Rethinking CSO sustainability: from dependency to self-reliance

At the 2025 OGP Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting, young leaders, civil society actors, and digital governance experts came together to tackle a shared challenge: how to move from aid dependency to homegrown resilience. From bold strategies for CSO self-reliance to youth-led digital innovations and the power of local movements, this article captures the key conversations shaping the future of governance in Africa. The discussion on civil society sustainability highlighted the pressing challenges of diminishing donor funding and the shift towards performance-based financing. According to René Edouard Mendis, “Funding cuts aren’t just coming from USAID, they’re also hitting partners [...]

2025-04-11T09:14:22+00:0010th April 2025|

4 ways to build resilient networks: Lessons from Accountability Lab Nepal

If it’s one thing the past couple of months have shown the development sector it’s the necessity of community.  As civil society organizations working to build the world back better, we can’t do it on our own. It takes a village, and we have to be the villagers who make the village possible. I had the privilege of visiting my colleagues at Accountability Lab Nepal who haven’t cracked the village code as much as they live it. I also chatted with Program Manager Prekkshya Bimali about what it takes to be a home for governance champions and a base for [...]

2025-04-04T10:38:28+00:004th April 2025|

Defending press freedom: Five key takeaways from Danai Nhando and Nkosikhona Dibiti

Around the world, journalists are facing growing pressure—from legal threats and online harassment to financial constraints and shrinking civic space. These challenges don’t just affect individual journalists—they impact our collective ability to access credible, independent information and hold those in power to account. In a recent episode of the AccountabiliTea podcast, Cheri-Leigh Erasmus, Co-CEO of Accountability Lab and host of the podcast, spoke with Danai Nhando, a Human Rights Lawyer and Social Entrepreneur, and Nkosikhona Dibiti, Executive Director of Community Podium and Journalist, about the state of media freedom today. Their insights speak to a global moment of reckoning for [...]

2025-04-03T08:28:58+00:002nd April 2025|

Launching a partnership matching service for nonprofits

While a lot of us have talked about the potential, value, and - in some cases - need for more mergers and acquisitions in the non-profit space, recent events have made it clear: now is the time. Immediately after recent US aid cuts, our team circulated a survey to civil society and international development organizations - and the resulting data, from more than 700 organizations, suggests that nearly 60% of organizations may close within the next 6 months. Given the recent stop work orders, contract and grant cancellations, and cascading effects of international civil society support shifts, a large number [...]

2025-04-10T11:45:20+00:0027th March 2025|

Annet Namugosa: Building accountability, expanding opportunities, and lessons from Civic Charge

For Annet Namugosa, the path to youth advocacy and expanding legal access wasn't a sudden decision—it was shaped by a lifetime of witnessing injustice and a deep-seated drive to create change. "First and foremost, I am a lawyer. That’s the foundation of my journey," says Annet. "But I stepped away from active legal practice to focus on something bigger—innovating for social inclusion, equitable development, and ensuring that young people have a voice." Her early experiences shaped this path. She watched her father struggle to provide an education for his children, seeing it as more than just a means of survival—it [...]

2025-03-07T08:43:06+00:007th March 2025|

From green to grey: Reimagining governance

This article, shared by apolitical, explores the critical intersection of governance, urbanization, and sustainability in Pakistan’s capital. From Green to Grey: Reimagining Governance by Asif Farooqui, Director of Programs at Accountability Lab Pakistan, reflects on Islamabad’s transformation over the years, highlighting how rapid urban growth has reshaped the city’s landscape, environment, and livability. The article raises pressing questions about citizen participation in urban planning and governance, asking: Who truly shapes our cities? Are citizens passive observers, or can they reclaim their role in shaping their surroundings? With a deep dive into Islamabad’s past and present, the piece examines how unplanned [...]

2025-02-26T12:39:26+00:0026th February 2025|

AL launches Global Aid Freeze Tracker with Humentum to track impact of USAID shut down

Humentum and Accountability Lab are leading collective data tracking and analysis for the Executive Order mandating the reevaluation and realignment of United States foreign aid Washington, D.C. — February 14, 2025 — Accountability Lab, a global translocal network focused on governance, and Humentum, a nonprofit helping social good organizations strengthen their operations and are collectively leading the Global Aid Freeze Tracker to track the human and economic impacts of the Executive Order Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid and subsequent administrative actions to implement it.  These actions have effectively frozen most foreign assistance funding from the U.S. Government. Yet, there has been no centralized [...]

2025-02-14T15:53:23+00:0014th February 2025|

The Long Game: Changing narratives and building ecosystems in Southern Africa

It was on the crest of a wave of change Zimbabwe was experiencing in 2020 that Dr McDonald Lewanika found himself ready to change tack. Years of direct non-violent action had done the backbreaking work of earning Zimbabwe a new constitution, and  other democratic concessions, while a military assisted transition had led to leadership changes at the top of the state and ruling party ticket.  It seemed a good time to find a process that matched the guarded optimism in the air.  “Over years of introspection, I had come to the conclusion that a lot of what we were doing [...]

2025-01-22T09:18:14+00:0022nd January 2025|

Accountability Lab and Good Governance Principles: Lessons Learned from an Auburn University Nonprofit Governance Audit

There is a consensus on the need for governance principles that enhance nonprofits and strengthen public trust in nonprofits. In 2004, as recommended by the Leaders of the United States Senate Finance Committee, the nonprofit sector was convened by the independent sector to evaluate nonprofit good governance principles. The panel concerned itself with strengthening the governance, transparency and accountability mechanisms of foundations and charities. This panel produced 150 recommendations for Congress, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and nonprofits to consider in strengthening their governance and ethical conduct. After robust consultations and engagement with stakeholders, it brought about the development of [...]

2025-01-15T09:32:23+00:0013th January 2025|

4e Sommet régional sur l’intégrité, de la corruption à une gestion redevable et participative de la taxe conventionnelle sur les produits pétroliers à l’importation au Sud-Kivu ?

Le mois dernier, le 19 décembre 2024, Accountability Lab RDC a organisé dans la ville de Bukavu à l’Est de la République Démocratique Congo, le 4e Sommet régional sur l’intégrité. Dédié à la « Transparence et la Redevabilité pour la reconstruction de la province du Sud-Kivu » comme thème, le cas spécifique de la Gouvernance, la transparence et la redevabilité de la taxe conventionnelle sur le produit pétrolier à l’importation (l’une des taxes importantes de la province) et la nécessité de l’effectivité de la rétrocession provinciale ont été au menu des discussions des parties prenantes. Parrainé par le gouverneur de province, le [...]

2025-01-10T13:46:31+00:0010th January 2025|
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