TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly | Development in Reverse. The Cost of a Broken System

By TAI (Role at TAI)
Meir-Jacob-Getty.jpeg
TAI Weekly

April 14, 2026

Dear readers,

TAI will be following events at the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings this week and then the following Financing for Development Forum in New York. Expect lots of attention to mounting fiscal pressures, the need to follow through on last year’s Sevilla Commitment. Plus, we’ll be listening for the updates on IFI sustainability and accountability framework reviews, hoping there will not be too much backsliding.

In the meantime, here is the usual packed Weekly with everything from justice and rule of law assessments to frontline views on the energy transition to the tenth anniversary of the Panama Papers. Plus, jobs, events and funder tools.

Happy reading!

TAI team

What's New

The election results in Hungary are boosting discussions of combating authoritarian tendencies. Anne Applebaum welcomes the sign that illiberalism is not inevitable, while Jan-Werner Mueller looks to lessons from Poland on how the new Magyar government will need to face booby traps left by 16 years of Fidesz rule.

The Philippines has taken a significant step toward procurement transparency, integrating a Beneficial Ownership Registry into its enhanced Open Data Portal. Under the country's new Government Procurement Reform Act, ultimate beneficial owners of bidders are now publicly disclosed alongside procurement records, enabling civil society to monitor for collusion and corrupt practices. 

A new World Bank report assesses the state of Kenya's justice system following the 2010 constitutional reforms, using the JUPITER methodology to benchmark judicial access, efficiency, and quality. The assessment identifies gaps between the legal framework and its implementation and offers data-informed recommendations. 

A new policy brief from Accountability Lab Pakistan examines the shrinking space for civil society in the country, where political centralization, regulatory pressure, and declining donor support are leaving critical public issues without meaningful civic scrutiny. The brief argues that issue-based coalitions offer a practical pathway for civil society to restore collective voice. 

Amid growing concern about weak and unethical leadership globally, Oby Ezekwesili and Blair Glencorse argue that Africa is emerging as a hub for values-driven leadership development. Institutions such as the African Leadership University, the African Leadership Academy, and the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance are rethinking leadership pipelines by prioritizing integrity, accountability, and real-world impact, offering a model with global relevance. 

As governments move to procure AI systems, Kaye Sklar offers a practical framework for assessing whether public institutions are ready, and flags the governance risks that arise when they are not. 

Heading into the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, Senegal finds itself at the center of controversy over what is reported as a secret borrowing of $870 million from the Africa Finance Corporation, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Société Générale. The government partially denies the claim, but questions about debt transparency and fiscal governance are mounting. 

A new report from the Institute for Journalism and Social Change and Noor, the feminist think tank, documents how the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, fueled by leading tech billionaires, has channeled millions of dollars toward organizations actively undermining human rights worldwide.

The “Panama Papers” are marking their tenth anniversary. The landmark investigation, coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, exposed how the ultra-wealthy used offshore shell companies to hide fortunes from tax authorities. A decade on, prosecutions are still unfolding, most recently with a former Mossack Fonseca partner facing charges in Germany. In Colombia, a special feature in Spanish by El Espectador and CONNECTAS looks back at how the exposé enabled the government to recover nearly 85.4 billion pesos. 

After the collapse of USAID, many expected a wave of mergers among global development NGOs. A Devex analysis finds that a lack of precedent and financial barriers mean nonprofit combinations remain rare, despite continued pressure on the sector. Scaling the support offered by Civic Strength Partners for those exploring mergers and partnerships might help. 

The Liberties 2026 Rule of Law Report finds that most EU Member States are failing to act on the European Commission's anti-corruption recommendations, with minimal progress in tackling corruption as part of a broader stagnation across rule of law indicators.

Analyzing 51 Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project investigations across 23 countries, this report maps the mechanics of state capture and identifies investigative journalism as a critical countervailing force. Published by the University of Sussex's Centre for the Study of Corruption, the paper shows how journalism covers the informal, often legal methods through which private interests seize public institutions.

A new brief by Rosie McGee, John Gaventa, and Alex Shankland draws on research among frontline communities in the global North and South to center their perspectives on the energy transition. The piece published in the Institute of Development Studies offers recommendations for building more just energy futures. 

This piece in the Financial Times shares new information that reveals that major pharmaceutical companies saved at least $5 billion in US taxes last year by assigning profits to low-tax jurisdictions overseas. 

A new “Funders' Guide to Understanding the Toxic Fossil Economy”, developed by the Center for International Environmental Law and the Health & Environment Funders Network in collaboration with EDGE Funders Alliance, offers a systems-level look at the fossil fuel economy, its ongoing expansion, and its cascading impacts on climate, health, food systems, and justice. 

Tax justice takes the spotlight at Skoll Week 2026 on Thursday, April 23. As part of The Sidebar, TAI will be participating in Funding What Funds Everything: Why Tax Justice Matters, a discussion on how tax policy drives funding for climate, democracy, inequality, education, and health.

From Our Members

MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: In his 2026 President's Essay, John Palfrey argues that in a time of disruption, philanthropy must move beyond crisis response toward reexamining broken systems and reimagining a better future. Drawing on lessons from the pandemic and ongoing global challenges, the Foundation emphasizes fast, flexible support, addressing root causes of inequality, and investing in bold, long-term ideas and leaders. 

TAI SECRETARIAT: TAI is hosting two conversations on advancing women's substantive political participation. On April 16, a funder-only call will offer space to reflect on how to support women's real political influence, beyond representation. On April 30, we will bring funders and practitioners together for open discussion grounded in field experience. Both sessions build on “Changing the Rules of the Game: A Funders' Guide to Advancing Women's Substantive Political Participation” and “Beyond Beijing: Rethinking Women's Political Participation,” and will explore what it takes to shift the systems that limit women's political power.

ESSENTIAL READING:

Samina Anwary reminds us that how a project ends matters as much as how it begins. She suggests that trust-based networks built over long funding cycles are what keep civic space open when funding shrinks. Her piece is a reminder that exits deserve as much intentionality as launches. 

TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

Alliance Magazine reached out to its global network of philanthropy experts to survey the forces shaping the sector in 2026, from funding models to watch, to gaps in the field, and predictions for the year ahead.

Phil Buchanan, President of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, makes the case for higher payout rates from perpetual foundations. While defending the long-time-horizon model, he argues that foundations committed to the long game must nonetheless move more resources now if they want to be credible actors in urgent struggles. 

Africa is the world's most generous continent, with 72% of people donating and giving representing 1.54% of income, according to Charities Aid Foundation data cited by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Yet a structural paradox persists: 55% of that generosity flows directly to people in need and 40% through religious channels, meaning most giving moves through informal networks. Is that a problem? 

Nicole Marie Bergeron argues that the layers of process that foundations impose on grantees, applications, budgets, logic models, quarterly reports, and site visits consume a staggering share of the resources they are supposed to deploy. She calls this philanthropy's drag coefficient, and argues it is time someone started measuring it. 

ESSENTIAL LISTENING:

Taxcast host Naomi Fowler speaks with economist Tasnia Hussain about the most effective ways to tax emissions and address carbon inequality.

Focused Topic of the Week

Financing the Future or Funding the Past? Development at a Crossroads

The recently launched “Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2026: Implementing the Sevilla Commitment” delivers a sobering verdict on global development progress: rather than advancing the promises made in 2015, the world is moving rapidly in reverse. Released ahead of the 2026 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development, the report identifies a dangerous combination of global fragmentation and an acute financing squeeze facing developing countries as the primary drivers of this regression. The ambitions of sustainable development, it seems, are colliding head-on with the realities of a fractured international order.

Nowhere is this collision more visible than in the structural barriers that prevent development gains from reaching those who need them most. Dr. Muhammad Asif Khan's examination of elite capture in Pakistan illustrates how concentrated power structures systematically block meaningful public participation in decision-making. When the levers of policy and resource allocation remain in the hands of a privileged few, financing commitments, however well-intentioned at the international level, become instruments that reinforce existing inequalities rather than dismantle them. Pakistan's experience is far from isolated.

Compounding this challenge is a deeper problem of language and discourse. In a sharp provocation, Chris Ogunmodede argues that African governance debates have developed a language problem, one where recycled platitudes stand in for genuine analysis. Clichés about corruption, leadership failure, demographic dividends and "global best practices" circulate endlessly among academics, donors, NGOs and policymakers, generating the appearance of understanding while explaining very little. As Ogunmodede puts it, "too many people talk about African politics without saying anything." He argues that African societies themselves bear the cost of that comfortable vagueness.

Taken together, these three perspectives point to a single, urgent conclusion: sustainable development will not be unlocked by financing commitments alone. It demands honest reckoning with who controls resources, who shapes narratives, and whose voices are structurally excluded from both. 

HAVE YOUR SAY

Swedwatch, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, and the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre are inviting organizations, activists, and movements working on rights-respecting business practice to complete a survey on the impact of global funding cuts in their field. Available in eight languages. Deadline: April 29, 2026.

JOBS

CALLS

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

SUBSCRIBE TO TAI WEEKLY

Don't miss our latest publications Subscribe now to get our notifications