Dear Readers:
In a couple of weeks, we will be co-hosting a session for funders to give input on the emerging new directions for the Open Government Partnership (OGP). However, you don’t have to wait that long. OGP has published their proposed strategy shifts and are seeking feedback. Follow the whole process here. Don’t be shy to have your say!
Happy Reading!
P.S. Remember, TAI doesn't own the photos. All photos used in this weekly have a link to their source.
WHAT´S NEW?
CLIMATE AND ACCOUNTABILITY-THE LATEST
Do you know what “Green hushing” is? Time to find out as it’s on the rise - firms are deliberately avoiding disclosing climate targets so they can’t be held accountable for progress.
After six years of fraught negotiations that began in Paris, the rules to govern carbon trading markets are taking shape. “It’s about leveling the playing field,” says Patricia Espinosa, former executive secretary to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, “so that emissions can be traded with environmental integrity.”
Just transition: a practical guide for investors by the Business and Human Rights Resource Center. The guide has special focus on land rights and the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
For those heading to COP27 in Egypt in coming weeks, a stark reminder of the state of repression of civil society locally from COP Civic Space.
TAI RECOMMENDS!
Grassroots efforts for public accountability can make a difference in the most difficult circumstances. Mexico is also considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists and human rights fighters, but also the context for wonderful movements of resistance. As detailed in a new dossier, the CRAC-PC is a regional Indigenous community police and justice system working in the Mexican state of Guerrero against organized criminal groups.
FROM OUR MEMBERS
SKOLL FOUNDATION:
Highlights Bryan Stevenson -founder of Equal Justice Initiative and the National Monument for Peace and Justice- talking with 3-time Grammy winner Dua Lipa on issues including injustice, poverty, racism, and apartheid.
CHANDLER FOUNDATION:
Recommends #LiftMeUp by Rihanna, the singer, designer, mother, and philanthropist dedicated to climate justice issues. Read more about her work with Clara Lionel Foundation in Social Investor Magazine.
FCDO:
32 Tweets of advice from economist Stefan Dercon (author of Gambling on Development - one of our favorite books of the year at TAI) to the FCDO’s new Development Minister Andrew Mitchell.
#32 might resonate most: spend “less in countries where elites don’t care about development, but don’t give up there. Don’t assume every health, education or tax programme will make a difference; even they can make it worse.”
TOOLS FOR FUNDERS
Narrative change is an essential component to durable social progress. So, where’s the money for it? asks Abigail Stahl.
In the face of social inequalities in Brazil, Fundo Casa asks what is needed to turn this game around? Is philanthropy a solution or is it part of the problem?
African Philanthropists unite to advance gender equality on the continent.
Of the eight prototypes that emerged from the RINGO Lab, at least five have a direct bearing on funder behavior and systems. Indeed the prototyping teams found that funders were as important as, if not more than, the INGOs themselves. Learn more in their ongoing Learning Festival this week.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING!
What if philanthropy took on structural racism with the dedication it reserves for issues like education or health? It would require seeing structural racism as the problem and the racial disparities and inequities as a manifestation of that problem.
FOCUSED TOPIC OF THE WEEK
PARTICIPATION, TECH AND SERVING THE PEOPLE
For civil society organizations, technology has come to play an important role for mobilisation and expression. A recent workshop on citizens, civil society and the African Union illustrated how “the use of citizen-centred data to inform and complement advocacy strategy is important if Civil Society Organizations are to accurately express the views and needs of their country’s citizens”. An obvious but hard to achieve in close information ecosystems around the world.
Fortunately, we continue to see evolutions in forms of digital participation, for example in China for participatory budgeting.
What is the state of harnessing technology to enable government responsiveness? A new paper reviews different civic tech models from Brazil to Iceland ranging from online petitioning, to constitutional crowdsourcing,to online citizen reporting. The challenge is not only to create more initiatives to open civic space but also to assess how truly inclusive these participatory and deliberative democracy practices are.
Building from civic tech to full digitalization, Carlos Santiso reminds us that technology is a means to an end, not the end in itself. “At the end of the day, digitalization in government are tools and approaches applied by people as a means to solve problems and for the improvement of people's lives.”
Perhaps the tech can get in the way of efforts to rebuild public trust in government performance. You may want to check out this fascinating thread from Ezra Klein on the risks of ‘trust-through-transparency” as opposed to “trust-through-outcomes.“ We don’t agree with it all, but what do you think?
ESSENTIAL WATCHING!
The African Futures and Innovation team at the Institute for Security Studies offers 4 alternative pathways for Africa and their implications for development – a Sustainable World, a Divided World, a World at War, and a Growth World. Watch this recording to learn more.
TAX AND CORRUPTION: NEWS ROUND-UP!
The Wall Street Journal investigates a web of shell companies and middlemen used by Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin. At its center is a financial services firm located on a wind-swept self-governing island in the Irish Sea.
South Africa’s President lays out measures trying to restore credibility on anti-corruption after the state capture scandal, including making its investigative agency permanent.
How do Big Four accounting firms react to pressure for tax transparency? Fascinating research from Rasmus Corlin Christensen and Leonard Seabrooke suggests the need for a transnational lens to the political economy of tax reform.
Australia’s new transparency law is “tax havens’ kryptonite” according to Mark Bou Mansour.
Want to understand the intersection of taxation and eqity? All videos, papers, and presentations from the 4th World Bank Tax Conference on Global Equity are now available online. Only want the headlines? Read this blog.
JOBS AT TAI MEMBERS
Job postings at Hewlett Foundation - ONGOING
Job postings at MacArthur Foundation - ONGOING
Job postings at Open Society Foundations - ONGOING
Job postings at Luminate - ONGOING
Job postings at Ford Foundation - ONGOING
Job postings at FCDO - ONGOING
Job postings at Skoll - ONGOING
JOBS LISTINGS
Head of Development, The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility
Digital Data Officer, Near East Foundation
Consultant - MEAL Specialist, International Medical Corps
Senior Specialist, Urban Resilience, RTI International
Research and Impact Manager, WEConnect International
Finance Senior Analyst - Treasury & Banking, United Nations Office for Project Services
Research Associate, Connected by Data
Programme Lead (Technical Director), Chemonics International Inc
Contract Manager, Devex Talent Solutions
CALLS / OPPORTUNITIES
Rethinking Accountability Strategies for a Changing World, Online Course, January 2023. Applications open.
CALENDAR
November 1, 2022, Financial and economic crime in the Global South
November 2-4, 2022, Tax Policy for Sustainable Development
November 4, 2022, Communicative Spaces and the Challenge of Disinformation Campaigns
November 17, 2022, Building trust and reinforcing democracy - OECD Global Forum
November 17, 2022, The New Customary Land Rights Act in Sierra Leone: Bringing informed community consent to responsible investment,
December 6-10 2022, “International Anti-Corruption Conference,
Michael Jarvis,
TAI's Executive Director