• Fati N’Zi-Hassane, Africa Director of Oxfam International
• Harriette Chiggai, Women’s Rights Advisor to the President of Kenya
• Nadine Gasman, President of the National Institute of Women of Mexico
• Peter MacDougall, Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues and Development at Global Affairs Canada
• Emilienne de León, Interim Technical Secretary at the Global Alliance for Care
• Krista Jones Baptista, Executive Director at Data2X
• Seema Halam, Deputy Director of Gender Equality Policy, Advocacy and Communications at the Gates Foundation

Margery Kraus, Founder and Executive Chairman of Appco Worldwide, moderated a discussion that focused on the significance of the care economy and its impact on women and society. Panelists discussed the need to raise awareness about the importance of unpaid care work and to discuss how it can be better valued and integrated into policy initiatives.

Data was a recurring theme in the discussion, underscoring its critical role in understanding the care economy. Comprehensive data collection is vital for measuring unpaid care work, informing policy decisions, and tracking progress. Some methods that are being used by different governments to generate data on the care economy are through time use surveys and mapping of care service provisions. These tools have collected data that has revealed that women dedicate three times as much time to unpaid care work as men, emphasizing the gender disparities that are embedded in the care economy.

Also, key to the discussion was the significant efforts undertaken in Kenya to collect data on unpaid care work and develop a national care policy. Harriette Chiggai, Women’s Rights Advisor to the President of Kenya, detailed how the Kenyan government is actively working on implementing a national time-use survey through the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in partnership with Oxfam and other actors, to collect data on unpaid care work. This data is crucial for understanding the distribution of unpaid care work and its economic implications and for informing the establishment of the National Policy on Care – the first of its kind in the African continent. Harriette Chiggai also gave details on how the government is committed to enhancing women’s economic empowerment and improving their economic status, recognizing that addressing unpaid care work is a vital step in achieving these goals. The care policy in Kenya is expected to address the challenges and inequalities associated with unpaid care work, especially in recognizing the importance of care work and addressing its economic dimensions.

Nadine Gasman, President of the National Institute of Women of Mexico, also shed light on how data on unpaid care work has been instrumental in advocating for increased investment in care services, particularly in how to understand the distribution of unpaid care work between men and women. Mexico has been using the national time use survey tool to measure both direct and indirect time committed to care work. As a result of this tool, they found that the amount of time women dedicate to the care economy is equivalent to 21% of the country’s GDP. As such, Mexico is viewing the care economy as an investment rather than a cost, and is focusing on supporting women to get into the formal economy. To this end, the Mexican government has focused on providing universal childcare and services for the elderly and people with disabilities, to help women join the formal workforce and continue to be drivers of economic prosperity throughout the country. A particularly noteworthy achievement from the Mexican government was the development of a georeferenced National Care Map which identifies care services throughout the country, helps citizens locate accessible care services, and informs decision-makers on areas that require investment. This tool allows decision-makers to visualize who is being serviced by providers (e.g. children, elderly) and where the majority of services are located (e.g. urban, rural).

Peter McDougal, the Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues and Development of Global Affairs in Canada, underscored Canada’s commitment to gender equality, both domestically and in international assistance. Canada has adopted feminist policies and incorporated a feminist perspective into its international assistance policy, with a goal to ensure that every dollar spent contributes to high gender equality targets. McDougal pointed out that care work had not been a significant part of Canada’s development program until recently, emphasizing the need to highlight the importance of the care economy. In 2021, Canada committed 100 million to international standalone care funding which has resulted in Canada funding 6 gender-transformative projects in collaboration with civil society and multilateral organizations to support domestic workers’ rights, quality child care services, and gender-responsive policies. One notable project mentioned was the “Time to Care” project, a collaboration between Oxfam Canada and Kenya, aiming to address inequalities in both paid and unpaid care. McDougal stressed the importance of focusing on paid care workers’ rights and needs.

In the domestic context, McDougal emphasized Canada’s commitment to early learning and child care, by committing $30 billion to building a national childcare system in Canada, with a goal of creating affordable and high-quality child care spaces across the country. This initiative focuses on reducing the cost of quality child care to 10 dollars a day by 2026 and is part of Canada’s efforts to achieve a “triple win” for children, gender equality, and economic and societal benefits.

Civil society organizations, such as Oxfam International, highlighted the challenges that remain in advancing gender equality through the care economy. This includes the challenge of lack of financial resources invested in this sector, the limited recognition of unpaid care work as a driver to gender inequality, and the male dominance of policy making spaces that often overlook unpaid care work.

To address these challenges, the panelists highlighted a need for a paradigm shift that makes a direct connection between unpaid care work and the lack of access to decision-making spaces and economic opportunities. In terms of where investments and actions are needed, the panelists emphasized the importance of care policies that recognize the value of unpaid care work. To do this, countries need to collect essential disaggregated data and invest in care services that promote gender equality and societal well-being.

Despite being largely responsible for the worsening climate crisis in East Africa, rich nations paid Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan just $2.4 billion in climate-related development finance in 2021, in stark contrast to the $53.3 billion East Africa says it needs annually to meet its 2030 climate goals.  

Oxfam’s “Unfair Share” Report published today, shows that the biggest polluting nations have fallen short of meeting both the climate and the humanitarian funds East African countries need to recover from their climate-fuelled hunger crisis. It highlights the impact of climate change on the future of the region.  

Oxfam in Africa Director, Fati N’Zi-Hassane said: “Even by their own generous accounts, polluting nations have delivered only pittance to help East Africa scale up their mitigation and adaptation efforts. Nearly half the funds (45%) they did give were loans, plunging the region further into more debt.” 

A prolonged drought and erratic rainfalls have killed nearly 13 million animals, and decimated hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops, leaving millions of people without income or food. These four East African countries have incurred up to an estimated $30 billion of losses from 2021 to the end of 2023. Oxfam calculates that these countries also lost approximately $7.4 billion worth of livestock. 

As a result, over 40 million people across the four countries are suffering severe hunger because of a two-year drought and years of flooding, compounded by displacement and conflict. Despite the soaring humanitarian need, rich nations have only met about one third of the UN appeal for East Africa this year. 

“At the heart of East Africa’s hunger crisis is an abhorrent climate injustice. Rich polluting nations continue to rig the system by disregarding the billions owed to East Africa, while millions of people are left to starve from repeated climate shocks,” said N’Zi-Hassane.  

Industrialised economies have significantly contributed to the climate crisis, which now disproportionally affects regions like East Africa. The G7 countries and Russia alone have been responsible for 85 percent of global emissions since 1850. This is 850 times the emissions of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan combined. 

“Global financial institutions are also complicit in contributing to the debt spiral that many developing countries are in. Onerous repayment cycles (to IFIs, bilateral and private creditors) prevent vulnerable countries from adapting to climate change or fully recovering from these consecutive shocks, like climate-fuelled hunger crises..” 

Extreme weather, now more severe and frequent, is the primary driver of hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and in part in South Sudan, where climate change has made the drought 100 times more likely.  

“These pummelling shocks have depleted people’s reserves, leaving those already vulnerable with nothing to fend for themselves. Since the last drought in 2017, the number of people who need urgent aid across the four countries has more than doubled – from 20.7 million to 43.5 million,” said N’Zi-Hassane. 

The climate crisis has taken its toll especially on women and girls. Women in Somalia told Oxfam they now have to walk more than four hours every day to fetch water, often in treacherous journeys – a significantly increased distance compared to previous droughts. Too often, when food is scarce, mothers eat last and least; and girls are the first to be dropped out of school or married off at a young age so there is one less mouth to feed. 

Nimo Suleiman, a displaced mother of two from Somaliland, said “I have witnessed previous droughts but I have never seen anything like this before. The closest water point for us is five kilometers away, the road to the water point is not safe and very hot, but our family’s survival depends on us making that journey.”  

“At the first African Climate Summit, Oxfam urges African leaders to speak up and hold rich polluting nations to account for this climate crisis. Rich nations must immediately inject funds to meet the $8.74 billion UN humanitarian needs for East Africa in order to save lives now,” N’Zi-Hassane said.  

“It is equally crucial for the biggest polluters to pay their fair share of the money East Africa needs to strengthen its efforts to help its most vulnerable citizens prepare for the next climatic shock. These funds must be sustainable, in the form of grants rather than loans.” 

“Leading up to COP28, African voices must be loud in demanding rich polluting nations to drastically cut their emissions, and to compensate East Africa for all their climate loss and damage so that the region can recover from these worsening climate shocks.”  

Notes to the Editors 

• Read Oxfam’s “Unfair Share” report.  

• Oxfam is holding a roundtable at the African Climate Summit on 5 Sept .  
• The $2.4 billion figure is based on the OECD records of “Climate-related development finance” statistics reported figures in 2021 for Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, which capture both bilateral and multilateral climate-related external development finance flows. For more detail on the OECD methodology please see the OECD Methodology note. 
• Out of the total $2.4 billion funds provided, only $1.33 billion were in the form of grants (54.5%) while $1.09 billion were in the form of loans (45%). Source: OECD 
• The figure $53.3 billion is the four countries identified annual needed funds for the period 2021 to 2030, in their “National Determined Contributions” (NDCs) to enable them to implement their climate goals under the Paris Agreement. It includes: $62 billion for Kenya, $316 billion for Ethiopia, $55.5 billion for Somalia and $100 billion for South Sudan. 
• According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the East Africa region’s average annual loss from climate change until 2030 is 2-4% of its annual GDP. For Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, the total combined GDP in 2022 is $260 Billion. 

• Oxfam calculated livestock loss for Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia based on 2021 and 2023 estimates of the total government reported loss of 12.95 million heads of livestock – including 6.85 million livestock in Ethiopia, 2.6 million livestock in Kenya and 3.5 million livestock in Somalia. Ethiopia and Somalia have not provided an estimate of the value of the lost livestock. The approximate cost of per animal head in the region is $ 576.9, totalling $7.2 Billion for all 12.95 million livestock lost. 
• Food insecurity figures are based on IPC classification of the number of people in crisis or worse levels of food insecurity (IPC3+) for Ethiopia (11.8 million), Kenya (5.4 million), Somalia (6.5 million) and South Sudan (7.7 million).  
• Humanitarian need figures is based on the 2023 UN Humanitarian Response Plans for Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan and Kenya. 
• Humanitarian need figures for 2017 are based on 2017 Humanitarian Response Document for Ethiopia;  Somalia and South Sudan , and the 2017 Flash Appeal for Kenya. 

Contact Information 

Vita Sgardello
Communications Manager
vita.sgardello@oxfam.org
+1.613.799.0234

Notes to editors: