The World Bank and the Pan-Africa Parliament (PAP), in partnership with the African Parliamentary Centre will hold a special seminar on International Development for over 50 members of parliament from Africa, May 13-14, 2011. The training will also focus on the role of International Financial Institutions in meeting Africa s development challenges. African Parliamentarians are a very important constituency in the development agenda, and they have shown, in many instances, that they can hold their government accountable and influence the political will for attainment of their set development goals, said Colin Bruce, World Bank Director for Operations in the Africa Region. The goal of the seminar is to provide parliamentarians in Africa with practical knowledge about international development and expose them to thousands of freely available development resources, as a way of fostering informed debate in Africa as well as equipping the legislators to better exercise their oversight role both at the national and global levels. One of the aims of the PAP is to encourage good governance, transparency and accountability in Member States and we hope that this training in international development will equip the members with the requisite skills to debate development issues constructively and with the requisite knowledge, said Hon. Dr. Moussa Idriss Ndélé, President of the Pan-African Parliament. The program will take place during the Fourth Ordinary Session of the Second Parliament at the PAP Precincts in Midrand, South Africa (9 20 May 2011) in order to attract and engage a diverse pool of talented parliamentarians to participate and benefit from this unique learning opportunity. Among the key topics to be discussed at the training is the issue of voice and representation, as well as aid effectiveness, and the role of legislators in fostering their own countries investment climate. All factors that are currently key to Africa s development. Participants will also have a chance to discuss concrete development success stories. Presentations would be given by experts from the World Bank, IFC and the IMF, parliamentary organizations, parliamentarians and scholars. The 235 Member Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is the legislative body of the African Union formed in 2004 and is currently headquartered in Midrand, South Africa. In October 2009, the Second Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament opened its First Ordinary Session and began a new 3-year mandate. PAP Members are nominated by the legislatures of the 47 out of the 53 Member States of the African Union, who have so far ratified the PAP Protocol. The current President of the Parliament is Hon. Dr. Moussa Idriss Ndélé from Chad (Central Africa), who is supported by four Vice-Presidents representing the other four regions of the continent: Hon. Bethel Amadi from Nigeria (West Africa), Hon. Mary Mugyenyi from Uganda (East Africa), Hon. Laroussi Hammi from Algeria (North Africa) and Hon. Joram Macdonald Gumbo from Zimbabwe (Southern Africa). Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana