Safe, happy and free: does Finland have all the answers?

Justice40, created through a sweeping executive order during President Joe Biden’s first term, is designed to ensure communities deemed disadvantaged receive at least 40% of the benefits of federal climate change and environmental investments. While no single tally of Justice40 spending or its benefits is available thus far, the White House Environmental Justice Scorecard says more than 500 projects have been funded through its efforts.

In an effort to fight government corruption, an initiative called Tracka monitors public spending allocations and holds town hall meetings in communities across Nigeria to educate residents about the budgeting process. The organization has engaged 967 communities and helped hold officials accountable for projects that were funded but never completed, such as an electricity substation in Kawu.

Media Rights Agenda helped a community in Lagos, Nigeria, submit Freedom of Information Act requests to draw attention to the community’s lack of basic amenities like roads and clean water. When government organizations ignored the requests, the organization took legal action and released a documentary about the issue to gain public support.

Grassroots movements made up of ordinary citizens can go a long way in creating change. This article details several initiatives across Ohio that were led by citizens using a combination of lobbying, education, persistence, knowledge of government practices, and organization. Some things that were achieved using these methods are wage reimbursements and increased bus access.

Volunteer groups such as Citizen Historians and Save Our Signs are documenting artifacts and displays at museums and national parks as the Trump administration moves forward with plans to modify or remove vital historical information. So far, Citizen Historians has taken more than 31,000 photographs in the Smithsonian museum system, while Save Our Signs has collected more than 10,000 photos of signs in national parks.

Urban Alert is a civic-tech organization that aims to hold government officials accountable through broadcasting corruption complaints on the radio and social media, documenting evidence of uncompleted public projects, and filing Freedom of Information Act requests. The organization has reportedly helped resolve more than 300 complaints, including issues related to electrical infrastructure, road construction, and health care systems.

Human Development Initiatives trains community members to monitor school infrastructure projects eligible for government education funding and gather information to present to the state board when projects are not completed. As a result of the community tracking efforts, several schools have received significant upgrades.

The Udeme project trains student journalists to track government constituency projects and write investigative reports holding officials accountable when planned projects are stalled or poorly executed. The participants, called U-monitors, also meet with local community members to inform them about the budget process and help them track constituency projects themselves.

The Resource Center for Human Rights and Civic Education has trained more than 250 youth to help fight government corruption by tracking abandoned infrastructure projects and confronting officials with their findings. Since 2020, 126 abandoned projects have been tracked, and 78 of those have since been completed.

The UDEME Monitor program trains student journalists to track and report on transparency and accountability around publicly-funded projects. The team has produced roughly 1,000 stories exposing corruption and gaps in implementation and has worked directly with community residents to raise awareness around procurement processes.