Proving the Theory – Five years of celebrating Good Governance Heroes in Somaliland
We catch people doing the right thing, then “name and fame” them for it, all on the assumption that telling the stories of do-gooders is contagious and encourages others to do the same. After 14 years, and 15 locations, we added Integrity Icon Somaliland as the 16th to spread the stories of public servants who […]
¿Quién vigila las reglas del juego? Nuestra experiencia haciendo observación ciudadana
Durante el 2025 acompañamos a la comunidad de Yuguelito, en Iztapalapa, en su primera ocasión involucrándose en el Presupuesto Participativo (PP) de la Ciudad de México. Sin embargo, las cosas no salieron como esperábamos. El proyecto propuesto por la comunidad fue rechazado bajo argumentos poco claros y contradictorios, entre los que destacaba la condición de […]
Who watches the rules of the game? Our experience as citizen observers
Throughout 2025, we accompanied the community of Yuguelito in Iztapalapa as they participated for the first time in Mexico City’s Participatory Budgeting (PB). Things did not go as expected, however. The project the community put forward was rejected on vague and contradictory grounds, most notably the settlement’s irregular status, which is not an official eligibility […]
No one migrates with their voice untouched
“What if we tried turning your stories into songs?” We threw the question into the air in our workspace, which was actually the chapel at Casa del Migrante Arcángel Rafael, where we decided to develop the Music4Change pilot. The response was far from enthusiastic. Some people laughed, as if to say, “That’s not for me.” […]
Music: the most powerful weapon that does no harm
There are things no explanation can reach, but music can. I learned that while traveling alone with my guitar, at marches, in spaces shared with other artists, in the way a song can open a conversation, name a wound, or touch something that sometimes has no words. Long before I worked with methodologies or programs, […]
Lo que la comunidad pidió, y lo que el sistema (no) respondió
[Lee la primera parte de esta historia: Yuguelito: Vivienda, Autogestión y Rendición de Cuentas] La primera parte de esta historia terminó con una promesa implícita: más de 250 encuestas completadas, un equipo de once Agentes Comunitarios de Campo, con el Yuguelito en el centro de todo, y la certeza de que lo que vendría después […]