TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly|Corruption Amidst Conflicts

By TAI (Role at TAI)
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WHAT'S NEW?

Professor Joe Stiglitz lays out what he thinks is needed to fix global governance, including tax reforms and use of Special Drawing Rights at the IMF to rectify “some of the global injustices of the past, and to generate more income and affordable financing for developing countries.”

Africa's tax revenues continue to face challenges, remaining below pre-pandemic levels - just one of the headlines from the new Revenue Statistics in Africa 2023. 

What’s happening with the push at the UN for a legally binding instrument on business and human rights? The South Center provides their take building on the latest negotiations in Geneva.

While AI technologies have made it easier to create misleading content, the real consequences remain uncertain. Muskan Bansal suggests that the true implications of AI in the disinformation ecosystem are still evolving, but it can be a valuable tool for journalists and fact-checkers.

The Wildlife Justice Commission highlights the convergence of wildlife crime with other forms of organised crime drawing on open-source research and intelligence collected investigations.

Laura Bannister makes the case for “cap and share” - an international carbon tax on fossil fuel extraction with an explicit climate and social justice goal. This tax, coupled with a fast-falling extraction cap, can yield revenues to fund global green investment and cash dividends.

Fabiane Ziolla Menezes argues that technology can aid the due diligence of carbon credits and minimize the repeats of credit scandals in Brazil.

ESSENTIAL LISTENING!

The MacArthur’s Foundation On Nigeria program aims to reduce corruption by supporting Nigerian-led efforts that strengthen accountability, transparency, and participation. In Pidgin, with English subtitles, watch how behavior change, criminal justice reform, media and journalism, and Joinbodi—Pidgin for “solidarity”— come together to achieve anti-corruption goals.

FROM OUR MEMBERS 

FORD FOUNDATION:

Launches first Global South network to strengthen the digital resilience of civil society with $15m seed funding.

HEWLETT FOUNDATION:

Is announcing its refreshed Western Conservation strategy refocused on deploying inclusive and equitable conservation practices that benefit local communities and ecosystems.

MACARTHUR, PACKARD, OSF, FORD:

Are among 10 philanthropies committed to aligning grantmaking with Vice President Kamala Harris’s framework on Artificial Intelligence. The initiative aims to ensure that AI advances the public interest and protects communities most at risk of harm.

LUMINATE:

Cecilia Galvan and Gabriela Hadid from Luminate write in el Pais about the power of social media in Argentinean elections and misinformation.

TOOLS & TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

Explore a new self-assessment tool for grantmaking foundations, piloted by 19 organizations with Porticus Foundation support, to gauge their participatory practices across all areas of work.

Embracing this instance, we invite you to reevaluate TAI's participatory funder strategy guide, encouraging stakeholders to rediscover the invaluable insights it offers.

“We must break typical ways in which we understand power” argues Cindy Clark of Thousand Current reflecting on learning about leadership and how philanthropy can make improvements.

No Longer Lonely at the Top – Ben Gose discusses the trend toward co-CEOs as non profits look to shared leadership to balance skills needed and support greater work-life balance.

TOOLS FOR FUNDERS DATABASE

ESSENTIAL WATCHING!

In this episode of 'El Puente,' the team from Panama's International Center for Political and Social Studies delves into the largest protests since the democratic transition, sparked by President Cortizo's approval of a contract with First Quantum Minerals for copper and precious metal exploitation on 12,995 hectares of national territory.

FOCUSED TOPIC OF THE WEEK

Corruption amid and fueling conflict 

Even amid war, the Ukrainian government has been making a concerted push to show it is strong on corruption, as in firing recruitment officials this summer. President Zelensky knows that meaningful action is needed to reassure allies and is all the more important with reconstruction estimated to require around US$750 billion. His officials may want to read the new report from Katherine Wilkins highlighting considerations for suppressing corruption during the reconstruction period and suggests responses for policymakers and advocates to pursue.

Not that Russia’s invasion hasn’t revealed complicity in corruption within the global financial system. This extends to trying to circumvent sanctions, such as equipment from Western manufacturers reaching Russia's Arctic LNG 2 gas project despite sanctions. Positively, the US State Department has now sanctioned Arctic LNG 2. Across the Atlantic, new measures, in part sparked by the Ukraine crisis, empower the UK’s Companies House to fight economic crime and monitor suspicious companies, acknowledging the harm caused by corruption.

Sri Lanka has also grappled with corruption-related issues – it was one core mobilizer of citizens in last year’s Aragalaya movement demanding political change and accountability for economic crimes. Naila Rafique reflects on where things stand a year on.

Looking globally, the United Nations Global Compact CEO visits Beijing and launches a Guidance and Assessment Tool for Companies to Advance Sustainable Infrastructure under China’s Belt Road Initiative. Plus, the corporate signatories of the Compact are calling on governments to intensify efforts to tackle corruption affecting business communities around the world. The call is timed for the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention against Corruption.

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