Legislating change
| Author | Robert Hagemann/Susan Creane/Patrick Cirillo |
| Position | IMF Resident Representative in Cambodia/IMF Asia and Pacific Department/IMF External Relations Department |
| Pages | 121-133 |
Page 121
Parliamentarians in developing countries have a key role to play in writing the laws that make progress possible and in monitoring budgets and expenditures to make sure that scarce resources are put to best use.
Nowhere is the task more demanding than following conflicts, when critical institutions need to be created or rebuilt. In IMF-sponsored seminars in Timor-Leste and Cambodia, legislators debated their countries' priorities and explored how to boost growth and reduce poverty.
Page 132
As Timor-Leste and Cambodia continue to rebuild their economies after long periods of social and political conflict, both countries are searching for ways to improve policies and institutions, stimulate economic growth, and reduce poverty. Legislators have critical roles in these processes-both as lawmakers and as monitors acting on the public's behalf. Recently, the IMF sponsored parliamentary seminars in Dili, on March 17-18, and in Phnom Penh, on March 24-25, that took a closer look at what can be done to involve legislators more actively in the development process. The two sessions-which drew 40-50 legislators in each country, as well as parliamentary staff and civil society and donor representatives-spotlighted the need to create jobs and make wise use of oil and gas resources in Timor-Leste and to strengthen governance and intensify efforts to reduce poverty in Cambodia.
In Dili, the two-day parliamentary seminar and a half-day workshop with representatives of civil society organizations focused on ways to spur economic growth and fight poverty.
Newly independent in 2002, Timor-Leste shares challenges similar to many very low-income countries-but with a few twists. First, in the violence that swept the country after its independence referendum in 1999, Timor-Leste lost much of its physical and human capital. It had to start from scratch in building such key institutions as a finance ministry, monetary authority, and judiciary. Initially administered under a UN mandate, the country is now self-governed, and the IMF continues to play a key role, through technical assistance and policy advice, in helping the country build up its fiscal and monetary policy...
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