🇳🇬 Accountability Lab Nigeria made significant strides in advancing accountability in the ...past year; working with oil-producing communities on natural resource governance, working to improve transparency in procurement data, and spearheading advocacy campaigns and policy engagements aimed at promoting gender equality and upholding data and digital rights.

They also celebrated the wins of young changemakers who have come through their Accountability Incubator over the years and brought various stakeholders inside and outside government together for an anti-corruption innovation project.

👓 Read more in their #AnnualReport here: https://bit.ly/3y31yU9

#anticorruption
#accountability
#nigeria

We're celebrating the announcement today of AL Liberia Country Director, Lawrence Yealue, as ...one of the 2024 Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity! This outstanding group of changemakers are all engaged in creative ways in the global struggle for racial justice. Their stories, work and vision represent brave efforts across the world to craft futures beyond anti-Black racism.

The group of fellows have roots in Brazil, Guyana, Iran, Jamaica, Lebanon, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Belgium, Canada, Germany, South Africa and the United States. Participants are a diverse mix of community organisers, advocates for peace, gender justice, domestic workers’ rights and mental health, nonprofit and policy leaders, culture workers, and lawyers, all with track records of deep personal commitment to the pursuit of freer Black life.

Congrats Lawrence! We look forward to following your fellowship journey. Meet all the fellows below.

Crafting Justice Across the Globe – Meet Our 2024 Fellows — Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity

Twenty racial justice changemakers from across the globe join the community at Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity as our 2024 cohort.

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📢 Highlights from the 2024 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Last ...week in New York, our co-CEO and Open Government Partnership Co-Chair, Blair Glencorse, shared his insights at the 2024 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Blair participated in a panel discussion focused on digitizing the SDGs, with a special emphasis on transparency, accountability, and bridging information gaps.

Blair pinpointed three major risks threatening the right to information today:

📍 Misinformation and Disinformation: Emphasized the need for a "chain of custody" to verify information from RTI requests amid rampant misinformation.

📍Information Hallucination: Stressed the importance of governmental oversight to prevent AI from generating false information, especially in contexts with limited information.

📍Algorithmic Bad Practice: Called for rigorous inspection of RTI exemption practices and transparency in algorithmic decision-making to avoid replicating past bad practices.

Ghana, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, Georgia, and Colombia successfully passed their first RTI law through an OGP action plan commitment. Blair shared that Senegal and Papua New Guinea are currently committed to doing this in an ongoing action plan. "Zambia recently committed to enacting an RTI law as the last element of meeting eligibility standards for joining OGP, and we hope that a formal process of joining OGP will start soon. In total, 60 commitments have been made since 2012 to pass, revise, or implement right to information legislation," he said.

🎤 Speakers included Kanbar Hossein Bor (UK), Blanca Lilia Ibarra (México), and Ibrahim Seaga Shaw (Sierra Leone). H.E. Ambassador Michael Imran Kanu gave the welcoming address, with remarks from Kenyeh Barlay (Sierra Leone) and Tawfik Jelassi (UNESCO). Moderation was by Laura Neuman (The Carter Center).

(Photo credit: Blanca Lilia Ibarra)

#HLPF #UN

We're excited to announce the opening of applications for #HackCorruption Balkans. Up to 75 ...change-makers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia will work together from 19 to 22 September, creating tech tools that combat corruption. Participants will receive fully-funded trips to participate in the event and applications are open at https://bit.ly/3ybwFwD until August 14.

Teams with the most promising ideas will be eligible to receive financial support of up to $10,000, mentorship, and ongoing training to help them build out their ideas. So if you're based in one of our focus countries and have an innovative idea for a tech tool that fights corruption, we'd love to hear from you! Read all about the program here - https://bit.ly/4bWp96z

U.S. Department of State: Bureau of Intl Narcotics & Law Enforcement (INL)
Center for International Private Enterprise
Resonance

🌍 In this week's global roundup!

🇳🇬 Accountability Lab Nigeria held a 2-day... sensitization workshop for community frontline advocates in oil-producing communities to advocate for the benefits of the Host Community Development Trust Fund that communities are entitled to. According to the Petroleum Industry Act in the country, companies are responsible for contributing 3% of their operating expenditure to the Fund.

🇳🇵Accountability Lab Nepal brought a number of civil society organizations together to conduct a comprehensive study on Youth Political Participation in the country. The working group's approach will include policy analysis, evaluating existing initiatives, engaging stakeholders to create solution-oriented strategies, and monitoring the implementation of proposed solutions.

🇿🇼 Accountability Lab Zimbabwe hosted a vibrant online discussion on accountability of public funds in the country following the launch of the Auditor General's report. Guests and listeners shared their concerns around the most critical accountability issues in the report, but also some solutions such as capacitating public service officials where there are gaps in knowledge.