What does an effective, post-pandemic CSO look like?

As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, effective, collaborative civil society organizations (CSO) —which provide critical ideas, services, and advocacy efforts—have never been more essential. Over the past year, governments everywhere have used the global health crisis as an excuse to close civic space, restrict freedoms, and undermine liberties. By Blair Glencorse and Jean Scrimgeour The “quality of democracy, market economy, and governance” have declined to their lowest levels since 2004, according to the Bertelsman Stiftung. Freedom House maintains that democracy and respect for human rights have declined in 80 countries since the beginning of the pandemic. Equally, many CSOs have [...]

2022-02-12T09:04:31+00:0029th April 2021|

The story of accountapreneur Ammarah Shah

By Bakhtawar Khalid Ammarah Shah is an author and founder of Kaho Kahani, a unique storytelling platform with original content and inspiring stories. She is also a member of the 2020 Accountability Incubator cohort from Pakistan. A young mother of one, she often finds herself a trusted playmate to her son and this has informed her motivating work for children. Her ability to empathize with kids allows her to be part of their imaginary world and fly in a rocket launcher to the moon when she has to! In college, origami lessons and selling cards on Valentine’s Day and Eid [...]

2021-04-28T08:30:48+00:0028th April 2021|

The OGP effect on new business

By Nida Qasim Khan Open Government Partnership (OGP): An overview  Since its inception in 2011, seventy-eight countries, a growing number of local governments and thousands of civil society organizations have become members of the OGP, a co-creation between both government and non-governmental organizations. The OGP serves the purpose of enabling open government for its citizens, whereby they are more accessible, responsive and accountable to its citizens. In OGP, governments and civil society co-create two-year action plans, with concrete commitments across a variety of issues. This model enables civil society organizations to help shape and provide government oversight. Seventy-five countries have [...]

2021-05-11T07:11:37+00:0014th April 2021|

COVID-19 and it’s impact on people living with disabilities in Pakistan

By Nida Qasim Khan The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the extent of exclusion that the most marginalized communities in Pakistan experience. Among the most adversely affected groups are Pakistan’s 28 million persons with disabilities (PWDs), who make up 10% to 15% of Pakistan’s population. according to the Special Talent Exchange Program (STEP). Even under normal circumstances, persons with disabilities are neglected and suffer from reduced access to education, poverty, unemployment, abuse and low rates of participation in the community. According to research done by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), PWD’s can suffer [...]

2022-11-10T06:46:22+00:0011th April 2021|

Pakistani businesses at a crossroads during COVID-19 

By Nida Qasim Khan The outbreak of COVID-19 has severely affected the Pakistani economy and its micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) President Saboor Malik said in a statement that due to the lockdown, the businesses of cottage industry, small industry and furniture retailers have been adversely affected. The National Incubation Centre (NIC) also noted in its report “Impact of Covid-19 on Pakistani start-ups and the way forward”,  that start-ups were hard hit by the pandemic. The report stated that while before the pandemic, e-commerce, health-tech and ed-tech were the most popular [...]

2022-11-10T06:46:23+00:0010th April 2021|

Accountability Lab to honour honest public servants

An accountability advocacy organization has launched a campaign to award public servants in the health and education sector who are exuding honesty in their work. Speaking at the launch of Integrity Icon Zimbabwe on Thursday in Harare, Accountability Lab Zimbabwe’s Program and Campaign Manager Grace Chirenje said the campaign aims to inculcate integrity to be the norm in public service. “The campaign aims to celebrate individuals working in the health and education sector who go beyond the call of duty and we want to ensure that integrity becomes the norm and not an exception." “So we intend to name and [...]

2021-04-09T15:18:11+00:009th April 2021|

Accountability Lab Liberia Wants Citizens To Get Involved in Nominating this Year’s Integrity Icon

Accountability Lab Liberia has launched an eight month campaign process that begins with the nominations of public servants across the country through a rigorous vetting process. Making the disclosure at the office on Carey Street, the Country Director of Accountability Lab Liberia Lawrence Yealue said there are more good people in Liberia than bad people adding that the good people need to be celebrated. This year is the seventh edition of the Integrity Icon. The nomination process according to the AL Liberia Country Director will last for three months. A panel of three judges will narrow the numerous nominations to [...]

2021-04-26T13:20:49+00:002nd April 2021|

Building an anti-corruption organization in a complex context: Key insights from Zimbabwe 

By McDonald Lewanika, Country Director of Accountability Lab Zimbabwe COVID-19 crept into an unsuspecting world like a thief in the night at the end of 2019. It altered the world of work through deprivation and dramatic changes to ways of working. In Zimbabwe, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic was mired in authoritarian politics, which saw the alleged weaponization of lockdown regulations to curtail civic space and place democratic dissent itself in lockdown.  Despite this, in April 2020, Accountability Lab pressed ahead with year-old plans to establish a translocal network lab in Zimbabwe and implement a new project, New Narratives for [...]

2021-04-01T06:51:11+00:001st April 2021|

U.S. Embassy and Malian Minister Engage Young Female Filmmakers

United States Embassy in Mali - Press Statement Bamako, Mali, March 25, 2021 U.S. Embassy Bamako invited Mali’s Minister for the Promotion of Women, Children, and Families Bouaré Bintou Foune Samaké to join a breakfast conversation with ten rising Malian female filmmakers.  The event aimed to foster conversations about how to creatively use film as a tool to communicate with the public on issues related to women and children. The ten Malian women are participating in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Film School Fellowship being run in Mali by Accountability Lab Country Director Moussa Kondo and Program Coordinator Zeina [...]

2021-03-31T08:37:28+00:0026th March 2021|

ICPC pledges to sustain new ethics, integrity in fight against corruption

THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it will sustain the new National Ethics and Integrity Policy, which is geared towards changing many Nigerians’ mindsets and preventing them from engaging in corruption. The commission launched the new policy to reduce corruption in public and private spheres in Nigeria. ICPC spokesperson Azuka Ogugua made this known during a radio programme, ‘Public Conscience,’ produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG) on Wednesday in Abuja. Ogugua, while reassuring that the sustainability of the policy was of paramount interest to the commission, disclosed that plans were on the [...]

2021-03-26T10:28:08+00:0025th March 2021|
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