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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|

We hunted for the most honest government officials in Ukraine – this is what happened next

Unfortunately, Ukraine has been in the news recently for some of the wrong reasons- including corruption. But as we’ve learned elsewhere, there are always incredible people doing the right thing, even when no-one is watching and within systems where graft might be entrenched. Part of the solution is to support and lift up these heroes to help build support for their work and model the kind of behaviors that are needed. So, in early 2020, Accountability Lab and the Center for Cultural Management teamed up to launch Integrity Icon in Ukraine- an effort to “name and fame” the country’s most [...]

2021-04-29T08:47:51+00:0029th 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|

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|

Maverick Citizen: iKhaya eLitsha Hub — pathways to food security and dignity

In this article by the Daily Maverick Citizen, it's noted how community-led change and local action are too often stifled by the dominant accountability models. "New models of social accountability, built on trust, redistribution and horizontality rather than the usual bureaucratic checks and balances, are desperately needed," they say. In March 2020, when the president announced that South Africa would be going into a lockdown, a lot of uncertainty ensued. At the time I had just started working for a non-profit organisation that deals with sexual and reproductive health for adolescent girls and young women in the Klipfontein District. By [...]

2021-03-25T11:05:37+00:0025th March 2021|

Our Strategy Update: What We’re Going to Do in 2021

In late 2019, we developed a new global strategy for the 2020-2023 period. The strategy outlined why we care about accountability, what we have learned from almost 9 years of work on these issues, where we are going and how we’ll get there. The strategy was matched with a 2020-2023 operational plan and a budget for this work (here.)  Adapting to COVID-19 And then everything changed...as COVID-19 fundamentally transformed global politics, economics and societies; and dramatically altered accountability dynamics everywhere. The pandemic has highlighted the deep-set challenges of corruption within healthcare systems; and the policy responses have demonstrated how critical [...]

2021-01-14T18:46:32+00:0014th January 2021|

Meet the graduates from our first virtual Accountability Incubator

As 2020 took a different turn, so did our programs. Our Accountability Incubator program was moved online as we welcomed our very first virtual cohort of accountapreneurs from Uganda and Kenya. Read about the impact they are making below and  join us for a live pitch session next Tuesday as the accountapreneurs introduce their work over the past year. By Tirelo Makwela The Accountability  Incubator is our flagship program for young civil society leaders to build sustainable and effective tools for accountability, participation and open government. The Incubator provides a non-prescriptive, supportive environment for creative, enterprising individuals with innovative ideas [...]

2021-01-13T20:39:46+00:0013th January 2021|

Five Ideas We Heard from 1,000+ Young Open Government Reformers

By Katie Fuhs and Blair Glencorse   Governance cannot be open unless it is open for everyone. This means it needs to include women, indigenous groups, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and many others. Youth cross-cuts all of these groups, and young people are even playing a critical role in pushing for a more transparent, fair and equitable response and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Young people have always been willing to challenge the status-quo but have historically had difficulty ensuring that their voices and ideas are included in policymaking  processes. But with massive demographic shifts around the world, enhanced [...]

2020-12-07T19:49:32+00:004th December 2020|

Creating better racial equity policies for development organizations

ONE and Accountability Lab recently convened a panel discussion to reflect on structural inequities in the development sector. Designed as a safe space for partners and colleagues to delve into the ways that the sector contributes to racial inequality, the webinar unearthed some hard truths around how international development organizations may begin to right some of the sector’s wrongs.  What could racial equity look like in international development? This is the question the webinar posed, along with an invitation to participants to move the global conversation around racism and inequality forward through tangible action items for the sector. The [...]

2020-10-21T10:41:46+00:0021st October 2020|

We need to talk about Racial Inequity: Advice for convening difficult conversations

By Cheri-Leigh Erasmus As renewed protests around racial equity continue in the USA, and all over the world, the development sector finds itself taking stock of its own practices and how organizations and practitioners may perpetuate unequal systems through their work. Through an ongoing Learning Exchange made possible by OSF’s Economic Justice Program, a group of team members from Accountability Lab and the ONECampaign have recognized this as an important learning moment that challenges organizations to engage in difficult conversations and, more importantly, take action. Although this work on racial equity was not initially part of the exchange, the moment [...]

2020-10-21T10:28:13+00:0021st October 2020|
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