Feminist Aid – Oxfam Canada

UN General Assembly: My Hope Lies with the People

Caroline Leal — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 14:00:11 +0000

Gain insights into this year's UN General Assembly in New York through the eyes of our director of policy and campaigns, Diana Sarosi.

Last month, I was privileged to join Oxfam's delegation to New York to participate in events organized around the UN General Assembly. This is the most significant UN moment of the year, when governments, Heads of State, and civil society come together in New York to discuss the world's most pressing problems.

The number of events happening in those two weeks is astounding and a testament to the many conversations needed to make change happen. The UN hosted the SDG Summit, the Climate Ambition Summit, and the Generation Equality Mid-Point Moment, to name just a few. During each one, fundamental questions were raised about our progress toward achieving the world's biggest goals, like sustainable development, climate targets, and advancing gender equality. And the verdict wasn't good: not much progress has been made, and we are nowhere near reaching our targets. The goal of an equitable, just, and sustainable world is farther away than ever.

At a time when most people worldwide are struggling to make ends meet due to inflation or are uprooted by climate disasters, this is a hard pill to swallow. Every day, our news fills with anxiety-inducing crises. Yet, the endless speeches by government representatives during these events don't display the sense of urgency that the rest of us in the world are feeling. Sure, there is some action, some small pockets of progress. But clearly much more has to happen. Ultimately, we need a complete shift in paradigm rather than just more of the same.

That's where civil society delivered. The People's Global Assembly was one example of civil society laying out what's needed to dismantle the unjust systems upholding inequality and injustice. Feminists shared their vision of a feminist economy that doesn't rely on exploiting the majority for the prosperity of the few. At Oxfam Canada's "Building Evidence on Policy Action for the Care Economy" event, speakers also called for a new paradigm – where care for people and the planet is at the heart of everything.

Listening to these activists gave me the hope I sometimes struggle to find.

While in New York, I got to participate in the climate march too. That day, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to call for an end to fossil fuels. Those people are no longer satisfied by speeches and empty promises; they want action now. As someone who grew up in East Germany, I know too well the power people can have, and it is that hope in the people that gives me the strength to carry on speaking truth in the halls of power.

Oxfam Canada launches new program to advance women’s empowerment in Myanmar

Paula Baker — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 23:00:34 +0000

Thanks to a contribution of $7.9 million from the Government of Canada and close to $400,000 from Oxfam Canada, more than 20,000 crisis-affected women and adolescent girls in Myanmar will be able to increase their access to resources and decision-making power through the Women Leading Durable Solutions (WLDS) project.

The project will be implemented by Oxfam Canada in partnership with Oxfam in Myanmar and three local women’s rights organizations in the country. It contributes to the Government of Canada’s strategy to respond to the Rohingya and Myanmar crises announced on June 20. The strategy aims to support communities in transitioning from crisis-response to advancing durable solutions in Myanmar in order to address the medium and longer-term needs of refugees and other crisis-affected populations.

“Conflict, growing inequality and escalating humanitarian needs require us think differently about how we work with communities to uphold their rights. By challenging harmful social norms and women’s exclusion from decision making spaces, this innovative new project will not only advance the rights of women and girls, but also contribute to peaceful coexistence of communities in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, ” said Lauren Ravon, Oxfam Canada’s Executive Director.

Women and adolescent girls in project communities, particularly in Rakhine State, will be supported to participate and take on leadership roles in governance structures within their communities, all while promoting more positive attitudes and behaviours towards women’s rights and peaceful co-existence. The project will improve access to essential services and resources, such as livelihoods and business support training, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) support services. Local women’s rights organizations will strengthen their capacity to advocate for the inclusion of diverse women and marginalized groups in decision making spaces on peace, recovery and development.

Over its five year duration, Women Leading Durable Solutions (WLDS) will place particular emphasis on working with vulnerable rights holders, particularly adolescent girls and women and from underrepresented groups. WLDS will strengthen positive relationships, understanding and trust by integrating efforts to combat racism, exclusion and discrimination towards those with intersecting identity markers such as gender, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation, disability and income. The project employs a three-pronged approach to advance women’s empowerment by integrating humanitarian assistance, long-term development and peace and security to meet women’s needs, mitigate their vulnerabilities and address the underlying drivers of conflict.

“Thanks to the support of Global Affairs Canada, Oxfam and our partners have an opportunity to test out new approaches to integrating humanitarian assistance, long-term development and peacebuilding while opening space for women as agents of change,” Ravon said.

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For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Elena Sosa Lerín
Communications Officer
Oxfam Canada
(613) 240-3047
elena.sosa.lerin@oxfam.org

“Let me be the last survivor”: Lessons from six years of action to end violence against women and girls in Asia

Elena Sosa Lerín — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 12:20:53 +0000

The Creating Spaces team in the Philippines built an alliance with the youth-led #GirlDefenders in a successful campaign against marriage below the age of 19.

After six years, the Creating Spaces project offers powerful examples of how communities can mobilize to tackle gender-based violence and win new laws to protect women and girls.

After years in an abusive marriage, Sonali, 23, visited a support centre to seek help. She married at 17. Her husband and his family physically and emotionally abused her. Through Oxfam's partner in India, the National Alliance of Women (NAWO), Sonali connected with a social worker who helped her leave her abusive husband and gain custody of her two sons.

"Be strong and believe in yourself," says Sonali. "After going to the support centre, I learned about the different types of violence against women and learned that it is unacceptable. Now, I tell other women who face violence where to get help."

NAWO is just one of 25 local partner organizations across Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines, supported by Oxfam Canada's Creating Spaces project over the past six years. This initiative aims to reduce and end violence against women and girls (VAWG) and child, early, and forced marriage.

The six-year-long project worked to change the lives of women and girls across south and east Asia. They face some of the highest levels of violence in the world, including domestic violence and marital rape, child, early and forced marriage, and trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labour. This project also addressed the harmful, unequal gender norms contributing to this violence.

Creating Spaces tackled these issues by:

Engaging key community actors to support and promote positive gender norms.
Supporting women and girls who have experienced different forms of violence.
Strengthening the knowledge and capacity of local institutions and alliances to influence change.

The project's successes sprang out of tireless women's and youth leadership, community activism, and the alliances it built along the way across the six countries.

It reached over 350,000 people directly — almost 60 per cent being women and girls.
It resulted in 281 public declarations and actions to end VAWG and child, early and forced marriage.

I was forced to get married and take care of my children. When I see my friends go to school, I feel crushed. So, I want to stop child marriage. Let me be the last survivor.

The Impact of Creating Spaces Around the World

Central to Creating Spaces was its support of movements demanding laws and legislation that protect women and girls from violence and early marriage. It also championed survivor-centred services, economic empowerment for women and girls, and movement building alongside influencers and local partners.

The project's achievements include:

In Bangladesh, Creating Spaces encouraged men and boys to become gender equality allies to women and girls by engaging them in activities and campaigns. These efforts became the ChangeMakers alliance, which now advocates for women's rights and gender justice across Bangladesh at the local and national levels.
In India, Creating Spaces supported two Women's Support Centres in the states of Chattisgarh and Odisha that respond to cases of VAWG. They offer services such as counselling, shelter and legal and medical aid. These centres also work on outreach services and community mobilization, setting up home visits when it is safe and linking survivors to relevant livelihood services.
In Indonesia, Creating Spaces and its implementing partners were pivotal in ratifying the country's marriage law, raising the minimum marriage age for girls from 16 to 19. Indonesia's government also selected a Creating Spaces partner to be assigned to a monitoring committee to ensure communities across the country understand and uphold this law.
In Pakistan, the project trained 181 service providers in women's shelters on VAWG case handling. It worked with them to develop a holistic range of survivor-centred services, including life skills, mental well-being, adult literacy, and art therapy.
In the Philippines, thanks to the tenacity of the Creating Spaces team and its allies like the youth-led #GirlDefenders, the Girls Not Brides Act outlawing marriage below the age of 19 has been approved by the Senate and the House. It will soon be presented to the President for approval.
In Nepal, Creating Spaces established 180 Community Discussion Centers (CDCs), instrumental spaces that contributed to stopping 300 cases of child marriage and other incidents of violence. These CDCs also transformed community perceptions and behaviour towards women and girls and linked women to economic empowerment initiatives.

Photo: Princess Taroza/Oxfam

Youth leaders, Juanday Esmael (left) and Farhana Ganoy (right), teach young people in their community about the impact of child, early, and forced marriage in Guindulungan, Maguindanao, Philippines.

What Main Lessons About Tackling Gender-Based Violence Should We Take Away from Creating Spaces?

The end of Creating Spaces and the 30th anniversary of 16 Days of Activism have us celebrating the achievements of the project and the broader movement to end GBV.

However, GBV remains a pervasive and pressing human rights issue.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one in three women globally will experience some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime. The pandemic has worsened the situation. Since it started, there has been a considerable rise in GBV cases worldwide. UN Women states that 1 in 2 women reported they, or a woman they know, have experienced some form of violence since the pandemic began. Oxfam has documented that calls to domestic violence helplines rose across some countries by between 25 and 111 per cent in the first few months of the pandemic.

It's a critical moment and a tremendous opportunity for governments, international actors, and all of us to take stock of our progress and live up to our commitments, big and small.

There's so much work still to be done. We all have a part to play in the fight to end GBV, and it starts with supporting survivors and tackling gender inequality, which is the root cause.

Insights for Potential Policy and Decision Making

We hope policymakers and organizations working in this area will take on board some of our major insights from the past six years of Creating Spaces.

These insights include:

Ending GBV requires evidence-based, context-specific approaches that target unequal gender norms from the individual, household, and community levels all the way up to institutional and structural levels.
Women and girl survivors need to be at the centre of our VAWG responses. Make long-term investments in women's and girls' leadership, their access to livelihoods, and women's rights organizations and shelters at the frontlines of this work.
Target key influencers and allies, like men, boys, and religious leaders, to champion women's and girls' rights and amplify survivors' voices.
Mobilize youth to reduce and end VAWG and child, early, and forced marriage. In Creating Spaces, youth were driven to act more than any other constituency.
Build alliances for effective campaigning and advocacy strategies that have the power to change discriminatory laws and protect women and girls.

For survivors, change cannot come soon enough.

"When I was having fun at school, I was forced to get married and take care of my children," says Rasminah, from Indramayu, West Java, in Indonesia. "When I see my friends go to school, I often cry, feel envious, crushed, and not feeling well. So, I want to stop child marriage. It's enough. Let me be the last survivor."

Megan Lowthers is a Women’s Rights knowledge specialist in gender-based violence at Oxfam Canada.

This feature was originally published in Oxfam's Views and Voices website on December 3, 2021.

We thank Oxfam Canada's Asma Siyala and Farwah Qasim from the international programs department gender-based violence unit and communications officer Elena Sosa Lerín for contributing to this piece.

Thanks to Our Supporters!

Creating Spaces is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada, and the generous Canadian public.

Committed to Care at the Generation Equality Forum

Hammad — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 21:48:47 +0000

Generation Equality Forum: A blueprint for gender equality

“Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights” – a key refrain from the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. This was a galvanizing moment for the women’s rights and feminist movement globally, putting forward a bold vision for the realization of all women and girls’ rights. But this vision has yet to translate into reality, and in the wake of COVID-19, many advances that had been made have now been reversed. It is against this backdrop that the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) took place this year, kicking off in Mexico in March and wrapping up in Paris in June.

Marking 25 years since the Beijing conference, the GEF (virtually) brought together nearly 50,000 people from government, civil society, youth and women’s rights organizations, businesses and philanthropy. Co-hosted by UN Women and the governments of Mexico and France and led by six Action Coalitions, the GEF provides a roadmap for achieving gender equality globally over the next five years.

World leaders put forward bold commitments

The Paris Forum closed with bold announcements totaling $40 billion USD. Some of the most impressive commitments included $2.1 billion from the Gates Foundation to advance women’s economic empowerment, health and family planning and to accelerate women’s leadership. Significant government commitments ranged from US Vice President Kamala Harris committing more than $1 billion in policy and resources towards gender equality domestically and globally – to the Government of Kenya launching a national action plan to address gender-based violence. Some of the private sector and civil society contributions included PayPal which made a commitment of $100 million to advance financial inclusion for women and girls, and $200,000 to launch the civil-society led Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund.

Highlighting the care economy

Speaking to the impact of COVID-19 on women’s care workloads, significant announcements and commitments were made around the care economy. This includes the expansion of the Global Alliance for Care, initiated by the Government of Mexico and UN Women. Oxfam is a part of this Global Alliance, joining over 80 countries and civil society organizations mobilizing for policy and action that invests in the care economy globally. Additionally, the Government of Canada announced $100 million in new international funding assistance dedicated to paid and unpaid care work as a parallel to the $30 billion invested earlier this year to build out Canada’s national childcare system. This is significant, being the first targeted global investment in the care economy by a donor government.

These historic funding announcements are both welcome and much needed. However, where and how the money is allocated is equally important. Oxfam’s research shows that women’s rights organizations are continually underfunded and have particularly struggled during COVID-19. It’s critical the majority of this funding reaches women’s rights organizations, feminist organizations, women’s funds, and indigenous groups – especially those in the Global South.

Credit: UN Women

In this graphic, artists from around the world share their vision of what gender equality could look like. Image credit: UN Women.

Oxfam puts care at the heart of COVID recovery

Along with others, Oxfam has stepped up to this historic moment to make a set of public commitments on advancing gender equality by 2026 and beyond. Our commitment, ‘Care at the Heart of a Post-COVID Feminist Economic Recovery’ commits us to step-up our work on gender justice and the care economy.

Our focus on care in the GEF commitments is both relevant and timely. Care is the fabric of society and the engine of the economy. Across all corners of the world, the pandemic has revealed the disproportionate responsibility that women – especially the most poor and marginalized – carry for providing unpaid and underpaid care work, and the consequences for gender equality. Oxfam’s own journey on care spans almost a decade and has evolved from tools to understand and measure care work to an expanding body of care programming, research, advocacy and campaigning with partners and allies.

So, what are our commitments? They center on three external work streams and one internal work stream:

Advocacy and campaigning – alongside partners and allies, push for greater recognition of and investments in care in pursuit of a feminist, climate and racially-just economic transformation.
Building evidence of what works – sharing existing tools and developing new tools, research and best practice around care to support policy advocacy and campaigning on care.
Movement-building – advancing the care agenda in coalition with grassroots feminist and women’s rights organizations and with linkages to the Global Alliance on Care.
Living our values through internal policies and practices, where we need to look at issues including parental and care leave and diversity and inclusion policies and practices.

Making the path now and for the future

In the words of the Spanish poet, Antonio Machado ‘Al andar se hace camino’ – ‘We make the path by walking.’ As Oxfam knows all too well, it can be easy to say one thing and do another. Therefore, we must continue to define the standards for increasing investment and expanding programming to embrace different aspect of care for people and the planet.

By striving to match our policies and practices on care and diversity and inclusion with our words and actions, we are one step closer towards living our values as a feminist, anti-racist and decolonized organization. We have the opportunity to show courage in walking the talk and translating our intentions to action.

About the authors

Amar Nijhawan is a Women’s Rights Policy and Advocacy Specialist at Oxfam Canada (OCA). She leads OCA’s policy and advocacy work on gender and economic justice – with a focus on the care economy and research that explores feminist economic alternatives. Amar works collaboratively to advocate for feminist economic policy within governments, multilateral organizations, and international financial institutions. Amar has a decade of experience working on policy issues related to gender equality, economic development, and sustainability across Canada and internationally.

Amber Parkes is a Global Advisor on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care with Oxfam Great Britain (OGB). She leads OGB’s global policy advocacy and influencing to shift policies and norms to value and invest in unpaid and underpaid care work. Her work focusses on the intersections of care and inequality, linking national to global feminist research and policy advocacy. She has worked on women’s economic justice and gender equality for over a decade with Oxfam, UNICEF, the Equality Institute and the Australian Government.

Julie Thekkudan is a Gender Justice Content and Synergies Consultant with Oxfam International. She works collaboratively to bring more coordination and cohesion across Oxfam. Her current work focuses on the intersections of economic inequality and gender justice, particularly on care work, gender-based violence and other structural forms of violence, feminist leadership and movement building. She has over seventeen years of experience working on various issues related gender justice within Indian and international organizations.

Canada steps up its climate commitments, but total ambition falls short of what’s needed

alvaro — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:19:32 +0000

Today at the Earth Day Summit, Prime Minister Trudeau announced Canada’s commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. This marks a significant step up from Canada’s previous commitment of 30 per cent, but more ambitious reductions are required to deliver a just, climate-resilient future.

Anya Knechtel, Policy Specialist at Oxfam Canada states, “Climate change, COVID-19 and inequality are compounding crises that are threatening the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable people; the Earth Day Summit should be the launching point for tackling these crises together. While a target of 40 to 45 per cent marks an increase in ambition, reductions of 60 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 are needed to limit climate-related risks and impacts that are disproportionately affecting women and marginalized communities.”

“We call on Prime Minister Trudeau to ensure environmental justice and gender justice are central to Canada’s climate actions. In addition to domestic actions, this will require Canada to commit at least $1.8 billion a year of public investments in climate finance in order to support women and other vulnerable people in developing countries to respond and adapt to climate change. Only by committing to a fair share of emissions reductions and climate finance, as well as supporting initiatives aimed at strengthening women’s resiliency to climate change, will Canada deliver on its commitment to feminist principles by ensuring our climate actions deliver a just, climate-resilient future that lets all people thrive.”

The poorest half of the world’s population —3.1 billion people— is responsible for just a small fraction of dangerous carbon emissions. Yet, while vulnerable people such as women struggling to feed their families in drought-stricken regions have done little to cause the problem, they bear the brunt of the climate crisis. The richest 10 per cent of people in the world, on the other hand, produced over half of global emissions.

As one of the top 10 global emitters and one of the largest per capita emitters of GHG emissions, Canada has a responsibility to undertake ambitious emissions reductions to cut emissions to net-zero over the next two decades. It must also deliver a fair and responsible share of the global commitment for climate finance to enable developing countries to transition to a low-carbon future, climate-resilient future as they work to recover from the pandemic.

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Notes to editors

The richest 10 percent accounted for over half (52 percent) of the emissions added to the atmosphere between 1990 and 2015. The richest one percent were responsible for 15 percent of emissions during this time. Download Oxfam’s report, ‘Confronting Carbon Inequality,’ for more information.
The combined climate plans submitted by countries account to a dismal 1 percent emissions reduction, which is way off track from the targeted 45 percent reduction needed to limit global warming below 1.5 degrees, and to avoid disastrous impacts on vulnerable communities.
See more details on our policy recommendations in the Oxfam Canada Climate Finance Briefing Note

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Paula Baker
Media Relations
Oxfam Canada
(613) 240-3047
paula.baker@oxfam.org

Budget 2021 delivers historic feminist investments domestically, but falls short on global response

Paula Baker — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 16:16:36 +0000

Budget 2021 presents the government’s plan to tackle COVID-19 and was highly anticipated, considering it is the first federal budget in over two years. It is also the first budget presented by Canada’s first female finance minister, who prioritized engagement with feminist leaders and women’s rights organizations in the budget process through consultations and the newly created taskforce on women and the economy.

The new budget, titled A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience, lays out an ambitious pathway for the government that recognizes the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women and gender diverse, Indigenous and racialized people, and invests in public services to ensure a more inclusive recovery. The 724-page document mentions women 669 times and includes annexes of its GBA+ analysis as well as a gender, diversity and quality of life statement. Having committed to an intersectional feminist recovery in the Throne Speech, the budget delivers some historic investments needed to advance gender equality at a time when decades of progress is at risk as a result of COVID-19.

Oxfam Canada made recommendations in six key areas for Budget 2021 and provides an assessment of the budget along those areas by its policy team.

1. Invest in the Care Sector

The federal budget delivered a historic $30-billion investment to build a national early learning and child care system, including with dedicated funding for Indigenous early learning and child care. Answering the call of child care advocates, the investment will expand the not-for-profit sector of the system and reduce parent fees to $10 a day within five years. Moreover, it will enshrine early learning and child care in federal legislation to be tabled this fall.

“Today’s investment in child care and the care economy in Canada is historic,” says Diana Sarosi, director of policy and campaigns at Oxfam Canada. “An investment in child care is good for women and the economy, and will ultimately pay for itself. Sustained long-term investments are what’s needed to build a nation-wide system that will improve quality, accessibility, and affordability. It will be important for the federal government to work with the provinces, territories and Indigenous partners to establish clear accountability mechanisms with targets and timelines in place to ensure the funds meet the principles set out in the multilateral agreement.”

2. Invest in Social Protection and Decent Work for Women

In this budget, the federal government acknowledges the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women in the economy, and expressed a commitment towards creating a “more inclusive, sustainable, feminist, and resilient economy that values women’s work” over time. No single approach was outlined, with the understanding that tackling the “she-cession” requires an intersecting approach that takes into account “racial identity, income level, disabilities, and geography”. A few measures that address this—in addition to child care—include: $3.8 billion to modernize and make Employment Insurance more accessible; $146.9 million for the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy; $755 million for the Social Finance Fund; $50 million for the Readiness Program for the non-profit sector; $15 million for the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot initiative, $100 million for the Supporting Black Communities Initiative through Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), in addition to $200 million for the establishment of a Black-Led Philanthropic endowment fund.

“Women have disproportionately experienced the economic fallout of the pandemic – particularly black, indigenous, racialized, and migrant women working low-wage essential jobs with increased care responsibilities,” says Amar Nijhawan, women’s rights policy specialist at Oxfam Canada. “In this budget, it is good to see the importance of an intersectional analysis of gender and the economy through inputs by members of the National Task Force on Women in the Economy. While the range of approaches were welcome, more work and dedicated funding is needed to specifically address the immediate needs of women workers marginalized by the pandemic.”

3. Invest in the Green Economy

Budget 2021 puts forward initiatives totalling $17.6 billion for a green recovery and commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 36 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, up from the 31 per cent target in the recently released climate plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy (HEHE). This target is meant to represent a floor, not a final target, for emissions reductions, with further announcements expected at the upcoming Earth Day Summit. The budget provides little detail on how these investments will address gender disparities, although specific initiatives such as the home energy retrofit program do offer support for improvements to women’s shelters and low-income housing. The budget does not include details of Canada’s post-2020 climate finance commitment, but makes note of a forthcoming announcement in the lead up to the COP26 climate summit.

“The investments and targets announced today are important but fall short of the level of ambition needed to match the scale and scope of the climate crisis we are in,” says Anya Knechtel, climate policy specialist at Oxfam Canada. “We eagerly look forward to further announcements signaled in the budget, including higher targets for emission reductions and significant contributions to international climate finance, which is critical to support developing countries’ adaptation and mitigation efforts.”

Budget 2021 makes important tweaks to the country’s tax system but fails to tackle extreme wealth inequality in a transformative way. Taxing the digital economy, closing tax loopholes around executive stock options and increased enforcement by Canada Revenue Agency against tax avoidance and evasion are welcome. However, the budget did not introduce a wealth tax or any reforms to capital gains deductions, despite Canadian billionaires having increased their wealth by more than $78 billion during the pandemic.

“Considering the massive spending of the government over the past year to help Canadians weather the storm, now would have been the perfect time to tackle wealth inequality and reform Canada’s outdated tax system,” says Ian Thomson, policy specialist at Oxfam Canada. “As other countries take action to increase corporate income tax rates, the Canadian government has shown little ambition for systemic tax reforms to make the wealthy pay their fair share.”

4. Invest in Ending Gender-Based Violence

Considering the rise in violence against women and gender-based violence during the pandemic, feminist organizations applauded the government’s investment of $600 million over five years to support the development a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, as well as $14 million to set up a dedicated secretariat to coordinate this work. Moreover, the government recognizes the role of women’s rights organization in addressing this ‘shadow pandemic’ and announced $200 million for these organizations. Several other related initiatives, including investments to address gaps in sexual and reproductive health services were also announced.

“The shadow pandemic of violence against women and gender-based violence has left a mark on families and communities over the past year, as levels and the severity of violence increased due lockdowns and stressors brought on by the pandemic. These investments today will make a difference in the lives of women and gender-diverse people across Canada, who have had a hard time accessing life-saving services. It is critical that those most at risk of violence are actively engaged in the development of the NAP,” said Sarosi.

5. Invest in Global Recovery

The government announced $375 million towards the international COVID-19 response, as well as other global initiatives, totalling an increase of $1.4 billion in international assistance over 5 years. Much of the $1.4 billion is allocated for this year, whereas long-term sustained investments are needed to not only put an end to the pandemic but also support countries with the devastating economic fallout. Today’s investments fall short of what is needed to address this global crisis and do little to boost Canada’s attainment of the 0.7 per cent global benchmark for international assistance as a ratio of gross domestic product.

“Women have been at the center of the COVID-19 response in low-income countries as the majority of frontline healthcare workers. Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy ambitions cannot be fulfilled when there are limited resources to support the global COVID-19 response,” says Siham Rayale, women’s rights policy specialist at Oxfam Canada. “At this time of uncertainty, increasing international assistance and championing debt cancellation are vital for poorer countries to provide social protection and critical public services, as well as access COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments to end this pandemic. The government knows keeping Canadians safe means eradicating COVID-19 everywhere and that will require leadership and resources.”

6. Invest in Feminist Leadership

The women’s sector has been at the forefront of providing critical services during the pandemic to some of the most marginalized, and therefore hardest hit, groups in Canada. Budget 2021 recognizes the critical role community organizations play and invests $400 million to create a Community Services Recovery Fund to support charities and non-profits. An additional $100 million over two years will help non-profits, including women’s shelters and child care centres, be more accessible and adapt their workplaces to provide more services online. 2SLGBTQ+ organizations welcomed a new $15-million fund to support their community initiatives, but highlighted that this was not enough to fill the gaps.

“Investing in non-profits is a smart investment that will boost gender equality,” says Sarosi. “These organizations are a lifeline to millions of people in Canada stuck in poverty. Considering the non-profit sector disproportionately employs women, these initiatives will also support women’s labour force participation, which has plummeted this year.”

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For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Paula Baker
Media Relations
Oxfam Canada
(613) 240-3047
paula.baker@oxfam.org

After 10 years of war in Syria, families now endure economic crisis

alvaro — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 21:22:31 +0000

Nesreen and her family live in rural Damascus, where she says they are cutting back on their meals to save money.

Oxfam continues its work to assist families surviving a decade of war in Syria.

Nesreen, a mother of four from rural Damascus, continues to live with the effects of the 10-year conflict in Syria. Since war broke out, everything has changed for her and her family of six.

“I remember one dark afternoon when the sounds of explosions started rising all around us. Moving to the nearest basement in the neighborhood to hide with my little children was as risky as staying in our house,” Nesreen, now 39, says.

“I thought, ‘if we’re going to die today, then let it be right here, in our home.’ Nothing will ever erase those memories from my heart and mind.”

Every day in Syria is a struggle to survive. Like so many other Syrian women Oxfam works with, Nesreen struggles to put enough food on the table to feed her family.

Economic Crisis

Two years ago, life gradually returned to normal in Nesreen’s town. For the first time in almost seven years — her husband found work, the family started to fix the damage to their house, and the children returned to school. However, the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the collapse of the Syrian pound (and the spillover from the financial crisis in Lebanon) has pushed more and more Syrians to the brink.

Nesreen works on her sewing machine to earn money and support her household. Credit: Dania Kareh

Skyrocketing prices of food and people’s inability to afford the most essential food items have meant women are reverting to extreme strategies to cope, such as eating fewer meals each day or being forced to buy cheaper, less nutritious food.

‘We have had to cut down on the types of food we buy as well as so many other needs like clothing. It might be safer now, but the economic situation is unbearable."

“I’m dying inside when my youngest daughter needs her medication and I can’t afford it,” she says.

For thousands of families like Nesreen’s across Syria the situation is getting worse. The World Food Programme recently found 12.4 million Syrians are going to sleep hungry, an increase of over 3 million people from 2020. Between 2019 and 2020 food insecurity increased a massive 42 per cent. In the same year, 80 per cent of Syrians were living below the poverty line. The economic crisis is hitting people affected by the war in Syria across the region. In conversations between Oxfam staff and Syrian women in Jordan, Lebanon, and across Syria, two-thirds indicated they were the most concerned about finding food for their families.

“I’m afraid I will wake up one day to find nothing to fill the stomachs of my little children,” Nesreen says.

Farmers Hit by Syrian War

The conflict in Syria has taken away nearly everything from Tahani and her family. “When war broke out in Syria, I lost contact with my ex-husband,” she says. “To this day, no one knows whether he’s still alive or dead. I am supporting our six little children by myself. As the war dragged on, we lost almost everything; our house, our crops, and the modest life we once had.”

Tahani, 42, from rural Aleppo, works on a farm to support her six children. Credit: Islam Mardini.

Eventually, she and her children had to flee the fighting near their home in rural Aleppo. “Staying in our town became too dangerous. We had to go and leave everything behind, moving from one town to another for five years."

“Three years ago, we returned home and all I could think of was how to start over. I thought I had survived the worst. I survived the conflict, I was forced to leave my home, and I lived through a bad divorce, but nothing is compared to how I’m living now with my children,” Tahani says of the economic crisis afflicting Syria."

Tahani is now working on a farm to support her family, but she fears for their future if the war does not end. “This war turned our lives upside down, and today, after 10 years of war, I still cannot imagine leading a normal life.”

What Oxfam is Doing in Syria

In collaboration with partner organizations in Syria, Oxfam is currently working in eight of Syria’s 14 governorates to prevent the spread of diseases by promoting good hygiene practices in schools and by training local community volunteers. We distribute food where needed and support farmers to grow food and make a living through training, and distribute cash to people who need it the most.

Oxfam in Syria strives to ensure that our aid programs address the needs of women, encourage their leadership and their active participation in community decision-making as well as in peace talks. In 2018, Oxfam helped bring Syrian women activists and leaders to meet with senior international diplomats during a conference in Brussels on the future of Syria.

There are approximately 5.6 million Syrian refugees. Oxfam and partners in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey are assisting Syrian refugees in camps and communities hosting them. We are providing clean water, soap and other hygiene items, and cash to help people buy food as well as training programs to help people find employment.

In the meantime, women continue to work to meet the needs of their families with the help of Oxfam and our partners. For Lubana, 65, who fled her home in rural Damascus for five years and has returned, getting back to her pre-war life is proving difficult.

Lubana lost everything during war and now relies on aid to survive. Credit: Oxfam

“Our life revolves around farming,” she says. “Before the war, we made a good income from our land. And we could afford a modest but comfortable life. When war broke out we had to flee our hometown… When we finally got the chance to return home, we found everything had gone.”

The economic crisis has hit Lubana hard. “The past year has been extremely tough. We had to cut down on our expenses and reduce the size of our food portions. In these rough times, we can’t help but feel broken.

“Today, after 10 years of war, I still can’t see an ending to all our suffering. I hope one day my children will have a better life than the one I’m having.”

Oxfam Canada applauds Canadian leadership to end COVID everywhere and build back better

Paula Baker — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:18:42 +0000

Ottawa – Today the Prime Minster made substantive commitments to advance the fight against COVID-19 around the world and to fuel investment and action by other nations.

“We applaud Canada’s leadership at the UN General Assembly, announcing $400 million in new international assistance funding to support some of the most vulnerable communities and countries in the world,” said Kate Higgins, Oxfam Canada’s Interim Executive Director. “We are especially heartened by the clear focus on women and girls, who we know have been hardest hit by this pandemic,” noted Higgins.

Experts have called the pandemic-induced recession a “she-cession”, as women have clearly been most impacted. Oxfam published research early on in the pandemic warning that without dramatic action, the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 could push more than half a billion people into poverty and fuel already deepening hunger globally. Recognizing the deep-seated inequalities that this pandemic is worsening, Oxfam Canada has worked with allies to propose a feminist action agenda for Canada’s global response.

“Targeted feminist international assistance initiatives are needed to prevent a rollback of decades of global progress on gender equality,” said Higgins. “This increased investment in international assistance, combined with last week’s investment in the COVAX facility and the commitment to further conversations on debt relief for low and middle income countries, demonstrates laudable Canadian leadership in addressing the inequalities exacerbated by this pandemic.”

“Global challenges require global solutions, and we thank Canada for stepping up at this critical time,” said Higgins. “We look forward to working with the Government of Canada to end COVID everywhere and to build a more equal, inclusive and sustainable future for all. ”

– 30 –

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Paula Baker
Media Relations
Oxfam Canada
(613) 240-3047
paula.baker@oxfam.org

Together, we fight inequality

Hammad — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 18:32:01 +0000

It has now been six months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. While many communities and countries are still firefighting the crisis, there has also been a clear change in the public and political narrative. Alongside managing the health emergency, many governments, including here in Canada, have begun outlining their blueprints for our social and economic recovery.

The message from people around the world to their governments is clear:

There is no going back to normal.

This is a time for radical rethinking.

We have an opportunity to change the system we all now see is broken.

Fight Inequality. Beat Poverty.

Women are the world's powerhouse, and yet they have fewer rights and less control over decisions that affect their lives. Click the play button below to find out how we can fight for better. Together.

Credit: Khaula Jamil/Oxfam

At Oxfam, on one hand, we are focused on countries like India, where cases continue to climb and the deep impact of the pandemic is still setting in. On the other, we are working hard to ensure that Canada invests in a recovery that works for women, particularly the poorest, whom this pandemic has hit hardest.

This summer, Oxfam’s research estimated that by the end of the year, as many as 12,000 people could die each day because of hunger linked to COVID-19. We also analyzed the predictable and destructive impact that under investment in the care economy would have on the well-being of women around the world.

We continue to program in over 90 countries globally to mitigate against the social and economic impact of this pandemic. Our work is guided by the analysis that while COVID-19 is a public health emergency, it is also amplifying global gender and economic inequalities to crisis levels.

In the Philippines, thanks to Government of Canada support, we are providing additional services through our sexual health empowerment program, launching new mobile clinics and distributing dignity kits to women and girls in need. In Bangladesh, with our partner Mari Naitree, we are providing domestic workers who were shut out of work due to the lockdown with food, hygiene kits and information about their rights. In Guatemala, our partner Asociación Nuevo Horizonte is adapting its local radio communications campaign to address domestic violence, focusing its messages on vulnerable Indigenous women facing violence in the home as a result of COVID-19 confinement.

We have been working alongside our feminist allies, global coalitions, community groups, environmental activists and think tanks to develop and advocate for an ambitious recovery plan – in Canada and around the world. Never has it been clearer that our economy works in favour of the few, not the many. Never have we had such an opening to change that. We are supporting the Just Recovery for All Movement and applaud the Feminist Recovery Plan. It is also an essential moment to strongly affirm that a new, more human, more feminist, economy is also inherently one that redresses the impact of the climate crisis. For that reason, we are advocating to ensure that Canada’s Green New Deal is a feminist one. At this critical juncture, Canada cannot turn its back on the world. The world needs Canada to step up its humanitarian commitments globally and continue to inspire global support and solidarity from people across our country. Canada must also contribute to global recovery efforts in a way which is feminist, sustainable and puts human rights at the centre.

Our power lies with those we stand alongside: the women’s rights activists and organizations fighting to protect their communities and pushing for a just future. We are deeply committed to supporting them through our advocacy and our global programs. We stand with them in demanding a system that protects and works for the many, not just the few.

Let’s work on this together.

We are on the brink of very real change.

Kate Higgins is Oxfam Canada's Interim Executive Director.

Report Misconduct

Hammad — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 23:47:54 +0000

Reporting Misconduct

Oxfam has a zero-tolerance approach to exploitation, abuse, fraud and corruption. We encourage you to confidentially report misconduct below.

Make A Confidential Report

Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam

Confidentially Report Misconduct

At Oxfam, it is vital that everyone who works for us maintains the highest standards of conduct, integrity and ethics, and complies with local legislation.

If you suspect that misconduct has, or is about to occur, we encourage you to communicate your suspicions without fear of reprisal and in the knowledge that you will be protected from victimization and/or dismissal.

All reports are confidential, and we will only share the details with the appropriate team members to progress your complaint. Reporters, survivors and complainants can choose to stay anonymous throughout the process.

You can report misconduct in the following ways:

On our webform below
By email at speakup@oxfam.ca
By Phone, call us at 613-627-8699

Make A Confidential Report

How the incident reporting process works

We commit to engage with everyone involved and to act as swiftly as possible to conclude all cases. However, the timeline may vary depending on the nature and complexity of the complaint.

1. Report incident is filed

You will be asked to provide detailed information when filing the report. If you prefer, identify that you would like to remain anonymous.
2. Assessment

If your report relates to safeguarding, fraud or other misconduct, a specialist team will be assigned. Caring and protection measures are put in place for survivors and witnesses.
3. Case management

The specialist team will assess the information provided and determine whether to proceed with an investigation, and who should be involved. An investigation will be started, if appropriate.
4. Outcome

Progress reports are issued with recommendations. Once the investigation is concluded, decisions will be made on appropriate measures to be implemented. You will be kept updated from time to time throughout this process.
5. Closing

All records related to the case, including lessons learned, are documented and stored in a secure system. You will be informed when your case has been concluded.

5 ways Oxfam’s Feminist Leadership is in Action

Paula Baker — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 18:00:36 +0000

Formed five years ago, the Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) Regional Women’s Rights and Gender Justice group comprises Oxfam staff and members of feminist and women’s rights organisations. They work externally to influence for women’s rights in the region, and internally to mainstream gender within Oxfam.

The group insists on maintaining their autonomy, and are unafraid to be a critical voice when needed. Based on their experience, here are five ways Damaris Ruiz, Yohanka Valdes, and Maritza Gallardo Lopez from Oxfam’s LAC Regional Women’s Rights and Gender Justice group are bringing feminist learning into the centre of our organization:

1. Create safe spaces for dialogue and learning
Safe spaces where staff can talk openly and without judgment, and allow innovation. Yohanka says, it “enables us to have challenging visions about Oxfam’s work” at all levels. It helps to build capacity and “provide mutual support between colleagues.” Damaris echoes the feelings of many members, “it is a space where I feel supported, where I can share all my thoughts, where I can be Damaris in my entirety.” And beyond this, creates a network which “facilitates the coordination of the feminist movement in all its diversity.”

2. Speak with one voice to influence internally
Yohanka is convinced that “a shared regional vision of women’s rights is key to raising awareness and involvement within the confederation.” This includes structure, program priorities, and themes. She stresses that a shared vision must be built through open participation.

3. Listen to, and learn from, women’s rights and feminist organizations
Maritza emphasizes that a powerful lesson for Oxfam, is to “learn from the struggles and strategies of the feminist movement.” If Oxfam is serious about placing gender justice at the centre of our work, “it is very important, now more than ever, to consolidate our relationship with the women’s and feminist movements.”

4. Build alliances and strategic partnerships
Maritza reminds Oxfam to be humble, as “there are social and feminist movements that have fought far longer for women’s rights.” Damaris agrees, “it is vital to work with others – even when it requires more effort, more time – it must be done.”

5. Embrace our role as a convenor
We can add real value to the movement by facilitating and strengthening alliances. This helps the group to influence within regional and international spaces. As Maritza illustrates, “in Honduras we united rural and campesino women’s groups with the feminist movement, to work on a joint political agenda.” Their demands include a law guaranteeing access to credit for campesinos.

Moving beyond the rhetoric

The group play a powerful role in holding Oxfam to account. They invite us all to reflect honestly on what it means to adopt feminist principles in your personal and work life, and challenge us on how to become an organization whose ways of working and priorities are based on feminist principles.

In Damaris’ words, “now the challenge is to move beyond the rhetoric to transform our leadership model, our personal positions and commitments, and our commitments as an organization.”

Now more than ever, isn’t it time we all took up the challenge?

Behind the LAC Regional Women’s Rights and Gender Justice group

Damaris Ruiz
Damaris is Oxfam’s Coordinator for Gender Justice and Women’s Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). She was brought up rural Nicaragua under the shadow of the Somoza dictatorship and the armed struggle against it. Although family expectations led her to study international business, she soon realised that this would not be the career for her. Instead she worked in Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) where she became passionate about active citizenship and development.

Yohanka Valdes
Yohanka Valdes is Oxfam’s Programme Coordinator for Gender Justice and Women’s Rights in Cuba. Before joining Oxfam, she worked as a social psychologist in the research centre at the University of Havana. She is motivated by the gender inequality she sees in Cuba, and by feminist activism in Latin America & Caribbean (LAC).

Maritza Gallardo Lopez
Maritza is Programme Coordinator for IGUALES in Honduras. She was inspired by her family and the youth movement of the 80’s and 90’s. Later she embraced other forms of activism within the Central American student movement and the feminist movement, and was inspired by the ideas of Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf and Marcela Lagarde.

Edited for length. Originally published on Oxfam Views & Voices May 23, 2019.

Weathering the Storm of COVID-19

Hammad — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 20:42:58 +0000

Advocacy in Canada, Emergency Response, Feminist Aid

Weathering the Storm of COVID-19

by Lauren Ravon, Oxfam Canada | March 20, 2020

Replace this with image credit information

Peter Caton/DEC

Julia, an aid worker for Oxfam, demonstrates good hygiene practice at Victoria’s home in Beira, Mozambique.

Sometimes a week can feel like a very long time.

As we watch the global spread of coronavirus and see our country and our world changing daily in front of us, we naturally feel concern and fear, for ourselves and our loved ones.

As a mother and a daughter, like many of you across this country, I am trying to figure out how to keep my family safe and healthy over the coming weeks while balancing work and care responsibilities.

As a humanitarian, I am working with my colleagues to quickly scale up our capacity to help the most vulnerable and save lives in the communities where Oxfam works around the world.

And as an activist, I am reflecting on how deep-rooted social, economic and gender inequalities are making it so much harder for some people to weather the storm.

We can already see that existing inequality means the most marginalized people in society are at greatest risk. If COVID-19 takes hold in the poorest countries of the world, it will be devastating. Imagine being a mother in a crowded refugee camp where social distancing is impossible, health care is virtually non-existent, and there isn’t clean water to wash your hands. Women make up 70 per cent of the world's health care workers and are at highest risk of infection. Women are also the most likely to shoulder the burden of caring for sick relatives and looking after children at home. As we are more and more confined in our movements, women are at greater risk of domestic violence. And we will undoubtedly see a rise in gender based violence across the globe. As the pandemic spreads, life will be particularly hard for the poorest and most marginalized among us, and hard-won progress on women’s rights could be reversed.

Right now Oxfam staff are on the ground in 65 countries working with partners, ministries of heath and UN agencies to make preparedness plans and scale up our support to the communities and refugee camps in which we work. We are already increasing the delivery of soap, sanitation services (including hand-washing facilities) and clean water.

For decades, water, sanitation and hygiene has been a part of Oxfam’s humanitarian expertise. As we gear up to respond to this outbreak, we will be working hand-in-hand with local partners – as we do in all emergencies. Their local expertise is critical and will help ensure we respond in a way that takes into account the differing needs and risks that women and girls face.

The fact is - tackling the disease as it spreads will be a mammoth task. But I’m confident we can get through this. Just this week, communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were celebrating the containment of a major Ebola outbreak, working hand-in-hand with Oxfam and other humanitarian organizations.

In the face of this global pandemic, Oxfam will work to protect people living in poverty across the globe and continue to advocate for their rights. While we gear up to respond to this emergency, we are also continuing our vital work on sexual and reproductive health and rights and ending violence against women. It is precisely because of how women experience a crisis that we can and must continue this work alongside emergency measures. No one individual, community, or country can deal with this crisis alone. We must work together, in our communities and across borders.

We cannot address this crisis for some and not others. It simply won’t work. This virus does not care if you are a billionaire or a refugee. It doesn’t care what country you live in or if you have paid sick leave. The virus doesn't care, but we do.

When the wealthy get sick or see their stocks plummet, they have access to healthcare and resources to ride out market instability. That's not true for the poorest and most vulnerable among us. This is why we need to act now – in our own towns and around the world – to make sure everyone has the support they need to weather the storm.

Donate HERE to help Oxfam scale up our response to COVID-19 in communities and refugee camps around the world.

Tens of thousands of people are still suffering one year on from Cyclone Idai

Paula Baker — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 23:01:03 +0000

Tens of thousands of people across Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique are still suffering 12 months after Cyclone Idai battered Southern Africa, warned Oxfam today. Cyclone Idai, one of the worst cyclones to hit Africa, made landfall on March 14, 2019.

A new Oxfam briefing, ‘After the Storm,’ highlights that over 100,000 people in Mozambique and Zimbabwe are still living in destroyed or damaged homes and makeshift shelters, while critical infrastructure including roads, water supplies, and schools have yet to be repaired – making it difficult for people to access vital services or get back to work. It also shows that 9.7 million people across the three countries remain in desperate need of food aid as a result of cyclones, floods, drought and localized conflict.

The briefing explains how a toxic combination of factors – including an intensifying cycle of floods, drought and storms, deep rooted poverty and inequality, a patchy humanitarian response, and a lack of support for poor communities to adapt to, and recover, from climate shocks – have increased people’s vulnerability and made it harder for them to recover.

“Cyclone Idai was anything but a natural disaster. This tragedy was fuelled by the climate crisis and super charged by poverty, inequality and the failures of national governments and the international community,” Nellie Nyang’wa, Oxfam’s Regional Director for Southern Africa said.

“The people of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi are trying to piece their lives back together in the face of huge challenges. Politicians in the region, and across the globe, need to match their commitment.”

Cyclone Idai is just one in of a number of extreme weather events to have hit Southern Africa in recent years. Idai landed five months into a drought that left millions in need of food aid – and the third severe drought to hit the region in the space of five years. Less than six weeks later, Cyclone Kenneth battered northern Mozambique. Torrential rain and flash floods then hit northern and central Mozambique, between December 2019 and February 2020.

Despite the escalating climate crisis, poor communities are not getting enough help to adapt, and there is no dedicated funds to help poor countries recover from the loss and damage caused by climate-fueled disasters. Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries, was forced to take on an additional debt of $118 million from the International Monetary Fund to begin rebuilding. The cyclone caused an estimated US$3.2 billion worth of damage – roughly half of Mozambique’s national budget and equivalent to the impact of 23 Hurricane Katrina’s hitting the United States.

Virginia Defunho, a farmer and a mother from Josina Machel village in Mozambique lost everything in the cyclone. The crops she planted in the aftermath of the cyclone were damaged by severe floods in January.

“Idai has destroyed my mind. It makes me feel angry sometimes,” she said. “My child is crying because he wants food and there is nothing to give. My child has succeeded to grade 10, but I don’t have the money to pay for him to enrol back at school. We are worried about the future because we don’t know if the weather is going to be like this or if it will change back to normal. If [the cyclone] comes a second time, what will our lives be?”

A slow and patchy international humanitarian response has also hampered recovery. Less than half of the US$450.2 million humanitarian funding requested by the UN in the wake of the cyclones has been committed to date. The flow of funds is also slowing with just $42,000 pledged since the beginning of the year.

Poverty and inequality also exacerbate the destructive power of the cyclone and act as major barrier to recovery. While the richest live on the highest ground in the strongest houses and can rely on savings and insurance to help them recover, the poorest communities struggle to rebuild their lives. Women in Malawi own just 17 per cent of the land in the country, even though they produce 80 per cent of household food. As a result, women who were displaced from their land are less able to protect their property for their return – and are left at the back of the queue when it comes to accessing alternative plots of land.

“Rich polluting governments must ensure the humanitarian appeal is fully funded and deliver the climate finance that communities need to adapt to and rebuild from climate shocks. National governments must help climate proof our communities – for example by helping small holder farmers to adapt their farming techniques – and tackle the poverty and inequality that make people more vulnerable to disaster,” added Nyang’wa.

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Notes to Editor:

The briefing “After the Storm: barriers to recovery one year on from Cyclone Idai” is available here
Cyclone Idai before and after b-roll available here.
Stories and pictures from Mozambique – including Virginia Defunho are available here.
Oxfam raised over US$16 million to help 788,168 people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the cyclones – including communities in some of the most remote and difficult to reach areas.
Oxfam and our partners provided emergency assistance such as food aid, blankets and hygiene kits; installed latrines and water pumps in temporary camps; and helped raise awareness of issues such as gender-based violence, which often spikes after a disaster.
Oxfam is also working with communities over the long term to help them adapt to changing the climate – for example by helping smallholder farmers diversify their crops and adapt their farming techniques.

For more information or a media interview contact:

Paula Baker
Oxfam Canada
Media Relations
(613) 240-3047
paula.baker@oxfam.org

World’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people, says Oxfam

Paula Baker — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:15:13 +0000

(Ottawa) – Global inequality is out of control with the world’s richest one per cent having more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people, and much of that wealth is built on the backs of women working billions of hours every day doing unpaid or underpaid care work, according to a new Oxfam report.

‘Time to Care’ is being released as political and business elites gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week. Oxfam’s report reveals that the number of billionaires has almost doubled since the financial crisis and the 22 richest men in the world own more wealth than all the women in Africa. The report highlights how our sexist economies enable a wealthy elite to accumulate vast fortunes at the expense of women and girls, who together put in 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work every day – cooking, cleaning and caring for children and elderly. This represents a contribution of $10.8 trillion a year – more than three times the size of the global tech industry – without which our economies and societies simply wouldn’t be able to function.

In Canada, the top one per cent own significantly more wealth than the bottom 70 per cent. As everywhere else in the world, women in Canada carry a larger responsibility for care work, doing twice as much unpaid care work than men do.

”It’s incomprehensible that a wealthy few continue to amass large fortunes, while the majority of the world struggles to make ends meet. Women are stuck in poverty being robbed of precious time doing unpaid care work when they could be pursuing education and employment opportunities. Sexism lies at the heart of our economies and we cannot tackle inequality without addressing gender inequality,” said Lauren Ravon, director of policy and campaigns for Oxfam Canada.

Globally, women do more than three-quarters of all unpaid care work. They often have to work reduced hours or drop out of the workforce because of their care workload. Across the globe, 42 per cent of women cannot get jobs because they are responsible for all the caregiving, compared to just six per cent of men. Women also make up two-thirds of the paid ‘care workforce’. Jobs such as nursery and domestic workers, and care assistants are often poorly paid, provide scant benefits, impose irregular hours, and can take a physical and emotional toll.

The pressure on carers, both unpaid and paid, is set to grow in the coming decade as the global population grows and ages. An estimated 2.3 billion people will be in need of care by 2030 — an increase of 200 million since 2015. Climate change could worsen the looming global care crisis — by 2025, up to 2.4 billion people will live in areas without enough water, and women and girls will have to walk even longer distances to fetch it.

”The world is facing a looming care crisis as our societies are aging. The care economy could provide millions of decent jobs for women. Investing in the care economy is the best decision governments can make to ensure a more inclusive, equal and prosperous world,” said Ravon.

Oxfam estimates that by getting the richest one per cent to pay just 0.5 per cent extra tax on their wealth over the next 10 years, it would equal the investment needed to create 117 million jobs in sectors such as elderly and childcare, education and health.

Free up women’s time by investing in public services to reduce and redistribute the millions of unpaid hours they spend every day caring for their families and homes.
Ensure corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of tax and increase investment in public services and infrastructure.
Pass laws to tackle the huge amount of care work done by women and girls, and ensure people who do some of the most important jobs in our society — caring for our parents, our children and the most vulnerable — are paid a living wage.
Prioritize care as being as important as all other sectors in order to build more human economies that work for everyone, not just a fortunate few.
Increase spending on public services, including childcare, health and education.
Limit returns to shareholders and top executives, and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share of tax and crack down on tax avoidance.

“There is much our governments can do to tackle inequality, not just between the rich and poor, but also between men and women. 2020 is the year of gender equality as governments are stepping up to meet their global commitments and we want to see the Canadian government take a leadership role when it comes to tackling unpaid care work,” said Ravon.

– 30 –

Notes to editors:

‘Time to Care’ summary, full report and methodology documents explaining how Oxfam calculated the figures and the data set is available here.
Oxfam’s calculations are based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available. Figures on the share of wealth come from the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s Global Wealth Databook 2019. Figures on the very richest in society come from Forbes’ 2019 Billionaires List. Billionaire wealth fell in the last year but has since recovered.
Oxfam is part of the Fight Inequality Alliance, a growing global coalition of civil society organizations and activists that will be holding events from 18-25 January in 30 countries, including India, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Uganda and the UK, to promote solutions to inequality and demand that economies work for everyone.

For more information:

Paula Baker
Oxfam Canada
Media Relations
(613) 240-3047
paula.baker@oxfam.org

More than honey

Hammad — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 19:44:00 +0000

Feminist Aid, Women’s Economic Justice

More than honey

by Eleanor Farmer | December 19, 2019

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Credit: Kieran Doherty / Oxfam

Addise, 26, Beekeeping Cooperative Secretary, Bahirdar, Ethiopia

26-year old Addise is making coffee for everyone. It’s a process; the fire must be lit, beans roasted and ground, frankincense burned and water boiled. She lives with her husband and son in a provincial town, close to Bahir Dar city in the north of Ethiopia.

Most people in this area rely on subsistence farming, which has become more challenging as the growing population faces increasingly frequent droughts. Addise’s home is made of mud and grass; inside the walls are lined with colourful sheets and animal skins. Life here couldn’t be closer or more dependent on the land.

Like many young women in rural Ethiopia, Addise left school when she was 15 because her parents wanted her to get married. “When the teachers asked what we wanted to be in the future, I used to say I wanted to be a doctor,” Addise says, pouring coffee into a row of small white cups. “I have seen many women dying while giving birth. I was very eager to contribute something and help the mothers.” “It wasn’t just a dream,” she adds. “If I didn’t drop out of school, I would definitely be a doctor.”

Credit: Kieran Doherty / Oxfam

Addise sits in her home near Bahir Dar.

Addise is now pregnant with her second child. Her six-year-old laughs as he stamps the ground shooing an agitated chicken away from the fire. In the darkness on the far side of the room, a cow exhales heavily.

A photo of Addise hangs on the wall; she’s wearing a black graduation gown and hat. “This was taken when my brother-in-law graduated from university.” she explains, hesitating as she looks again at herself in the photo. “I asked him if I could have a picture taken with me wearing his graduation gown to show my parents. I would have been just like him if I had the chance to stay in school,” she adds, “I put the photograph in my in-law’s house because seeing it made me upset and reminded me of the opportunity I have lost, but my husband and his brother loved the picture and insisted I put the photograph on the wall here.”

Credit: Kieran Doherty / Oxfam

“I asked him if I could have a picture taken with me wearing his graduation gown to show my parents," says Addise.

For Addise, it was so difficult to leave education for married life, she even considered running away from home. “I used to fight with my parents,” she says. “I used to do well in school and I loved it. I felt depressed when I saw my friends going to class. Some people used to criticize me saying, ‘you dropped out of school for a marriage’, ‘you’re just a housewife and you can’t do anything’. Now I challenge my neighbours who try to prevent their daughters from going to school. I always encourage my son to focus on his education because I don’t want him to repeat my life.”

When Addise learned of an Oxfam beekeeping project for women, she was intrigued. “Beekeeping is considered a man’s role because most women just don’t know they can do it themselves. At first, the women in the group were confused. There’s a huge cultural influence, which creates a gender divide. I went to the first meeting feeling very excited. It took place under a tree in the neighbourhood and the staff explained how the project worked. Being part of that training and talking in public was the most exciting and unforgettable day of my life. It felt like I was in school again and starting a new chapter.”

Credit: Kieran Doherty / Oxfam

“Being part of that training...was the most exciting and unforgettable day of my life,” says Addise.

“Before the project, I didn’t have any income or savings of my own, I was dependent on my husband. I started saving the profits from the honey sales. I now have a savings book from the honey cooperative and my own bank account.”

“Now, six years on, I feel like I am in a better place, because I learn, work, earn my own income. I feel equal to my friends. I even grew my hair because I wanted to look good. I feel I am equal to men and my life has changed. I couldn’t read and write that much before the project but after the adult education I can now read and write well.”

The honey Addise and the women of the cooperative harvest might taste like any other good quality honey; but it’s entirely richer and sweeter when you know the beekeepers behind it are getting an education, gaining skills and earning an income which will continue to reward generations to come.

Creating a model for girls’ education in Ghana

Hammad — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 17:09:25 +0000

Feminist Aid, Women's Transformative Leadership

Creating a model for girls’ education in Ghana

by Divya Amladi | August 15, 2019

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Lotte Ærsøe/Oxfam IBIS

Gladys Asare Akosua, teacher at Savelugu Girls Model School in Northern Ghana.

Schools tailored to girls’ needs in northern Ghana are removing barriers, encouraging girls to become independent thinkers, and motivating them to pursue higher education.

The average girl in Ghana only receives four years of education. Early marriage, pregnancy, poverty, and sexual harassment are all obstacles that force girls to drop out of school before the end of junior high.

At Oxfam, we know educating girls is critical to improving their lives. Each additional year of primary school a girl attends increases her future wages by 10 to 20 percent. Educated girls also are likely to marry later and have fewer children, and their children are also more likely to thrive.

With that in mind, we partnered with Ghana Education Service, the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district, and local communities to build a junior high school in the northern province of Sawla to tackle barriers preventing girls from finishing their educations. We aimed to demonstrate that safe, girl-friendly schools would empower girls and motivate them to stay in school – and maybe even pursue higher education.

That school became a model for girls’ success in Ghana.

Laying the groundwork

The first Girls Model Junior High School opened in Sawla in 2008, targeting girls from the poorest families. All 28 enrolled girls passed their final exams, and 24 went on to attend senior high school. In 2013, a sister school was established in the Kpandai district. By March 2018 – a decade after the project began – there were 44 schools in districts across northern Ghana. They are all financed and administered by local authorities.

“It makes me feel more confident in myself when there are no boys around," says Hadisah Ibrahim, 15, a student at Savelugu Girls Model Junior High School. Photo: Lotte Ærsøe/Oxfam IBIS

Hadisah Ibrahim, 15, learned about the Savelugu Girls Model Junior High School when a teacher came to her village. “He told us about the new school that was opening – that it was a good place where we could learn a lot. I wanted to go, and my father agreed.”

She’s now a student and likes that her school is girls-only. “It makes me feel more confident in myself when there are no boys around,” she says. “We don’t have to put up with all the noise the boys at my old school used to make.”

Her father can’t always afford to pay for her schoolbooks, but Hadisah isn’t discouraged. She borrows books from her classmates when she needs to. Hadisah is committed to finishing school and becoming a doctor. “One day I will return to this area and help treat the sick people in my home town,” she says.

A different style of teaching

Tackling endemic problems requires innovative solutions, so the schools have taken a novel approach to pedagogy. Teaching is based on learner-centered methodologies, a concept that has previously not applied very often by teachers in this part of Ghana, who lacked the know-how to implement it. Discussions and group work are core elements. The girls form study groups in the evenings. Parents are invited to support the girls’ education through school management committees.

Computers are integrated into lessons, and teachers are trained to encourage the girls to participate actively in the classroom, and even to challenge teachers with individual points of view. These schools go beyond the national curriculum to address sexual health and life skills.

Gladys Asare Akosu is a teacher at Savelugu Girls Model School. “Traditionally, girls’ education is not considered important in this part of Ghana.

Many people believe that a girl should just get married as early as possible – they don’t see much sense in wasting time and money on the girls going to school,” she says. “That’s extremely unfair.”

For her, teaching here is different from what she’s used to. There are fewer students in each class, which makes it easier to focus on each child’s needs.

“As teachers, we do a lot to involve the students instead of just lecturing. We encourage them to participate in discussions,” she says. “Some of the girls were very shy in the beginning, but now they raise their hands and take part in the discussions. It is amazing to witness such a change in a young girl.”

Akosu knows adolescence is a fragile time for girls. Teenage pregnancies and child marriages are far too common in this part of Ghana, and consequently many girls drop out before they graduate high school. Compounding that is the fact that many of her students come from poor families and live far away.

Parental support is integral to the schools’ success. If a girl misses more than a day or two of school, the headmistress gets in touch with the family. Akosu says it’s not uncommon for educators to go on home visits to prevent girls from dropping out.

“I really enjoy being part of the change that we are making here,” she says. “Hopefully our work will help eradicate the old prejudices toward girls’ education. These girls just have so much to offer.”

Shafaw Mohammed, 15, pictured with her mother Zinatu Alhassan, says her favorite subject is English. "I dream of becoming a journalist when I finish my studies." Photo: Lotte Ærsøe/Oxfam IBIS

Increasing the chance for success

Ninety-five percent of the girls registered at the Girls Model Junior High Schools have graduated, and the majority are continuing their education. In the schools’ surrounding communities, girls constitute just 10% of the children who graduate from junior high school.

In total, more than 1,642 girls are now enrolled at the model schools, and the goal is to continue scaling up.

”The Girls Model School is a baby for us in Savelugu,” says Municipal Chief Executive Hajia Adishetu Seidu. “When we educate girls, we break the cycle of poverty. Women take care of their families, they share everything they earn, and they make sure that their own children also go to school.”

Mozambique cyclone appeal allots less than 1% to needs of women and girls

Paula Baker — Thu, 30 May 2019 17:24:03 +0000

Oxfam, Save the Children and Care are calling on donors to meet or exceed the proposed $5 million target to fund programs that support vulnerable women and girls ahead of a donor conference in Beira, Mozambique on May 31. The money is needed to help women and girls access education, health and other resources – and protect them from risks such as gender based-violence.

A joint needs assessment overseen by the Mozambique government and the United Nations highlighted the acute vulnerabilities and needs faced by women in the aftermath of the cyclone. However it proposed that just 0.17 percent of funds - $5 million – should be invested in programs that benefit women and girls.

The humanitarian crisis increase the risks faced by women and girls in Mozambique and could widen gender inequalities in a country that, even prior to the disaster, ranked in the bottom 20 nations on the UNDP Gender Inequality Index. For example, women are often forced to walk longer distances in unsafe conditions to collect water which leaves them with even less time to earn an income and puts them at increased risk of gender based violence. The agencies are calling for every aspect of the humanitarian response to prioritize women and girls’ distinct needs.

Despite two massive Cyclones hitting Mozambique in fast succession, affecting 1.8 million people and leaving 750,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance, the UN’s Mozambique cyclone appeal remains less than 40 percent funded.

Rotafina Donco, the Oxfam Mozambique Country Director, says, “Women and girls have unique needs and face specific risks during and after an emergency. The women of Mozambique contribute so much to their country, especially in this time of crisis. We must use this opportunity to make sure women are protected, that they are given the tools they need to help their families and communities recover, and that their critical role in rebuilding our country is recognized. We can’t just talk about supporting women and girls – we need to see it funded and in practice every day.”

Save the Children’s Country Director for Mozambique, Chance Briggs, says, “Children are vulnerable to all kinds of risks in the wake of a disaster. Girls especially, are at high risk for exploitation, trafficking, early marriage and child labour. One of the best protections against these risks is to ensure that they are able to return to immediately return to learning after a disaster. Education is a life-saving intervention, providing children a sense of normalcy, and in the longer term, builds their resilience to future shocks and stresses. Education is a right and needs to be included at all phases of this response. Right now, the education response has not been sufficiently funded. This is not good enough. Mozambique’s children deserve better.”

Marc Nosbach, CARE’s country director in Mozambique, said: “Affected communities have lost everything and are struggling to rebuild their lives from scratch. It is necessary not only to address their immediate needs, but also to invest in recovery programs that take into account the vulnerability of some of the community members, especially women and girls. In focus groups with women who were impacted by both cyclones, we have found multiple protection concerns, such as their safety in new resettlement sites, fear of exploitation, increased social tensions, and violence that could stem from the change of gender roles due to the loss or injury of male members. All these issues need more support and funding flexibility for aid organizations to be able to plan their responses properly.”

As donors arrive in Beira, thousands of families are still reeling from the loss of loved ones, homes, incomes, and sense of security. There are still remote communities that have only just been reached by humanitarian agencies. Yet the initial devastation caused by disasters such as Cyclone Idai and Kenneth is only the beginning with communities facing months or years of difficult recovery ahead. Mozambique will also face more frequent and more intense natural disasters as a result of the climate crisis, and the humanitarian community cannot be complacent or allow vulnerable communities to fall further behind.

Oxfam, Save the Children, and Care are calling for donors to ensure their money and efforts are invested in a way that reduces inequality and prepares communities for any future disasters.

Notes to Editors:

Oxfam, Save the Children and Care paper, ‘Leave no one behind: Ensure the needs of women and girls are prioritized at the Beira Conference 2019,’ is available on request.

Following Cyclone Idai, the Government of Mozambique requested technical assistance from the World Bank on March 27, 2019, through the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery to undertake a post-disaster needs assessment to support the country’s recovery process. The request was extended to the European Union and the United Nations. The post disaster needs assessment, led by the Government of Mozambique, was conducted between April 16 and May 2nd 2019 by a team of experts from Government Ministries with support from the United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the European Union, the African Development Bank and other development partners.

The COSACA consortium consists of the international aid organizations CARE International, Oxfam, and Save the Children. The consortium began its work in Mozambique in 2007, delivering emergency and large-scale humanitarian assistance to communities affected by floods. COSACA has reached over 350,000 people as part of the Cyclone Idai and Kenneth response. The joint response has included the provision of clean water and sanitation, helped farmers recover with seeds and tools, and provided children with opportunities to get back to school.

For more information or to arrange an interview contact:

Paula Baker
Oxfam Canada
Media Relations
(613) 240-3047
paula.baker@oxfam.org

G7 must commit to feminist aid agenda to tackle poverty and economic inequality, says Oxfam

Paula Baker — Thu, 09 May 2019 17:14:30 +0000

G7 development aid must prioritize the needs of women and girls if they are to tackle poverty and economic inequality, said Oxfam today as G7 Ministers prepare for a meeting on gender equality in Paris on the 9th and 10th May. The G7 accounts for three quarters of total international development aid.

“G7 leaders must commit to a feminist development agenda – including more funding for women’s organisations in developing countries. Feminist aid is a game changer. Not only should donors significantly increase investments that have gender equality as a principle goal, but rethink how the money is spent in line with feminist principles of transformative change, agency, intersectionality and process,” said Diana Sarosi, Oxfam Canada’s Manager of Policy and author of the report.

Notes to editor:

A new Oxfam report, Feminist aid: a call for G7 leaders to beat inequality is published today which calls for:

Increased funding for feminist organizations in developing countries
Increased funding public services that support poor women – particularly healthcare, education and social protection.
Involvement of women in the development and delivery of programs funded by overseas development aid.
More consideration given to the existing structural imbalances that make women more vulnerable to poverty and inequality in the design of aid programs.

Contact Information:

Paula Baker
Media Relations
Oxfam Canada
(613) 240-3047
paula.baker@oxfam.org

Oxfam Threads of Change Quilt – Putting It All Together

alvaro — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 18:45:19 +0000

Over the years, thousands of Oxfam supporters like you have responded powerfully to our annual Threads of Change campaign. Back in 2012, you helped put together our first quilt, made up of messages of hope from our donors, which was sent to our project in Cuba.

Last year, our Threads of Change campaign quilt made its way to Zimbabwe, to one of the hardest hit drought areas, where we met with a group for women’s economic empowerment.

Today we’re asking you to send courage and hope to women and girls around the world who are living under the threat of violence. In our frontline work, Oxfam has seen the impact of rampant and horrifying abuse against women and girls in the countries where we work.

Whether in our own neighborhoods or around the world, what we know for certain is that the underlying beliefs about what are ‘appropriate’ roles for men and women are often a key root cause of violence against women and girls.

With your gift, you can help increase access to services for survivors of violence and their families, and support women’s economic empowerment through skills-building and entrepreneurship training.

And you’ll be there with Oxfam as we work to have much needed conversations about social norms.

This year, we will have the fabric pieces sewn into table cloths, and when women around the world gather around these tables, when the conversations they so desperately need are taking place, they will know we stand in solidarity with them. Thank you.

Our Threads of Change Quilt campaign has touched hundreds of people with inspirational messages of hope, thanks to our donors. We continue to be deeply touched by the outpouring of support from our donors – thank you!

Our Threads of Change Quilt campaign has touched hundreds of people with inspirational messages of hope, thanks to our donors.

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Creating a model for girls’ education in Ghana

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Mozambique cyclone appeal allots less than 1% to needs of women and girls

Notes to Editors:

For more information or to arrange an interview contact:

G7 must commit to feminist aid agenda to tackle poverty and economic inequality, says Oxfam

Notes to editor:

Contact Information:

Oxfam Threads of Change Quilt – Putting It All Together