Karen Brock

"Wantam": Kenyans' Slang for Just One Presidential Term, and Why it Matters - Accountability Research Center Idah Knowles on Wantam as political language with implications for incumbency norms and democratic accountability.

#WanTam started as slang in Kenya to mean “One Term”

Now it’s reshaping how time in office is understood. In my latest @arc-au.bsky.social keyword,I examine #WanTam as a political language/expression & what that shift signals for democratic accountability

accountabilityresearch.org/wantam-why-i...

New Accountability Note: Rachel Nadelman and Anushka Bose share insights from a fellowship program that supported eight advocates to work on advancing accountability in development finance. French: bit.ly/4umfjW0 Spanish: bit.ly/4cF8nNt English: bit.ly/46RbkXC

Primo Levi

Open Parliaments for Inclusive and Participatory Oversight in Africa - Accountability Research Center How are advocates of open parliaments redefining openness as an evolving process that centers equity, participation, and institutional responsiveness?

New blog by @IdahKnowles: Open parliament - based on principles of transparency, access to information, & public participation - needs to be more than a promise, more than a checklist
bit.ly/44wrbJ9
#Parliamentarians #30june #ParliamentarismDay

USAID's Locally‐Led Development Agenda: Open Government and Independent Monitoring USAID's ambitious localization agenda between 2021–2024—suspended in early 2025—aimed to provide more funding for local organizations, strengthen local systems, and co-create with local communities. ...

𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆-𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿-𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁. Taking stock of USAID’s past efforts could inform future locally-led approaches by international donors. New article Jeff Hallock, @jonathanfox707.bsky.social, Nick Chen: bit.ly/3GNowTt

Farmer movement oversight of the Mexican Government’s scaled-up fertilizer program How can national policies to promote food self-sufficiency also enable agroecological transitions? Mexico’s recent agricultural policy priorities shifted from larger, irrigated farmers to focus mai...

Full article: Farmer movement oversight of the Mexican Government’s scaled-up fertilizer program

Jonathan Fox & Carlos García Jiménez

Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

New Accountability Note! How can civil society network and an official state oversight body interface for a shared agenda of systemic education reform? Joy Aceron and Abrehet Gebremedhin share a case study from the Philippines bit.ly/4f3yVHm

With the correct link:
www.eventbrite.ie/e/dsai-autum...

🌱 After 8 years of volunteer work, we need your help to keep Agroecology Map alive! 💚 Support our open-source platform with a small donation via Ko-Fi ☕ and get listed on our friends page! 🙌 Thank you for growing agroecology with us! 🌍

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📌 "Violence, Conflict & Changing Orders"
Half-day conference exploring:
✅ Evolving global conflict patterns
✅ Emerging ideas & methods
✅ The future of the field

🎤@possibilist.bsky.social, Jonathan Goodhand, Zoe Marriage & more

🗓11 June @ 2–5pm
📍BGLT, SOAS
Register: shorturl.at/RKX3E

A few reflections from @duncangreenlse.bsky.social on what leads to research impact - I like the bit about the importance of getting the right unit of analysis: blogs.lse.ac.uk/activism-inf...

DC friends, my colleague Judy Gearhart is convening this discussion May 15 - lessons from new research on labor organizing in the seafood industry in Ecuador, Ghana, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Mexico - will be inspiring and interesting

🔔 Upcoming Webinar ⏰

The Future of Climate Activism with sociologist @fisherdanar.bsky.social, Drilled executive editor @amywestervelt.bsky.social, and John Paul Mejia of the @sunrisemvmt.bsky.social. Moderated by CCNow's very own @theresariley.bsky.social.

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Audit institutions are an essential part of anti-corruption mechanisms. Sowmya Kidambi shares experience from India at forum of partnerships for anti-corruption. Learn about history of participatory auditing in India from her earlier blog with @suchipan.bsky.social & Nikhil Dey
bit.ly/41mzjfn

A group of indigenous men and women standing beneath a tree

"As researchers interested in health & social justice, our role is to mediate between ways of knowing & learning in communities, & how that can be translated into the language of academia, which influences public policy."
Walter Flores in the Connecting Citizens to Science Podcast
bit.ly/4hUe1u5

She was the best, always. Such a loss.

They show just how brutal these cuts are likely to be relative to previous cuts. We will soon be spending less real aid as a share of our GNI than Thatcher. Shame on Labour @anneliesedoddsmp.bsky.social

UK Universities are reluctant to break a toxic social media relationship Andy Tattersall presents new data on the extent to which UK universities are continuing to engage with X and shifting their activities to alternative social media platforms. Whether universities sh…

Academic activity on #X continues to fall, and #Bluesky continues to eat into X’s share of #SocialMedia.

But UK universities are still reluctant to cut ties with X altogether.

@andytattersall.bsky.social asks why on ‪@lseimpactblog.bsky.social‬ 👇

Remember: There are many ways to finance spending more money, cutting the relatively small aid budget is symbolic and ideological, not driven by actual budgetary demands

Ten reasons not to use AI for development and ten routes to more responsible use - Institute of Development Studies The UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer says we should be mainlining AI directly into every part of government and the economy. The Foreign Secretary says he is planning to bring ‘AI into the heart of our ...

🚨 10 Ethical Reasons NOT to use AI in your work: A short thread🧵

1. Stolen Data
2. Biased Data
3. Labour Exploitation
4. No Transparency
5. Biased Algorithms
6. Prone to Error and Lies
7. No Accountability
8. Dehumanising
9. Colonialism
10. Climate Impact

www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/ten...

Me please! Comms and publications at the Accountability Research Center, American University