🌎 🌏 🌍 Together with our partners at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Youth ...Democracy Cohort, we’re relaunching the OGP Youth Collective – a global network for young leaders (18–30) to connect, co-create open government reforms, and engage directly with the OGP community.

We’re also introducing an Alumni Circle for champions aged 31+ who want to mentor the next generation and foster intergenerational dialogue.

Who can join?
💡Young leaders with proven involvement in OGP processes or open government initiatives.
💡Former Youth Collective members and champions (31+) ready to mentor.
💡OGP members implementing youth-focused commitments or engaged in OGP processes.

📢 We strongly encourage applications from historically under-represented or marginalized communities, including young women, LGBTQI+ youth, Indigenous or ethnic-minority youth, youth with disabilities, and those from rural or low-income backgrounds.

🔗 Apply now: https://bit.ly/4mHBX6E

#YouthLeadership #OpenGov #MakingGovernanceWorkForPeople

🌍 In this week's global roundup!

🇳🇬 Accountability Lab Nigeria's new ...platform #VoicesinCode is a participatory, creative platform where young people use tools like storytelling, art, and civic tech to reclaim space, speak freely, and demand accountability in the digital space. Advocates from a range of spheres gathered to reimagine inclusive and accountable digital governance in Nigeria where rights are protected and marginalized voices are brought into decision-making. Visit their page for more!

🇳🇵 Accountability Lab Nepal with The University of Manchester is conducting research on the impact and just reconstruction of community-based infrastructure affected by last year’s floods. The Lab will highlight how smaller-scale systems play a vital role in people’s daily lives and long-term recovery.

🇵🇰 Accountability Lab Pakistan's latest policy brief with Media Matters for Democracy “The Disinformation Economy of Pakistan,” traces how disinformation has evolved into a structural crisis, one that undermines democracy, silences women, and erodes trust. In response the Lab calls for a response rooted in digital rights, democratic participation, and gender equity.
👓 Read the full brief here: https://bit.ly/41KBhoW

🥳 We’re excited to share that Oshin Maharjan (Associate Program Officer) from Accountability ...Lab Nepal has been selected for the Young South Asian Leaders Initiative (YSALI), a platform that brings together changemakers from across South Asia.

YSALI equips young leaders to tackle shared challenges, strengthen regional collaboration, and find practical solutions in areas such as civic participation, entrepreneurship, and natural resource management.

Congratulations, Oshin! We’re proud to see your leadership and vision recognized! 💫

AL's Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Jennifer Anderson Lewis, employed and evaluated multiple ...anti-corruption strategies during her career, leading USAID's efforts as a former Senior Anti-Corruption Advisor. She shares that the most effective ways of combating transnational corruption involve investing in people, platforms, and coalitions. In particular, protect frontline actors, build cross-border capacity, and invest deeply in coalition-building

"In a world where corruption continues to drain the resources of the developing world, where illicit financial outflows dwarf official development assistance by seven to ten times, donors cannot afford to continue to treat anti-corruption as a sectoral governance concern. In USAID’s wake, donors must keep the steady drumbeat of anti-corruption front and centre, across global policy dialogues, country strategies, sectoral programs, and funding decisions," she shares in this new article for Alliance magazine. Read her proposed anti-corruption priorities for a donor community in flux here - https://bit.ly/4mBYe5Y

"Youth participation should go beyond just presence – young people should be equipped and ...supported to contribute effectively. "

When they do contribute we get valuable insights like these from youth climate activists in Nepal who ask "What happens when climate change solutions are created far from where their impact is felt?"

Smithey Fellow and Accountability Lab Nepal Program Officer Prekkshya Bimali spoke to youth leaders on climate about the gaps in climate funding processes and what they believe needs to change.

👓 Read the full story "Rethinking climate action at the community level" here: https://bit.ly/45wZOPJ

#InternationalYouthDay
#ClimateAction
#ClimateJustice

📊 Measuring the impacts after US government aid cuts earlier this year, it became clear that aid... and development ecosystem was going to need massive support to preserve mission, work and institutional memory.

We began reaching out to those in our network who could share their time, money and expertise to build what has become Civic Strength Partners. With Development Gateway and Digital Public, we built an opt-in matchmaking service for organizations considering mergers and strategic partnerships. It's grown to provide resources, professional services support, and infrastructure to civil society organizations navigating major transitions.

What started as action as an antidote to despair (and an act of preservation) has grown to provide real support:
🔲 150+ organizations have engaged with the program
🔲 $1M in funding secured from leading foundations
🔲 10-15 orgs working with the program to figure out what their next steps are, such as evaluating their readiness for a merger, mapping matches for partner organizations, and identifying the type of support they need to move forward.

“This process [of partnering] usually takes organizations between six months to a year, not just to think through the legal and financial integration, but also to figure out whether there’s a fit for two organizations to come together and form a major strategic partnership. Currently, no one has that sort of timeline — so we’re thinking about how to provide, in a more agile, faster way, the type of support, information and resources organizations need to make those decisions faster.” – Cheri-Leigh Erasmus

👓 Dive into the full story here on Devex : https://bit.ly/3J8PiXi

As US aid dwindles, more turn to restructuring to stay afloat

More aid organizations are eyeing restructures, mergers, and partnerships to survive. A new initiative is helping them pivot — but for many, the...

www.devex.com

“Governance is a process, not an outcome, and it’s driven by people.”

In this ...article for The Diplomatic Courier, our Co-CEO Blair Glencorse shares why he remains optimistic about the future of governance. Across the world, people are finding new ways to build systems that work – from governments using AI to detect corruption, to citizens unlocking transparency in public contracts, to communities leading on climate action through blockchain. Whether it’s Sri Lanka’s governance-linked bonds, Brazil’s participatory budgeting, or Armenia’s pushback against disinformation, these efforts remind us that change is possible and already happening. As Blair writes, “We are not passive bystanders, we all have a role to play.”

🔗 Read the full article in Diplomatic Courier: https://bit.ly/4m7onK5

#Governance #PeoplePower #Accountability #OpenGovernment #Leadership #CivicEngagement

Governance has been, will remain, driven by people

Jul 16, 2025 // Governance is a process, not an outcome—and while it is not linear it remains driven by the people governed. Amid concern over the...

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