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 [...]

2025-03-27T10:18:14+00:0027th March 2025|

Journée Internationale de Lutte contre la Corruption

9 Décembre 2024 - A l’occasion de la journée internationale de lutte contre la corruption, célébrée chaque le 09 décembre, pour cette année 2024,  Accountability Lab RDC avec plus de 700 personnes issues des mouvements citoyens, des acteurs de la société civile, les jeunes entrepreneurs, les étudiants, des agents  de l’Etat et les associations des femmes engagées se sont unis pour une sensibilisation à grande échelle et hausser leurs voix pour dénoncer la corruption qui gangrène la gouvernance des institutions et des services publics et compromet gravement le développement de l’Est du pays et de la RDC en générale.  Sous le [...]

2024-12-10T21:26:56+00:0010th December 2024|

Building (unfunded) accountability into the localization agenda – Part 2

In the first blog of this series, we spoke about the challenges of being small and accountable. In this second instalment, we talk about the solutions that our community has found to overcome or partially address the challenges.   None of the accountability challenges mentioned in the first blog are new, or unique to Accountability Lab. Many organizations are valiantly taking up the “shifting the power” mantle while trying to keep the lights on. The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has recently increased the de minimus rate (the indirect cost rate applied to grants for those that do [...]

2024-09-30T19:34:51+00:0019th September 2024|

Building (unfunded) accountability into the localization agenda – Part 1

This is the first of a two-part series of blogs about accountability in the non-profit sector and how funders can better understand how this relates to localization. Being accountable is expensive. At Accountability Lab we have found that since we first wrote about this issue 5 years ago, that while people are becoming more aware of the costs of being accountable, it is more difficult, and  more expensive to fund than ever. The much-needed localization agenda has committed development partners (in particular the US Government) to directly channel a larger portion of official development assistance (ODA) to local partners in [...]

2024-09-30T19:33:45+00:0019th September 2024|

Conscious music and youth commitments in South Africa

Collaborative leadership has been at the heart of our work in South Africa. The Accountability Lab South Africa (ALSA) team has worked hard on improving service delivery challenges through Action4Accountability - a Civic Action Teams project - as well as launching the very first amapiano conscious music album. Interim Country Director Sadia Khan explains that they have relied on particular values like transparency, practicality and collaboration to make sure all the different parts of the work are supported. “It’s about being true to yourself and taking responsibility for your actions,” she says. This philosophy is also evident in ALSA’s diverse [...]

2024-08-15T12:49:30+00:0013th August 2024|

Funke Adeoye and her access to justice mission in Nigeria

Oluwafunke Adeoye, or Funke as everyone calls her, is a lawyer, human rights defender, social innovator, young global leader, and proud Accountapreneur. She is Hope Behind Bars Africa’s Founder and Executive Director. It's an organization that promotes human rights and criminal justice reforms using legal aid, research, evidence-based advocacy, and technology. Funke has led interventions that amplified the work of grassroots advocates across sub-Saharan Africa and saved hundreds of indigent pre-trial detainees. She is a Mandela Washington Fellow and an Acumen West Africa Fellow, winning the 2023 Global Citizen Prize last year. This year saw her also being admitted to [...]

2024-10-04T15:47:25+00:0011th August 2024|

Meeting Change: Resonant leadership in an evolving Nigeria

In 2023 Accountability Lab Nigeria made significant strides in advancing accountability in the country; collaborating with stakeholders, building power for citizens in local communities, and expanding their reach to enhance accountability in governance. We chatted with the Lab’s Country Director, Odeh Friday, about his journey to the Lab, the value of a translocal network, and the challenges of building sustainable local structures for accountability in a funding environment that favors quick wins. Before joining Accountability Lab, Odeh worked in direct aid response, delivering healthcare, livelihood, and other humanitarian services to communities in need. It was while delivering food aid to Internally [...]

2024-07-26T15:14:41+00:0026th July 2024|

Shaping the future of Natural Resource Governance

In late May 2024, Lusaka played host to a week of global discussions on Natural Resource Governance (NRG). Accountability Lab hosted the BHP Foundation’s NRG Partners Learning eXchange Dialogues (PLxD). The event attracted over 90 participants, including Foundation partners, regional organizations, and distinguished experts from various sectors. The intention of the PLxD was to encourage reflection, share knowledge, and build robust networks to advance the field of NRG. The PLxD underscored the importance of integrating diverse expertise and using reliable data to enhance NRG. Key takeaways included the need for expertise integration by combining insights from various stakeholders to develop [...]

2024-09-19T13:41:48+00:0021st June 2024|

Trends and threats – a presentation to Wilton Park

Earlier this year, AL Co-CEO Jean Scrimgeour was invited to 'think-space' Wilton Park in the UK to talk about the threats and opportunities we're seeing in the governance field. She collects them here - from using civic technology cleverly, to building equity and inclusion for better outcomes.

2024-05-22T14:35:18+00:0020th May 2024|

What’s democracy without citizen participation?

This article presented by Grocott's Mail discusses the ongoing challenges in achieving meaningful citizen participation and accountability within South Africa's local municipalities, focusing on the case study of Makhanda. It highlights initiatives like the Action for Accountability project and the role of organizations like the Public Service Accountability Monitor in promoting civic engagement and addressing governance issues. It has been three decades since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, yet gaps between communities and government remain a talking point. The apartheid administration brought the blatant exclusive participation in governance, forcefully silencing a large portion of the population. However, the [...]

2024-09-05T10:01:58+00:0019th April 2024|
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