CoST Malawi has won the Collective Action Inspirational Newcomer Award at the Basel Institute of Governance awards 2026 in Geneva.

The award recognised their pioneering “Red Flags Algorithm” which has been implemented into their Infrastructure Platform for Public Infrastructure (IPPI) which turns passive data publication into a two-way accountability channel.

When a citizen identifies a concern with a specific project, such as stalled construction, missing materials or cost irregularities, they can raise a red flag directly on that project’s record within the platform. The concern is then logged publicly alongside the project data, and both the citizen and wider public can track whether and how the procuring entity responds. This helps make government action – or inaction – visible as part of the public infrastructure record itself. 

Rather than responding to problems after they emerge, the Red Flags Algorithm helps identify risks earlier, enabling governments, civil society organisations, journalists, contractors, and citizens to scrutinise projects before issues escalate. 

The nomination highlights Malawi’s growing role in strengthening transparency and accountability in the infrastructure sector through open data to drive more proactive and data-driven oversight, including leading the way on open climate finance. 

The nomination comes as Malawi continues expanding its work on infrastructure transparency, open data, and climate finance monitoring. According to their CoST programme’s 2026 workplan, Malawi aims to increase the number of infrastructure projects published on the IPPI, strengthen civil society monitoring of public projects, and improve disclosure of climate finance investments.  You can read more about the impact they are having in their impact story.