Strengthening Migration Governance in Nepal
1500 young people migrate from Nepal on a daily basis seeking employment totaling 6 million to 110 countries over the last 20 years. […]
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL. SMALL IS ALSO, ER, SMALL.
This post was originally published by the Nonprofit Chronicles. By Marc Gunther The global south is littered, literally, with the remains of failed international aid projects. So-called clean cookstoves had more appeal to western donors than to women in India, Africa or Latin America. Wells and taps that were intended to provide clean water have fallen into disrepair. One 2009 study estimated there are 50,000 broken rural water points across Africa that represents a failed investment of US $215-360 million. Oops. It’s easy to understand how this happens. If a nonprofit provides cookstoves or water taps or chickens or books, that’s what it will give poor [...]
Understanding how to learn in Liberia
By Heather Gilberds and Blair Glencorse This blog was originally published by Making All Voices Count. Recently, we concluded a Making All Voices Count Practitioner Research and Learning grant, focusing on the dynamics, process and outcomes of building accountability with young people in Liberia. The research generated some useful insights – as we’ve written about previously – including the need to make governance changes meaningful for citizens; the importance of a collective, eco-systems-building approach; and the opportunities that exist around more creative, and less institutionalised, governance programmes. The research involved a survey of over 1,000 citizens in four of Liberia’s 15 counties, [...]
2017 American Express Leadership Award Finalists
This announcement was first published by the Independent Sector. Independent Sector is proud to announce the five finalists for the 2017 American Express NGen Leadership Award: Sarah Eagle Heart, CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy Blair Glencorse, Executive Director of Accountability Lab Cesar Gonzalez, CEO of StartingBloc Laura Weidman Powers, Co-founder and CEO of Code2040 Ginger Zielinskie, President & CEO of Benefits Data Trust Each year, the American Express NGen Leadership Award is presented to one highly accomplished charitable community leader, age 40 or under, who has already demonstrated significant impact in addressing society’s critical needs. This year’s awardee will [...]
5 leaders exposing corruption and bringing hope to Africa
By: Blair Glencorse, Executive Director, Accountability Lab, and Lawrence Yealue, Country Director, Accountability Lab Liberia. This article was originally posted by the World Economic Forum as part of the World Economic Forum on Africa 2017. Film stars, musicians and sports stars from across Africa are global celebrities. South African actresses like Terry Pheto win international awards; Nigerian rapper Whizkid sells out concerts across the UK; and Didier Drogba, Cote d’Ivoire’s all-time top goal scorer, is now looking to build a soccer empire in the US. When it comes to governance across the continent, however, the headlines can be less encouraging. In the last few [...]
Accountability Lab Turns 5: Looking back and moving forward
By: Henna Mahmood I recently joined the Accountability Lab as a Fellow and the timing could not have been better. The Accountability Lab just turned five, which gave me the chance to reflect on five years of lessons and insights into what it takes to build a grassroots movement in the toughest of places. The Accountability Lab came together in 2012 with a bold vision — a movement, led by citizens and leaders, to build integrity and accountability across the world. That vision matched a strategy - to build a pipeline of accountability change-makers through an incubator program, elevate national [...]
Celebrating The Lab’s 5th Birthday With A New Strategy for Building Accountability
By: Blair Glencorse, Executive Director. Today, the Accountability Lab turns 5 years old. What better way to celebrate a birthday than to reflect on what we’ve done, think about what we’ve learned, and spell out where we’re going in a new strategy?! We’re proud of this new roadmap, which has grown out of a lot of hard work in West Africa and South Asia, hundreds of conversations with other organizations and individuals working in this space and significant field and desk research into accountability eco-systems to understand where we can add the most value. This refresh comes at an important [...]
Integrity Summit 2016: What Can We Learn from Integrity Idols in Pakistan?
By: Fayyaz Yaseen, Country Representative, Accountability Lab Pakistan In January 2017, the Accountability Lab brought together the winners of Integrity Idol Pakistan 2016, experts in anti-corruption and governance (including Brig Mussadiq Abbasi, former Director General of the National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan), Executive Director of the Accountability Lab, Blair Glencorse, and around 25 other representatives from civil society organizations. Unpacking Integrity The group discussed the dynamics of integrity in Pakistan, the ways in which individuals can resist the pressure to be corrupt, and how a system for accountability can be developed within the civil service. Key points that emerged from the [...]
Integrity Summit 2017: What Can We Learn from Integrity Idols in Nepal?
Background In January 2017, the Accountability Lab brought together the three winners of the Integrity Idol Nepal competition since 2014 (Gyan Mani Nepal, Pradip Raj Kanel and Dor Bikram Shrees), along with other Integrity Idol finalists (including Bindu Kunwar, Tara Subedi, Bhishma Kumar Bhusal, Krishna Prasad Danchha, Bhuwan Kumari Rai, and Ram Narayan Shah), experts in anti-corruption and governance (including Suryanath Upadhyay the former head of the CIAA, Dr. Tarak Bahadur KC the Deputy Executive Director of Nepal Administrative Staff College, Bharat Bahadur Thapa the Head of Transparency International and Jiwan Prabha Lama the former Secretary of the Nepali Government, [...]
5 lessons on fighting corruption
By: Blair Glencorse. This article was originally published by the World Economic Forum. Image: REUTERS/Marco Bello Corruption is a barrier to economic and social growth in much of Latin America. In many countries, robust legal frameworks for transparency, including far-reaching laws, criminal, administrative and audit regimes, and mechanisms for prevention, investigation and sanction already exist. But implementation and enforcement of laws can be weak and impunity for certain acts continues. Many countries in the region linger towards the bottom of indices that measure the Corruption Perceptions Index and the Rule of Law Index. With this in mind, the recent Partnering Against [...]