WHAT'S NEW?
Fix the system
Mick Moore reflects on changes needed to Sri Lanka’s tax system to build a fairer, more sustained revenue base alongside any IMF debt deal.
Special economic and port zones lead to increased tax avoidance and are associated with illiberal regimes writes Quinn Siobodian.
The link between public financial management (PFM) and government accountability has been clearly established. But, what about the link between PFM institutions with human rights? Manal Fouad thinks one cannot be fully effective in the absence of the other.
TAI RECOMMENDS!
The IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings, the National Democratic Institute, Open Government Partnership, and Chandler Foundation have partnered to convene a high-level panel of experts and practitioners to share “Transparency and Accountability Lessons to Break the Debt Crisis Cycle”
Join them on April 6th
FROM OUR MEMBERS
OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS:
“Democracy isn’t about having the perfect constitution or being able to vote every few years. It’s about making your life better.” Natalie Samarasinghe, Global Director, Advocacy reflects on supporting movements that strengthen democracy.
HEWLETT FOUNDATION:
Held their first New Common Sense media roundtable. Journalists and subject-matter experts discussed the changing relationships between markets, government and people. Get a sense of conversation here
FORD FOUNDATION:
Dr. Timnit Gebru discussed how to counter Big Tech’s pervasive influence on artificial intelligence through her work at DAIR Institute. Don’t miss her conversation with Ford’s Hilary Pennington.
LUMINATE:
Rahma Wako and Njeri Mwangi are among those featured in Luminate’s “African Women Shaping Democracy.”
FOREIGN, COMMONWEALTH & DEVELOPMENT OFFICE:
Has a new top development official - “this will put FCDO back on the path to a higher standard of accountability and transparency” argues William Worley.
ESSENTIAL READING!
Aid and Governance: Impact of Chinese Aid on the Evaluation of Government Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa.
TOOLS & TRENDS FOR FUNDERS
For US-based organizations, MacKenzie Scott has launched her first open call for funding - 250 lucky organizations will get $1 million each. Let’s hope for a global call soon.
An increasing number of foundations have already embarked on journeys of reinventing their approach and practice. Jesper Christiansen is exploring what transformative philanthropy in times of transition looks like and invites others to join the conversation.
Pulsante - an intermediary funder in Latin America that seeks to expand the civic space – has released new learning materials, one of them being the value of collaborative efforts!
The On Think Tanks team offers some reflections on funding practices of foundations in Africa amid localization (or lack thereof) - do they match your experiences?
FOCUSED TOPIC OF THE WEEK
Participation to shape a just transition: United Kingdom, Colombia and Laos
What is the people’s plan for nature? Citizens from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own opinions. Following the first People’s Assembly for Nature, they collectively agree on how to tackle the nature crisis. How different would be the responses of people in, say, Indonesia or Argentina?
What does civil society involvement translate to in the energy transition? In Colombia, for instance, CSOs are working to ensure transparency and accountability in the decarbonization of the economy. Organizations such as Crudo Transparente are taking a holistic, multigenerational approach to address the socioeconomic issues associated with hydrocarbons and the use of royalties. They just applied the Natural Resource Governance Institute corruption diagnostic to hydrocarbons in the municipalities of Tauramena and Maní.
A critical element of any just transition is assuring energy access. So no surprise that citizens in Laos are unhappy about electricity rates. Despite the country being the “battery of Asia” exporting hydropower to its neighbors, electricity is still unaffordable to many residents. Servicing a high debt burden is part of the problem.
NEWS ROUNDUP
Are we seeing the end of Londongrad? UK real estate disclosure laws may be working.
Another long-sought beneficial ownership win (following the FATF rules update featured last week) - this time the Canadian government introduces legislation to create a “free, publicly accessible and scalable beneficial ownership registry.”
Message misunderstood - The latest U4 brief looks at why raising awareness of corruption can backfire.
Kenya is the first African state member of the Open Government Partnership to have a parliamentary caucus; and, to engage all levels of government at the level we are seeing (Executive, Legislature, Judiciary and 4 County governments to boot!)
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
Executive Director, Engaged Donors for Global Equity (EDGE) Funders Alliance
Associate Program Manager – Climate Justice. Open Society Foundations, New York
Program Director, Project on Resources and Governance, UCLA
Associate, Cost Transparency Initiative
Program Assistant, Global Anti-Corruption Consortium
Director of Fellowship, Keseb
Community Engagement Manager, Open Ownership
Short term contract: BOT, privacy and access researcher, Open Ownership
Program Assistant, Global Anti-Corruption Consortium,OCCRP
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.
2023 Research Symposium, Data Foundation, deadline March 31, 2023
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
The Digitalization of Democracy: How Technology is Changing Government Accountability, Wednesday, March 29, 2023
OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum, 29-30 March, Paris, 2023
Summit for Democracy, 29-30 March (multiple locations)
Asia in 2050: What role will philanthropy play?” March 30, 2023 - 12:00 UTC (London)
Taxing multinationals in developing countries? What’s been achieved and what remains to be done? Center for Global Development, April 6, 2023, 9.00-10.15 am ET
Democratic Reset: Transparency and Accountability Lessons to Break the Debt Crisis Cycle, Thursday, April 6, 2023, 11:30 - 12:45 EST/17:30 - 18:45 CAT/21:00-22:15 IST
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
We’d love to hear from you on how we can further improve TAI Weekly to better serve your needs in program management on the transparency, accountability, improved grantmaking and civic space. Please direct your feedback to contact@transparency-initiative.org or