TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly | Democracy and the Test of Good Governance

By TAI (Role at TAI)
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TAI Weekly

October 13, 2026

Dear readers,

As the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings get going in Bangkok, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and Transparency International offer a timely reminder that governance, transparency, and accountability should be central to IMF lending programs. Their new commentary calls for stronger fiscal transparency, governance assessments, and meaningful civil society participation in economic reforms.

Plus, we have all the latest news research, jobs, events and funder developments, of course, ranging from harnessing AI for investigations to civic space and climate interlinkages to the latest from around the world on democratic practice.

Happy reading!

TAI team

What's New 

Alliance Magazine reports that the US-based Wallace Global Fund will spend down its entire $54 million endowment to support democracy, human rights, and environmental protection. The fund also urges other philanthropies to increase their payouts, arguing that 10% should be the minimum annual payout for funders responding to today's challenges.

Journalists in Africa and South America are using AI to map secret groups involved in rainforest mining. This piece in Global Investigative Journalism Network opens new doors  for investigating hidden networks and strengthening natural resource governance.

How do expert bureaucrats preserve their autonomy when political leaders seek greater control? A new Policy & Politics article examines how Slovak public servants responded to political pressure following the election of a populist right government in 2023. The research explores how officials renegotiate their professional roles under illiberal rule.

In Foreign Policy, Suzanne Nossel argues that pluralism should be central to U.S. efforts to rebuild its human rights credibility after the Trump era, and she draws on the country’s long-standing, if highly imperfect, role as a global defender of rights and freedom. 

Stablecoins are transforming payments, but can financial crime rules designed for traditional banking keep pace? Researchers at RUSI's Centre for Finance and Security propose “financial integrity by design,” with clearer responsibilities for issuers, common blockchain analytics standards, and updated guidance on the FATF Travel Rule. 

A new report from Urgewald alleges that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has a disclosure deficit. Combining the 2025 DFI Transparency Index from Publish What You Fund with findings from the AIIB Watch civil society initiative, it assesses the bank's transparency policies and environmental and human rights risks in its projects. 

Illicit cryptocurrency flows exceeded $158 billion last year, according to TRM Labs estimates. The Economist examines the intersection of AI and crypto fraud in “The AI Boom Meets a New Kind of Crypto Scam”.

Australia's tax authority has published data on companies reporting no corporate income tax paid, including major technology and telecommunications businesses. The Guardian examines the figures and notes that legitimate reasons may explain why some companies pay no tax in a given year. 

Population Action International (PAI) has launched a new report on the challenges facing civil society organizations working in global health, drawing on perspectives from more than 450 organizations across 70+ countries. PAI also shared new polling on support for reproductive freedom and updates on its youth institute for reproductive rights. Explore the latest resources.

On October 22, from 1–2:30 pm UTC, NDI will host a virtual conversation on how governments manage the transfer of power between administrations, examining the benefits and limitations of dedicated transition laws. The discussion will explore experiences from Canada, Ghana, Kenya, the Philippines, Nigeria and Kosovo, offering perspectives on different approaches to this critical democratic process. 

ESSENTIAL LISTENING:

The Continental Shift podcast series examines what the global rush for critical minerals means for North America against a long history of extraction. The series connects with themes explored in TAI's recent Trust and Critical Minerals report. 

From Our Members

PACKARD FOUNDATION: Jamaica Maxwell and Nigel Sizer discuss why civic space is essential to climate progress. Their conversation explores how communities need the freedom to organize, protect their lands, and hold governments and businesses accountable to advance climate action and protect tropical forests. 

MOTT FOUNDATION: In Argentina, Indigenous communities have spent decades fighting to protect their water as lithium mining dries up rivers and more projects are proposed. Mott grantee Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN) is helping communities use multilateral development banks' accountability mechanisms to demand consultation before projects begin. This piece shows how Indigenous communities are bearing the costs of lithium demand.

MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: Is increasing its impact investment allocation by 50%, creating a dedicated pool of $750 million. The capital will support investments that advance its mission and expand the global field of impact investing. 

ESSENTIAL LISTENING:

The latest Tax Justice Network Taxcast explores the challenge of modernizing the global tax system, offering a timely resource for those following debates about international tax rules and financial accountability.

TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

When a funder exits, what responsibilities does it have toward grantee partners? A new TAI blog, “Leaving with Care: Responsible Funder Exits,” explores practical steps such as clear timelines, bridge funding, donor introductions, transition costs, and peer support for planning. It draws on a Devex Pro conversation with Eszter Filippinyi and Cheri-Leigh Erasmus.

What does shifting power mean for funding partnerships? In “Shifting Power: Innovative Approaches to Grantmaking,” Cheri-Leigh Erasmus speaks with Carolyn Dallmann of Humanity United and Lior Ipp of Proximate Futures Fund about how funders can make more room for others to lead while remaining strategic partners.

Civic Strength Partners challenges traditional measures of nonprofit success in “Beyond the Heroic Nonprofit.” The paper argues that the social sector should prioritize sustained social and ecological good over preserving particular institutional forms, with organizations better equipped to adapt to changing conditions.

A new brief from the Myanmar Centre for Civil Society asks whose knowledge shapes international engagement. It examines how professional networks influence which perspectives reach international institutions. It argues that locally led development requires meaningful influence over priorities and decisions, not simply local participation.

ESSENTIAL LISTENING:

Season 9 of RUSI’s Suspicious Transaction Report podcast includes an episode on how illicit finance enables conflict. The conversation explores the links between financial flows and conflict, an important dimension of efforts to tackle corruption and strengthen accountability.

Focused Topic of the Week

Democracy - latest on how it delivers and how to protect it

What makes democracy work? Strong institutions matter, but so do the results they deliver and the opportunities people have to shape decisions. A new study from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, examining four African countries, challenges the assumption that autocratic governments deliver better results than democracies. Its findings point to stronger governance performance among democratic-leaning governments. 

Performance, however, is only one measure of a healthy democracy. People also need meaningful ways to influence public decisions. In Brazil, a new note from the Accountability Research Center traces the evolution of participatory institutions under Lula’s third administration, and it offers a closer look at the mechanisms that connect citizens with government. 

That connection is also at the heart of citizen assemblies, which have become a familiar feature of participatory democracy across Europe. But do they make a lasting difference? In “Europe’s Tide of Citizen Assemblies: Unsung Success or Anticlimax?”, Richard Youngs examines what these initiatives have achieved, as well as their limitations. The question is not simply whether people get a seat at the table, but whether their participation can influence what happens next.

Answering that question means looking beyond individual processes to the wider conditions that allow democracy to thrive. Through its new #DemocracyFutures initiative, Civitates is bringing civil society and philanthropy together to anticipate emerging challenges and develop a shared agenda for democratic renewal. Its first feature, “A New Vision for Democracy”, by Maria Guerra-Arias, makes the case that defending democratic space must go hand in hand with a compelling vision for the future.

Philanthropy can help turn that vision into action. Fundación Avina is calling on Latin American and Caribbean funders to move beyond fragmented grantmaking and coordinate their support for stronger democratic ecosystems. Anaid Alcázar urges foundations to establish shared priorities and reconsider how much they invest in democracy. 

JOBS

CALLS

  • Coefficient Giving has introduced Launchpad Funds, a request for proposals to seed new funds or scale existing ones addressing important, underfunded problems.

  •  The European Endowment for Democracy provides rolling funding for local democracy organizations in the Eastern Partnership, Middle East and North Africa, and Western Balkans & Turkey.

  • The Fifth Element invites blog contributions on systems transformation from practitioners and researchers, drawing on both lived experience and analysis across diverse perspectives.

  • Open Technology Fund, Internet Freedom Fund: Grants of up to $900,000 support tools and research for online privacy, anti-censorship, and digital security. Individuals aged 18+ and organizations worldwide may apply. Full proposals are by invitation after a concept note, with applications accepted on a rolling basis. 

  • Call for Papers: The Authoritarian Ecosystem: The Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Political Studies Association's Autocracy and Regime Change Specialist Group invite abstracts on authoritarianism. Deadline: November 10, 2026.

  • Creative Bureaucracy Festival, Global Call for Participation 2027: Submit projects, research, and creative ideas to challenge public administration. Selected contributions will be presented in Berlin on June 3, 2027. Deadline: December 11, 2026. 

  • OECD Anti-Corruption Research Challenge 2027: Researchers are invited to participate in the 2027 challenge. Deadline: January 10, 2026.

  • School for Thinktankers, On Think Tanks. February 1-5, 2027.

 CALENDAR

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 [email protected] or

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