Strengthening civil society and citizen participation is of utmost importance. Anabel Cruz, Founding Director of the Communication and Development Institute (ICD), has spent three decades doing that work. 

In the last episode of Voices of Open Government, Anabel tells us how her experience fleeing her home country of Uruguay as a political refugee inspired her to work on democratic initiatives and why strengthening civil society is crucial in our current political climate.

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Young people have become increasingly influential in the government space, pushing campaigns and leveraging powerful tools such as social media. 

Ebenezar Wikina has spent his life advocating for positive change. 

Today Ebenezar tells us how he has managed to engage young people in civic and governmental  issues that affect their everyday lives.

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Today we’ll take a look at  Estonia, a country that is successfully building open government initiatives after being occupied by Russia for over half a century.

Our guest is Taimar Peterkop, the country’s Secretary of State and he tells us how he was inspired to dedicate his life to public service after his country reclaimed its independence in 1991.

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We are experiencing unprecedented heat waves, floods and droughts in many places around the world. The Escazu Agreement aims to address the lack of environmental democracy in the region and protect environmental defenders.

Today’s guest is Felipe Pino, an environmental lawyer based in Chile. He explains how his organization is working to implement Escazu and why this agreement is so significant to advance environmental democracy.

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Gender-based violence and femicide are serious global problems, but they are especially acute in Latin America. The region is home to 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world, according to the United Nations. Yet, official government data on gender-based violence and femicide is often absent or incomplete.

Today’s guest is gender activist and researcher Helena Suárez Val. She created a publicly available database that compiles lethal gender-related violence cases in Uruguay . In our conversation, Helena takes us back to Latin America’s history of women’s activism and shares what led her to create her own database. We also discuss the role of the state on gender-based violence and why data is important to change public perception and policy.

If you want to learn more about Helena Suárez Val’s work visit feminicidiouruguay.net and datoscontrafeminicidio.net

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Transparency about beneficial ownership prevents companies from operating in secrecy. Yet, most countries don’t require the disclosure of beneficial owners.

Today’s guest is Andrej Leontiev, Managing Partner of Taylor Wessing in the Slovak Republic, and one of the main leaders of this movement.

You can learn more about Andrej’s work and other initiatives his law firm is working on here.

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The right to access information is a critical component of open government and democracy. Citizens armed with information can participate in decision-making. And they can make governments more efficient and accountable.

Aruna Roy has dedicated her entire life to ensuring citizens are empowered by public information. She is the founder of a non-party political organization that mobilizes collective action in order to secure the rights of the rural poor called MKSS.

In today’s episode Aruna tells us how she contributed to passing the Right to Information Act in India and why her fight isn’t over.

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Civic space is the underpinning for open government, allowing people to - among other things - speak freely and advocate for change without fear of government reprisal or violence. Yet, it is eroding globally. According to CIVICUS–a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening civil society–only 3.1 percent of the world’s population now live in countries with open civic space.

Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova has spent her career shedding light on corrupt practices in her home country of Azerbaijan. In this episode, Khadija shares how her reporting on government corruption led to blackmail, intrusive surveillance, and unjust imprisonment. We also learn about what we can do to create a space for journalists to hold power to account without fear of retaliation.

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