Is The Accelerator For Me?
The Accelerator is designed for organizations that don't just want to understand social norms — they want to use them. Before applying, review the criteria below to confirm this is the
right fit for both your team and your organization.
TEAM ELIGIBILITY
Teams of 2–3 colleagues put forward by their organization apply together. This is intentional — the Accelerator is designed to build capacity that lives inside your organization long after the program ends.
All team members must:
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Have professional experience in what we call ‘accountable governance’.
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Be comfortable participating in discussions, activities, and written assignments in English.
Each team must include a strategist and a technical specialist.
The strategist is someone with meaningful influence over program design, implementation, policy development, funding decisions, or organizational strategy.
The technical specialist is someone with experience collecting, managing, commissioning, or using qualitative data in research, monitoring and evaluation, learning, or decision-making processes. This doesn't need to be their primary role — what matters is familiarity with gathering or using qualitative insights to understand behavior and inform decisions.
One engages deeply with technical and analytical work. The other ensures insights move from learning into institutional practice. Both are required. Together, they form an internal pair of champions — bridging what the program builds and what the organization can sustain. If your organization sends a third team member, they may be either a strategist or a technical specialist.
We particularly encourage applications from teams based in governments, commissions, and civil society organizations from the Global South.
ORGANIZATIONAL ELIGIBILITY
We are looking for organizations with an internal appetite for change — not just interest in new ideas, but readiness to apply them.
Organizations eligible to apply include government agencies, anti-corruption commissions, ministries, bilateral and multilateral donors, international organizations, and international, national, and local civil society organizations. As long as your organization addresses the abuse of entrusted power for personal or political gain – you’re in the right place. We use ‘accountable governance’ to cover the full range of roles in this field, such as public sector reform, leadership ethics, transparency, accountability, civil service professionalization, anti-corruption, governance and integrity promotion.
Organizations must meet ALL of the following criteria:
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Work in a sector or geographic area where corruption is endemic
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Able to demonstrate at least 18 months of funding stability
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Work in ‘accountable governance’ -- we use the term ‘accountable governance’ as a shorthand for any work that addresses or prevents the abuse of entrusted power — in financial, political, or social services contexts — for personal gain. It’s okay if your organization doesn’t use this language.
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Do at least one of the following with respect to ‘accountable governance’:
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Fund policy development or programming
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Design and implement programming
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Develop and implement government policies
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Your work does not need to be exclusively focused on 'accountable governance'. Many organizations pursue accountability, integrity, or governance objectives as part of broader sectoral goals — improving health outcomes, strengthening education systems, professionalizing public services, increasing trust in institutions, or improving the investment climate.
Because the Accelerator is designed to build lasting capacity, participating organizations must also:
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Allocate work time for team members to engage fully with Accelerator activities
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Contribute financially according to the program fee structure
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Share lessons and insights through cohort learning and knowledge-sharing activities
HOW TO APPLY
The process is straightforward – we explain it and the fee structure on How does my team apply?