Logistics
Date & Time: Friday April 10, 2026 | 2:00 PM CET / 4:00 PM EAT
Online Platform: Zoom (will be livestreamed on GDC YouTube channel)
Co-hosting Organizations: Alma Civica, Global Democracy Coalition
Livestream Details: Coming Soon!
Background
Across the Americas, democratic actors are navigating increasing pressure. In addition to political challenges such as shrinking civic space, polarization, disinformation, and violence, organizations are also facing significant structural constraints linked to changes in the global funding landscape.
Recent reductions in development and democracy assistance, particularly from the United States, combined with similar trends among other governments, are reshaping the operational realities of civil society organizations across the region. These shifts affect the ability of democratic actors to sustain programs, protect civic space, and support citizen participation.
At the same time, these constraints are prompting new forms of adaptation. Across the Americas, organizations are exploring alternative funding models, strengthening regional collaboration, and developing innovative approaches to sustain democratic action under more constrained conditions.
This webinar approaches the funding challenge not only as a constraint, but as a moment of transition. It explores how democratic actors in the Americas are moving from dependency toward greater resilience, and what this means for the future of democratic renewal in the region.
The discussion will generate practical insights that feed directly into the 2026 GDC Americas Regional Forum, particularly the sessions on civic innovation, coalition-building, and democratic renewal.
Objectives
- Examine how shifts in international funding are affecting democratic actors and civic space across the Americas.
- Analyze the risks these changes pose to participation, accountability, and democratic innovation.
- Highlight adaptive strategies being developed by organizations in the region to ensure sustainability and independence.
- Explore how regional collaboration and coalition-building can strengthen resilience in a changing funding environment.
- Capture lessons to inform the Americas Regional Forum discussions on innovation, civic action, and democratic renewal.
Speakers / Experts Profiles
Angela Carrillo
Executive Director, REDLAD
Angela Carrillo is a Colombian economist and the Executive Director of the Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe para la Democracia (REDLAD), with over 20 years of experience leading programs and organizations across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
She has worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), leading socioeconomic assessments and designing income-generation and psychosocial support programs for conflict-affected and vulnerable populations in Colombia. She was also part of the ICRC’s global network of trainers based in Geneva, specializing in project management and International Humanitarian Law.
At Universidad de los Andes, she served as Project Manager and Head of Student Housing, where she led the design and implementation of innovative student services and wellbeing programs. She later worked with the United Nations World Food Programme, supporting the response to Venezuelan migrants in Colombia and managing donor relations. She also contributed, as part of a USAID-funded initiative, to the design and implementation of Colombia’s Temporary Protection Status for Venezuelan Migrants (ETPV).
She has also been a consultant on socioeconomic and humanitarian issues and a university lecturer. Since July 2024, she has led REDLAD, promoting democracy, human rights, and the strengthening of civil society across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Blair Glencorse
Co-CEO, Accountability Lab
Blair Glencorse is Co-CEO of Accountability Lab, a translocal network that makes governance work for people around the world. Blair and his team have done everything from building large-scale socially conscious music campaigns in Mexico; to monitoring and improving public services in Pakistan; to running a prize-winning TV show called Integrity Icon to “name and fame” honest government officials. Blair is also the founder of Civic Strength Partners, a facility that helps social change organizations plan strategically for organizational succession, mergers and partnerships, and protection of assets. Blair is a Steering Committee Member of the Open Government Partnership and Youth Democracy Cohort; and was previously a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Governance. Blair speaks and writes regularly on issues of open governance, citizen participation, anti-corruption, democracy, and social change.
Dr. Cassandra Emmons
Global Democracy Data Advisor, Center for Applied Research & Learning, IFES
Dr. Cassandra Emmons is the Global Democracy Data Advisor at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in the Center for Applied Research and Learning. She founded and now leads IFES’ Data Analytics and Visualization Team, through which she is responsible for ensuring evidence-based approaches in all IFES programming and advancing IFES’ data analytics strategy. She also manages ElectionGuide, the most comprehensive and timely online resource for election dates and deadlines around the world, which is one of IFES’s longest-standing data resources.
Dr. Emmons’s substantive research focuses on identifying and developing effective deterrents of democratic erosion and interventions to counter autocratization. She contributes to IFES thought leadership regarding emerging trends that either supports democratic practices or counters democratic backsliding as part of the Democratic Resilience Lab. She also takes a leading role in building academic and institutional partnerships as well as executing the IFES Learning Agenda.
Her work has been published in the Journal of European Public Policy, PS: Political Science & Politics, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, AJIL Unbound, and Verfassungsblog. She has also authored and co-authored several book chapters.
Dr. Emmons earned her PhD in Politics from Princeton University, an MA in Politics from Princeton University, and a BA in Political Science and English from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Luis José Consuegra
RLAC Resource Mobilization and Partnerships Adviser, International IDEA
Luis José Consuegra is the Resource Mobilization and Partnerships Adviser at International IDEA’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (RLAC). He leads key fundraising and partnerships development efforts, through effective prospecting of opportunities and by building strong donor relations, as well as through concept refinement and strategic writing, project stewardship and relationship management, internal coordination and operations, partnership agreements, strategy and communications.
In this capacity, Consuegra focuses on identifying and consolidating key partnerships with institutions working in the field of democracy and development in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as with private foundations and other institutional donors to ensure the alignment of thematic priorities, and the coordination of efforts to advance democracy at the regional and national levels. He also leads coordination efforts between RLAC and Global Programmes teams, ensuring the cross-fertilization in knowledge production and technical assistance initiatives.
With more than 16 years of global experience in the field of international affairs, Consuegra specializes on External Relations, specifically in partnership development, inter-institutional relations, youth initiatives and resource mobilization. Before joining International IDEA in 2015, he had appointments at the Organization of American States (OAS), at the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Universidad del Norte in Colombia.
MODERATOR: Paulina Ibarra
Executive Director, Fundación Multitudes
Paulina Ibarra is the Managing Director of Fundación Multitudes and the first elected Chair of the Civil Society Pillar of the Community of Democracies. She has global experience in the areas of transparency, citizen participation and accountability and has worked in government, private sector and international organizations. In Washington, Paulina worked with the Open Government Partnership during the administration of President Obama and advised the World Bank on issues of education and digital activism. She was the first delegate of Citizen Participation for the Ministry General Secretariat of the Government of Chile and she contributed to the development of communication policies of the National Consumer Service. She is currently a member of four Advisory Councils of Ministries and Services, including the Council for Transparency.