TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly |Digital Democracy In The Spotlight

By TAI (Role at TAI)
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Dear readers,

We are now less than a month from the start of the 4th International Financing for Development Conference and while hopes for a consensus document are slim, it will still be an important venue to push for ambition on how taxes, debt, official aid, and philanthropy can better support development. One hot topic is a global wealth tax, so here’s hoping delegates read Simon Kuper’s piece on the push of Gabriel Zucman and fellow economists at the Paris School of Economics to tax billionaires.

There are more wealth-related stories in today’s Weekly and much else besides, including a deep dive on the promise of digitalization. Plus all the usual jobs and events. Enjoy!

TAI team

WHAT'S NEW?

Mega-polluters are exploiting green loans designed to fund environmental projects, according to new investigative research by Sasha Chavkin. The investigation reveals how companies with poor environmental records access and misuse green financing mechanisms intended to support climate action.

Since its establishment in July 2019, the Media Freedom Coalition has worked to protect press freedom and journalist safety worldwide. A new evaluation report, available in English, French, and Spanish, offers insights into both the successes and limitations of international cooperation on media freedom issues in recent years.

Communities threatened by a North Sumatra high-risk mine are appealing directly to the Chinese state to stop the project, with a petition signed by over two thousand community people delivered to the embassy in Jakarta.

In a Devex-hosted discussion on philanthropy in global health, it was reassuring to hear leaders from the likes of Gates and Rockefeller talk about the importance of inclusive participation, including local voices and local governments in health programs, and ensuring countries have “skin in the game” in helping decide priorities. 

In their 2024 Annual Report, the Open Contracting Partnership showcases examples of how opening up contracting processes can deliver better outcomes for citizens.

NGOs conducted a nationwide consultation in Norway on how to spend the country’s sovereign wealth, seeking to include voices typically excluded from public debate. Citizens recommended investing in global public goods and establishing guidelines for crisis spending during pandemics and wars.

Freedom House has published updated research examining how Canada and the United Kingdom are responding to transnational repression, analyzing current government approaches, and identifying areas for improvement in protecting civil society from foreign interference.

The Good Ancestors Movement challenges wealth industry norms around tax minimization. Olivia Bowen and Jessica Hackett argue for changing the cultural norms that enable tax avoidance and call for a fundamental shift in how the private client industry frames taxation.

African nations are demanding debt relief, increased aid, and financial reform ahead of the 4th International Financing for Development Conference. Anthony Langat´s article presents how they seek to articulate a common position to address the continent's financial challenges and development needs.

In this white paper, Sir Geoff Mulgan and the Institutional Architecture Lab propose creating Electoral Integrity Institutions to combat AI-generated deepfakes in elections. The paper introduces a six-step framework for these specialised bodies to coordinate across government, tech platforms, and civil society to address synthetic content threats.

Congratulations to Mandeep Singh Tiwana, who is taking over as the new Secretary General of the global civil society alliance CIVICUS at a time when civil society is under great pressure.


ESSENTIAL READING!

Aid transparency is critical to inform funding debates, as illustrated by new analysis from Publish What You Fund on localization trends. The report shows that only 5.5% of project funding from five bilateral donors went directly to local organizations, just $287 million of the $5.2 billion reviewed. As the authors note, “Without clear, consistent definitions of what constitutes 'local', and without comprehensive, comparable data on where and to whom funding flows, donors cannot be held accountable.”

FROM OUR MEMBERS

MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: Congratulates the Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) on celebrating 35 years of cultivating connections between Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities and institutional philanthropy!

OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS: President Binaifer Nowrojee highlights in The Sunday Observer how Sri Lanka is an example of how sovereign debt can force a developing country to carry a burden it cannot bear. “Rather than default on creditors, governments facing debt crises worldwide are defaulting on their people”. Innovations such as governance conditions on future debt may help (see Essential Listening below).

ESSENTIAL LISTENING

Nishan de Mel, Executive Director of Verite Research, discusses Sri Lanka's innovative governance-linked bond on the KickBack podcast. The conversation explores how this groundbreaking financial instrument ties borrowing costs to governance performance indicators, representing a novel approach to linking public finance with accountability metrics.

TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

The Philea Forum 2025 takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 2-5, exploring "Power and Equality: A Balancing Act.” Alliance Magazine is conducting a poll to determine which conference sessions readers would be most interested in reading about—cast your vote to help shape their coverage priorities.

This Center for Effective Philanthropy blog series asks us to reconsider philanthropy’s foundational assumptions. "Reconsidering Our Relationship to Power: What If Philanthropy's Greatest Resource Isn't Financial but Relational Capital?" challenges common sector norms, including competition, risk aversion, and short-termism. 

Shareable releases "Mutual Aid 101: Solidarity, Survival, and Resistance," a comprehensive introductory toolkit for mutual aid organizing covering everything from starting to sustaining a group. This is practical guidance for communities seeking to build solidarity-based support systems outside traditional philanthropic structures.

Alliance Magazine explores how intermediary organizations maintain accountability to social movements. Kit Muirhead reflects on the critical role these organizations play in bridging funders and grassroots movements while ensuring authentic community leadership and movement priorities remain central to funding decisions.

FOCUSED TOPIC OF THE WEEK:

Digital Democracy In The Spotlight: From Mexico's Transparency Retreat to AI's Democratic Promise.

The intersection of media, digital rights, and governance continues to evolve as governments grapple with information access, technological transformation, and press freedom challenges. From Mexico's retreat on transparency to international efforts to protect press freedom and harness AI for public good, governments and civil society organizations are navigating unprecedented technological and political pressures that will shape the future of democratic governance and information access. Let´s dive in. 

Greg Michener offers a comprehensive examination of what happened when Mexico dismantled its National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection (INAI). The research, available both through the journal Governance and as an ungated pre-print, provides lessons for understanding how information access institutions can be vulnerable to political pressure and what this means for transparency advocates globally. 

Meanwhile, policymakers seeking to cope with a fast-evolving digital landscape may want to read this new set of essays that aim to make sense of these changing dynamics. As part of Carnegie's Digital Democracy Network, Steven Feldstein and McKenzie Carrie explore how local actors are navigating new technological challenges, the evolution of digital repression tactics and digital sovereignty debates, and the consequences of shifting tech regulations.

Last week’s GovTech Forum at the World Bank brought together practitioners and experts from across the globe and, in general, had an evangelistic, hopeful vibe. However, there are notable constraints to the government’s ability to harness digitization to better serve citizens, not least limited internet access, high device costs, and low digital literacy. As Elizabeth Bermeo reports in the case of Rwanda’s quest for equitable digital governance, overcoming these challenges is vital to ensuring inclusive participation in the country’s digital future.

Another common question at the World Bank-hosted forum was “How might artificial intelligence transform government services and democratic processes?” Tiago Peixoto argues that with targeted use, adaptive governance, and practical realism, generative AI can help deliver public services that are not only faster and more efficient but also fairer and more inclusive. His analysis suggests that while generative AI isn't yet transforming government operations at scale, strategic implementation could significantly improve public service delivery and democratic participation.

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