Incubating change-makers

U4 Issue

Incubating change-makers

Youth-driven innovative approaches to accountability in Nepal

Through their innovative ideas, an empowered youth have the potential to hold governments accountable and work towards the reduction of corruption. Incubator-type programmes can turn these ideas into solutions for implementation as anti-corruption measures. However, assumptions about how such programmes should be funded need to be re-thought as improved funding structures can drive more successful accountability projects.

3 March 2020

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Main points

Youth-driven, innovative projects with alternative definitions of outcomes and measurement are increasingly important for addressing intractable corruption and accountability challenges.
Idea incubators empower and give youth the flexibility and space to fail and learn without the fear of losing funds.
There is significant potential in incubator-type programmes to strengthen work aimed at increasing accountability and reducing corruption.
The development of innovative ideas is not determined by the presence or lack of seed funding. The lack of such funding has led to a more diverse group of participants and a wider variety of innovative ideas.
Assumptions about how programmes should be funded need to be re-thought when creating innovative approaches to corruption and accountability challenges.

By

Jenny BentleyExecutive director of Tapriza

Saul MullardSenior Adviser

Topics

Civil society

Cite this publication

Bentley, J.; Mullard, S. (2020) Incubating change-makers. Youth-driven innovative approaches to accountability in Nepal. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Issue 2020:5)

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About the authors

Jenny Bentley

Jenny holds a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Zürich. She has been conducting ethnographic research in the Eastern Himalayas (Nepal, India) since 2005. In addition to academic work, she has had a long engagement in the development NGO sector in the Himalayas and beyond. She is currently the executive director of Tapriza, a Swiss NGO supporting a school project in Dolpo, Nepal.

Saul Mullard

Saul Mullard is a senior adviser at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre and a civil society specialist with a background in historical sociology, development studies, and South Asian studies. His research interests include the relationship between corruption and climate change and the role of local communities and indigenous peoples in addressing corruption and environmental protection. Mullard holds a doctorate and master’s in South and Inner Asian Studies from the University of Oxford, as well as a BA in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

Disclaimer

All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Keywords

Nepal, youth, citizen engagement, civil society, accountability

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