WHAT'S NEW?
TARGETING ACTIVIST, TECH, AND DIGITAL RIGHTS IN NIGERIA
Journalists and rights defenders must be better protected against abusive lawsuits aka SLAPPs. Here's why the European Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of human rights organizations think the Swedish EU Presidency could do a better job against SLAPPs.
Emerging tech used in security measures must not overlook potential harm to civil society and human rights. Watch the European Center for Non-for-Profit Law (ECNL) video and learn more about the disproportionate impact of AI on marginalized groups.
As part of their multiyear study of transnational repression, Freedom House released its latest report Still Not Safe: Transnational Repression in 2022. As of the end of 2022, 38 governments targeted people in 91 countries around the world with direct, physical forms of transnational repression, including by means of assassination, assault, detention, unlawful deportation, and rendition.
Spaces for Change (S4C) in Nigeria in partnership with Avocats Sans Frontières, and Centre for Information Technology and Development, launched the project: Enhancing Digital Rights in Nigeria (e-Rights). This project aims to harness the opportunities provided by new technologies to promote and protect the rights of Nigerians to a safer and more inclusive digital space.
There have been an increasing number of technology-related proposals in philanthropy that purport to have positive impacts on equity and justice. However, sometimes they bring about unintended negative consequences. To that end, the Ford Foundation has published a new report titled “A Guiding Framework for Vetting Technology Vendors Operating in the Public Sector.”
ESSENTIAL WATCHING!
Recently, TAI hosted a funder briefing to present CANVAS’ Movements in Transition Project, and a new training curriculum to provide activists with the skills, insights, and lessons learned to craft a strategy to achieve genuine democratic change in their school, community or country. Read CANVAS’ Movements in Transition Report to learn more.
FROM OUR MEMBERS
OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS:
In these storytelling videos supported by Open Society Foundations, Afghan refugees share their pain and losses and their hope for a brighter future for Afghanistan.
CHANDLER FOUNDATION:
Join the Chandler Foundation and IREX for “Building Trust Equity: Understanding the Trust Building Process at the Community Level” a salon-style discussion that will highlight organizations that have already started integrating a trust-building lens into their programs and what lessons they can reveal for other organizations that want to start incorporating a trust focus into their work. Register here.
SKOLL FOUNDATION:
The Skoll Foundation has announced the five winners of the 2023 Skoll Award for Social Innovation, which highlights leaders and organizations that advance transformational social change around the world. You can also read the Skoll Foundation Spring Letter, which discusses how the Foundation is trying to accelerate its impact on the interconnected, urgent challenges that face the planet.
ESSENTIAL WATCHING!
Watch the global launch of the "Future of Asian Philanthropy" research reports, hosted by the Alliance Magazine, a future-oriented research project using scenario-planning on what philanthropy could look like in 2050, and how it might fulfill its promise as a positive, impactful force in society.
TOOLS & TRENDS FOR FUNDERS
What if we reimagined evaluation as an opportunity for funders to learn and evolve as stewards, rather than taking on the narrow – and virtually impossible – task of proving that limited grants make a measurable impact on longstanding, complex social issues?
In the development sector, it is widely acknowledged that ‘shifting the power’ to the global South is the way forward. However, research shows that it remains difficult to put localization into practice. This research contributes to understanding how to operationalise localization in the Just Future Alliance and is conducted with local partner organizations from South Sudan and Burundi.
More than at any time in recorded history, people around the world are using nonviolent activism to demand change. Donors, however, consistently hesitate to support these grassroots, people-powered movements. The annual rate of funding for grassroots organizing remained at 3 percent from 2011 to 2019, the most recent year for which data is available.
FOCUSED TOPIC OF THE WEEK
“TAXES AND BOT AT THE HEART OF ECONOMIC INSTABILITY“
The current tax system in the US is systematically structured to preference monopolies and deepen the concentration of corporate power. Undoing this and making the tax system fairer would help correct concentration by leveling the playing field for small businesses, which are a cornerstone to a robust economy, community well-being, and a healthy democracy. So say Susan Holmberg and Stacy Mitchell.
Why is an infamous corporate tax haven so keen to introduce new international rules supposed to stop the race to the bottom? And what does this tell us about the winners and losers of the newest OECD tax reform?
The fight against anonymous company ownership is gaining traction in Latin America in the Caribbean. Ten countries in the region have laws that provide for beneficial ownership registries, in contrast to only four just five years ago, according to the Tax Justice Network.
Open Ownership make the case for connecting data on beneficial ownership, public contracting and politically exposed persons. This builds on reflections from a regional anti-corruption workshop in Southern Africa.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING!
TAI participated to Ariadne’s Annual Meeting (28-30 March), dedicated to the signals, the challenges, and the visions for how philanthropy should show up now, in 2023, to create a brave new world. About 100 funders, including TAI members, worked together for three days and priorities identified resonate with our own: open civic space, climate justice, inclusive democracy, regenerative economy, shifting power and giving more agency to grassroots groups.
NEWS ROUNDUP
China’s pivot towards green energy in Latin America is good news. But the ‘how’ is as important as the ‘what’. Rebecca Ray argues that Chinese-financed projects will also need to consider local environmental and social risks, as well as global ones.
Amidst resistance and slow progress, the Escazú Agreement continues to be one of the main hopes in search of a fairer Latin America. What are the main challenges you face?
These Guidelines for Advancing Just Transitions in Indonesia will help policymakers, business leaders, and civil society organizations to create just transition-aligned climate policies. It includes a user-friendly list of actions for all stakeholders and a just transition checklist. The report is part of the South-to-South Just Transitions initiative and it is written by the Dala Institute in Indonesia.
Calls for “debt transparency” by international financial institutions are important but have tended to be donor-driven and focused on a conception of transparency as simple disclosure. Little attention has been given to the role information could play in mobilizing domestic actors in holding governments accountable long-term. This op-ed explains how transparency can stop the crushing debt burden being carried by low-income countries.
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
Regional Manager: Latin America and Caribbean, Open Ownership
Programmes and MEL Manager, Open Ownership
Executive Director, Engaged Donors for Global Equity (EDGE) Funders Alliance
Program Director, Project on Resources and Governance, UCLA
Associate, Cost Transparency Initiative
Program Assistant, Global Anti-Corruption Consortium
Senior Program Officers, Tax Equity in Ghana and Tanzania, International Budget Partnership
CALLS / OPPORTUNITIES
Consultancy, The Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum, World Wildlife Fund
Consultant to produce a study assessing governance and corruption risks in the renewable energy sector, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
Free online Access to Information course in French and Russian, UNESCO
Investigative Journalism Fellowship 2023 - Signature Investigative Journalism Fellowship in Barbados. Virtual sessions April 14th and 18th and in-person sessions April 23rd - 25th. Topics include storyboarding, digital security, mobile journalism, paper trailing, verification techniques and more.
Video and fine arts competition 2023- Transparency International is calling on young people across the globe to join the anti-corruption movement by submitting a video or artwork on new ways to fight corruption.
CALENDAR
Skoll World Forum, 12-14 April 2023
Quantifying corruption losses in health, Tuesday 18 April, 14:30-15:30 GMT+1
Open Gov Week 2023 - May 8-12
Rights Con 2023, June 5-8, 2023
EITI Global Conference, Dakar, June 2023
2023 #ShiftThePower Summit, Bogota, Colombia, December 2023
Michael Jarvis,
TAI's Executive Director