Restoring Public Trust Though Openness: Reflections From The OGP Regional Meeting And The GDC Africa Forum

Recently Nairobi hosted two pivotal events: The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting, and the Global Democracy Coalition (GDC) Africa Forum. These gatherings cemented the critical role of open governance and public participation in strengthening democratic innovations across the continent. Accountability Lab joined a host of governments and organisations in solidarity with Africa’s pursuit for more accountable and transparent governments.  The OGP Regional Meeting, themed "Rebuilding Trust through Open Government," convened government officials, civil society leaders, and private sector executives to deliberate on enhancing transparency and citizen engagement. Discussions spanned topics such as anti-corruption, digital governance, [...]

2025-04-11T11:26:54+00:0010th April 2025|

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|

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|

Grounding governance in humanity and shared values

In recent years, there has been a noticeable global trend of democratic backsliding, characterized by restrictions on freedom of expression and association. Freedom House's 2023 report underscores this decline, highlighting that marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQI+ communities, are often at the forefront of the erosion of democratic safeguards.  There is a tangible connection between the rights of marginal communities (including LGBTQI+ rights) and the overall health of democracy.  We should be concerned with the democratic decline, in particular how it is an intentional and strategic political maneuver, deliberately targeting marginalized groups in order to consolidate power.   In this case, political [...]

2025-01-23T09:15:08+00:0023rd January 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|

Oportunidad de Trabajo: Consultoría – Senior Program Manager

Accountability Lab (AL) México es parte de una red global translocal de 13 laboratorios alrededor del mundo, conformando un ecosistema que se especializa en fortalecer la rendición de cuentas y la participación cívica en contextos relevantes para las regiones donde estamos presentes. En AL México buscamos combatir la corrupción, fortalecer la transparencia, y fomentar el compromiso y la participación cívica por una democracia de y para todas las personas. Creemos en la tecnología cívica, los mecanismos de participación y el acceso a la información como medio para alcanzar este fin. Apostamos por crear una sociedad más equitativa e inclusiva a [...]

2025-01-07T08:18:06+00:0017th December 2024|
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