Events

16 October 2025

Taxing Smarter after Aid: Accountability, Equity and Public Finance in a New Global Reality

Join the ICTD, Accountability Lab, and the Trust, Accountability, and Inclusion Collaborative during the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings for an afternoon of discussion on pressing fiscal and fairness issues. Please register here to join us in person.

Venue: Open Gov Hub, 1100 13 Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20005

Time: 3:30 – 5:00pm, followed by a happy hour

To join us virtually, please register here. 

Abstract

With sharply receding aid and rising debt, lower income countries are being pushed to raise more revenue domestically. But how can this be done in ways that are not only effective and feasible, but equitable and accountable? How can development partners engage in what is now the tax era of development? This session brings together perspectives from research, civil society, donors, and government institutions to explore what tax and accountability mean in the post-aid era and how domestic and international actors- including IFIs like the World Bank- can work together to shape more just and resilient public finance systems.

Speakers

  • Introduction: Jean Scrimgeour (co-CEO, Accountability Lab)
  • Moderator: Michael Jarvis (Executive Director, TAI Collaborative)
  • Ceren Ozer (Global Tax Program Manager, World Bank)
  • Savior Mwambwa, (Program Manager, Economic and Climate Prosperity Team, Open Society Foundations)
  • Jeneba Bangura (Commissioner General, National Revenue Authority, Sierra Leone)
  • Vanessa van den Boogaard (Research Fellow, ICTD)
  • Ishmael Zulu (Policy Officer, Tax and Equity, Tax Justice Network Africa)

Watch it here

Relevant Resources

Policy Brief: The Tax Era of Development: Taxing Smarter for Equity, Growth, and Resilience

Website: The Fiscal Space 

Report: Civil Society Engagement in Tax Reform

Report: Civil Society Engagement in Implementing Domestic Tax Policy

Article: Enabling Tax Bargaining: Supporting More Meaningful Tax Transparency and Taxpayer Engagement in Ghana and Sierra Leone

Blog: Tax and Accountability: How to Strengthen the Links? 

The International Budget Partnership’s Tax Equity Initiative

The World Bank’s new Reimagining Public Finance Initiative 

New Fiscal Ecosystems project

Photos

Event Details
Past Event
Date
16 October 2025
Time
-

Savior Mwambwa

Savior Mwambwa is a Program Manager in the Economic and Climate Prosperity team at the Open Society Foundations (OSF) in New York, where he leads a global portfolio of work on international taxation, development finance ( MDBs-NDBs) and green industrial transformation. Savior has over 20 years of experience within the civil society sector and international development dedicated to economic justice issues, particularly tax policy, illicit financial flows, and international financial architecture reform.

Jeneba Bangura

Jeneba Bangura is the Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority in Sierra Leone and a member of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters. A Certified Public Accountant with a Masters degree in Public Administration, she has over 25 years' experience in public and financial policy, including holding leadership roles in New York State and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Ceren Ozer

Ceren Ozer is Senior Economist in the Fiscal Policy Unit, Economic Policy, with the World Bank. She programme manages the Global Tax Program and the Platform for Collaboration on Tax.

Michael Jarvis

Michael Jarvis is the Executive Director of the Trust, Accountability and Inclusion Collaborative, a platform for funder learning and collective action, leveraging over USD 500 million in active grants, at the intersection of climate, democratic and fiscal accountability. An expert in good governance and multi-stakeholder approaches, Michael advises a range of international donors. He is a board member for Publish What You Fund, Accountability Counsel, and Transparency International US.

Vanessa van den Boogaard

Vanessa van den Boogaard is a Research Fellow at ICTD and a Senior Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD thesis on informal revenue generation and statebuilding in Sierra Leone, and has ongoing research on the topic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, and Somalia. Vanessa co-leads ICTD's research programme on informality and tax.

Ishmael Zulu

Ishmael is a Policy Officer working on tax and equity at Tax Justice Network Africa.

Jean Scrimgeour

Jean is the Co-CEO and Chief Innovation and Operations Officer of Accountability Lab. She is a governance specialist with 15 years of experience and established skills in non-profit management, organisational accountability and business development in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Research theme: , ,
Keywords: accountability, equity, taxation
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