The TAI Weekly is heading into a mini break for the holidays – our next issue will be Tuesday, January 11.
In the meantime, we end the year with a bumper edition. Pick among the wave of announcements for the Summit of Democracy, learn about green corruption, celebrate Nobel Prize winners, see what transparency engines can generate, track a lively debate on donor transparency, and meet the lucky winner of our communications survey prize.
Don’t forget the Open Government Partnership Summit sessions this week. Above all, happy holidays from TAI secretariat and members!
See you in 2022.
Michael,
TAI’s Executive Director
Highlights
- Fine works (and some actions) – a roundup from the Summit for Democracy
- Enabling tendencies, transparency engines, and disinformation worries
- Opinion of the Week
- And the prize goes to…
- Green doesn’t mean clean
- To disclose or not to disclose? – Fresh takes on donor power, transparency and the need for self-care
- The best of #TAIRecommends
- Other Stories
- TAI spotlight
Fine works (and some actions) – a roundup from the Summit for Democracy
Last week’s Summit for Democracy overlapped with both International Anti-corruption Day and International Human Rights Day and lots of conversations tying democracy, corruption, rights together (watch all the sessions).
Lots of announcements of good intentions, too, not least from the US Government. Perhaps most significant long term is the new national strategy to fight corruption and the release of the draft rule for beneficial ownership reporting required under the US Corporate Transparency Act.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suggests new intent to tackle the US role as a leading tax haven, and US Senator Elizabeth Warren introduces legislation taking aim at private equity firms (whose money laundering weakness we highlighted in our last Weekly). Sujeet Indap argues her push is really one for “fundamental accountability” on Wall Street.
USAID announced a Grand Challenge to take on transnational corruption in key sectors, while new US sanctions were announced, most notably for Africa’s richest woman, Isabel Dos Santos. Daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos and former head of Sonangol, Angola’s state-owned oil company, Dos Santos is a key player in the so called “88 Queensway Group,” with stakes in in the diamond, banking, trucking, telecommunications, energy, retail, construction, and media sectors.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced the second cohort of international Anticorruption Champions from Belize, Bulgaria, Republic of Cyprus, Guatemala, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Malawi, Mozambique, Thailand, and Venezuela.
It’s unlikely UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was cheered by the timing of a new report from Chatham House highlighting the “UK’s kleptocracy problem” (including donations to UK universities and charities to launder reputations) nor by former International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell denouncing UK parliament’s lack of progress on long-promised legislation to require beneficial ownership transparency of UK properties owned overseas.
Such data, if made available, opens up potential for technology to help. Read how Microsoft is supporting development of “transparency engines” tapping open data to limit corruption, for example in procurement. (Worth checking out for the impressive data visuals alone).
He wins a copy of each of the following books featured in the TAI Weekly in the past 6 months:
- “Revolt, the Worldwide Uprising Against Globalization” by Nadav Eyal
- “The Republic of False Truths” by Alaa al-Aswany (a compelling account of 2011 Egyptian revolution and smashed hopes)
- “American Kleptocracy” by Casey Michel
- “System error: Where big tech went wrong and how we can reboot” by Jeremy Weinstein, Mehran Sahami and Rob Reich
- “What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract by Minouche Shafik
Image Credit: Change Initiative
Meantime, good to see the International Council of Mining and Metals membership (i.e. the biggest mining firms) commit to publishing all new mining contracts with governments from the new year – no longer just a recommendation. A win a long time in the making.
Watch this #2!
See the damage of Two Years of Illegal Mining on Indigenous Land in the Amazon. The video was provided to the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network by an anonymous source and shared with The Intercept for publication. The huge illegal mining operation recorded in the video took only two years to erode the huge area deep in the forest.
To disclose or not to disclose? – Fresh takes on donor power, transparency and the need for self-care
Want to better understand the unequal power dynamics pervasive in the international aid system? This report presents the findings and recommendations from an online consultation with 158 activists, decision- makers, academics, journalists and practitioners across the globe on decolonizing aid. Check out recommendations for funders, INGOs and individuals.
Add to your toolbox with Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Conversation Starters for foundations to help provide actionable steps you can take to drive equity-minded action.
Jake Furby and Sylvia McLain share some themes emerging from the Foundation Practice Rating that assesses UK foundations on their accountability, transparency and diversity. Can it serve as a model for other regions?
Follow the fascinating debate around MacKenzie Scott’s decision not to publish grant details. She explains that she wants the recipient organization to be focus of attention, not her money, but is challenged by those arguing for donor transparency as in this article. Finally, while we head into holidays, read why Gloria Walton states that nonprofit grassroots leaders need a break. Perhaps you agree with her defence of the importance of investing in community leader’s health and wellness.
The best of #TAIRecommends
This year we launched a weekly section on Twitter. #TAIRecommends highlights every Monday interesting TPA-related pieces. Here are some of the most popular readings as featured in TAI social media:
Check out this blog series that aims to spark discussion around the future of Natural Resource governance and sustainable development in resource-rich countries.
Read about the participatory construction of a model of Citizen Surveillance implemented by Quechua women leaders in Peru by Ariel Frisancho and Luz Estrada.
This piece from Afrobarometer is a most read!
How can funders make the strategy process more open and intelligible to grantee partners, fellow funders, and the fields they serve? What to communicate and when?
Other Stories
- How Can Multilateral Organizations Strengthen Global Data Governance Practices? Roundtable Summary
- How Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act Is Creating a Culture of Fear
- A year in tax justice
- Mining Billionaire Beny Steinmetz Arrested at Athens Airport
- Curbing Corruption: Practical Strategies for Sustainable Change
TAI spotlight
Chandler Foundation invites Chris Stone, professor of public integrity at Oxford University, to outline strategies to help government ministers move from a culture of corruption to one of integrity.MacArthur Foundation´s President John Palfrey shares reflections and learnings on the foundation’s goal to reimagine philanthropy through the Equitable Recovery Initiative. Hewlett Foundation´s president Larry Kramer called to be more “open and transparent, more collaborative, more trusting” and self-conscious on what can and can’t do well in international development. Kramer joined the second Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report on Private Philanthropy for Development.Open Society Foundation issued a statement honoring “the fierce leadership of women around the globe who are fighting to eliminate violence in the world this Human Rights Day”. They also named Yamide Dagnet as incoming Director for Climate Justice.Ford Foundation launched a new fund hosted by África Centre for Energy Policy to support civil society organizations working to transform the natural resources sector in West Africa toward sustainable and inclusive development.
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 listings
Principal Governance Expert: Anti-Money Laundering, Counter Terrorist Financing, and Illicit Financial Flows at African Development Bank – December 25, 2021
Associate Director, Innovation Lab at Human Rights First– January 10, 2022
Civil Society Lead: Gas Programme– January 11, 2021
Director, Innovation at Enel Green Power – January 27, 2022
Director, Civic Governance at Meta– Ongoing
Jobs at Conservation Jobs – Ongoing
Jobs at The Sentry– Ongoing
Jobs at National Democracy Institute– Ongoing
Jobs at l-APS- Ongoing
Donor Finance & Compliance Manager at The Fund for Global Human Rights – Ongoing
Calls/Opportunities
Board of Trustee at Integrity Action – December 31, 2021
Entries are open for the 2022 Sigma Awards – January 7, 2021
Feedback Champions Fellowship – January 9, 2021
RightsCon call for Proposals for 11th Summit Series – January 13, 2022
West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) call for papers and articles – Open year-round
Free digital security training– Ongoing
Call for proposals: Informality, tax, and the state – Proposals accepted on a rolling basis
Calendar
Human Trafficking 2021 Review and 2022 Preview: Recent initiatives, strategies and challenges– December 16, 2021
On Land and Sea: How Businesses Collectively Fight Corruption– December 17, 2021
Open Government Partnership Global Summit – December 13-17, 2021
Evaluating the OGP: Does the model work? – December 14, 2021
Annual Anti-Corruption Lecture by leading anti-corruption advocate Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala– December 15, (18:30 GMT)
International Convention on Anti-Corruption, Good Governance, and Human Rights – April 21-22, 2022 (Boston, MA)
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