TNI envisions a world of peace, equity and democracy on a sustainable planet brought about and sustained by an informed and engaged people.
Message from the director
Dubbed the ‘year of protest’, 2019 saw millions of people take to the streets on every continent.
OUR MISSION
TNI’s mission is to strengthen international social movements with rigorous research, reliable information, sound analysis and constructive proposals that advance progressive, democratic policy change and common solutions to global problems. In so doing, TNI acts as a unique nexus between social movements, engaged scholars and policy makers.
OUR GOALS
TNI’s overarching goals for 2016–2020, consistent with our emancipatory vision for society, remain:
Strategies
Construct a broadly-shared understanding of what blocks realization of an emancipatory vision of the world and of viable ways towards achieving that vision, especially from the perspective of people in the Global South.
Empowerment
Achieve the realization of potentials by citizens everywhere, but especially those suffering exclusion and poverty, to organize around, articulate and amplify their concerns and proposals.
Transformation
Advocate for the transformation of norms, policies and practice of key public and private institutions, especially those with transnational influence, towards greater transparency, accountability, engagement with and responsiveness to citizens in democratic, equitable and inclusive ways.
In support of these long-term goals, which also indicate the type of work TNI does, an ambitious five-year programme was developed. By the end of 2019, as TNI enters the final year of the programme, impressive cumulative progress towards achievement of outcomes and goals have been documented. Below are brief summaries in this regard for 2019, and some elaboration of indications that the programme is on track to achieve its goals by the end of 2020.
Meanwhile in June 2019, TNI convened an international strategic seminar as a first step towards developing a new five-year strategic plan 2021-2026. The seminar involved 60 people including staff, fellows, board members, some key partner organizations and a number of knowledgeable resource people. Priority issues discussed included environmental breakdown; the emergence of data capitalism; and the rise of China.
TNI’S 2019 IN NUMBERS
Research output
TNI launched
169
publications in 10 languages
Media
TNI’s ideas were mentioned in
271
media stories reaching a conservatively estimated audience of
18 million
including in: BBC, El Pais, NOS, The Guardian, El Mundo, The Economist, Forbes, de Volkskrant, Trouw, VICE, AFP, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Nation (Pakistan) and The Inquirer (Philippines)
TNI’s webpages
TNI’s webpages were viewed more than
1.25 million
times, an annual increase of 10%
Social media
TNI’s ideas reached
1.71 million
people on Twitter, an annual increase of 15%
Events, workshops and seminars:
TNI co-organised
126
events, workshops and seminars in
21
countries attended by
7,721
people
Presentations:
18,120
people heard TNI’s ideas at
264
events, workshops and seminars
Academic citations
TNI Fellows and staff were cited
3,397
times in academic publications, an increase of 12%
Dialogue with policy makers
TNI was in dialogue with policy makers from
35
countries and
15
international organisations
Newsletter
Subscriptions to TNI’s e-newsletter increased by 6% to
22,852
people
“My experience of working with TNI has been very positive. TNI provides a high level of technical expertise and is always willing to work collaboratively and share the expertise. PSI particularly appreciates the way TNI is able to take complex issues and make them understandable for workers and their union representatives. We also appreciate the way TNI has a worker and development focus that looks at the causes of global problems and not just the effects. Our partnership with TNI is valuable because TNI’s values, its focus on making a real difference and the professionalism of its staff make collaboration easy.”
Daniel Bertossa
Assistant General Secretary of Public Services International (PSI), representing 30 million members in 170 countries
How we work
For more than 40 Years, TNI has served as an activist think tank with, and for, progressive social movements across the globe. TNI takes as its vantage point the perspective of the Global South, by which we mean the poor, exploited, marginalised and oppressed of the world. Our scope is geographically global and scientifically social with an emphasis on multi-disciplinarity. Our focus primarily concerns global public policy matters.
TNI cooperated directly with
384 allies in 60 countries,
as well as through 37 regional and 20 global networks.
Who We Work With
Movements
TNI works in support of, and as part of, progressive social movements in developing a relevant and useful research and advocacy agenda. We work with a broad range of organizations including trade unions, organizations of small-scale farmers and fishers, environmental and feminist networks, and numerous issue-specific advocacy groups – both directly and within intersectional coalitions. We help to make links wherever possible and, in so doing, contribute to building powerful transnationally-connected movements for change.
Activist-Scholars
TNI strives to be a useful think tank for social movements. We work with activist-scholars to provide movements with the tools necessary to understand and take on the forces of wealth, power and control; analyses of developments that help movements stay one step ahead; and evidence-based argumentation. Activist-scholars can also serve as influential and visionary public intellectuals, and provide persuasive expertise in engagements with policy-makers and in the media. TNI also sees merit in building new generations of critical and radical intellectuals dedicated to serving the public good, providing a strong body of knowledge on which they can draw and build, and seeing knowledge production itself as a site of struggle.
Policy Makers
From local to international levels, and across the political spectrum, TNI provides civil servants and elected representatives with information and analysis on a wide-range of themes. We do this, for example, through co-convening informal policy dialogues, presentations to parliamentary committees, or side events at UN meetings. Wherever possible we work with allies and try to ensure that those in whose name the advocacy is done are at the table.
Media
TNI works with media to amplify the struggles of movements, to give visibility to progressive innovations, and to provide a critical perspective on the issues of the moment. This includes press outreach, active social media engagement as well as partnerships with progressive media platforms.
“At Sintraemcali we’re very grateful to TNI for the support they provided to sustain our struggle against the privatisation of essential services. We value the way TNI relates with us, as the institute recognises the importance of organised labour in today’s economics and politics and gives us the tools to build or improve our own research and advocacy capabilities.”
Jhoni Trejos
Member of the Executive Board of the Union of Municipal Services Workers (Sintraemcali) of Cali, Colombia
Working Transnationally
PROGRAMME ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2019
In support of our long-term goals, which also indicate the type of work TNI does, a five-year programme began in 2016. This is organized as seven broad programme areas each with an ambitious objective to be achieved by the end of 2020. As we enter the last year of the programme, we are very proud of how far we have come in meeting these objectives. Below are brief summaries in this regard, and some elaboration of indications that the programme is on track to achieve its goals.
BOARD REPORT
NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS OF 2019
FINANCES
TNI is committed to the principles of independence, transparency, and accountability. TNI’s financial reporting was rated 5 stars for ‘excellence’ by the Transparify initiative.
What
we spent our money on
How
we spent our money
Where
we got our money
For a full breakdown of expenditures per donor see FUNDING AGREEMENTS ACTIVE IN 2020 below.
Income
over the last 5 years
Financial statements
Source: TNI Audited Financial Accounts 2019
TNI STAFF IN 2019
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Fiona Dove (Executive Director)
Pietje Vervest & Ernestien Jensema (Programmes)
Denis Burke (Communications)
John Kerseboom (Personnel)
COMMUNICATIONS
Bea Martinez (Spanish translator)
Denis Burke (Coordinator)
Hilde van der Pas (Dutch press liaison/social media)
Jorrit Stoker (Webmaster)
Shaun Matsheza (Podcasts/writer)
COMMUNITY-BUILDERS
Jess Graham (Fundraiser)
Nick Buxton (Think Tank Coordinator)
Niels Jongerius (Netherlands)
OFFICE & ADMINISTRATION
Albi Jannssen (Network engineer)
John Kerseboom (Personnel)
Katja Gertman (Bookkeeping Assistant)
Misrak Alayu (Front Office)
Sasha Trifkovich (Information manager)
Stephanie Olinga-Shannon (Evaluation)
Susan Medeiros (Front Office)
VOLUNTEERS
Mustaffa Habashi (Handyman)
Santiago Martinez Rivera (Drugs researcher)
INTERNS
Ella McLaughlin (USA)
Emma Willems (Netherlands)
Inés McKechnie Charle (Spain)
Li Zhiyuan (China)
Lukas Toedte (Germany)
Nicolay Penchev (Bulgaria)
Sophie Rogers (UK)
Yue Wang (China)
VISITING SCHOLAR
Siobhan Airey (Ireland)
PROGRAMME DIRECTORS
Martin Jelsma (Drugs & Democracy)
Pietje Vervest (Economic Justice)
PROGRAMME COORDINATORS
Brid Brennan (Corporate Power)
Cecilia Olivet (Trade & Investment)
Ernestien Jensema (Drugs & Democracy)
Lyda Fernanda Torres Forero (Agrarian & Environmental Justice)
Niamh Ni Bhriain (War & Pacification)
Satoko Kishimoto (Public Alternatives)
Tom Kramer (Myanmar Ethnic Peace)
PROGRAMME STAFF
Benny Kuruvilla (India)
Dania Putri (Morocco)
Daniel Chavez (Netherlands)
Gonzalo Berrón (Brazil)
Hamza Hamouchene (UK)
Katie Sandwell (Netherlands)
Lavinia Steinfort (Netherlands)
Lucía Barcéna (Spain)
Melissa Koutouzis (Netherlands)
Monica Vargas (Spain)
Pien Metaal (Netherlands)
Sol Trumbo Vila (Netherlands)
Sylvia Kay (Netherlands)
Tom Blickman (Netherlands)
MYANMAR-BASED STAFF
Do Ra
Mi Kamoon
Naw Julie Aye
Naw Ler Wah Shee
Phwe Phyu
Renaud Cachia
Thura Myint Lwin
CONTRACTED RESEARCHERS
Alberto Fradejas
Alexander Panez Pinto
Andy Rutherford
Bas Coenegracht
Bettina Müller
Carsten Pederson
Jenny Franco
Luciana Ghiotto
Marcela d’Olivera
Mariana Gonçalves Villafranca
Maria-Sol Reindl
Martin Smith
Mary Lou Malig
Min Myo Min OO Sawormon
Myint Zaw
Nila Ardhianie
Tom Decorte
Zdravka Dimitrova
Zoe Brent
FELLOWS
Click on photo for more
Achin Vanaik (India)
Ben Hayes (UK)
Daniel Chavez (Netherlands / Uruguay)
David Fig (South Africa)
Edgardo Lander (Venezuela)
Hilary Wainwright (UK)
Jun Borras (Netherlands / Philippines)
Phyllis Bennis (USA)
ASSOCIATES
Boris Kagarlitsky (Russia)
David Bewley-Taylor (UK)
David Sogge (Netherlands)
Dot Keet (Zimbabwe)
Francesco Martone (Italy)
Harris Gleckman (USA)
Hermann von Hatzfeldt (Germany)
Howard Wachtel (USA)
James Early (USA)
Jochen Hippler (Germany)
Joel Rocamora (Philippines)
John Cavanagh (USA)
Kamil Mahdi (Iraq)
Kees Biekart (Netherlands)
Manuel Pérez-Rocha (Mexico)
Marcos Arruda (Brazil)
Mariano Aguirre (Colombia)
Myriam Vander Stichele (Netherlands)
Peter Weiss (USA)
Ricardo Vargas (Colombia)
Roger van Zwanenburg (UK)
Sebastián Torres (Uruguay)
Tom Reifer (USA)
Walden Bello (Philippines)
TNI COLLABORATIONS IN 2019
We would like to thank all those individuals who cooperated with TNI in 2019, whose time, labour and expertise is much appreciated. Apologies in advance to anyone who was inadvertently omitted.
Europe
Austria
Alexandra Strickner
Martin Konecny
Belgium
Kathy Bernaerts
Kris Vanslambrouck
Lora Verheecke
Martin Pigeon
Olivier Hoedeman
Pascoe Sabido
Croatia
Iva Marčetić
Vedran Horvat
Czech Republic
Ondrêj Slacálek
Denmark
Chenchen Zhang
Erick Gonzalo Palomares Rodrígue
Kenneth Haar
Mads Bargesgaard
Maj Nygaard-Christensen
Vibeke Asmussen Frank
France
Christophe Aguiton
Deborah Eade
Maxime Coombes
Olivier Pettijean
Thibault Josse
Yasser Louati
Germany
Andrea Nuila
Aude Launay
Bernd Werse
Emily Mattheisen
Heino Stöver
Ingo Ilja Michels
Jürgen Maier
Martin Gerdeman
Nelly Grotefendt
Philip Seufert
Pia Eberhardt
Sofia Monsalve Suárez
Stephan Backes
Stephan Taschner
Tim Pfeiffer-Gerschel
Yifang Slot-Tang
Greece
Apostolis Fotiados
Charalampos Konstantinidis
Christina Sakali
Eirini Tzekou
Jenny Gkiougki
Kris Giovanopolous
Leonidas Vatikiotis
Hungary
Agnes Gagyi
Ireland
Fionnula Ní Aoláin
Sean Brennan
Italy
Antonio Honorati
Antonio Tricarico
Biagio Quattrocchi
Francesco Silvi
Nora McKeon
Vanessa Bilancetti
Netherlands
Alexander Beunder
Bas Coenegracht
Bas van Beek
Berna Toprak
Dirk J. Korf
Domenica Ghidei
Flor Avelino
Fons Broersen
Hanny van Geel
Heino Stöver
Jasja van der Zijde
Jasper Blom
Jeannette Oppedijk van Veen
Jerome Roos
Jilles Mast
Jolke de Moel
Laura Basu
Leonardo van den Berg
Lora Verheecke
Mark Akkerman
Merel de Buck
Nawal Mustafa
Paige Shipman
Reijer Hendrikse
Rodrigo Fernandez
Rutger Groot Wassink
Sandra Ball
Selçuk Balamir
Sijtse Jan Roeters
Willem Heuperman
Spain
Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto
Alba del Campo
Ann Marie Utratel
Cristina Goñi
Constanza Sánchez
Daniel Díaz-Fuentes
Donal Mac Fhearraigh
Inaki Bizente Barcena
Romy Kraemer
Simona Levi
Stacco Troncaso
Xabier Arana
Switzerland
Frank Zobel
Lynn Fries
Ukraine
Aliona Liasheva
Volodymyr Ishchenko
United Kingdom
Andrew Cumbers
Ann Fordham
Ann Pettifor
Brett Scott
Chris Jones
David Hall
David Miller
Dottie Guerrero
Frances Thomson
Ian Scoones
James O’Nions
Jean Blaylock
Joel Benjamin
Katy Sian
Lee Jones
Mark Hudson
Narzanin Massoumi
Nick Dearden
Nisha Kapoor
Oliver Springate-Baginski
Poonam Joshi
Rizwaan Sabi
Ruth Blakeley
Sahil Dutta
Tom Mills
Tom Henfrey
Waqas Tufail
Americas
Argentina
Mabel Thwaites Rey
Bolivia
Linda Farthing
Pablo Solón
Canada
Barry Sautman
David McDonald
Firoze Manji
Katelyn Friesen
Lorena Zárate
Maria Belen Angeles
Stuart Trew
Chile
Alexander Panez Pinto
Colombia
Angélica Castañeda Flores
Diana María Peña-García
Jorge Andrés Forero-González
Miranda D. Mosis,
Pedro Arenas
Costa Rica
Andrés Arauz
Ecuador
Pablo Fajardo Mendoza
Mexico
Natalia Rebollo
Ramón Vera-Herrera
United States
Arun Kundnani
Ashley Dawson
Jackson Koeppel
John Feffer
John Treat
John Walsh
Kali Akuno
Kasia Malinowska
Khury Petersen-Smith
Laura Flanders
Matthew Wilson
Owen Davis
Patrick Barret
Sacajawea Hall
Saskia Sassen
Sean Sweeney
Ted Howard
Thomas Hanna
Uruguay
Pablo Messina
Karina Bathhyány
Constanza Moreira
Asia-Oceania
Australia
Sam Cossar-Gilbert
China
Sit Tsui
Yan Hairong
India
Anita Gurumurthy
Chenoy Anuradha
Meena Menon
Orijit Sen
Vivek Monteiro
Indonesia
Arie Skakurniawaty
Eri Trinurini Adhi
Marthin Hadiwinata
Henrikus Pratama
Malaysia
Charles Santiago
Mongolia
Tur-Od
Myanmar
Lahpai Seng Raw
Sai Lone
Pakistan
Farooq Tariq
Philippines
Joseph Perugganan
Lidy Nacpil
Maryan Mannahan
Raquel Castillo
Tina Ebro
Vietnam
Dong Huy Cuong
Africa
Kenya
Agnes Midi-Keita
Alvin Mosioma
David Ngige
Felogene Anumo
Mauritius
Ashok Subron
South Africa
Brian Ashley
Donna Hornby
Dominic Brown
Mercia Andrews
Naseegh Jaffer
Richard Worthington
Ruth Hall
Sandra van Niekerk
Middle East
Turkey
Irmak Ertor
Joris Leverink
Remembering Thura Myint Lwin (1976–2019)
The year 2019 began on a sad note with news that Thura, our colleague in Myanmar, had passed away. Thura was a pioneer and very active member of self-help groups that campaigned for greater access to ART treatment in the country. He worked tirelessly to end the discrimination and stigmatisation of people living with HIV, drug users and other marginalised groups such as sex workers and men having sex with men. He was involved in establishing the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/Aids (GIPA) group in 2005, and was also one of the founders of the self-help group “Oasis” and the Myanmar Positive Group, the largest network of people living with HIV in the country. We are privileged to have worked with him since 2009, and he will always remain in our hearts.
