Dear Readers:
We hope you like the new TAI Weekly format drawing on all your wonderful feedback. This week, we cover ways to combat disinformation, boosting access to information and responsibility around the climate agenda, why philanthropy should do more to end financial secrecy, rules to counter shrinking space and all the usual jobs and events, including an exciting Skoll Forum starting tomorrow.
Happy reading!
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THE COVID 19 INFODEMIC problem
COVID 19 has been accompanied by a major infodemic. Misinformation and fake news have greatly affected the way the health crisis is understood and acted upon. 211 Check was born in 2019 as a result of a group of South Sudanese civil society organisations coming together to investigate an alleged “official document” with alarming figures on the coronavirus, when the pandemic had not yet reached the country.
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Articulated via WhatsApp, 211 Check continues to offer verifications, explainers and data visualisations to offer its followers “accurate and potentially lifesaving information”.
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From Cuba, DeFacto is a news verification service, launched one year ago, linked to the independent media el Toque. DeFacto´s chat-bot collects verification requests from citizens and then responds in different formats, texts, videos, data visualisations.
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Both experiences rely heavily on citizens as a source of raw material for misinformation. 211 Check and DeFacto now have more than 20,000 followers for each of their products and are reliable alternatives in closed contexts.
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Disinformation not only affects decision making amid the pandemic context. It is rife in the climate space. Take this example of how fake news against wind and solar energy projects in the United States aims to delay the shift away from fossil fuels.
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Even the Facebook algorithm is reinforcing climate denial. This from a platform that has created its own climate science centre; an information hub designed to ‘connect people with science-based information on climate change’.
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TAI:
Our executive Director, Michael Jarvis, and steering committee member, Leslie Tsai, urge philanthropy to do more to end financial secrecy that not only helps Russian oligarchs evade sanctions but hurts ordinary people in critical ways.
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TAI:
What did TAI get up to in 2021? This is your chance to find out. More importantly, read out ten learnings related to the TPA field and to our working as a funder collaborative. What resonates with you? What suggestions do you have for us? Write to us at contact@transparency-initiative.org
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SKOLL FOUNDATION:
Join this week's Skoll World Forum – lots of fascinating sessions, including those touching on issues funded by TAI members from open contracting to fighting democratic decline. It is free and online.
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FORD FOUNDATION'S:
President Darren Walker welcomed George & Amal Clooney to learn about how their foundation is waging justice through accountability for Human Rights abuses worldwide.
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ESSENTIAL LISTENING!
CONDUIT CONVERSATIONS
This Podcast with Regan Ralph, the founding president and CEO of the Fund for Global Human Rights - a deep dive into the state of human rights in the world today, how Regan sees it moving forward and what work she is doing to create change at the grassroots level.
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BREAKING THE STARVATION cycle
This research project finds that most funders provide inadequate coverage of their grantees’ administration costs and very little unrestricted support. The report by Humentum draws on surveys, interviews and financial reviews with more than 80 NGOs in ten countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
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This piece caught our eye as a funder collaborative - how philanthropy networks have adapted to the COVID age. Networks seems to be the answer. (The full article is only available to subscribers of Alliance Magazine)
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Finally, a question: what if funders approached grantmaking in the way social movement leaders approach their most pressing challenges? In environments defined by uncertainty, sometimes sticking to the plan means squandering big opportunities. Is Philanthropy really listening?
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ESSENTIAL LISTENING!
BETWEEN THE LINES
In this episode of the IDS podcast, John Gaventa interviews Ben Jackson and Harriet Lamb authors of the book: From Anger to Action: Inside the Global Movements for Social Justice, Peace and a Sustainable Planet. This podcast and book will be of interest to social activists and anyone interested in social movements, global change, and civil society.
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FOCUSED TOPIC OF THE WEEK
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RESPONSIBILITY AROUND THE CLIMATE agenda
Humanity’s future depends on our collective response to climate change, but we need to address shortcomings in actions to date: An important part of the climate funding is lost to corruption; black, Indigenous, rural and migrant women, and others who live in the intersections, lack represention in national and international decision-making and policy-making forums; and environmental defenders face repression aimed to silencing them.
Public participation and access to information and knowledge are essential to design and apply effective climate policies. One step to greater accountability, is the Escazu Agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean, which the multilateral development banks and OECD are recognizing as useful not just for civil society but for investors. The implementation of these tools and development of similar tools in all regions is a high priority.
Two new sets of guidance on managing human rights risks in the context of climate change. First, recommendations for governments on fulfilling human rights obligations defined under legally binding treaties. Second, a primer for businesses operating wind and solar projects on how they can protect rights of local communities.
Land rights are foundational to climate responses. Landesa has deepened its engagement with climate change actors to ensure that land rights, and particularly the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and women, play a central role in future efforts to mitigate and adapt to change.
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While the European Parliament calls for EU rules and strategy to counter shrinking space for civil society in Europe, intimidation against human rights activists is all to obvious in Indonesia, as documented by the CIVICUS Monitor.
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Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen spells out why vetted civil society must have data access alongside academia to tech platform data under the European Union’s proposed Digital Services Act.
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Liberia: U.S. Lawmaker Gregory Meeks Leads Delegation to Liberia; Accountability and Governance High on the Agenda
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Can Sanctions Be Smart? The Costs and Benefits of Economic Coercion
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The Climate Crisis is a (Neo) Capitalist Crisis
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Africa’s Fossil-Fuel Trap: A Response to “The Divestment Delusion”
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Skoll World Forum - April 6–8, 2022
Upcoming Events | UNEP - UN Environment Programme- April, 2022
Call for papers in advance of the Shifting Narratives Conference on the political economy of public services, spending and production – 10 April 2022
COP1 to the Escazú Agreement – 20-22 April 2022
International Convention on Anti-Corruption, Good Governance, and Human Rights – April 21-22, 2022 (Boston, MA)
World Justice Forum 2022: Building More Just Communities – May 31 -June 2, 2022 (The Hague, Netherlands)
Natural Resource Governance and Energy Transition: Policies and Practice course - 23 May to 22 July
United Philanthropy Forum – July 18-20, 2022
SVRI Forum – September 19- 23, 2022
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Michael Jarvis,
TAI's Executive Director
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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
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