and a global network, the Additional regional networks have been launched or Global Organization of Parliamentarians against are under development in the Caribbean, Europe, Corruption (GOPAC) was founded in October 2002. Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, the Membership in a regional network confers member- Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union, ship in GOPAC. North America, North East Asia and Russia. Although As builders and facilitators of capacity, these net- these regional networks are at different stages of works have used different methods to achieve their development, they are increasingly effective in objectives and have targeted an array of capacity and enhancing the capacity of their members to achieve institutional problems facing parliamentarians: change at various levels: individual, national, · African participants decided to pursue regional regional, and global. and national issues of anticorruption, forming the CD at the Individual Parliamentarian Level African Parliamentarians Network against Corruption (APNAC). APNAC focuses on coordi- At the individual parliamentarian level, GOPAC was nating, involving, and strengthening the capacity able to propose a model code of conduct for MPs in JNUMBERY 2 0 0 5 A N U A R 10 any country (see box 1). MPs from South East Asia ported members facing a strong executive; for exam- also benefited from translated versions of the ple, a parliamentarian from Mozambique received Handbook for Parliamentarians on Curbing support in the form of friendship and information Corruption in local languages. Follow-up workshops sharing from colleagues in Mexico. held in Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia conducted In addition, GOPAC has undertaken several suc- by WBI and the Parliamentary Centre further helped cessful workshops and activities for members on parliamentarians' capacity by providing valuable issues of common concern. In November 2003 an information, skills, and contacts needed to combat Anti­Money Laundering Workshop for East African corruption. MPs strengthened and built relationships parliamentarians was organized in Nairobi, Kenya, in between reform-minded MPs and civil society organi- partnership with the Africa Program at the zations (CSOs), such as the King Prajadhipok Parliamentary Centre and the International Monetary Institute, Centre for Social Development (Cambodia), Fund. More than 20 East African parliamentarian and Corruption Watch-Indonesia. attendees said they had gained greater understanding MPs from Africa also benefited from the handbook, of the nature and significance of the Anti­Money which was translated into French and Arabic. Follow- Laundering Initiative. Most notably, Kenyan partici- up workshops under the auspices of APNAC were pants committed to drafting an Anti­Money held at national (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Laundering Bill that was later submitted to the Uganda) and regional (Kenya, Nigeria, and Chad) Kenyan Minister of Finance. levels to develop (a) parliamentarians' capacity to use CD at the National Level international instruments in the fight against corrup- Parliamentarian network success in fighting corrup- tion has been most evident at the national level. In Box 1 Africa, APNAC has established national chapters in Draft Code of Conduct for MPs (excerpts) Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, A member should not try to secure business from the gov- Uganda, Zimbabwe and is developing chapters in ernment for a firm, company, or organization with which s/he Rwanda, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, and South is directly or indirectly concerned. A member should not unduly influence government officers of the ministries in a case in which s/he is interested, either financially or indirectly. Box 2 A member should not receive remuneration of any kind for African Parliamentarians Network any work that s/he desires or proposes to do from a person or organization on whose behalf the work is to be done. Against Corruption (APNAC): Successes A member should not proceed to take action on behalf of his/her constituents on some baseless facts. Since its establishment, several APNAC activities have A member should not write recommendation letters or empowered parliamentarians to take concrete actions to stop speak to government officials about employment or business corruption and build links with one another and local and contracts for any of his/her relations. international organizations. Legislation. APNAC has been most successful on the national level. Senegal's national chapter has been instru- mental in pushing its National Assembly to pass several bills, Note: Based on this draft code, Rick Stapenhurst and Riccardo Pelizzo wrote such as the Anti­Money Laundering Bill, National a WBI Working Paper on "Parliamentary Codes of Conduct and Legislative Commission on Anti-Corruption Bill, and a bill requiring rep- Ethics," which has recently been endorsed and adopted by the Global resentation of the National Assembly on the board of the Organization of Parliamentarians against Corruption. Public Works Commission. APNAC Kenya has also introduced an anti­money laundering bill. The Anti­Corruption and Economic Crimes Bill (2001) was based on APNAC recom- tion, (b) the role of watchdog institutions, and (c) mendations. Awareness raising. In Uganda APNAC helped put anticor- parliamentarians' role in fighting corruption. ruption issues firmly on the national agenda by lobbying for GOPAC members, either through regional net- legislative change, fueling nationwide debate and raising pub- lic awareness through TV and radio and consultative work- works/national chapters or the international shops with MPs and civil society. MPs and the executive Secretariat, implemented a peer support program to branch of government also collaborated through the annual Anticorruption Week and following up on AG reports. share information and lessons learned and support Information sharing/peer support. The APNAC Executive their colleagues around the world. Members are pre- has represented APNAC and GOPAC at several international anticorruption events to share lessons learned and best prac- pared to travel abroad to assist nascent chapters; for tices. Representatives have participated in annual example, Latin America Chapter members traveled to International Anticorruption Conference meetings, regional Africa, and the APNAC chair traveled to other African forums in Asia, meetings with foreign anticorruption experts, and founding meetings of other GOPAC regional and national nations to encourage colleagues in developing their chapters. own anticorruption networks. GOPAC has also sup- JNUMBERY 2 0 0 5 A N U A R 10 Africa. APNAC and its national chapters have lengths to keep communication channels open by strengthened relations between parliamentarians and sharing information through the GOPAC web site civil society and increased the capacity of parliaments (http://www.parlcent.ca/gopac/index_e.php), the par- to exercise accountability particularly in financial mat- liamentarian's handbook, GOPAC CD-ROM (developed ters (see box 2). Elsewhere, there are national chap- with WBI), GOPAC News, as well as event reports, ters in Argentina, Brazil Canada and Korea. papers, and other documentation. All these informa- Challenges remain for APNAC, including mobiliza- tion tools are shared with the GOPAC membership tion of resources to maintain momentum developed in and chapters and distributed to parliaments and CSOs. the past few years and the poor integration of women Establishing relationships with respected and credi- in APNAC activities, which APNAC has consequently ble regional/global organizations has also proved cru- recognized. In addition, it is necessary to disseminate cial in strengthening parliamentarian capacity. knowledge of APNAC and its work beyond its mem- GOPAC, for example, has been able to forge strong bership. links with UNDP, the International Compliance Before the 2003 election, GOPAC members in Kenya Association, Latin American Financial Intelligence were mostly opposition members. The 2003 general Council, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, election results for APNAC members were, in some the European Group of States against Corruption respect, linked with the legitimacy and respect the cit- (GRECO), Stability Pact, Westminster Foundation, and izenry held for the organization. Of the 21 original International Association of Business and Parliament. members of the APNAC-Kenya chapter of GOPAC, These links have enabled GOPAC to conduct a number eight were appointed to the new government's cabi- of CD events with parliamentarians, develop an net; this included the current chair, Hon. Musikari anti­money laundering training program for parlia- Kombo, who is the Minister of Local Government and mentarians, and further the available research on par- Deputy Environment Minister, and Nobel Peace Prize liamentarians and corruption. winner Wangari Maathai. CD at the Global Level GOPAC and its chapters have also established solid relationships with other like-minded organizations. In The second Laurentian seminar (July 1999) brought Australi, Asia, Middle East/North Africa, and South into focus corruption issues of global concern, includ- Asia as well as in Kenya, GOPAC chapters have ing the need for greater transparency in international founded their secretariats within Transparency banking and enhanced accountability of international International's local offices. For the Latin American financial institutions and donor agencies to parlia- chapter, a cooperation agreement was signed with the ments. Noteworthy outputs included MPs' call for Organization of American States to work together on greater information on World Bank and International anticorruption activities in the region. Monetary Fund operations and proposals to establish an international network of parliamentary public CD at the Regional Level accounts committees and globalized mechanism for Parliamentarian networks have also taken signifi- disclosure of bank accounts to enable better investi- cant steps regionally to strengthen institutional gation of globalized corruption. frameworks to mitigate corruption. APNAC's Pan- Participants in the seminar believed that parlia- African conference "New Challenges in the Fight ments need to apply good governance principles, such against Corruption" (November 2003) focused on as accountability and transparency, to international issues in establishing greater fairness in electoral sys- financial institutions operating within their countries tems and achieving greater freedom of information and vice versa. They proposed developing effective and dissent in societies. A later West African regional dialogue mechanisms for parliaments and that inter- conference (March 2004) focused on developing national financial institutions (IFIs) communicate shared understanding on establishing and building more effectively. Participants stressed that parliamen- capacity of national anticorruption chapters and dis- tary committees should share their reports and stud- cussing how to create linkages and strengthen net- ies with IFIs and parliaments should ensure their own working among regional chapters and with external procedures allow them to scrutinize and approve players, such as regional parliaments and CSOs. international aid and loan proposals. (Many parlia- An important regional contribution of parliamentar- ments have the constitutional power to scrutinize and ian networks is sharing information in ways that approve foreign loans contracted by government, but might be misconstrued at the individual or country have not established rules, procedures, and tools to level. The GOPAC Secretariat has gone to great allow them to do this effectively.) Participants also recommended that IFIs help build parliamentary In 2003 GOPAC declared its support of the U.N. capacity to oversee government financial operations, Convention against Corruption at the signing cere- that parliamentary committees and IFIs meet regu- mony in Merida, Mexico, and offered GOPAC mem- larly, and that IFIs establish special parliamentary bership support in effective implementation of the relations units. convention's provisions. GOPAC is committed to In all these areas, significant progress has been engaging its members in developing information, achieved: a small but increasing number of Bank tools, and support for reducing corruption and its grants, loans, and credits support strengthening of negative impacts; moreover, GOPAC has devoted itself parliamentary oversight, while WBI's own program 3 to monitoring and documenting results achieved in of parliamentary capacity building has also grown. reducing corruption and publicly reporting them. Many World Bank Country Directors and staff now Although only two years in existence, GOPAC has routinely meet with Senior Parliamentarians within delivered preliminary results in the form of legitimacy the context of CAS and PRSP discussions on macro- to reformers, establishing relationships with like- economic and budget issues. At the corporate level, minded organizations, and shared learning. establishment of the Parliamentary Network on the Peer Reviewers: M. Mozammal Hoque, Sr. World Bank allows ongoing dialogue between MPs Financial Management Specialist and Najma and senior management of the World Bank on a wide Siddiqi, Knowledge and Learning Coordinator. range of global issues. Conclusion Endnotes The Laurentian Seminars initially served to engage parliamentarians worldwide in fighting corruption 1 Meaghan Campbell is a Program Manager, GOPAC, and and its negative impacts on economic and human Frederick C. Stapenhurst is a Senior Public Sector Management development. In addition to accumulating and dis- Specialist, in WBI. seminating parliamentarians' experience in combating 2 The Laurentian seminar program, the "flagship" of WBI- corruption, the seminars have led to the much more CIDA collaboration, is a joint program developed by the Parliamentary Centre and WBI to help parliamentarians address important result of active networks of parliamentari- critical contemporary issues within a good governance frame- ans that are succeeding in increasing MP capacity to work that stresses principles of accountability, participation, and fulfill an oversight role and combat corruption, partic- openness. ularly by providing peer support and political cover 3 Such loans and credits are being developed and implemented for Ghana Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, for those standing up against corruption, placing Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, among others. pressure on those supporting and tolerating it, and sharing lessons learned and best practices. About World Bank Institute (WBI): Unleashing the Power of Knowledge to Enable a World Free of Poverty WBI helps people, institutions, and countries to diagnose problems that keep communities poor, to make informed choices to solve those problems, and to share what they learn with others. Through traditional and distance learning methods, WBI and its partners in many countries deliver knowledge-based options to policymakers, technical experts, business and community leaders, and civil society stakeholders; fos- tering analytical and networking skills to help them make sound decisions, design effective socioeconomic policies and programs, and unleash the productive potential of their societies. WBI Contacts: Mark Nelson; Program Manager, Capacity Development Resource Center Tel: 202-458-8041, Email: mnelson1@worldbank.org Wema J. Kategile; Operations Analyst Tel: 202-473-7811, E-mail: wkategile@worldbank.org Visit our website for more information and download the electronic copies of all Capacity Development Briefs: http://www.worldbank.org/capacity JNUMBERY 2 0 0 5 A N U A R 10