🎙️ New episode drop | What Stays Human?

As civil society organizations use AI, which decisions should stay in human hands?

On the latest episode from @accountlab, Co-CEO Cheri-Leigh Erasmus speaks with Danai Nhando, Human Rights Lawyer, Responsible AI Governance Expert, and and Natalia Carfi, Executive Director of the @opendatacharter.

They explore what meaningful consent looks like when people rely on an organization for support, what AI can miss when its data doesn’t reflect local realities, and who answers when an AI-supported decision causes harm.

🎬 Watch the trailer here.
🔗 Listen to the full conversation or read the transcript: bit.ly/4zr5Crt

Who benefits from Mali’s mining wealth – and what say do communities have?

From making mining information accessible to documenting environmental concerns and supporting women’s participation, @accountlabML's accountapreneurs are connecting transparency with community atest blog on mining revenues, community rights, and local oversight: bit.ly/4A4biaP

Shrinking development funding has revealed the structural weaknesses of a top-down funding framework. It has also created an opportunity to reorganise models around frontline actors for long-term resilience.

In her piece, Building Resilience through Transitions: A New Model for untability Lab Co-CEO Jean Scrimgeour encourages more flexible, people-centred approaches that are grounded in political reality rather than idealised assumptions.

📰 Read the latest edition: bit.ly/3Uaj7fY
📮 Subscribe here: bit.ly/4sG6YdM

People affected by disasters know the challenges of recovery firsthand. How can their experiences help shape the decisions that follow?

@@accountlabnp has collaborated with Dr Nimesh Dhungana, Senior Lecturer in Disasters and Global Health at @OfficialUoM, alongside communities re this question.

Drawing on experiences of Nepal’s 2015 earthquakes, COVID-19 and the 2024 floods, the research helped develop the Just Recovery framework, putting human rights, social justice and community participation at the heart of rebuilding.

Through public hearings, community discussions and policy dialogues, people are sharing their concerns and helping shape recovery decisions. Lessons are also being shared across our network in Liberia, Pakistan and South Africa.

👓 Read more: bit.ly/4BnyAKw

How can a funder's exit be responsible and help build a resilient civil society?

Our Co-CEO, Cheri-Leigh Erasmus and Eszter Filippinyi of @TAICollab, explore this question in “Leaving with Care: Responsible Funder Exits.”

When a funder exits, the consequences can extend beyond t a funder’s departure does not have to be an unavoidable crisis.

The authors highlight practical ways to make exits more responsible:
📌 Give organizations time to plan.
📌 Support a collective approach.
📌 Build a resilient civil society.

Read more about some promising practices that can help organizations navigate funding transitions: bit.ly/47n1ooB

What does shifting power look like in practice?

Carolyn Dallmann and Lior Ipp join Cheri-Leigh Erasmus on AccountabiliTea to explore innovative approaches to grantmaking.

🎧 Watch, listen or read: bit.ly/4d5BYyU

"When money can buy influence and technology can multiply it, how can we protect elections from these forces?"

At the 3rd Electoral Integrity in Africa Summit in Accra, Ghana, participants highlighted the urgent need to equip citizens to assess and question online content, find people as co-creators of democratic innovation, and build solidarity to protect citizen election observers’ independence and facilitate transparent and fair accreditation procedures.

We’re proud that Accountability Lab East and Southern Africa (ALESA) was among the Summit’s partners and that Habibou Diaou, Executive Director of Accountability Lab Mali, was among the speakers.

Transparency and accountability depend on a civil society that can act independently.

@accountlabng is among 31 civil society organizations calling for the withdrawal of Nigeria’s proposed Foreign Aid (Regulation, Transparency and Disclosure) Bill, 2026, which seeks to regulate .

The coalition warns that requirements to align projects with government priorities, alongside severe penalties for non-compliance, could restrict independent civic action – including work that challenges government decisions and holds public institutions accountable.

Its joint statement calls for strengthening existing transparency mechanisms while protecting freedom of association and communities’ ability to organize and support one another.

👓 Read more on Accountability Lab Nigeria’s website: bit.ly/4zgZYYx
📄 View the statement: bit.ly/47F9d95

🎙️ What if shifting power made partnerships stronger?

Carolyn Dallmann of @humanityunited makes a point we keep coming back to: funders can create more room for others to lead and remain strategic partners.

Hear her explore the possibilities with Lior Ipp of Proximate Futures ghe in our AccountabiliTea episode on innovative approaches to grantmaking.

🎧 Watch, listen, or read via the link in our bio.

💭 Should every new initiative become its own organization? Should every organization be built to last indefinitely?

In 'Beyond the Heroic NonProfit', Jacob Harold and Archie Kindon explore how mission-driven organizations can rethink their structures as circumstances change – ependence to what they might share or distribute.

🔎 Read the new report from Civic Strength Partners: bit.ly/4xHgXlF

Learn more about CSP: civicstrengthpartners.org

🎙️ A grant is a starting point. What happens after it’s made?

In this AccountabiliTea conversation, Lior Ipp and Carolyn Dallmann explore how funders can work alongside organizations, value the knowledge they bring, and stay engaged with the problems they’re trying to solve.

🎧 bit.ly/4d5BYyU

Who says civic learning belongs in a meeting room? 🏢

In western Liberia, @accountlablb and local women-led partners took conversations about participation and leadership to the markets where women gather.

In Bomi, women described how a lack of information had made it harder ership. The market lectures created space to ask questions, talk about the power of their votes, and consider how they could support one another to lead.

This International Day for Universal Access to Information, their story asks us to think beyond whether information is available: who is it reaching, and where are the conversations happening?

🔗 Read the full story by Parnneh T. Mallobe: bit.ly/4yjPIyL

📢 Opportunity alert!

Local Works Global is recruiting its first-ever cohort of interns across four areas:

→ Storytelling and community engagement
→ Policy and research
→ Network engagement and community support
→ Fundraising and business development

These remote roles tunity to take ownership of meaningful work, learn alongside an experienced global team, and receive support from a dedicated coordinator and mentor.

The internships are open to applicants worldwide, with a flexible commitment of about 5 – 10 hours per week.

Please note that the roles are currently unpaid. Local Works Global acknowledges the barriers this can create and encourages those who are interested but unable to take on unpaid work to reach out and stay connected for future paid opportunities.

📅 Applications close on October 5.
🔗 Learn more and apply: localworksglobal.org/internships/

What happens to peace when we can no longer agree on what is real?

AI-generated content, manipulated media, and algorithm-driven narratives are changing how conflicts are understood – often allowing fear and outrage to travel faster than verified information.

This International lecting on why investing in peace must also mean investing in trustworthy information, media literacy, and digital accountability.

Read “Battleground Algorithms” by Muhammad Abubakar of @accountlabpk: 🔗 bit.ly/4y6e6DH

🎙️ What changes when the people closest to a problem are trusted to help shape the solution?

Our latest #AccountabiliTea episode explores lived experience, decision-making, and new approaches to risk in grantmaking.

Listen, watch, or read the transcript: bit.ly/4d5BYyU

Democracy is about more than casting a vote. And participation is about more than being invited to speak. On this International Day of Democracy, we’re reflecting on what it really means for every voice to count – and what needs to happen for those voices to shape decisions.
ams and communities are putting this into practice:

🇳🇵 In Nepal, young people are examining electoral integrity and the barriers that can prevent people from participating fully – during elections and beyond.

Read the story from @accountlabnp: bit.ly/4cHrohE

🇳🇬 In Nigeria, residents spoke up about an unmanaged dumpsite affecting their health and daily lives. Their experiences were documented and shared with the responsible institutions. The site was subsequently cleared and barricaded.

Read the story from @accountlabng: bit.ly/46p78he

🇲🇱 In Mali, communities are learning to recognize and resist disinformation by questioning, verifying, and thinking carefully before sharing information.

Explore the work of @accountlabmali: bit.ly/4AfBvEm

These stories remind us that democracy delivers when people can participate meaningfully, see institutions respond, and access reliable information. #IDD2026

🎙️ Our new AccountabiliTea episode is out, asking what it takes to shift power in philanthropy.

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus speaks with Carolyn Dallmann from @HumanityUnited and Lior Ipp from the Proximate Futures Fund about participatory grantmaking, proximate leadership, and , and risk in philanthropy.

🔗 Watch, listen, or read the transcript: bit.ly/4d5BYyU

Meet Masha Lisitsyna, our Senior Non-Resident Fellow!

With 25+ years in human rights, accountability & democracy, she has worked to protect human rights defenders & marginalized communities, advance accountability & strengthen collaboration.

We're excited to have her expertise shaping our work.

🌍 Who truly holds the reins in “country-led” development?

In a new piece for @InDepthNews, AL Senior Non-Resident Fellow Soheila Comninos argues that civil society and communities – not governments alone – must help shape development priorities.

🔗 Read the full article: bit.ly/3UvZPS0

Pakistan’s digital transformation is moving fast – but who risks being left behind?

Muhammad Abubakar, Program and Communications Manager at @accountlabpk, explores digital trust, online rights, information integrity, and AI – and what they mean for an inclusive digital bit.ly/4xDjnml

#DigitalDemocracy #DigitalInclusion #ArtificialIntelligence #InformationIntegrity #Pakistan

Meet @Halloran_B, our Senior Non-Resident Fellow!

Brendan supports organizations, coalitions and communities of practice to develop participatory, systems-oriented approaches to analysis, strategy, research and learning.

His current work explores how locally rooted, s can help democratic and accountability ecosystems move from isolated interventions towards collective, sustained change. Read more about his approach here: thepolicypractice.com/governing-clim…

We look forward to the perspective, energy, and insight he brings to our work.

💬 What could shared leadership make possible in your organization?

Accountability Lab, Digital Action & the Human Rights Measurement Initiative invite you to a Co-Leadership Community of Practice. Meet fellow leaders, exchange bold ideas & shape the future of shared leadershership Community of Practice: bit.ly/4zqB9KI

#CoLeadership #SharedLeadership #Leadership #CommunityOfPractice

📍Since 2022, Gen Z movements have been at the forefront of demonstrations across the world.

In a short 4 years, 5 heads of state have been toppled, and the definition of what constitutes civic action has expanded. They took their grievances – corruption and elite privilege, economic insecurity, and repression – to the streets.

In the coming weeks, we’re catching up with movement participants from Nepal to Kenya on how they’re working to build lasting civic structures, and what that process reveals about the gap between youth energy and institutional readiness.

#BridgingTheGap
#GenZ
#GenZMovement

What helps a civic-tech tool continue serving its purpose after its first grant cycle ends?

Through Lexicon Procurement and ePMS, two HackCorruption teams, Khadijah Chang explores why stakeholder relationships and resource planning must be part of the build itself. Read the co/jrXZypiCMk

#HackCorruption #CivicTech #AntiCorruption #LexiconProcurement #ePMS

@accountlabpk latest policy brief explores the 2026 Gilgit-Baltistan elections through the broader lenses of governance, constitutional uncertainty, and representation.

Between Hope and Despair places the elections within their historical, legal, and institutional context, hat continue to shape governance in the region.

Read the full policy brief: bit.ly/4aX9uqe

🎉 Congratulations to @Ysallay97, Finance Officer at Accountability Lab Liberia, on her election as Student President of the Graduate School at Starz University!

Alongside her work with @accountlablib, Yassah is pursuing a Master's degree in Human Resource Management. We are is exciting milestone and wish her every success in her new leadership role.

👏 Congratulations, Yassah!

📮 We’re excited to invite you to a side event at the 2026 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF)

Join us for a powerful, online showcase of how local efforts contribute to advancing the 2030 Agenda and SDG16+, with an emphasis on evolving, scaling, and flourishing amidst crisis.

📅 30am EDT / 3-4:30pm CEST | Online

🔗 Register here: bit.ly/4p8W7sR

The event will showcase video stories submitted to the Voices of SDG16+ 2026 campaign, highlighting inspiring stories of civil society actors working at the local level to promote peaceful, just, and inclusive societies amid complex challenges.

#SDG16 #VoicesOfSDG16 #HLPF2025 #CivilSociety #2030Agenda

As the Nepal government completes its first 100 days in office, it has shared a series of fiscal, administrative, infrastructural, and investment-related initiatives, hopefully paving a different route from the past. Yet the central question remains as to whether the government mitments to good governance.

In this new edition of the Governance Weekly newsletter, Team Nepal outlines the government's key thematic commitments and maps their progress: bit.ly/4vK2G7x
Follow @accountlabnp for more.

How can reporting help us make better decisions – not just document our work? 🤔

In her latest article for @PhilanImpact, Florencia Guerzovich explores how reporting can support learning, adaptation, and stronger decision-making when change depends on relationships and more: bit.ly/3QUrgDF

What makes reporting most valuable in your work?

#MEL #SystemsChange #Philanthropy #accountability #funding

🎙️ Can collaboration become civil society's greatest strength?

As funding pressures continue to reshape the sector, organizations are finding new ways to work together – from building coalitions to sharing resources and rethinking how change happens.

In this episode of the , Cheri-Leigh Erasmus speaks with Anabel Cruz, Dr. Fay Hodza, and Leah Shearman about what this moment means for civil society and what comes next.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or via the Accountability Lab website: bit.ly/3QD0X4s

📈 GDP growth is a positive sign, but does it tell the full story?

The latest Accountability Lab Pakistan's (@accountlabpk) latest Country Analysis Report explores what it takes to turn economic growth into inclusive, sustainable progress.

📖 Read the report: bit.ly/4ateJ0A

Strong public institutions are built by people committed to serving others.

@UN #PublicServiceDay gives us another reason to recognize public servants across our network who are helping to make governance more responsive, accountable, and effective – from strengthening judicial supporting public-sector innovation in Pakistan to advancing inclusive local governance in Nepal.

📖 Read more in our 2025 Annual Reports: lnkd.in/gmMkDeWq

@accountlabng | @accountlabpk | @accountlabnp

🚨 Happening tomorrow!

We're excited to bring together leaders and practitioners to explore a simple but important question: What happens when leadership is shared?

Join @AccountLab, @rightsmetrics, and Digital Action as we discuss the opportunities, challenges, and lessons ship becomes a collective practice.

Plus, be among the first to explore Accountability Lab's new Co-Leadership Toolkit.

📅 23 June 2026
⏰ 6:00 AM ET | 12:00 PM CET | 10:00 PM NZT
🔗 Register: bit.ly/SharedLeadersh…

Can leadership be shared? 🤔

Join @AccountLab, @rightsmetrics, and Digital Action as we explore the opportunities, challenges, and lessons that emerge when leadership is a collective practice.

The conversation will also mark the launch of Accountability Lab's new Co-Leadership 6
⏰ 6:00 AM ET | 12:00 PM CET | 10:00 PM NZT
🔗 Register: bit.ly/SharedLeadersh…

🎙️ What if one of the biggest barriers to collaboration is the system itself?

In the latest episode of the AccountabiliTea Podcast, Leah Shearman shares her reflections on how funding models have encouraged competition across the sector – and what that means for organizations ether in a rapidly changing environment.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or via our website: bit.ly/3QD0X4s

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus | Anabel Cruz | Fay Hodza

💭 Trust. Collaboration. Shared responsibility.

Join Accountability Lab, @rightsmetrics, and Digital Action for a conversation on the opportunities, challenges, and lessons that emerge when leadership is shared.

The conversation will also mark the launch of Accountability Lab's a practical resource for organizations interested in exploring collaborative leadership structures.

📅 23 June 2026
⏰ 6:00 AM ET | 12:00 PM CET | 10:00 PM NZT
🔗 Register: bit.ly/SharedLeadersh…

We look forward to seeing you there!

🎙️ What does meaningful change require in a time of uncertainty?

In this episode of the AccountabiliTea Podcast, @HodzaFay reflects on the importance of collaboration in responding to today's challenges:

"There was a realization that we cannot do this alone. You need to work in work in coalitions, you need to work with others to drive the change that you want to do."

As organizations navigate shifting realities, the conversation highlights the value of partnership, collective action, and working together to create lasting change.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or via our website: bit.ly/3QD0X4s

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus | Anabel Cruz | Leah Shearman

📣 Applications for 2026 Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders (ADEL) Program are now open!

Are you a young leader (25-35) from Africa or the Atlantic Basin driving change in your field?

Join an immersive leadership experience, connect with fellow changemakers, and take part in Conference.

📍 Rabat, Morocco
📅 Dec 6-12, 2026
⏳ Application Deadline: June 14
🔗 bit.ly/49TGlvF

"We can either rebuild the old system, with all its silos and competition, or build something more collaborative, more relational, and more honest about what civic work actually requires."

AL Co-CEO Jean Scrimgeour sat down with @Alliancemag to talk about this moment as one of t the ways in which we can work more effectively by prioritising those with proximity to the problems we want to solve and the crucial assets they bring.

👓 Read the full interview: bit.ly/4a2tl6K

Join us in welcoming Jed Miller, our Senior Non-Resident Fellow!🎉

With 20+ years at the intersection of accountability and digital transformation, Jed brings deep expertise on AI, and the role of culture and narrative in shaping effective governance of technology.

We’re ertise guiding our work.

🪧 From lowering the barrier to civic participation to creating emotional memory that drives the will to change, creativity can and does drive civic engagement and accountability.

In an expansive conversation artivists Nishchhal Kharal, Rafid Ariyan, Amanda Chenai Makombe, and eriences of how art has democratised access to governance issues for many.

Most pointedly for youth who participated in uprisings across the globe, what could feel like inaccessible topics meant for elites to wrestle over, became theirs to challenge.

These poignant takeaways were just some of the nuggets from a conversation that underscored the value of the artivism archive, institutions and governments using creative principles, and the democratisation of art.

🎙️ How are civil society organizations responding to uncertainty?

In our latest #AccountabiliTeaPodcast, Anabel Cruz reflects on disruption, solidarity, and how organizations are adapting to shifting realities.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or via our website: bit.ly/3QD0X4s

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus | @HodzaFay | Leah Shearman

#GlobalDevelopment #CivilSociety

🌍 As civic space continues to shift across East and Southern Africa, what must civil society keep in focus?

In this reflection from the @accountlabalesa Learning Lab, Dr. McDonald Lewanika unpacks 'Nine Things We Must Not Forget' – from the intersectional nature of civic space of digital activism, uneven access, the need for context-informed responses, and why people must remain at the center of innovation.

The piece is a timely reminder that strengthening accountability requires more than tools or technical fixes. It calls for solidarity, sharper analysis, adaptive thinking, and a return to the fundamentals of organizing, trust, and collective action.

👓 Read more: bit.ly/4wG5pje

We're working with the Allard Prize to host a conversation among organizations that design prizes in the anti-corruption and #integrity space.

This convening is a first step toward building a more connected and mutually supportive #ecosystem. Individually, prizes can spotlight eaders. Collectively, they can significantly expand their influence, protection, and long-term impact.

Register to join us on May 27 at 9am ET: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

As we reflect on 2025, we’re reminded that #accountability begins with participation. Across our network, teams worked with communities, artists, youth leaders, and public institutions to strengthen civic engagement, counter disinformation, and expand inclusive participation in cipatory budgeting in Mexico to judicial dialogues in Nigeria, media literacy initiatives in Mali, and digital democracy programming in Pakistan – these efforts reflect the many ways accountability is practiced across contexts.

👓 Read more in our annual reports: lnkd.in/gmMkDeWq

#AnnualReport | Accountability Lab Mexico | @accountlabng
| @accountlabML | @accountlabpk

💡 When traditional pathways to participation fall short, young people find new ways to be heard.

Join us for a virtual showcase featuring spoken word, music, and creative acts of protest and participation from around the world, followed by a panel on how young people are music, spoken word, art, and storytelling as alternative pathways for civic engagement.

🗓️ Wednesday 20 May, 9am ET /1pm UTC
🔗 Register here: bit.ly/3P9L59h

What happens when the city you live in does not see you as part of it?

Today, Accountability Lab Mexico premieres Del Papel al Territorio (From Paper to Territory) 🎬

The documentary follows Yuguelito in Iztapalapa, a self-organized community navigating the gap between ed and participation as lived.

A powerful story of accountability, transparency and participation.

▶️ Watch and join the conversation: bit.ly/4wy7DRV

Reflecting on our work in 2025, words like courage, solidarity, and agency have resonated deeply. In releasing our annual reports, we're excited to share some of the resilient pivots our teams implemented. We're also proud to have been able to provide information and support for navigated great changes.

In response to January 2025's aid cuts – and funding contractions more generally – Accountability Lab's translocal network sprang into action to gather data that would inform donors and partners who were mobilizing resources, information, and tools to try to assist organizations and people in need.

Accountability Lab Global, Accountability Lab Mali, Accountability Lab Pakistan, and Accountability Lab Nepal, deployed global and local surveys to inform actions to be taken to mitigate fallout. Through Open Co Hub in Kathmandu, affected groups engaged in critical discussions on the aid freeze, health rights, elections, and democracy. Rooted in #ShiftThePower principles, these efforts prioritized locally led engagement, amplified community voices, and fostered trust-based collaboration.

👓 For the full findings from these surveys read our annual reports: accountabilitylab.org/our-impact/

📢 Excited to share that our Co-CEO Blair Glencorse has joined the Strategy Steering Committee of the Youth Democracy Cohort (YDC).

As YDC evolves into a collaborative, member-driven network, its new governance structure puts members at the center, ensuring decision-making is ntative, and grounded in their expertise.

The Steering Committee will:

📌 Guide strategy
📌 Strengthen youth participation
📌 Drive collective advocacy & partnerships
📌 Support inclusive, effective governance

🔗 bit.ly/4d9XaDb

🩺 This International Nurses Day, we’re reflecting not only on the care nurses provide, but on the responsibility we all hold to support them.

Because the future of care doesn’t rest on individuals alone. It depends on the systems we build, the support we enable, and the value eep services going.

Across our network, we’ve had the privilege of recognizing nurses through our Integrity Icon campaign – an initiative that celebrates public servants who lead with honesty, accountability, and a deep commitment to others.

Hema Thapa, recognized by @accountlabnp in 2023, is one such example.

🎧 Watch her story – and explore more stories of integrity in action on our YouTube channel: bit.ly/3PkeTQl

Join us in welcoming Andrea Currie-Edwards, our Senior Non-Resident Fellow!

With 15+ years in anti-money laundering, illicit finance & anti-corruption, she brings deep expertise across sectors and global reform efforts.

We’re excited to have her expertise guiding our work.

🆕🎙 New episode of the AccountabiliTea Podcast

As funding pressures grow and global dynamics shift, civil society organizations are being asked to adapt – often while continuing to deliver on their missions.

In this episode, Cheri-Leigh Erasmus speaks with Anabel Cruz, arman to reflect on what this moment looks like in practice: from navigating constraints to rethinking collaboration, systems, and long-term sustainability.

What emerges is a grounded conversation on how the sector is responding – and what may come next.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or via our website:
bit.ly/3QD0X4s

#CivilSociety #Funding # GlobalAidFreeze #AccountabiliTeaPodcast #AccountabilityLab

🗞️ Press freedom is not only challenged through censorship – it is shaped by legal pressure, financial constraints, and digital harassment.

As part of this year’s reflection, we’re revisiting a conversation from the AccountabiliTea Podcast with @DanaiNhando and @NkosiDibiti, essures mean in practice – and what it takes to respond.

The takeaway is clear: protecting press freedom requires stronger systems, collective advocacy, and public engagement.

🎧 Listen to the episode: bit.ly/3OYIuP7

#WorldPressFreedomDay #MediaFreedom #Journalists #HumanRightsDefenders #AccountabiliTeaPodcast

🕸️ When funding cuts threaten long-nurtured, trust-based relationships with and between governance champions, a thorough project closeout can tie and strengthen loose ends.

🫗 Here's how @accountlabzw did it: bit.ly/4w0y56a

📮 Subscribe to our quarterly newsletter rnings for a sector in flux: bit.ly/4sG6YdM

The world is full of people building a more just, sustainable & peaceful future. It's time to recognize them!

The UN @SDGAction 2026 #HeroesofTomorrow: UN #SDGAwards are open.

🏆 Changemaker Award: Individuals leading collective action toward justice, equality & peace.
🏆 Creativinspiring hope through art, visual expression & innovation.
🏆 Resilience Award: Initiatives building resilience against conflict, inequality & climate change.

Know a changemaker who deserves the spotlight?

🗓️ Apply or nominate by 17 May 2026: bit.ly/4tSN8h7

💡 Specialist leadership, shared stewardship

What if stronger leadership is not about one person holding all the answers, but about sharing responsibility, trusting expertise, and making better decisions together?

In our latest article, Accountability Lab’s Co-CEOs Leigh Erasmus, and Jean Scrimgeour reflect on what it takes to lead together in a time of growing complexity.

The piece explores how co-leadership can strengthen decision-making, deepen accountability, and help leaders focus where their expertise can have the greatest impact.

👓 Read more: bit.ly/3Nz5Bzn

#AccountabilityLab #Accountability #Transparency #ThoughtLeadership #SharedLeadership #StrategicLeadership

We’re excited to welcome @aerostatico_Dd, our Senior Non-Resident Fellow 🎉

Founder and CEO of @reAccionpy, David brings deep experience from across the civic and social impact space.

His work spans international relations, policy and data analysis, research, and public strengthening transparency and accountability.

Looking forward to the perspectives and energy he brings! ✨

As governments explore the potential of AI, Pakistan stands at a critical turning point.

A new policy brief by @accountlabpk highlights how AI can transform public sector governance making it more responsive, transparent, and effective.

But technology alone isn’t enough. l requires investment in people, digital infrastructure, strong data protection frameworks, and trust.

The path forward? Treat AI as a public good, build with transparency, and align with democratic accountability.

Dive into the full brief: bit.ly/3OwD51D

#AccountabilityLab #PublicSectorInnovation #Governance #Pakistan

🛣️ Sustaining civil society at this moment requires changes in how donors fund, engage with, and partner alongside locally led organizations.

We spoke with 22 local, Global South organizations about their lived experience, organizational decision-making, and the longer-term society ecosystems one year on from last year's US government aid cuts.

👓 Read the full report here: bit.ly/4cHGTpU

Please help us welcome Tom Wein, our Senior Non-Resident #Fellow 🎉

Tom works to understand and strengthen dignity in development. He leads the Dignity Initiative at IDinsight and is a co-author of Marketplace Dignity. His work bridges ideas and action. From giving testimony to ernational Development Committee to convening diverse voices and translating theory into practical improvements in public services.

📣 Democratic actors are facing real pressure: shrinking civic space, polarization, disinformation, and shifting funding landscapes. But there’s also something powerful emerging: resilience through adaptation, innovation, and collaboration.

Our Co-CEO @blairglencorse joins an Dependency to Resilience: Rethinking Democratic Action in the Americas Amid Shifting Funding Landscapes.”

Hosted by @globaldemocracycoalition_ and @almacivica, this conversation will explore:
📌 How funding shifts are reshaping civic space
📌 Risks to accountability and democratic innovation
📌 How organizations are adapting and collaborating for sustainability
📌 Key insights for the Americas Regional Forum

Blair will be joined by an inspiring group of leaders:
Angela Carrillo, @redladoficial | Dr. Cassandra Emmons, @ifes1987 | Luis José Consuegra (@luijo308), @international_idea | @paulinaibarra, @fmultitudes

🗓 Friday, April 10, 2026
🕑 2 PM CET/4 PM EAT

🔗Register now: bit.ly/4tu1O5p

#GDCAmericasForum #GDCForum2026 #KeepDemocracyAlive

📣 Our Non-Resident Fellow @guerzovich has a new paper out with Thinking and Working Politically. Called 'Letting Go Without Losing Coherence: How Local Agency and Donor Accountability Can Coexist', she delves into how donors can let go of rigid control without losing systemic addresses three practical questions: how such actors can be recognised, how their
effectiveness and resilience can be assessed, and how donors can support this connective work more intentionally without formalising it into compliance. Read it here: bit.ly/4mhwqos

🇺🇦 Join us tomorrow for a conversation on how Ukrainian businesses advancing integrity and corporate compliance practices during conflict can help support a post-war reconstruction process.

🗓️ Wednesday 8 April 2026
⏰ 9:00 – 10:00 AM ET
🔗 Register here bit.ly/4bWyP4w

At the @OECD – Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum, our Co-CEO Cheri-Leigh Erasmus joined a panel on using AI to prevent fraud and safeguard public funds.

The takeaway: technology isn’t the challenge – trust is.

Transparency, oversight, and citizen engagement are what #Accountability #AIforGood #PublicIntegrity

⏰ Last Call: Subgrants Cohort 2 | DDI South Asia

The window is closing for the South Asia Diversity Fund (SADF) – Cohort 2 under DDI South Asia.

If you're a civil society organization, youth-led initiative, or community-driven group, this is your opportunity to secure support ss South Asia.

🗓 Extended Deadline: April 03, 2026
🔗 Access RFA: lnkd.in/dQupjFQd
📝 Apply Now: impactgrants.org

We are looking for innovative, locally-driven ideas that advance:
• Digital inclusion
• Civic participation
• Accountable governance

Don’t wait till the last minute, submit your application and be part of a growing movement shaping a more inclusive and equitable digital future.

#DDISouthAsia #SADF #Subgrants #CivicEngagement

In Bamako, @accountlabML joined partners and young leaders to reflect on how the 'Youth, Peace and Security: Agenda 2250' can be shaped in ways that are inclusive, participatory, and grounded in lived realities.

Through these conversations, a clear point came through: building ds on making space for young people to help shape the decisions that affect their lives.

The discussions explored what this looks like in practice – how participation can be more meaningful, more locally rooted, and more responsive to communities.

The team also contributed to discussions on the development of the National Action Plan on Youth, Peace and Security, highlighting the importance of approaches that are transparent and shaped by on-the-ground realities.

This work is part of an ongoing effort to support youth participation in building peace, social cohesion, and security in Mali.

@wanepmali | @NEDemocracy | MISAHEL | @DiaouHabibou

#YouthParticipation #Peacebuilding #Accountability #Agenda2250 #Mali

🧩 What does meaningful participation look like in practice?

In Mexico City, communities in Yuguelito, Iztapalapa offer one perspective.

An abandoned lot transformed into a livable space – while navigating participation systems that don’t always reach everyone.

Through Lab Mexico has been working alongside the community to document these realities.

🎬 Premiere coming soon!

#Accountability #CivActs #SocialAccountability

Our intern, Yamone Aye, contributed an inspiring op-ed to the @AusASEANyouth Annual Review 2025, titled “Shared Seas, Shared Future: Youth Leadership Against Marine Pollution in ASEAN-Australia Waters.”

It's a powerful take on marine pollution & youth leadership. As Yamone concr shared ocean "depends on intergenerational, cross-border solidarity".

📖 Read it here: bit.ly/4dkHHSt

#YouthLeadership #OceanGovernance #ASEAN #BlueEconomy

March is our birthday month at the Lab and this year, we were lucky enough to be together to mark our 14th year in Naivasha, Kenya, at a global retreat. Colleagues from Nepal, Nigeria, Mali, Liberia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the United States and Mexico spent a few days discussing perspectives charged by fish eagles, wildebeest and hippos!

We closed the proceedings with a round of personal and professional commitments to our translocal network as well as a Friendraiser in Nairobi - thank you to all who came to spend some time with us.

Thank you to Achieng Akena for supporting our sense-making so purposefully. Gratitude also to Sox the Poet and Rachael Ngwarai from our fellowship programs in Zimbabwe, and Mexican program director Ingrid Löwenberg, whose incredible music provided guidance of a different sort! Here's to the next 14 years of the Lab 🥳

Join us in welcoming @ComninosSoheila as our Senior Non-Resident Fellow! 🎉

With 20+ years of experience across philanthropy, academia, and humanitarian field operations, Soheïla has managed global grant portfolios on justice, security, and civic space, and built coalitions ction.

She has led humanitarian protection work with the International Committee of the Red Cross in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Today, Soheïla contributes as an independent consultant with the SNF Agora Institute and also serves as a trustee on Saferworld’s Board.

We’re excited to have her perspective shaping our work.

📣 Deadline Extended – Subgrants Cohort 2 | DDI South Asia

The deadline for submitting applications for the South Asia Diversity Fund (SADF) Cohort 2 under DDI South Asia has been extended to April 03, 2026.

This is an opportunity for civil society organizations, youth-led nitiatives working to advance digital inclusion, civic participation, and accountable governance across South Asia.

Extended Deadline: April 03, 2026
Access to RFA: lnkd.in/dQupjFQd
Apply via: impactgrants.org

Don’t miss the chance to be part of strengthening digital inclusion and democratic resilience across the region.

🎙️ Making integrity the practical choice

In this #AccountabiliTeaPodcast episode, @SapihuraSofiia joins Cheri-Leigh Erasmus (@AccountLab) to explore how integrity can move from aspiration to practice in Ukraine’s reconstruction.

🎧 Spotify: bit.ly/4aCrLJy
🎧 Apple: apple.co/4sdeLjC

Explore further:
📌 Key recommendations: bit.ly/3ZXPwFR
📌 Donor Roadmap: bit.ly/4aA0asz
📌 Full report: bit.ly/4cMWftL

Research prepared in collaboration with @AccountLab and the CGPA - Corporate Governance Professional Association, and supported by the Danish Industry through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

#AccountabiliTeaPodcast #Ukraine #Integrity #Business #EthicalLeadership

📑 How are AI-enabled surveillance systems shaping cities across Africa?

A new report from the @IDS_UK, co-authored by @Odeh_JuniorOdeh (Accountability Lab Nigeria), maps the expansion of surveillance tech across 11 countries – and what this means for oversight, transparency, bit.ly/3N6wY3z

#Governance #Accountability #DigitalRights #CivicTech #Africa #Transparency

Could your rooftop become a space for connection, creativity, and community again?

Sameer Ali Khan, @accountlabpk’s Civic Charge Fellow and founder of Collective Pakistan, is reimagining exactly that through Chaht Bethak (چھت بیٹھک): a simple yet powerful idea where communities n their rooftops.

Chaht Bethak is an invitation to bring the rooftops of Karachi back to life.
Host a small gathering.
Share stories.
Express through art.
Rebuild trust.

Sometimes, meaningful change begins at home.

Apply here: bit.ly/4boy0Ba

Meet Karin Alexander, our Senior Non-Resident Fellow.

A political economist and development professional, she brings deep expertise in political economy analysis, adaptive strategy frameworks, and building politically smart teams.
Her work advances inclusive approaches that ices and drive collaborative change.

We’re excited to have her insights strengthening our work.

🗳️ Elections across Africa bring both opportunity and pressure for democracy.

Ahead of the @GloDemCoalition Africa Regional Forum 2026, civic leaders reflected on how young people are mobilizing communities, countering digital threats, and strengthening accountability. From tal advocacy, youth-led efforts continue – even as civic space narrows.

🔗 bit.ly/47CHjuT
🎥 bit.ly/4sMLOuT

#YouthParticipation #Accountability #CivicSpace #Africa #DigitalRights

@accountlabalesa | @McDonaldLe72852 | @RestlessDev | @UamuziOrg | @Kmoeti