TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly | Between Promise and Peril: Civil Society’s Path Through Uncertainty

By TAI (Role at TAI)
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TAI Weekly

Dear readers,

Another busy week covering everything from hidden debt and tax reform to developments shaping democracy, equity, and effective governance.

But we start with an interesting read from Jennifer Lind, who shares an extract of her new book Autocracy 2.0: How China’s Rise Reinvented Tyranny. Lind lays out Beijing’s model of economic growth that balances with enough aspects of freedom to enable innovation.

Happy reading!

TAI team

What's New

Francesco Canepa and Terje Solsvik analyse how Norway’s approach to wealth taxes offers lessons for other countries and shows that progressive taxation can remain viable despite some millionaires relocating, balancing equality with capital mobility.

Inclusive Development International launched its Policy Proposal to Advance a Just Energy Transition for Project-Affected Communities at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. Endorsed by over 60 organizations, it promotes approaches that respect community dignity, knowledge, and self-determination rather than forced displacement.

Reuters provides a timeline of revelations of Senegal’s hidden debt over the past 18 months and the latest announcements of new debt issuance plans.

A European Democracy Hub analysis questions whether democratic space assessment tools, such as V-Dem and International IDEA indices, remain fit for purpose amid rising global restrictions on civil society, despite providing extensive data on democratic trends.

A Yale Environment 360 investigation highlights the toll of illicit rare earth mining on communities and ecosystems in Myanmar, underscoring governance challenges in extractive industries and implications for environmental justice.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released “The Coin Laundry”, exposing how cryptocurrency companies profit from scams and theft, enabling a shadow economy while victims have little hope of justice.

At COP30, Brazil framed the energy transition as a socioeconomic opportunity as well as an ecological imperative. Adriana Erthal Abdenur of the Global Fund for New Economy emphasizes the challenge of translating discussion into coherent domestic and global plans.

The United Kingdom achieves a very good score in its latest validation under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, buoyed by strong advances on beneficial ownership disclosure.

Civitates introduced nine new grantee partners advancing independent public-interest journalism across Europe, exposing corruption, countering disinformation, and investigating abuses of power to strengthen democracy.

UNESCO emphasizes that artificial intelligence is now a strategic priority for governments and, in partnership with the Saïd Business School at Oxford, is offering a free, fully online course to help civil servants lead ethical, inclusive, and effective digital transformation.

The United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters continues its technical work as negotiations on the UN Framework Convention advance, which creates a forum for lower-income countries to help shape international tax norms.

Aili Mari Tripp has a new book out that contrasts authoritarian countries with democracies in Africa to explain how and why autocracies promote women as leaders. Aili highlights a conundrum: successes in attaining leadership roles for women potentially end up strengthening the very regime that violates human and women's rights.

Erika Miller of WINGS describes how community leadership, climate realities, and global governance intersect in the Amazon. Her reflections point to the need for philanthropic models that connect local knowledge with global climate commitments to accelerate implementation.

From Our Members

OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS: President Binaifer Nowrojee reaffirmed the foundation’s commitment to protecting grantee partners facing threats on the frontlines, noting in The Guardian that OSF would take legal action to counter political attacks. She emphasized that the greatest risks are faced by partners working in the most difficult and dangerous contexts, often putting their lives at stake.

FORD FOUNDATION: Joined 38 government and philanthropic donors at COP30 in Belém in pledging $1.8 billion to support Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants, and local communities in securing tenure rights and conserving their territories. 

HUMANITY UNITED: Is hosting a series of peacebuilding webinars to explore its new framework, “Pathways to Peace: A Framework for Engagement for the Next Evolution of Peacebuilding”. The events, designed for peacebuilders and frontline actors worldwide, invite participants to reflect on the framework and discuss its recommendations.

Essential Reading

The Foundation for a Just Society and Gender Funders CoLab have released "Funding Feminist Leadership Transitions: A Landscape Analysis," examining how to resource feminist leadership transitions. The report argues that supporting feminist leadership transitions signals trust, fuels resilience, and protects long-term impact. Access the analysis and summary of findings online.

TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

New research from The Bridgespan Group estimates that collaborative funds now move $4–7 billion annually. A new report led by Vital Impact, Redstone Strategy Group, and Philanthropy Together, brings in the missing grantee perspective, drawing insights from hundreds of nonprofit leaders funded by 22 standout collaboratives. A launch webinar will present the findings on December 9.

Spring Strategies reflects on lessons from recent global convenings, and argues that future challenges cannot be met with outdated funding models. Their new piece offers practical ideas for designing funding approaches that better support social justice movements and long-term resilience.

Oak Foundation’s latest story of transformation talks about the shift from funding projects to investing in people. Drawing on the Philanthropy Transformation Initiative, it illustrates how centering relationships and long-term impact can reshape grantmaking practices.

Asian philanthropy is increasingly acting as a bridge between donors, nonprofits, governments, and communities. A new Alliance Magazine analysis shows how networks and intermediary organizations are helping shape and scale regional giving, ensuring more strategic, creative, and collaborative approaches.

Essential Listening

The latest episode of the Djali Podcast, hosted by Elizabeth Maina and featuring Carol Ng'ang'a, offers a powerful interrogation of structural inequalities with the question: Is the neoliberal economy inherently violent? The conversation is part of the Beyond Neoliberalism Series examining alternatives to current economic systems.

Focused Topic of the Week

Anticipating Futures, Confronting Immediate Realities: The Double Bind of Contemporary Civil Society

Civil society finds itself at a critical juncture where promise and peril intersect in unexpected ways. The International Civil Society Centre's recent case studies examining practical applications of the Toolkit for Tomorrow reveal how organizations worldwide are learning to navigate uncertainty by building anticipatory capacity rather than simply predicting outcomes. 

This emphasis on foresight arrives precisely as civil society confronts both institutional recognition and existential threats. Last week we mentioned civil society critique of the first-ever EU Strategy for Civil Society. This week we feature the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) analysis of the gap between commitments and current lived experience, and demands that the proposed Civil Society Platform be developed with civil society rather than for it, shifting from consultation as a procedural obligation to co-creation as a democratic necessity.

For her part, Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, argues that civil society is at risk and that tech is part of the problem. She challenges narratives positioning digital tools as democratizing by default. Surveillance technologies, algorithmic governance, and data extraction models have become sophisticated instruments for monitoring and constraining civic action, making traditional repression seem crude by comparison. 

Yet amid these constraints, moments of strategic success reveal what remains possible—debt activists in Malawi successfully made debt a campaign issue, demonstrating how civil society can influence political narratives and bring debt governance into the political mainstream, according to the National Democratic Institute. This example illustrates the kind of transformative action ECNL advocates: not merely defending space but actively claiming new terrain in public discourse and political accountability. 

Can civil society reimagine what democratic infrastructure actually requires, how technology can be governed rather than merely adopted, and how to actively cultivate civic space? Some of these issues were themes of our recent TAI Learning Days - more insights from those conversations coming soon.

JOBS

CALLS

  • Omidyar Network’s Tech Journalism Fund offers $5,000–$25,000 to U.S.-based journalists for in-depth reporting on how technology shapes society. Priority topics include AI regulation, industry accountability, impacts on youth and families, and the future of work. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, with decisions in 30 days.

  • Philea invites participation in their survey on foundation governance: "Futures of Governance in Philanthropy".

  • MobLab is running a 15–20 minute survey to benchmark leadership and talent development in civil society, mapping current capacity-building approaches and identifying opportunities for strengthening. Participants will receive shared results and insights.

  • The Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) welcomes feedback on the draft FiTI Standard, version 2.0, through Friday, December 5th.

  • People Powered - Accelerators and Mentorship applications extended. New deadline: December 8, 2025. 

  • Obama Foundation Leaders Program - Applications open for leaders around the world working in the public sector, civil society, and private sector who are committed to advancing the common good. Deadline: December 12, 2025.

  • Tinker Foundation 2026 Institutional Grants are open! Supporting Latin American civil society advancing Democratic Governance and Education. Grants up to $500K (multi-year possible), preference for regional organizations. Deadline: January 7, 2026.

  • Keseb’s Democracy Innovation Lab is backing early-stage ideas that reimagine the foundations of democracy. Its first iLab will support 10 community-building initiatives that strengthen inclusion and cross-group belonging. Nominate a Project Lead by January 16, 2026 (11:59 PM ET) or submit a pitch by February 2, 2026 (11:59 PM ET).

  • The call for workshop proposals for the 2026 International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) is now open. Under the theme "Igniting the Power of Integrity," the conference will take place in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from December 1-4, 2026. Professionals, civil society groups, activists, journalists, academics, and practitioners worldwide are invited to submit proposals by February 23, 2026. 

CALENDAR

We’d love to hear from you on how we can further improve TAI Weekly to better serve your needs in program management on the transparency, accountability, improved grantmaking and civic space. Please direct your feedback to [email protected] or

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