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Accountability in the time of Covid-19

It’s been a challenging but productive year as the Lab adapts to the effects of working under the new normal of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the rest of the world. A key part of our work this year was launching a Virtual Accountability Incubator and also supporting our existing accountability entrepreneurs in our network on projects aimed at strengthening Covid-19 response and recovery efforts. Earlier this year we created a fund for our accountapreneurs who pitched ideas for these mini-grants on a competitive basis. We've been excited by the quality of projects that have come out of this initiative. [...]

2020-10-06T08:46:31+00:005th October 2020|

Government Accountability Explains Differing Pandemic Responses

The coronavirus health crisis has brought about deep challenges related to misinformation, governance and trust. In a webinar sponsored by the Center for Strategic International Studies on Wednesday, Accountability Lab panelists on the ground in South Africa, Mali and Nepal detailed how the pandemic is affecting government accountability and corruption. The Accountability Lab is a non-profit international project, which works to engage citizens in conversations surrounding civil service in nine countries. Citizens, civil society groups and public sector reformers across several countries are finding creative ways to rebuild trusted communication between states and their people, in the absence of effective [...]

2020-07-23T12:22:47+00:0023rd July 2020|

M&E of the Intangible: Resources on Social Norms

Social norms have risen significantly in profile amongst those working on behavior change related to gender, female genital mutilation, public health, child marriage and increasingly corruption. With the increase in attention comes the difficulty of determining how to monitor and evaluate (M&E) change. By Dhaval Kothari Unlike behaviors, social norms are intangible and invisible, making simplistic checklists inadequate. M&E of social norms must take into account injunctive norms, descriptive norms and sanctions at a minimum. (To learn more about the components of social norms see pages 25-27 in Understanding Social Norms: A Reference Guide for Policy and Practice.) As a [...]

2020-07-14T22:56:32+00:0014th July 2020|

Grant Makers Can Improve Government Effectiveness in the Covid-19 Era

Philanthropy has committed billions of dollars in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. While certainly generous, that’s a fraction of the trillions committed so far by governments worldwide. And therein lies a largely untapped opportunity. By Leslie Lang Tsai Grant makers can have an outsized impact by supporting efforts to improve government efficiency, accountability, and effectiveness in responding to the pandemic. Philanthropies should start by asking themselves some critical questions: How much of this massive tranche of government resources will be lost through corruption? Who is even monitoring what may be governments’ largest non-wartime spending in history? And what can grant [...]

2020-07-14T22:27:59+00:0014th July 2020|

NGOs call for continued support for transparency and accountability

We’ve signed a letter in collaboration with the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative (CoST) and Hivos calling for providers of development assistance to maintain support for transparency, accountability and open government initiatives. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, we believe this needs to remain a priority in the sector, supported by dozens of development organizations from across the globe. We, the undersigned national and international NGOs, call on providers of development assistance to maintain support for transparency, accountability and open government initiatives in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. Multilateral and bilateral agencies, [...]

2020-07-10T13:04:15+00:0010th July 2020|

New Narratives for Accountability in Zimbabwe

Harare, Zimbabwe - Accountability Lab (AL) is launching a new project that contributes to the conversation on integrity and accountability in Zimbabwe. The “New Narratives for Accountability in Zimbabwe” project will create dialogue and active civic participation among Zimbabweans. The project will work with local partner organizations to build unlikely networks within Zimbabwe’s diverse geographic and demographic communities, using music, art and youth-led public campaigns. Corruption has been a pressing issue in the country, with scandals from Willowgate in the 1980s, to Cashgate in 2014, and recently, to COVID-gate. The project intends to engage constructively with issues of corruption, with [...]

2020-07-08T13:40:13+00:007th July 2020|

CSO urged to uphold assessment standards of Covid-19 resources

The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Dr. Pa Lamin Beyai, has challenged Accountability Lab in Liberia, to live up to its standards of ensuring that assessment of Covid-19 resources is done with accountability, transparency and integrity. Dr. Beyai was speaking at the official launch of the Coronavirus Crisis Response Project on the weekend at iCampus Liberia on Carey Street. It is an initiative supported by UNDP, core partners - Sweden and Ireland - and a partnership with Accountability Lab, that brings to Liberia’s Covid-19 response an important element that assesses how resources, be it financial or in kind, [...]

2020-07-07T18:21:54+00:0022nd June 2020|

To Whom Much Is Given – National Accountability Stewardship and the Role of Public Servants

The greatest enemy of accountability is impunity, the feeling that you are doing the public a favour and do not owe them any explanations. If the politician and the public servant are to win the trust of the public, this is something that must change. To whom much is given, much is expected. By Dr. Joe Abah. For clarity, it is always prudent to start with a definition of terms, particularly as some terms that are presumed to mean the same things to everybody could actually mean different things to different people. There are many definitions of the word “Accountability.” [...]

2020-06-18T00:00:00+00:0018th June 2020|

Liberian Hipco Stars Fight COVID-19 Through Music

Liberian hipco superstars, accountability ambassadors and all-round friends of the Lab Henry "Amaze Yor" Toe and Jonathan "Takun J" Koffa are doing their part in the fight against Covid-19. They teamed up with fellow hipco artists Sundaygar Dearboy, DenG, Soul Smiter, Odemz and TanTan to produce the song “Sanitize”, encouraging Liberians to practice good hygiene, stay alert and help stop the spread of coronavirus. Amaze Yor and Takun J are currently Hipco Accountability Ambassadors who mentor other underground artists to create music for social change. Hipco is a genre of dance music that blends hip-hop, R&B and traditional Liberian music with [...]

2020-07-07T19:22:28+00:0013th May 2020|

AL Nigeria Hosts Friendraiser for Accountability Incubator 2020 Cohort

On Friday 8th May, Accountability Lab Nigeria hosted a virtual friendraiser for the accountapreneurs of their 2020 Accountability Incubator. The event was an opportunity for the young changemakers to share their innovative solutions to accountability challenges as diverse as environmental impact and female genital mutilation with a wider audience. Here are some updates the accountapreneurs shared on their projects. Journalism is often a strong tool for accountability so it should come as no surprise that two of the initiatives in the cohort are centred on using journalism for just this purpose. One is an app aimed at creating a direct [...]

2020-05-11T00:00:00+00:0011th May 2020|
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