The Open Budget Survey for 2010 finds that 74 of the 94 countries assessed fail to meet basic standards of transparency and accountability with national budgets. This opens the door to abuse and inappropriate and inefficient use of public money. However, the 2010 survey also reveals that improvement is possible in a relatively short time …
MENLO PARK, Calif. – From strengthening government services in the developing world to supporting investigative reporting here at home, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has announced over $47 million in new grants to 137 organizations. Organizations receiving grants ranged across the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the world in five of the Foundation’s …
The Hewlett Foundation’s Global Development Program makes grants to improve the lives of the poor in select countries around the world. To achieve this goal, the Program invests in several areas critical for economic growth—in particular, government transparency and accountability, and the quality of education. This month, the Hewlett newsletter explores transparency and accountability with a focus …
“Foundations” is a series of informal question-and-answer sessions with employees and others affiliated with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to give them an opportunity to explain their work. C. R. Hibbs is the program officer and managing director for the Hewlett Foundation’s Global Development Program office in Mexico City, where since 2004 she has …
When Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, “Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant” he was talking about the virtues of transparency on big business. But the same might be said of international aid. And sunlight doesn’t just disinfect; it helps things grow and prosper. It is to further just such transparency that Publish …
What began three years ago as the crusade of two young Mexican legal activists to exonerate a man wrongly convicted of murder has evolved into an international media phenomena that the two activists hope will spur reforms to the Mexican legal system. The vehicle for the transformation is the film Presumed Guilty, a ninety-minute documentary …
When I joined The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation last year as the director of its education program, my colleagues and I took a hard look at public education in the United States, our own grantmaking, and the lessons we’ve learned. In the process, we talked to lots of smart people, read everything we could …
MENLO PARK, Calif. – Elizabeth Peters, an attorney who is an expert in tax laws affecting foundations and charities, will join The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as associate general counsel, Hewlett officials announced today. Peters currently is an associate with the firm of Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, D.C., where her practice focuses on tax-exempt …
The teenage girl in surgical scrubs wanders the periphery of the classroom at the Thunder Road Adolescent Treatment Center in Oakland, California. Ignoring the teacher, she scowls and professes to study the posters along the wall. Teacher Kharyshi Wiginton returns the favor and ignores the girl. “Check it out, ladies!” Wiginton, who grew up on …
“Foundations” is a series of informal question-and-answer sessions with employees and others affiliated with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to give them an opportunity to explain their work. Denis Udall is an officer in the Education Program. In this position, he manages a portfolio of grants that supports college readiness and community colleges and …