Driving positive narratives about change and accountability

The world over, a lack of accountability is undermining fair, equal societies; the most marginalised voices are not heard in critical conversations and leaders are not held responsible for their decisions. This in turn means people in power are not held to account or answerable for the use of that power. Accountability is critical as it ensures that governments and other service providers deliver on their responsibilities by responding to citizens’ demands in an evidence-informed way. This should ultimately lead to effective governance and the development of trust between people and power-holders. Stan Getui of Luminate explains why the group [...]

2019-11-26T00:00:00+00:0026th November 2019|

SME challenges in Pakistan

Are you starting a new business in Pakistan? Great, but do you know what challenges you may face before and after starting a business in Pakistan? No? Okay, not to worry, lets discuss By Mohammed Adnan There are many challenges young entrepreneurs encounter in Pakistan and chief among them is the country’s weak contract enforcement system. In many ways this is creating many difficulties for the progress and growth of young enterprises and start-ups. It’s therefore become a significant source of stress for young entrepreneurs too. According to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2019, Pakistan stands at [...]

2019-10-21T00:00:00+00:0021st October 2019|

Advocating Fiscal Governance in Kaduna State

On the 17th of September 2019, Accountability Lab Nigeria hosted 35 concerned citizens at a Tax Justice and Budget Monitoring workshop on Fiscal Governance with support from Open Society Foundations, OECD, BudgIT and Follow Taxes. The primary objective was to create awareness on fiscal policies and encourage citizen engagement. Held at the Ground Hall of Hotel Seventeen in Kaduna, the event featured BudgIT Tracking Officer, Dauda Ahmed, as well as Follow Taxes Co-Founder, Saied Tafida, who provided valuable insights on the intricacies of taxation and budgeting in Nigeria. They also explored the controversies related to contracting and project implementation in [...]

2019-10-08T00:00:00+00:008th October 2019|

(Ad)venturing to New Places

Starting a new Accountability Lab - the example of South Africa Many have asked us how we started working in the countries in which we work. To begin with, there were strategic reasons, like knowledge of the context, good networks and trusted partners. But over the years we have become more organized in our approach to growth (see our country selection matrix). Now with almost weekly requests to start working in new and exciting places we have started to think about - and operationalise - a more structured approach to scale. When deciding to work in a new country we [...]

2019-10-07T00:00:00+00:007th October 2019|

Back to the Future – Young People Reimagining Today’s Politics

On 16-17 August 2019, a convening was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together leading continental youth change makers who advocate and activate in creative and innovative ways for political change. The gathering of about 30 people took place in an intimate space situated in Addis Ababa’s Revolution Square, overlooking the city’s landscape. The convening curated, consolidated and shared lessons and experiences of young people in Africa on initiatives, which if scaled, have the potential to strengthen and improve Africa’s democratic governance landscape and was funded by the Baywood Foundation. Youth Activism and Popular Protest The first session of the [...]

2019-09-30T00:00:00+00:0030th September 2019|

Deliberative Democracy – 5 Key Ideas We Can’t Forget

It is easy to get depressed about the state of global democracy these days, isn’t it? The rise of right-wing demagogues, the stifling of the media, the continued dysfunction of state institutions. Our headlines seem to be about nothing else. But the recent Deliberative Democracy Institute (DDI) at the Kettering Foundation filled me with hope about the future of participatory government. By Blair Glencorse Yes, there are challenges everywhere, but there are also incredible people at the grassroots levels in communities - from Fiji to Brazil, and from Romania to Kenya - doing what is needed to support deliberation and [...]

2019-07-31T00:00:00+00:0031st July 2019|

Forum on Youth Employment and Migration in Niger

Niamey – Between 24-25 July, IOM supported the forum “Youth Entrepreneurship as a Real Alternative to Irregular Migration”, which mobilized more than 100 young entrepreneurs, recent graduates and community leaders from Niger, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Togo. The two-day forum was organized by the Youth Union of the Member States of the Council of the Entente (UJEMCE), designed to promote the economic development of the region, but also to encourage values such as accountability and integrity and, as a result, the fight against corruption. In order to promote integrity and a strong sense of community among young entrepreneurs, the [...]

2019-07-29T00:00:00+00:0029th July 2019|

When colleagues become family

I have come to the end of my 3-month internship with Accountability Lab Nepal and it has been an amazing experience to be part of the team. When I first arrived in Nepal, I had no understanding of the culture, customs, language or etiquette, which had created a sense of detachment. By John Le   This feeling soon dissipated as I started interning with Accountability Lab. I was amazed at how kind and welcoming the Nepal team was in only the first few weeks of being acquainted. I had notions of NGOs - especially ones focused on anti-corruption - having [...]

2019-05-24T00:00:00+00:0024th May 2019|

How The Accountability Lab Is Thinking About Legitimacy

We are not huge fans of the term “closing civic space” for reasons Michael Jarvis has pointed out- it can be anodyne, all-encompassing and potentially ideological. But there are, of course, a number of political regimes around the world that are questioning the legitimacy of NGOs and pushing back against efforts to support accountability and transparency. A recent survey by the Transparency and Accountability Initiative of its grantees, for example, indicated that 70% are concerned about issues related to civic space. The Accountability Lab operates in countries where we see these dynamics. So, inspired by a recent blog by Saskia [...]

2019-05-19T00:00:00+00:0019th May 2019|
Privacy Policy
Go to Top