Parliaments as Peacebuilders: Parliaments in Conflict-Affected Countries
As the nature of conflict has shifted away from traditional inter-state conflict toward civil violence, parliamentarians are uniquely positioned to play leadership roles in their societies and to strengthen bottom-up peacebuilding. Capacity building and training exercises can help parliament to realize its potential as a forum for transforming conflict.
One key to reducing the potential for violent conflict is to address the well-recognized correlation between conflict and poverty: poverty increases societies’ vulnerability to conflict, while conflict itself generates poverty. In order to help empower parliamentarians to address this poverty-conflict nexus and consider ways they can manage and transform conflict at all stages of the conflict cycle, the World Bank established a series of Professional Development Programs for Parliamentarians and Staff, comprised of the following modules:
- The Nexus between Parliaments, Poverty Reduction and Conflict;
- Making Parliament More Representative;
- Advancing Parliament’s Legislative Function in Conflict-Affected Societies;
- Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight to Prevent Conflict and Reduce Poverty;
- Social Accountability – Citizens, Civil Society and the Media Working With Parliament;
- Regional Parliamentary Peacebuilding and Engagement with International Organizations.
Read more here, including training materials, on the World Bank’s Parliaments as Peacebuilders program.
