March 10, 2026
Dear readers,
We cover the latest on everything from trust to tax to business integrity to aid transparency and why philanthropy must invest in civil society as foundational to progress on so many fronts.
But we start this week with questions of democratic resilience. Building on Gen Z led protests that ousted the former government, a new party led by ex-rapper Balendra Shah, retaining youth enthusiasm, is set for a landslide win in the Nepalese election. An interesting contrast with Bangladesh where protests also led to the government’s fall, but a long established party won big.
The energy for the democratic process in Nepal is too often lacking in other parts of the world, and economist Daron Acemoglu and philosopher Michael Sandel discuss whether democracy can be revitalized before it is too late.
Happy reading!
TAI team
What's New
Kanni Wignaraja, writing for the United Nations Development Programme, explores trust as a foundational but often underexamined asset in development. The piece examines how trust is built, lost, and restored across institutions, governments, and communities, and what this means for the sustainability of development progress.
At the 2026 International Forum on Digital and Democracy, held during the World AI Cannes Festival, policymakers, scholars, technologists, and civil society leaders discussed how to protect democratic resilience and human autonomy in the age of AI. Take a look at this summary of the event, shared by the Global Solutions Initiative.
Alex Cobham, writing in IFC Review, examines what role international financial centres should play in global tax governance, and what reforms may be needed to align their functions with broader accountability goals.
A joint briefing from the Project Liberty Institute and the Global Solutions Initiative examines how “middle power” states can build digital infrastructure while balancing digital sovereignty, citizens’ rights, and economic growth. It also looks at how governments can move beyond reactive regulation to shape AI- and data-driven markets.
As momentum builds behind new institutions that centre African voices and expertise, a new report from Nature Finance adds to the calls for reform of existing credit rating methodologies that continue to misprice risk across the Global South right now.
CEPAL, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, has released a guide outlining how the public can participate in the institutional mechanisms of the Escazú Agreement, the regional pact on environmental information, participation, and justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. Available in Spanish and English.
The Center for Global Development draws on experience in four advanced and emerging market economies to offer practical lessons on how governments can better govern tax expenditures. Relevant for revenue mobilization discussions across both advanced and developing country contexts.
The programme and presentations from the recent global roundtable on decentralization and multi-level governance are now available. Multi-level governance plays a key role in enabling inclusive decision-making and meaningful citizen engagement, but it can be hard to persuade leaders to prioritize long-term national interests over the short-term political gains of centralized power.
In a blog accompanying a new Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report, Helen Clark highlights domestic revenue mobilization as a strategic priority, arguing that in a tighter funding landscape, transparency is indispensable for resource-rich countries.
Kenneth Roth, writing in The Guardian, asks why some who have lived their entire lives under democracy seem willing to forsake it, while many who have experienced life under autocracy want out. A timely reminder of democracy's value and the global stakes of its erosion.
Elaine Ford examines why Peru's 2026 elections are likely to face a more challenging disinformation environment than 2021. The rise of generative AI, the weakening of fact-checking ecosystems, and political fragmentation create a scenario of greater democratic risk, with lessons relevant across the region. This article is in Spanish.
Over two hundred senior tax officials and experts attended the latest Tax and Development Conference, marking the 10th anniversary of the Platform for Collaboration on Tax, which brings together the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, OECD and UN. The concluding statement from the Tokyo conference is now available.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING:
Accountability Lab's Co-CEO Cheri-Leigh Erasmus sits down with researcher Sofiia Sapihura to discuss what integrity looks like for businesses navigating Ukraine's path toward reconstruction, grounded in the report we featured a couple of issues ago, 'Leveraging Integrity for Ukraine's Reconstruction: The Role of Ethical Businesses.' Companion resources include a summary of key recommendations, a donor roadmap and the full report.
From Our Members
MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: President John Palfrey notes that MacArthur's charitable spending exceeded 7 percent in 2025 as the foundation met its commitments to do more for a nonprofit sector facing a funding crisis.
HILTON FOUNDATION: Invites nominations for the 2027 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, recognizing a nonprofit working to solve the world's most pressing challenges. The recipient will join a laureate community of over 30 organisations. Nominations are open until April 30.
PACKARD FOUNDATION: A new perspective piece by TAI Steering Committee member Jamaica Maxwell makes the case for why philanthropy cannot look away from the growing threats to civil society globally. “If we care about lasting progress on the issues we fund, we must also care about the conditions that make progress possible.”
HUMANITY UNITED: Spotlights a decade of survivor leadership in the fight against human trafficking. In a guest blog, Ummra Hang reflects on the 10-year milestone of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and its 2025 Annual Report, which emphasizes addressing root causes, supporting survivors beyond crisis intervention, and centering survivor leadership in policy and programs. Register for the Council’s virtual release event on March 12.
TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS
A new report from the Johnson Center examines the infrastructure powering collective giving in the United States. While US-focused, we are intrigued by what may apply to other contexts with significant giving.
Maya Hasan reflects on why movements sometimes lose ground, not due to lack of funding or organization, but because moral clarity can be mistaken for moral purity, which risks distancing people who broadly share the movement’s values. She argues that success comes from crafting stories that connect values, emotion, and collective action. Companion read: TAI’s “The Stories We Tell”.
In a special feature, Alliance Magazine asks how we got to this point and where philanthropy should position itself as the old order caves in. Whether the current moment leads to renewal, repression, or further fragmentation remains uncertain, but what is clear is that the institutional settlement philanthropy once assumed is no longer sufficient to mediate deeper societal shifts.
This report from NEAR brings nuanced perspectives from Global South civil society on the hopes and struggles of shifting toward locally led aid, looking both within the dominant international system and outside it. It is an attempt to move beyond rhetoric and examine what genuine localization requires in practice.
ESSENTIAL WATCHING:
CAF, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, has presented its 2025 Transparency Report. A welcome push for development finance transparency from a major regional institution.
Focused Topic of the Week
Press Freedom, Civil Society, and the Institutions That Still Have Teeth
Press freedom and civil society resilience have emerged as intertwined themes this week, each illuminating the other in ways that demand attention from anyone working at the intersection of democracy and development. The International Press Institute's Mapping Media Freedom Monitoring Report 2025 offers a panorama of violations across Europe, tracing both the national specificities and the broader structural trends that have reshaped the press freedom landscape over the past year.
Read alongside the opening of Alo (Light) — the new exhibition at the fire-scarred offices of Prothom Alo in Bangladesh documenting recent arson attacks on newspaper offices — and a pattern becomes visible: threats to media freedom are not isolated incidents, but symptoms of deeper, systemic pressures on independent civil society.
Those systemic pressures are precisely what the International Civil Society Centre's new report sets out to interrogate. Using a strategic foresight methodology — combining horizon mapping, scenario analysis, stakeholder engagement and strategic stress testing — the report asks hard questions about the futures open to civil society under current conditions.
One such leverage point, often overlooked in philanthropy and civil society circles, is the Financial Action Task Force. Sarah Gardiner and Poorvika Mehra make a compelling case in their piece “The Nonprofit Sector's Unexpected Ally” that FATF is unlike most multilateral bodies: it has genuine teeth, and the United States cannot simply walk away from it the way it has from 66 other international organizations since the start of this year. The fact that the Trump Administration has remained within FATF signals it views the institution as strategically important — which, in turn, means the FATF Mutual Evaluation taking place in the US this year carries real stakes for the nonprofit sector.
For more on FATF and links to civic space, see the TAI-sponsored roundtables and thinking led by RUSI.
ESSENTIAL READING:
Daniel Laqua and Sophie Scott-Brown explore three twentieth-century case studies of diplomacy 'from below': interwar feminist and pacifist movements, early Cold War anti-nuclear activism, and late-1990s campaigns against genocide and mass atrocities. Their paper offers a historical perspective on the catalytic role of transnational civil society in driving normative change and institutional responses.
JOBS
Multiple openings - Hewlett Foundation
Multiple openings - MacArthur Foundation
Multiple Openings - Ford Foundation
Multiple Openings - Hilton Foundation
Multiple Openings - Gates Foundation
Multiple Openings - Transparency International
Multiple Openings - Social Action, Development Cooperation, Culture, Disability, and Health Sectors in Spain
Multiple Openings - National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
Director of Advocacy and Communications - Prospera.
Practice Lead Governance and Politics Centre of Expertise - Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Deadline: March 11, 2026.
Communications and Media Specialist - Transparency International. Deadline: March 16, 2026.
Chief of Staff - Luminate. Deadline: April 03, 2026.
CALLS
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 Creative Organising Lab is a one-day online workshop co-led by creative agencies across West Africa, Europe, India, and South America, designed to help organizations working in shrinking civic space turn ideas into action.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) invites NGOs to complete an online survey informing recommendations on creating and maintaining a safe and enabling environment for civil society. Available in English, French, and Spanish. Deadline extended: 20 March 2026, 18:00 CET.
EU Grants and Fundraising Trainings, Brussels Academy. Intensive sessions designed to equip participants with a solid understanding of EU funding mechanisms and practical, hands-on experience in writing competitive project proposals. March 26-27, 2026.
La Sobremesa announces its Curso de Sostenibilidad Financiera for civil society organisations in Latin America, a practical space to design a financial sustainability plan step by step. (In Spanish.) Deadline: 27 March 2026.
Two ScaleDem open calls are now live through 31 March 2026, offering eligible organizations across Europe and beyond funding, mentorship and peer learning to scale democratic innovations. The Piloting Programme supports bold new ideas with up to €100,000, and the Twinning Programme offers up to €65,500 for mentor–mentee communities adapting proven approaches.
The Open Government Partnership Transparency Fellowship is a fully-funded, five-day immersive experience for mid- to senior-level professionals in government, civil society or media from Georgia, Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine. It will take place 13-17 July 2026 in Lithuania and Latvia. Deadline: 31 March 2026.
The National Endowment for Democracy offers grants to advance democratic goals and strengthen democratic institutions. Deadline: June 6, 2026.
Thousand Currents will host its first Academy in the Global South this August in Brazil, focused on internationalism and global solidarity, including immersive engagement with social movements shaping transformative change. August 2-7, 2026 | São Paulo, Brazil.
CALENDAR
Funder learning series "Rooting in Global Solidarity and Transnational Organizing," hosted by Thousand Currents and co-sponsored by EDGE Funders Alliance. March 3–12, 2026.
DemocracyNext Paper Launch: 'Deliberative Democracy in Africa: Learning from past citizens' assemblies and guidance for future action', co-authored by Rorisang Lekalake and Stephen Buchanan-Clarke. 12 March, 15:00 CET via Zoom.
EU Tax Symposium 2026 on "The future of taxation: inequality and growth in the global economy" (Brussels). March 16-17.
2026 Global Philanthropy Leadership Summit. March 18-20, 2026 | San Francisco, CA.
Report Launch: Freedom in the World 2026, Freedom House, March 19 | 10:30 AM ET.
Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (32nd session, UN HQ NYC). March 23-26.
2026 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum (GACIF). March 23-27, 2026 | Paris, France.
Special Meeting of ECOSOC on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (UN HQ NYC). March 27.
Virtual Women's Momentum Assembly for a Just Fossil Fuel Phaseout. Interpretation available in Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. Tuesday, 31 March, 1:00-5:00 PM EDT.
Igniting Hope: The Inaugural Ottawa Civic Space Summit. Registration closes April 10, 2026. Event from April 21-23, 2026.
Ottawa Civic Space Summit. Registration closes April 10, 2026. April 21–23.
First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, coordinating governments to institutionalize global cooperation for a managed, equitable phaseout. 28-29 April.
Othering & Belonging Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, March 31-April 1, 2026.
UNESCO World Press Freedom Day 2026, Lusaka, Zambia. May 4-5.
RightsCon 2026, Lusaka, Zambia. May 5-8.
Rabat, Morocco: On Think Tanks Conference, focusing on "Think Tanks and Trust." 19–21 May 2026.
WINGSForum 2026 in Montreal under the theme "ACT – Activate, Collaborate, Transcend." Save the date, more details to follow in early 2026. September 28-30, 2026.
International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. December 1-4, 2026.
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