Atlas Network

09/16/2026

What can change when families regain control of their land, courts protect due process, and young people can access credible ideas instead of misinformation?

Last week at Asia Liberty Forum in Colombo, three Atlas Network partners presented their ideas during the 2026 Asia Smart Bets Pitch Competition:

🇮🇳 Chakravarthy Nalamotu of Centre for Liberty pitched “Unlocking 1.95 Crore Acres of Freedom,” a campaign to protect property rights in Andhra Pradesh. Centre for Liberty says that flawed government land records have placed 19.5 million acres on a prohibited-property list, preventing families from selling, building on, or borrowing against their land. The organization plans to expand its Property Rights Centers across the state, organize affected citizens, challenge bureaucratic obstruction, and advocate for secure property titles and lasting reform.

🇵🇰 Muhammad Sulaiman of National Influencers pitched “Justice Without Judges,” an effort to end the exercise of judicial powers by unelected bureaucrats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Through research, policy advocacy, and legal action, the project seeks to protect due process, individual rights, property rights, and the independence of the courts.

🇱🇰 Namini Panditha of Liberal Youth Movement pitched a plan to build an independent digital media house in Sri Lanka. The platform would counter misinformation and political polarization with accessible content that strengthens civic knowledge, informed debate, and youth leadership.

Smart Bets is Atlas Network’s accelerator for discovering and backing the freedom movement’s rising stars: high-potential, up-and-coming organizations with bold, scalable ideas for advancing liberty. Through funding, mentorship, training, exposure, and competition, the program helps promising institutions turn early momentum into lasting impact.

Each finalist is working to turn a locally grounded idea into a reform that could transform lives and offer a model for others across the region.

Join us in celebrating these three finalists!

09/11/2026

Lasting change takes more than a good idea. It takes leaders who build strong teams, bring people together, and remain committed long enough to turn possibility into progress.

For two decades, Robin Sitoula has helped do exactly that. As co-founder and executive director of Samriddhi Foundation in Nepal, he has helped build an organization dedicated to entrepreneurship, economic policy reform, and democracy.

At 2026 Asia Liberty Forum in Colombo, Robin will deliver the Toast to Freedom. The moment will recognize his leadership, the relationships behind Samriddhi’s work, and a regional community united by the belief that people deserve the freedom to shape their own futures.

Please join us in celebrating Robin and raising a glass to the leaders across Asia whose persistence continues to move liberty forward. 🥂

09/10/2026

Bad rules can remain on the books for years. Their consequences are felt by the entrepreneur waiting for permission to open a business, the small company facing the threat of disproportionate punishment, and the landholder unable to plan confidently for the future.

Across Asia, local organizations are proving that those barriers can be changed. The three finalists for the 2026 Asia Liberty Award have paired careful research with the relationships, persistence, and practical knowledge needed to turn ideas into meaningful reforms.

🇳🇵 Samriddhi Foundation (Nepal) helped advance a broad package of reforms that digitized business registration, reduced compliance burdens, expanded opportunities for investment, and strengthened the management of public enterprises. Nepali companies can now legally invest abroad for the first time in six decades, giving entrepreneurs greater freedom to grow and compete beyond the country’s borders.

🇮🇳 Centre for Civil Society (India) has spent more than a decade identifying obsolete, redundant, and burdensome laws. Its work has contributed to the repeal of 216 laws while advancing a more trust-based approach to governance, with clearer and more proportionate rules for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

🇵🇭 Foundation for Economic Freedom (Philippines) helped strengthen a landmark reform extending leases on private land to 99 years. Its advocacy ensured that agroforestry and ecological conservation were included in the final law, giving landholders and their investment partners the long-term certainty needed to pursue rural enterprises that can support families and communities for generations.

Policy victories like these do not happen overnight. They are built through years of research, coalition-building, public education, and conversations that rarely make the headlines. The Asia Liberty Award brings that work onto a regional stage, recognizing the people behind these reforms and helping their successful ideas reach others working to expand freedom.

Join us in congratulating all three finalists. The winner will be announced during Asia Liberty Forum, taking place Sept. 10–11, 2026, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Learn more about the finalists and why their work matters:

The winner will be announced during Asia Liberty Forum, taking place Sept. 10–11, 2026, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

09/04/2026

Big ideas can lead to lasting change.

Congratulations to the Liberal Club of Cairo, recipient of the 2026 Middle East and North Africa Liberty Award, for its leadership in developing Egypt’s National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Strategy (NEIS).

An independent think tank dedicated to promoting free markets and individual liberty, the Liberal Club of Cairo developed NEIS, a comprehensive framework designed to strengthen the country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. After being presented during Egypt’s National Dialogue in 2022, the strategy received parliamentary approval in December 2024 and now serves as part of the country’s long-term vision for economic development. Its framework aligns with Egypt’s Vision 2030, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and Africa Agenda 2063, with the goal of expanding economic opportunity, reducing unemployment, and empowering young people and women through entrepreneurship.

By bringing together changemakers and leaders around a shared vision of freedom, the Liberal Club of Cairo is laying the groundwork for reforms that can drive long-term economic growth, create jobs, and expand opportunity. Their work is a powerful example of how locally led ideas can translate into meaningful policy change.

We’re proud to recognize their achievement and celebrate the impact they’re making to advance liberty and opportunity across the Middle East and North Africa.

09/02/2026

We're proud to announce that Daniel Hannan will deliver the Linda Whetstone Toast to Freedom at Atlas Network's Freedom Dinner on November 12, 2026, at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.

For more than three decades, Hannan has championed free trade, limited government, the rule of law, and individual liberty. He is a journalist, a member of the House of Lords, and the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestseller Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World.

Earlier this year, Hannan became Director General and Ralph Harris Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Britain's oldest free-market think tank. The IEA holds a special place in Atlas Network's history: it was founded in 1955 by Sir Antony Fisher, who went on to establish Atlas Network in 1981.

Hannan last delivered the Toast to Freedom in 2017, speaking before more than 650 guests from 50 countries. Nine years later, he returns to deliver one of Freedom Dinner's most anticipated traditions, honoring the memory of longtime board chair Linda Whetstone and her legacy of mentorship to freedom advocates around the world.

Grab your seat today: https://hubs.la/Q04wpH3L0

08/31/2026

Asia Liberty Forum is more than a place to discuss freedom. It can give reformers the vision, relationships, and encouragement to return home ready to move their work forward.

“For me, it was a transformative experience. Asia Liberty Forum gave me the vision to stand for liberty. I got the opportunity to connect with amazing people from across the globe.”

That is how Jam Magdaleno of the Foundation for Economic Freedom described last year’s gathering.

This September, our community of liberty-minded leaders will come together in Colombo to confront shared challenges, learn from progress across the region, celebrate wins together, and remind one another that they are not working alone.

Hear from some of the incredible speakers joining us, including Akash Shrestha of Samriddhi Foundation, Dhananath Fernando of Advocata Institute, and Adinda Tenriangke Muchtar of The Indonesian Institute.

Join us Sept. 10-11.

Learn more and register: https://hubs.la/Q04v_7xd0

08/21/2026

Three weeks from now, freedom champions from across Asia will gather in Colombo.

They come from different countries and confront different challenges, but they share a belief that people deserve greater freedom, dignity, and opportunity.

Asia Liberty Forum gives these leaders a regional community. Over two days, they can exchange practical lessons, learn from work being tested across Asia, and form relationships that help promising ideas travel farther.

The Forum also creates an opportunity to recognize the organizations already producing meaningful results through the Asia Liberty Award and to spotlight emerging ideas through Smart Bets.

Atlas Network is proud to co-host Asia Liberty Forum with Advocata Institute on September 10–11, 2026.

Learn more and register: https://hubs.la/Q04tRC_l0

08/19/2026

Congratulations to Solidarité d’Actions pour le Développement Intégral (SADI), winner of the 2026 Africa Smart Bets Pitch Competition at Africa Liberty Forum in Accra, Ghana!

SADI was recognized for its project addressing barriers to women’s participation in economic, social, and political life in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in South Kivu and North Kivu.

Through leadership development, entrepreneurship training, public engagement, and community outreach, the project helps women become leaders, entrepreneurs, and advocates for change. During its initial phase, SADI trained 43 women in Kabare and 47 women in Bukavu. Its digital awareness campaign also reached more than 150,000 people in just three months.

SADI Executive Director Danny Bahizire presented the project before a panel of judges at Africa Liberty Forum. Following this regional victory, SADI will advance to Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner in New York City alongside the winners from Atlas Network’s other regional forums.

Congratulations to Danny and the entire SADI team on this well-deserved recognition!

Learn more: https://hubs.la/Q04tD3QN0

08/18/2026

In Brazil, a small business owner can pursue a livelihood without first navigating a maze of unnecessary permits.

In India, laws that had outlived their purpose and could still limit people’s lives are no longer on the books.

In Lithuania, young people are learning that citizenship is not simply something they inherit. It is something they practice.

These changes happened in different places, under different circumstances. But each began with local leaders who believed people deserved more freedom, dignity, and opportunity—and who stayed with the work until change came.

Today, we are proud to introduce the six finalists for the 2026 Templeton Freedom Award:

🇧🇷 Instituto Liberal de São Paulo
🇮🇳 Centre for Civil Society
🇦🇷 Fundación Libertad y Progreso
🇺🇸 Liberty Justice Center
🇺🇸 The Buckeye Institute
🇱🇹 Lithuanian Free Market Institute

The Templeton Freedom Award exists because victories like these deserve more than a passing headline. They deserve to be understood, celebrated, and carried forward.

By bringing locally led achievements to a global stage, and awarding the winner $150,000, the award helps a proven solution become something larger: a source of hope, a model for other reformers, and the beginning of what comes next.

Because freedom is not an abstract idea. It is the moment someone discovers that a barrier once standing in the way of a better life is finally gone.

Read the stories behind this year’s finalists: https://hubs.la/Q04tqvp60
Register for Freedom Dinner below to save your seat and join us in the room when the winner is announced. 👇

Atlas Network is pleased to announce the finalists for our prestigious Templeton Freedom Award, which is presented annually at our Liberty Forum & Freedom…

08/17/2026

Get ready to rock for freedom! 🎸

On September 10, Capital Heat will take the stage at the 11th Annual Law Rocks Washington, DC competition at The Atlantis.

The band will cover favorites from Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Pat Benatar, and more, all while raising support for Atlas Network and our work to strengthen the worldwide freedom movement.

And you don’t have to attend to support them! Make a donation through Law Rocks and select “Capital Heat” at checkout for your donation to benefit Atlas Network.

Donate, buy tickets, and learn more: https://hubs.la/Q04tfs1Y0