TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly | Democracy, Power and the Politics of Resilience

By TAI (Role at TAI)
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TAI Weekly

September 1st, 2026

Dear readers,

We start this week with a new paper from the Good Corporation that examines how corporate corruption and rights cases are evolving. The authors highlight a growing focus on supply chain vulnerabilities and cross-border investigations, alongside the expectation that companies can demonstrate that their controls are effective in practice. 

If you are a funder interested in these issues, make sure to register for TAI’s upcoming workshop on the global funding crisis facing the business and human rights field. (Funders only)

Now, on to another Weekly packed with news, research, tools, jobs and events. Happy reading!

TAI team

What's New 

Brandon Parsons and Ayoub Rabhi examine how corruption and informality affect income inequality in Africa. Their findings point to the need for more nuanced policy responses that take into account the different ways corruption and informal economies shape distribution and economic opportunity. 

The Civil Society Narratives Observatory is a new initiative examining how narratives about civil society are constructed and circulated across Latin America, with monthly reports, country profiles, and a glossary of key terms available in Spanish and English. 

A new report from the Carter Center calls for a shift in how the democracy, rights, and governance field approaches its work. It makes the case for placing greater weight on civil society resilience and information ecosystems, redistributing power and resources away from centralized and compliance-heavy models, grounding democratic legitimacy in lived experience, and investing for endurance rather than short-term stability. 

Civic educator Opoth Okoth travels across Kenya talking and listening to young people and tracking the real cost of debt is being borne by young Kenyans, particularly Gen-Z, through rocketing prices, government suppression and growing frustration that decisions taken at the highest level of government do not seem to benefit the country. He asks, “What is our money doing?” Watch Opoth’s video produced by Eurodad.

Gen Z protests in India have exposed growing distrust in traditional media and helped create space for a new generation of reporters. “The cockroaches’ reckoning” looks at how young demonstrators turned away from established television anchors while journalists working with phones and microphones covered a movement that challenged the political establishment.

The Guardian reports how offshore tax havens are undermining the UK's efforts to improve beneficial ownership transparency. The piece raises questions about the effectiveness of transparency registers and the continued use of offshore structures in alleged money laundering cases. 

The International Journal of Economic Crime has officially launched as the journal of the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime. It will cover economic crime from a range of disciplinary, geographic, and thematic perspectives, with both full-length academic research and shorter topical briefings from academics and practitioners.

New research from the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law examines the risks associated with the growing use of large language models in content moderation. According to the piece, AI systems should support human decision-making rather than replace it, particularly where automated content removal can create serious risks for human rights.

As Pacific Islands Forum leaders prepare to meet in Palau ahead of COP31, Transparency International's Pacific chapters are calling for stronger integrity safeguards in climate governance. In a statement, they claim that climate action must be accompanied by transparency, accountability, and protections against undue influence in climate decision-making. 

The UK is bringing crypto assets further into the regulatory mainstream, but Tom Keatinge of The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) argues that regulation alone will not guarantee the UK's competitive advantage. The larger challenge is preventing illicit activity from simply moving into parts of the crypto ecosystem that remain harder to regulate. 

Climate resilience is also a governance challenge, argue Natalie Montecino and Kara Lamb of the Climate Democracy Initiative in a new TAI blog. Drawing on a recent workshop with small-town and rural leaders, they make the case for investing before disaster strikes in local civic capacity, trusted relationships, accessible information, and community-led decision-making. 

Wanted: Trailblazing Youth Movements!

As we prepare for TAI Learning Days 2027, focused on "Youth Power, Participation and the Future of Philanthropy", we need your help identifying youth-led organizations and informal movements that are reshaping how power is exercised today. We know that young people are driving profound change across climate, democracy, and economic justice, often organizing far outside the traditional, professionalized NGO structures that philanthropy typically supports. To ensure this gathering truly centers youth agency and reaches "beyond the usual suspects," we are asking you to recommend dynamic, grassroots, or digitally enabled youth organizers and networks who should be part of this intergenerational conversation. Please share your suggestions with us at [email protected] 

From Our Members

HUMANITY UNITED: Is beginning a new organizational strategy process in response to rising authoritarianism, protracted conflict, and deepening division. The process will engage partners, communities, and peers to consider what the current moment demands, while the organization's work and grantmaking continue with a focus on collaboration, transparency, curiosity, and learning. 

PACKARD FOUNDATION: Welcomes Nigel Sizer as the new director of its Global Climate Initiative. With more than 30 years of experience across climate, forests, food systems, human rights, and sustainable development, Sizer brings a broad global perspective to his new role at Packard. He has previously led the Good Food Institute and Rainforest Alliance and worked with partners across government, civil society, communities, and the private sector. 

MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: Has announced that the 2026 MacArthur Fellows will be revealed on September 29.

FORD FOUNDATION: Technology and Society Program Director Lori M. McGlinchey argues that AI is not an inevitable force, but a set of choices about deployment and governance. Her latest Democracy Reflection considers how to build an AI agenda “by the people” that protects privacy, accountability, and human dignity. 

ESSENTIAL LISTENING:

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has launched Operation Economic Outcast against Iran, targeting financial networks and enablers involved in sanctions evasion. For a closer look at how illicit finance networks operate in practice, listen to the RUSI Centre for Finance and Security's Suspicious Transaction Report podcast episode, “Iran's Long (Financial) Arm in Europe.”

TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

In the Journal of Democracy, Tim Reynolds and Álvaro Salas-Castro argue that philanthropy has consistently underfunded the freedom that enables progress on human rights, education, and other areas. With less than 1% of global giving directed toward freedom, democracy, and civil liberties, they make the case for “Freedom Philanthropy,” an approach that treats freedom as essential infrastructure and calls for it to be funded at scale. 

Youth-led organizations are often asked to create long-term change without the flexible funding, protection, care, and infrastructure needed to sustain their work. A new WINGS article, drawing on perspectives from EMpower, PANTAY, and Better Funding, argues that philanthropy needs to move beyond “seeding” youth leadership and invest in the conditions that allow youth-led movements to grow and endure.

AI companies including Anthropic and OpenAI are offering nonprofits grants, free staff support, and other forms of assistance that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This Stanford Social Innovation Review article asks what risks these offers may carry and how nonprofits can engage with AI companies as equal partners while protecting their independence. 

Rachel Thomas and Kellea Miller of the Human Rights Funders Network examine how simultaneous funder exits, changing priorities, and foreign aid cuts are creating a compounding funding crisis for human rights movements. They call for greater coordination, transparency, and solidarity across philanthropy. 

ESSENTIAL WATCHING:

The Open Government Partnership has published its August Digest, marking 15 years of the partnership. The issue brings together messages from heads of state and civil society leaders and is accompanied by this series of videos featuring reflections on the partnership's work and its community. 

Focused Topic of the Week

The Fragility of Freedom: Democratic Deficits and Authoritarian Innovations

Are authoritarian regimes growing stronger, or are our democracies simply failing to deliver on their foundational promises?

In a thought-provoking new TED Talk, communications strategist Sally Kohn advocates for a transition to what she calls "Democracy 3.0." Kohn argues that democracy can only survive—and thrive—if it evolves into a model that shares power and opportunity far more equitably.

The consequences of failing to consolidate a sustainable, inclusive democratic project are illustrated in Bolivia. Writing in The Ideas Letter, Pablo Stefanoni revisits the rise and subsequent collapse of Evo Morales and the Movement for Socialism (MAS). Although MAS successfully brought historically marginalized Indigenous and popular sectors to the center of Bolivian political life—transforming the nation's society in the process—it ultimately failed to secure its political vision. Today, the movement finds itself deeply divided, which has allowed the right to reclaim power and offers a cautionary tale about how revolutionary democratic promises can unravel from within.

While democratic movements grapple with these internal fractures, authoritarian regimes are actively innovating, expanding their repressive reach beyond their physical borders. A sobering analysis by Venezuelan economist Jorge Jraissati and Open Dialogue Foundation President Lyudmyla Kozlovska maps out how these governments are now weaponizing the global financial system. Their research reveals how autocrats exploit international anti-money-laundering rules, financial intelligence networks, and cross-border cooperation to freeze assets, extract sensitive information, and pressure global institutions into cutting ties with exiled dissidents.

When democratic safeguards stumble, and authoritarian impunity goes unchecked, the human cost is catastrophic. A new UN report documenting conditions in Myanmar from June 2025 through May 2026 reveals that the human rights situation has reached a new low. The report highlights how illegal rare earth mining and other illicit trades are funding systemic oppression. 

ESSENTIAL LISTENING:

In the latest Theory of Change podcast, from Devex, former Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo reflects on the state of international development and highlights the persistent challenge of corruption. He frames it not as the act of a single government or state official, but a systemic problem that implicates international financial institutions and must be tackled at a systemic level.

JOBS

CALLS

  • Resilient Futures Call 2026 - Grants of up to $50,000 USD for organizations and individuals working on nonpartisan initiatives connecting climate resilience with political leadership. Deadline: September 4, 2026.

  • The Human Rights Chronicle is accepting contributions from Master's and PhD students, early-career researchers, academics, and practitioners working on human rights issues, particularly those connected to the Middle East and North Africa. Deadline: September 10, 2026.

  • People Powered is accepting applications for two global programmes offering funding and mentorship to democracy changemakers working to strengthen participation and civic engagement worldwide.

  • Democracy Stories Lab, an open call by People Powered, invites creators worldwide to submit short videos, illustrations, or graphics imagining a more democratic future. Selected submissions will receive cash prizes and amplification through People Powered and the Democracy Narratives Alliance networks. Applications open until September 14, 2026.

  • Call for Papers: Fiscal Policy and Sustainable Development in the Global South - LSE International Inequalities Institute and UNU-WIDER. The academic workshop will take place November 6 in London and will explore fiscal policy design, informal employment, ecological and energy transitions, and fiscal digitalization and governance. Deadline: September 20, 2026.

  • NED Grants 2026 - National Endowment for Democracy. Funding is available for NGOs, civil society organizations, independent media, and other nongovernmental organizations working on human rights, democratic institutions, independent media, transparency, civic participation, and related priorities worldwide. Deadline: September 21, 2026.

  •  The European Endowment for Democracy provides rolling funding for local democracy organizations in the Eastern Partnership, Middle East and North Africa, and Western Balkans & Turkey.

  • The Fifth Element invites blog contributions on systems transformation from practitioners and researchers, drawing on both lived experience and analysis across diverse perspectives.

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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