[open-government] PMO Leaders Conference on Parliamentary Transparency, April 30-May 2, Washington, DC

[Andrew G. Mandelbaum]

If you are having trouble reading this email, read the online
version<http://www.ndi.org/node/18544>
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[image: NDI, Sunlight Foundation, Embassy of Mexico, World Bank Institute,
Red Latinoamericana por la Transparencia Legislativa, Mexican Cultural
Institute, National Endowment for Democracy]


SAVE THE DATE

PMO Leaders Conference on
Parliamentary Transparency and Networking

April 30 - May 2
Washington, D.C.

A *recently published
survey*<http://www.ndi.org/files/governance-parliamentary-monitoring-organizations-survey-september-2011.pdf>
of
parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMOs) by the *National Democratic
Institute* <http://www.ndi.org/> (NDI) and *World Bank
Institute*<http://wbi.worldbank.org/wbi/> (WBI)
identifies more than 190 PMOs that are monitoring the performance and
functioning of over 82 national parliaments. PMOs show great promise in
strengthening democratic governance. However, PMOs share a number of common
challenges, including a lack of parliamentary transparency. Increasing
opportunities for PMOs to share experiences and good practices can enhance
monitoring activities and strengthen the ability of PMOs to work
collaboratively to meet common goals.

To help provide a platform for cooperation among PMOs, the *Sunlight
Foundation* <http://sunlightfoundation.com/>, the *Latin American Network
for Legislative Transparency* <http://www.transparencialegislativa.org/>,
NDI, WBI, the *Embassy of Mexico in the United
States*<http://embamex.sre.gob.mx/eua/>,
and the *National Endowment for Democracy* <http://www.ned.org/> are
co-hosting a two-and-a-half-day conference in Washington, D.C., for global
PMO leaders. The conference seeks to foster discussion on international
strategies for improving access to parliamentary information on the
national level, including a transparency "pledge" for parliaments, which
would be available for comment on the *AGORA web
portal*<http://www.agora-parl.org/> in
advance of the conference. The conference also would provide an opportunity
for PMOs to share good practices for monitoring parliamentary transparency,
discuss collaborative ideas for addressing common challenges, and explore
engagement in international fora to raise awareness of PMOs and their work.

*For more information, please contact:*

Andrew Mandelbaum of NDI at *amandelbaum at ndi.org* <amandelbaum at ndi.org>
John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation at
*johnwonderlich at gmail.com*<johnwonderlich at gmail.com>

Melissa Ortiz Massó of the LALT Network at *melissa at fundar.org.mx*
Pablo Secchi of the LALT Network at *psecchi at directoriolegislativo.org*

*Limited scholarships to support travel costs may be available.
The conference language is English.*


-- 
Andrew G. Mandelbaum

Senior Program Officer, Governance
National Democratic Institute
Twitter: agm3dc
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