Today is the birthday of ICFJ's former Senior Vice President Whayne Dillehay, who passed away four years ago.

Citizens, writes development expert Jay Naidoo in The Guardian, always know better than the government or the market what works for them. “So why don't state officials and policymakers take us, the citizens, into their confidence?” he asks. “Can we begin to see citizens as the greatest ally for good governance? And if so, how do we pursue a partnership between government and citizens?”

“Part of the answer lies in open data,” Naidoo writes.

Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky may not have died in vain.

ICFJ’s Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is helping reveal the fate of millions missing from Russia’s treasury—money that Magnitsky contended Russian tax officials stole in a scheme with organized criminals.

OCCRP’s 13 member organizations include investigative reporting centers and news organizations throughout Eastern Europe cooperating to help people in the region understand how organized crime and corruption affect them.

Indian journalist Syed Nazakat has received the Christiane Amanpour Award for Religion Reporting for his story in The Week magazine about how Saudi Arabian officials and clerics are using the Koran and other religious texts to rehabilitate Al Qaeda fighters. The International Center for Journalists gives the award in honor of Amanpour, the 2011 winner of its Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism and a model for enlightening coverage of divisive religion issues.

For the story “Reborn in Riyadh,” Nazakat traveled to four Saudi cities.