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Crowdfunding development aid would direct funds where they are needed most

Websites such as GlobalGiving and Kickstarter have re-imagined the way we support issues we care about. Can we do the same for aid programmes? By: Blair Glencorse, Executive Director at Accountability Lab. This article was originally published by The Guardian. Watermelon seeds are readied for planting as part of an aid project in Rwanda. ‘There is a disconnect between the providers of development aid and its recipients.’ Photograph: Sam Faulkner/Comic Relief/Dfid As world leaders descend on New York this week for the UN general assembly, the funding of international development programmes will be high on the agenda – [...]

2016-09-13T00:00:00+00:0013th September 2016|

An Impact Weekend with the BMW Foundation

Achieving Something Special at a Wilderness Retreat By: Narayan Adhikari, Nepal Country Representative for Accountability Lab Recently, the BMW Foundation convened a group on Wasan Island in Canada- a beautiful retreat in the Muskoka lakes about three hours north of Toronto. It was a perfect, remote location to disconnect and discuss the Accountability Lab. I was honored to be invited along, and packed my bags in Nepal for the trip, which I knew was going to be full of deep thinking, critical reflection and new friends. Arriving on the island, it was more beautiful than I had imagined- lakes as far [...]

2016-08-23T00:00:00+00:0023rd August 2016|

4 Principles of Collaborative Movement-building

Photo credit: Transparency International Indonesia By: Victoria Forsgate, Accountability Lab's Indonesia Country Representative. Today’s young people are some of the most connected and committed activists for accountability, transparency and citizen engagement we’ve seen for generations. In recent months, I’ve been scoping how Accountability Lab could support young people to build collaborative movements for change in Indonesia, where 26% of the population are 15-30 years old (that’s a massive 62 million people) and addressing corruption is increasingly a decisive issue for voters at election time. Connecting with youth activists, youth-led organisations and anti-corruption activists here has been inspiring, challenging [...]

2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:0015th August 2016|

Thinking about the intersections of accountability, gender and social movements

By: Parker P. Consulting. This blog post was originally published by Medium. Last weekend, members of BMW’s Responsible Leaders network, including Parker P. Consulting's Managing Director Chi Nguyen and the team of the Accountability Lab at Canada’s Wasan Island. Last week, I had the chance to learn more about the award-winning Accountability Lab. The lab is an incubator for young people working on accountability in their societies. Much of their work is focused on training, mentoring and providing resources for changemakers to be able to create conditions for better accountability. The lab sees itself as at its best when they [...]

2016-07-26T00:00:00+00:0026th July 2016|

Preventing Violence through Mediation as Liberia Transitions, Part 2

By: Beth Goldberg (Summer Resident Fellow at Accountability Lab Liberia) and John Kamma (Founder of Citizens Bureau for Development and Productivity, and Accountapreneur). This blog post is the second in a series about the Community Justice Team in Logan Town, Liberia. Mr. Kamma and his team of mediators face three primary challenges in delivering justice in Liberia: Transportation & Communication – the communities served by the Citizens Bureau are widely dispersed and the mediators have no vehicles. For example, one office of the Bureau serves Logan Town’s 17 distinct communities of over 70,000 residents. This is a tall order, but [...]

2016-07-14T00:00:00+00:0014th July 2016|

Can corruption act as a barrier to entry in the private sector?

By: Talib uz Zaman, CIPE Pakistan Programme Officer, and Accountability Lab Pakistan Accountapreneur “Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power” - William Gaddis Corruption, defined as exploitation of entrusted power for private benefit is, unfortunately,  prevalent in Pakistan. It can take many forms, including bribery, graft, theft and extortion. In the corporate sector, its presence reduces business credibility when professionals misuse their positions for personal gain. Corruption has not only been identified as one of the most significant constraints to private sector development but is also becoming a leading problem for people all around the world. Engagement in corruption depends [...]

2016-07-11T00:00:00+00:0011th July 2016|

Where Are We With The Learning Agenda In Liberia?

By: Beth Goldberg and Lawrence Yealue (Accountability Lab Liberia) At the Accountability Lab we have recently been running a series of “learning about learning” discussions to understand how we- as a community- can get better at adaptive learning. We want to help highlight practical ways to internalize and build on lessons around what works and what does not; and to support open conversations around impact (read recent blogs from our impact survey process and learning in Pakistan). In Monrovia last week, we brought together a group of donors, civil society representatives and government officials to discuss these issues. In Liberia, [...]

2016-07-06T00:00:00+00:006th July 2016|

Where Are We With The Learning Agenda In Pakistan?

By: Fayyaz Yaseen, Accountability Lab Pakistan Country Representative.   Building accountability in Pakistan is a difficult, long, and non-linear process. It is highly political and requires a deep understanding of the context, relationships, and incentives. With this kind of work, adaptive learning (learning that leads to real change) is essential. Too often organizations fail to internalize lessons from experience to iterate and improve. Last month at Accountability Lab Pakistan we brought together a group of representatives from Pakistani civil society, academia, media, and donor organizations to discuss how organizations can work to integrate adaptive learning to improve their work for [...]

2016-06-27T00:00:00+00:0027th June 2016|

Six Essential Principles for High Impact Leadership

By: Kate Hayes. This blog post was originally published by Echoing Green. At Echoing Green, we firmly believe that having a set of guiding values is essential to living a life that’s right for you and good for the world. But it’s one thing to know these values and principles, and another thing to fully live them as employees and volunteers. When it comes to how leadership is viewed and used, there are some lessons that Echoing Green has learned as we’ve supported people working across sectors to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. We apply what we’ve learned to [...]

2016-06-15T00:00:00+00:0015th June 2016|

Implementing the WDR: Shifting norms with youth

By: Blair Glencorse, Executive Director. This blog post was originally published by the World Bank's Let's Talk Development blog. “What good is the law if laws are ignored or never enforced?” a young civil society activist asked us as part of a group discussion recently. We began to explain that the law should provide a framework through which power can be constrained and policies implemented- but the conversation had already moved on to a loud and frustrated debate about the myriad ways that lawmakers abuse their positions, steal public money and undermine governance through the law itself. The World Development [...]

2016-06-07T00:00:00+00:007th June 2016|
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