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Fact Sheet: Summit for Democracy: Progress in the Year of Action

During the “Year of Action” following the first Summit for Democracy in December 2021, the United States and over 100 partner governments around the world have taken meaningful steps to build more resilient democracies, combat corruption, and defend human rights. Summit participants have undertaken important pro-democracy reforms at home, contributed to impactful multilateral initiatives, and worked together to resist authoritarian aggression, including Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine. President Biden is pleased to announce that on March 29-30, 2023, he will co-host the second Summit for Democracy with the leaders of Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and the [...]

2022-12-14T09:47:38+00:0029th November 2022|

Deal with our ‘culture wars’ to combat democratic backsliding – President Obama

A lot of times those of us who are interested in democracy promotion have tried to wish away these so-called culture war questions. We like to focus on rules, law, policy and calculations” — President Barack Obama WASHINGTON D.C., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA , UNITED STATES, November 18, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Keeping young people engaged in governance processes creatively to help prevent democratic backsliding was one of the key messages from Accountability Lab at the Democracy Forum in New York this week. Speaking on a panel with President Barack Obama, Country Director at Accountability Lab Mali Doussouba Konaté, said that democracy “on the streets” had [...]

2022-11-30T23:59:23+00:0018th November 2022|

Deekay Ndoni Sibanda — Activism through art and film

"When I say I’m an activist, I’m on the ground, I’m a street activist. I’m not sitting at a desk — I want to go where things are happening." “I call myself a human rights activist slash a queer rights activist,” says aspiring filmmaker and photographer Deekay Ndoni Sibanda, who is the 39-year-old programme officer for the Accountability Lab’s Integrity Icon campaign. The initiative seeks to highlight the often-overlooked good work that public servants are doing. She told Maverick Citizen that she is very passionate about media advocacy work because of her passion for documenting and narrating activist stories. Activist Deekay Ndoni Sibanda [...]

2022-12-01T00:44:49+00:0018th November 2022|

How The US Can Support Democracy By Countering Disinformation In The Sahel

By Doussouba Konaté Instability in the Sahel is driven by disinformation. Alongside the growing militancy on the ground, there is a concurrent information war being fought to win the support of citizens. Jihadist groups spread anti-government and anti-foreign messages that find fertile ground in a region where governance has always been weak. Meanwhile, it is well known that state actors- primarily Russia- push disinformation in the region in order to undermine Western efforts to support democracy and good governance. This includes highly sophisticated efforts, derived from military psychological operations, to target and influence key sections of the population- and it [...]

2022-11-15T12:09:24+00:0015th November 2022|

President Biden is Hosting a Summit of African Leaders – Governance in the Sahel Must Be a Priority

By Doussouba Konaté BAMAKO, Nov 11 2022 (IPS) - The upcoming Africa Leaders’ Summit– slated to take place in Washington, DC in December- is well-timed. The Biden administration has made a welcome and significant push over the past two years to support democracy, anti-corruption and peace-building around the world- and in Africa in particular. From the Summit for Democracy to the new Sub-Saharan Africa and Countering Corruption strategies- policies and practices within the US government have shifted in ways that can support much needed reforms across the continent. It is in the Sahel where many of the biggest challenges remain- and these should be a priority during the [...]

2022-11-14T09:59:43+00:0013th November 2022|

SA’s passionate and inspirational public servants honoured, with policeman taking top award

By Zukiswa Pikoli The Integrity Icons awards present an alternative to the perception that public servants are corrupt and lazy, and showcase that there are some who ‘go the extra mile’ The Accountability Lab has been running the Integrity Icons awards since 2018. The awards showcase the excellent work done by many men and women in the public service, something that Accountability Lab’s country director for SA, Sekoetlane Phamodi, says often goes unnoticed. Sekoetlane Phamodi, country director of Accountability Lab, during the Integrity Icon Awards held at the Anew Hotel in Johannesburg. (Photo: Denvor de Wee) “So often the focus is on what is wrong [...]

2022-11-15T02:05:12+00:007th November 2022|

Low compliance with FOI, public procurement laws responsible for high corruption in public sector – CSOs

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has said that corruption in the public sector will continue to rise due to a lack of transparency in the public procurement laws and providing the public with little or no information regarding contracts being awarded by elected and appointed officials of governments. The coalition decried that despite the enactment of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and the Freedom of Information Act 2011, corruption has geometrically increased in the public sector due to a lack of implementation. It regretted that the laws which were put in place to monitor projects and hold government [...]

2022-11-15T09:16:36+00:006th November 2022|

Government tasked on implementation of PPA, FOI Acts to fight corruption

The CSOs said corrupt officials would continue to manipulate laws unless the various governments increase the tempo of all enacted laws. A call has gone to governments at all levels to make good use of the Public Procurement Act (PPA), 2007, and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011, to prevent further, and control the wave of corruption in the nation’s public offices. This was the submission on Sunday, by a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), at the end of their four-day 2022 Hack Corruption Workshop, jointly organised by the Accountability Lab (AL), Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), and United [...]

2022-11-15T09:20:15+00:006th November 2022|

Hackathon Workshop: Stakeholders Urged To Promote Publc Procurement, Open Contracting

State and non-state actors have been admonished to key into the Open Contracting by developing interest in the Public Procurement processes inorder reduce corruption in governance. This was the focal point  of the Anti-Corruption Hackathon Workshop organised by Accountability Lab in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP - Nigeria), Open Contracting and the Ekiti Bureau of Public Procurement through the Nigeria Anti-corruption Innovation. Journalists and Civil Society groups were  educated on contracting process from budget till implementation. Project is building on existing progress to adopt the use of procurement data and innovative technologies to improve access to good quality procurement data [...]

2022-11-14T10:50:55+00:006th November 2022|

How the Government Silenced Accountability in Run up to Election

By Tina S. Mehnpaine with New Narratives Three months after the government raced an act through the Legislature overhauling the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, Liberia’s independent corruption watchdog has almost ceased functioning, all but ending scrutiny of government corruption in the runup to next year’s election. A source inside the Commission, who requested anonymity for fear of losing their job, said prosecutions have been stalled because of the changes that included the firing of all staff including chairperson Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin as the Weah administration “concentrates on the 2023 elections.” This week’s decision by the Supreme Court to halt some [...]

2022-11-30T23:33:17+00:005th November 2022|
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