Diagnosing the Cure for Nigeria’s Illness: Open Governance

Imagine Nigeria was a hospital patient. The doctor’s analysis might read something like the following: Patient’s Name: Nigeria Diagnosis: Long-term and possibly fatal corruption. Cause: Long-term lack of accountability across government, business, civil society and the media; with complicit international business and financial institutions. Contributory factor: Lack of citizen engagement among 180+ million citizens. Medication:…

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OGP IN PAKISTAN – THE RIGHT TIME FOR ACTION

By: Shahid Farooq Pakistan, a nation of over 200 million inhabitants, is going into its third term of democratic government. The issues in pre-election debates this time are different from the past. Voices for accountability and transparency are distinctly audible, overpowering the traditional issues of electoral politics in Pakistan. Many attribute this shift to Panama…

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Strengthening Accountability Through OGP in Pakistan

By Bakhtawar Khalid   Public service delivery is the way citizens experience governance, while accountability is characterized by authorities being held liable for poor governance. For example, citizens of Pakistan tend to experience exploitation at the hands of different government departments due to procedural ambiguity and lack of feedback mechanisms. Citizen participation is one of…

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The importance of Pakistan’s OGP Action Plan

By Kausar Abbas   The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral agreement that aims to secure transparency, empower citizens, develop accountability measures, and fight corruption. In December 2016, Pakistan signed an agreement with the OGP. The nation promised to fulfill its commitments in the agreement and submit a national action plan, which would achieve…

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What Accountability Really Means

Trust in government is critical to building and maintaining a healthy society. The symptoms of a government that lacks trust are easy to spot: widespread corruption, nepotism, and patronage. In short, a profound lack of accountability. As Blair Glencorse of Accountability Lab notes in the video above, “accountability is about answerability. It’s about people who are in…

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Liberian hipco artist wins global creative arts contest with song about voting

A young hipco artist from Liberia has been named the winner of a global creative arts contest for his song promoting voter awareness. The song “Know Who To Vote For” by Monrovia-based artist, Amaze, won the Multimedia category of the “Through Arts and Imagination” creative arts competition hosted by global civil society alliance, CIVICUS. The…

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Portrait of a GroundBreaker: Blair Glencorse

GroundBreakers is thrilled to feature Blair Glencorse, the Founder of the Accountability Lab, on this week’s Portraits of a GroundBreaker Series. Blair Glencorse is the Founder of the Accountability Lab, an organization building a new generation of active citizens through innovative anti-corruption initiatives. Blair is passionate about contextualized, people-centered ideas that empower change-makers to drive positive social and economic…

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