“The World Bank has moved from words to action in the area of stakeholders’ engagement,” declared Yunus Carrim, MP and Chairperson of the Finance Committee in South Africa on the occasion of the parliamentary workshop on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings held in the IMF and World Bank headquarters.

Some 75 MPs from 30 countries convened in Washington DC for the workshop, setting a record high attendance for the Parliamentary Network workshop. MPs were particularly keen to deepen their knowledge on job creation, the refugee crisis, building resilient healthcare systems, good governance, and adopting policies that can counter the commodity price drop. They also suggested that the World Bank should engage with MPs at an earlier stage, before agreements are reached with governments and Central Banks and invited the World Bank to visit parliament on a more regular basis.

Jeremy Lefroy, Chair of the Parliamentary Network expressed his gratitude to both institutions for hosting the network and insisted on the important role of international organizations in times of global challenges and grim economic prospects. For Lefroy, this workshop is a testimonial that the World Bank and IMF are really serious about parliamentary outreach and he commended that revolutionary engagement.

Yunus Carrim, MP also praised the World Bank’s Citizen Engagement strategy, which he described as a unique tool for MPs to provide meaningful input to the World Bank operational work at the country level and influence development outcomes.

At the closing of the workshop, Jeremy Lefroy identified 3 actions MPs can take for impact: (1) advocate for IDA18 replenishment in their respective parliaments; (2) get involved in chapters of the Parliamentary Network to raise awareness about the World Bank and IMF activities; (3) contribute to the Parliamentary Network Review and share thoughts with their peers.