Resources & Ideas
The Governance Action Hub gathers ideas and knowledge resources from across the world highlighting new insights that help to push the envelope of governance reform.
Featured Resources and Ideas
Cooling as a public good: Lessons from London Climate Action Week
Tracy Jooste shares notes from London Climate Action Week on why cooling — like clean water or safe streets — needs to be treated as a public good, not just...
Trust: The Reinforcement of Good Governance
Reflections from Governance Action Hub and Action Aid Zambia Climate Governance convening
Making Democracy Irresistible: Katy Rubin on Theatre, Trust, and Real Policy Change
What would democracy look like if more people actually wanted to take part?
Rethinking Development: Reflections from the Governance Explorers Network convening in Nairobi
A year into the Governance Explorers’ Network, deeper questions are emerging. Tracy Jooste, Associate Director of the Governance Action Hub, reflects on power, knowledge, and what needs to change.
Director's Corner
Beyond the Playbook: Navigating Territorial Complexity and Finding the Others
Closing Keynote Address — Day of Innovation, Primer Encuentro Internacional en Gestión Social y Sostenibilidad (GESS 2026), Lima, Peru
02. Governance for Whom?
What if governance was not something done to people, but with them?
Ideas
Emerging thoughts from the Governance trenches. Here, we collect blogs published by the Hub’s team and other thought leaders.
De la pobreza energética a la acción colectiva: Un modelo sistémico para desarrollo en La Guajira
En enero de 2025, en un diálogo con 28 organizaciones con diversos sectores, los participantes fueron claros: sin articulación multiactor, sin acuerdos claros sobre operación y gestión comunitaria...
How a coalition is trying to save a city
What the Joburg Crisis Alliance can teach us about civic power, political accountability, and reimagining the future of South Africa’s most important metropolis.
Centering Community Voices: An Interview with Samke Phewa
Informal settlements are often overlooked, but not by Samke Pewa of CORC, a member of the Governance Explorers Network at the Governance Action Hub. Through community-led data...
Cuando la transición verde nace desde la vocación agrícola: Aprendizajes del territorio
Este texto hace parte de la serie de blogs del proyecto FortaleceTEJ, un conjunto de publicaciones sobre cómo comunidades rurales del Cesar están construyendo su propia...
State Capture: From Exposure to Strategy, Reflections from OTT 2025
At the OTT Conference 2025 in Johannesburg, the Governance Action Hub, New South Institute, and On Think Tanks convened a pivotal session on an urgent governance challenge:
Collaborating for Responsiveness? Asivikelane’s Evolving Approach to Community Engagement with Government to Improve Service Delivery in South Africa – Part 1
How do you shift a system stuck in cycles of exclusion and unresponsiveness? This first blog in a two-part series by Brendan Halloran introduces Asivikelane, a South African civic initiative...
Collaborating for Responsiveness? Asivikelane’s Evolving Approach to Community Engagement with Government – Part 2
Collaboration with government sounds good – but does it really deliver results for marginalized communities? In this second blog, Brendan Halloran unpacks the lessons, risks, and tensions that come with...
Unlocking the Transformative Potential of Energy Communities
Blog | Explore how community-led models—from solar-powered villages in Morocco to grassroots cooperatives in Costa Rica and Brazil—are transforming the...
Voces Wayuu: Sostenibilidad de las Comunidades Energéticas
Este es el tercer blog de una serie sobre nuestro trabajo en La Guajira junto a la Universidad de La Guajira,...
Rethinking the role and strategies of think tanks
Blog | This article was part of the publication of the 2024 On Think Tanks State of the Sector Report. Explore the report and resources here.
Energy Communities: Collaborative efforts for a just transition
Blog | Editor’s note: The Governance Action Hub is evaluating how it can add value to existing local initiatives in Colombia to improve governance and enhance citizen participation, as well...
Harnessing local systems: Energy Transition in Colombia
Blog | Editor’s note: The Governance Action Hub is currently assessing how to add value to existing local efforts towards energy transition in Colombia, with a focus on justice and...
State Capture Matters: Challenging corruption and a new dataset
Blog | Editor’s note: This blog is part of the Governance Action Hub’s efforts to leverage evidence and data for action, focusing on one of its key themes: state capture and...
Making Colombia’s energy transition a just one for all
Blog | The Governance Action Hub aims to convene and put local change agents in the driver’s seat to analyze local challenges, co-create solutions and take action collectively. In March...
Strengthening Local Coalitions for Change: What’s Next?
Blog | A few weeks ago, the R4D-led Governance Action Hub hosted its official launch event. Since then, the team has been preparing for initial country-level engagements and designing a...
Reimagining Mining Revenue in Peru: Turning Moquegua’s Wealth into Sustainable Development
Last July, the region of Moquegua in Southern Peru became the stage for a powerful conversation about the future of mining wealth. More than 130 people—community leaders, students, business...
Tools and Toolkits
These are collections of insight and how-to information that inform the way the Governance Action Hub and partners promote governance reform.
Human Learning Systems: A practical guide for the curious
Tool | READ THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: A new approach to public services that focuses on learning, experimentation, and system change rather than traditional management models. This guide is...
The Strategy Testing Workbook: Politically-Smart Adaptive Programming
Tool | READ THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Strategies to design and implement responsive good governance programs that can adapt to a changing landscape.
Collaborative Learning Networks Measurement & Learning Framework
READ THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Understanding how to measure the impact of collaborative learning networks in driving systems change through peer-to-peer learning.
All Resources and Ideas
Systems Mapping: identifying opportunity for change
WATCH THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Visualizing and analyzing complex systems, including relationships between actors, processes, and structures. Learn how systems mapping can be used for evaluation or program design.
The Audacity Deficit in Natural Resource Governance
Paper | READ THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Understanding the insights that informed the concept and the design of the Governance Action Hub.
Making anti-corruption real: Power Capabilities & Interest Approach
READ THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Rethinking anti-corruption strategies and exploring a new approach that focuses on power dynamics, capabilities, and interests to make anti-corruption efforts more effective.
Community Led Development (CLD) Evaluation Tool
Tool | USE THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Assessing whether your programs are aligned with the principles of community led development and how they might be approved.
Learning health systems: pathways to progress
READ THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Understanding how learning processes can strengthen health systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and how to institutionalize learning to improve decision-making, adaptation,...
Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation
READ THIS IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN: Understanding why many reform initiatives fail in developing countries and learning about the Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach to overcoming these challenges.
Governance Action Spotlight
The Governance Action Spotlights showcase diverse local governance efforts and initiatives globally. We also highlight innovative and transformative work happening at the grassroots level, in order to foster a broader understanding and appreciation for effective governance practices worldwide.
Join the Governance Explorers
We are bringing together a global network of people eager to rethink governance and influence local, national and global debates.
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"The question is how do you get the good idea to reach the right people to make change?"