16 days of activism with oxfam

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GENDER JUSTICE NEWSLETTER

For Internal Use Only: January 2014


This newsletter provides information about Gender Justice work across the confederation of Oxfam affiliates. For more information, please visit the Gender Justice Change Goal Page on SUMUS. Please note that this newsletter is meant for internal communications only. For more information or to contribute a story, please contact Chloe Safier, OI Gender Justice Coordinator. ********************************************************************************************************

Gender Justice Calendar 2014 January February March April May Transformative Leadership for Women’s Rights Event (hosted by Intermon, dates TBC) Gender in Emergencies Training of Trainers (Bangkok, Jan 8-‐10)

OI Violence Against Women Knowledge Hub Kickoff Event (Pretoria, South Africa: Feb 24-‐26) OI Gender Justice Management Team Face to Face meeting (Pretoria, South Africa (Feb 27-‐March 1) OGB Global Gender Justice Learning Event (Oxford, Feb 12-‐14)

OI Transformative Leadership for Women’s Rights Guide to be launched!

TBC: First face to face meeting of OI GJ team, Women’s Rights Capacity Development Team

Updates on Our Internal Work & Programs The 16 Days of Activism:

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign to raise awareness about violence against women and take action to eliminate it. Every year, the 16-‐day long campaign begins on November 25, the International Day Against Violence Against Women. Women’s rights activists first recognized this in 1981, as a day against violence, in memory of three sisters who were assassinated for opposing the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. The 16 Days, which ended on December 10, highlights the link between violence against women and the recognition that women’s rights are human rights. Many women’s rights organizations focus on the 16 Days as a time to build awareness within communities and amongst legislators to make an impact on ending violence against women. At Oxfam, we understand violence against women (VAW) as a violation of women’s rights, a barrier to women’s active citizenship, and hence, a fundamental constraint to poverty alleviation. Oxfam organizes with and offers support to women’s organizations and others celebrating the gains made on VAW, and pushing hard for promises yet to be fulfilled. There’s been a great deal of work happening around the confederation; art exhibits in Mali, a fantastic blog about the structural nature of violence against women, a publication of short stories about our partners with a discussion guide and much much more. Thank you to those who sent updates, photos and blog posts. A full list of all the activities, events, programs, projects and demonstrations can be found in a special section at the end of this newsletter.

JANURY 2014 Highlights: Updates on our Internal Work and Programs

The 16 Days of Activism Making Gender Justice a Reality, One Training at a Time in Afghanistan

Responding to gender-‐based violence in Vietnam Oxfam launches ‘Raising Her Voice: The power to persuade’

Updates on Oxfam’s work on Care New Reports, Websites and Tools

Report on a Baseline Survey of Women Domestic Workers in Kenya Now Available: Oxfam’s New Policy on Evaluation

Highlights from Policy & Practice Special Section: Round up of The 16 Days of Activism Activities

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Ms Nguyen Thi Ly during the training session in the province of Ha Giang (photo credit: Dominique LaRochelle)

A few years back when I visited their villages, these women used to hide their faces when I asked them to say something. Now within a year or two, things have changed completely. Now I have to be well prepared before I go to hold a discussion with them’. Mr Mohan Lamsal, Village Development Secretary, Nepal

Making Gender Justice a Reality, One Training at a Time in Afghanistan Contributed by Nina Gora, Gender and Governance Manager, OGB in Afghanistan The Making Gender Justice a Reality training series has been carried out in all three offices in Afghanistan– Daikundi, Badakshan and Kabul. This training series began after conducting a gender assessment of staff in Afghanistan, which showed many staff had little understanding of the importance of gender justice and lacked the skills and confidence to work towards gender justice. In a country like Afghanistan, where 88% of women are illiterate and 87.2% experience violence, the disadvantages and discrimination women experience are both evident and well documented, so the task to promote gender justice is substantial. Oxfam must set an example and act as a role model for its partners; unless our own teams have the requisite skills and knowledge they cannot be expected to increase the capacity of our partners – which is a significant part of our approach – or inspire them to do better in furthering gender justice. The training resources included games, case studies, quizzes, training packs, slides and short videos. The trainers toured the offices with these resources and initiated fantastic discussions starting from the basics, namely why we work on women’s rights. Often the full extent of the problems women face is not very well known or understood by men in Afghanistan. The training asked participants to put themselves in a woman’s shoes through an exercise exploring what is good about being a woman in Afghanistan and what is challenging. This helped de-‐mystify the female “other”. We then moved away from the theory, the why and what of Oxfam’s work, to the how. The critical how: what questions to ask, what tools to use and what to always consider. The training series has ended for now, but this particular journey to make gender justice a reality is just beginning for staff in Afghanistan. Next we are running a series of talks and film screenings on “Why Gender?” More importantly we are setting up a Gender Justice Working Group to provide longer term support, guidance and, above all, encouragement to staff who have the authority to make change happen both internally and, when ready, externally. Responding to gender-‐based violence in Vietnam Contributed by: Dominique LaRochelle, Gender Advisor, Oxfam-‐Quebec in Vietnam In 2010, a national study on domestic violence in Viet Nam showed that 58% of Vietnamese women reported having experienced at least one type of domestic violence in their lives. Unfortunately, the services available to survivors of domestic violence in the country are not always adapted to women, or easily accessible, especially in remote areas. The Vietnam Women’s Union, one of Oxfam’s partners in the country, is often the first responder to domestic violence cases. However, the Women’s Union staff members often feel that they lack skills to intervene, and asked Oxfam to provide them with technical support to better protect women’s rights. So, Oxfam delivered training on counseling skills for Women’s Union’s staff in the province of Ha Giang. During the week, the participants were able to discuss the root causes of gender-‐based violence, but were also trained in the principles of social work, and given time to practice their newly acquired counseling skills. Ms Nguyen Thi Ly participated in the training delivered by Oxfam. When asked about what she learned during the week, she said that she “had the chance to practice interviewing and counseling skills, and to put her new knowledge into practice by building a safety plan to help the survivors of domestic violence in the community”. Ms Ly concluded by saying that “the workshop on gender-‐based violence really helped me get a good understanding of the methods of intervention. I know that laws against domestic violence exist, and now I’ve been given new tools to help counsel and support the victims”. Oxfam launches ‘Raising Her Voice: The power to persuade’ Contributed by: Jacky Repila, Raising Her Voice Learning and Communications, OGB Bursting with evidence from the final evaluation of the five year RHV global program, this summary shows how when women are supported to raise their voices and increase their influence they can make a major contribution to challenge inequalities and restore basic human rights. Anybody needing to strengthen their case with donors and colleagues to advocate for greater investment in strengthening women’s individual and collective voice and influence need look no further . Backed by facts, the RHV evaluation gives five reasons for more to be done to increase women’s voice and influence.

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Not only a useful advocacy tool, the summary shares the learning about what has worked at national, local and ‘global programme’ level to support transformative change, through addressing the structural as well as the attitudinal and practical barriers to gender equality.

Working with 45 local partners, 141 community activist groups, and over 1,005 coalition members, often in fragile and volatile contexts (for example, Pakistan and Honduras) the summary shows how RHV’s theory of change provided coherence whilst respecting context. Endeavoring to capture the ‘complexity and interconnectedness of all things’ in women’s lives, RHV staff and partners valued the RHV TOC three (personal, social, political) spheres model as ‘providing a simple front end to a complex process’.

The summary captures the major learning points around effective strategies in each of the three spheres. A key lesson is that programmes are most successful where all three spheres are clearly addressed, and where complementary work is carried out to link pressure for change at local, district and national and international levels. However, staff and partners also reflected that the design of new programmes would be strengthened by a more explicit recognition of the impact of the economic sphere -‐ on individual women's abilities to participate and on the sustainability of women's groups. Livelihoods and governance practitioners alike are addressed by the call for greater mindfulness that the political and the economic are deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing, and not exclusive. We hope too, that the summary provides useful guidance for Oxfam's wider livelihoods, resilience and humanitarian communities of practice -‐ in supporting them to translate a better understanding of this inter-‐relationship into their own program design and ways of working. Please share widely with your networks! The summary is a porthole to the full evaluation report and for more information – including case studies and videos – please take a look at the RHV ning site or contact Emily Brown (Global RHV Coordinator) at [email protected]. Updates on Oxfam’s work on Care Contributed by: Claudia Canepa, Learning and Communications Coordinator, OGB Oxfam has become recognized as one of the leading development agencies addressing care, to ensure women’s rights and leadership and to reduce inequality in development outcomes. Oxfam’s ‘Rapid Care Analysis’, developed this year with local staff and partners, are one of only two methodologies available for development practitioners. Oxfam staff have undertaken the Rapid Care Analysis in 14 projects in 11 countries: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, OPT/Gaza, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and the UK. These development programs’ have requested additional funds for action research, popular communications, and advocacy on care to support women leaders in their communities. Eight countries have developed proposals to implement the interventions on care identified out of the analysis of (problematic) care work, practical interventions such as water pumps, grinding mills and fuel-‐efficient stoves, and advocacy for childcare, school buses, health and social services. Redistribution of care responsibilities between women/girls and men/boys has included cooking classes, awareness raising, discussions in producer groups and community organizations and theatre projects. Our RCA research with women producers in 8 of Oxfam's enterprise and markets programs found women doing 6-‐8 hours a day of housework, dependent care, water and fuel collection, and men doing 1-‐2 hours a day. Men reported 61 -‐ 70 total weekly work hours, women's estimates are 80 to over 100 hours of work per week.

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Bangladeshi women producers said that post-‐harvest activities of 2-‐3 hours/day were taken out of their time for personal care and sleep -‐ household tasks were not redistributed. Oxfam co-‐hosted the London launch of the UN Special Rapporteur’s report on unpaid care work, women’s extreme poverty and rights, with Action Aid and IDS. Subsequently, UN Women requested Oxfam to co-‐host a webinar on Rural Women and Unpaid Care for their Knowledge Gateway for Women’s Economic Empowerment. Oxfam has also contributed resources to the new UN Women site, the Knowledge Gateway on Women’s Economic Empowerment (183 Oxfam resources have been shared to date!) And e-‐discussion on unpaid care washeld in October, which generated a great deal of interest (83 comments) and can be found here. In November, Oxfam held a webinar on unpaid care; Thalia Kidder (OGB) presented with others from IDS and ActionAid. This included 37 participants and a slide presentation can be found here. The Rapid Care Analysis Manual and Toolkit was featured on the Knowledge Gateways’ front page during October and November – there have been 623 total unique downloads since the launch of these documents in October.

New Reports, Websites & Tools Report on a Baseline Survey of Women Domestic Workers in Mukuru Informal Settlement Contributed by: Cat Meredith This report (written by Benson M.O. Agaya and Masiga Asunza) provides a detailed analysis of the context in which women domestic workers operate in Nairobi, Kenya. The report will inform the programme design of Oxfam and Prospect Union in their work on women's empowerment. Development partners, the Government of Kenya and other stakeholders in Kenya and beyond will find this study useful. Now Available: Oxfam’s New Policy on Evaluation Contributed by: Mary Sue Smiaroski The evaluation policy is now available in English, French and Spanish with a power point explaining the different components of the policy (for use with teams). It is going to be posted on www.oxfam.org shortly (including a FAQ). This is Oxfam’s policy on evaluation; it applies to everyone across the confederation. A working group is in the process of developing guidance and recommendations to support colleagues in countries to comply with the policy; that should be available in April 2014. Goo Highlights from Policy and Practice Contributed by: Catherine Meredith New humanitarian policy notes on gender, conflict and violence Caroline Green During times of conflict and disaster levels of gender violence often increase. Our policy notes for humanitarian agencies contain practical advice on gender issues during conflict and reducing the risk of violence against women. Gender & Development: Conflict and Violence issue Ed. Caroline Sweetman Gender & Development explores conflict and violence through the lens of feminism. Articles discuss girl soldiers, the arms trade, peace building and post-‐conflict societies. When Women Farm India's Land: How to increase ownership? Lucy Dubochet Women have long played a crucial role in India’s agricultural production. The situation of women cultivators is one of tremendous vulnerability: without land titles they are not recognised as farmers and thus are not able to access credits and government benefits. This policy brief outlines avenues to address the gap between the reality for many rural women and their entitlements. A few more blog posts that you might be interested in:

• In her shoes: gender justice training in Afghanistan • Unmasking violence: Syrian women paint stories • Women and care work: a snapshot from Sri Lanka • Violence against women: changing attitudes and laws • Violence against women in India, behind the data • Is a woman's place on the battlefield? • Unpaid carers of the world, unite!

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• Call to action: ending violence against women in emergencies • When women get together great things are possible -‐ lessons from Raising Her Voice

SPECIAL SECTION: 16 Days of Activism Activities Oxfam Solidarite held an event on November 25th, as part of a larger campaign run by a consortium of Belgian women’s rights organizations. Activities included a website launch (which calls for anonymous rape survivor testimonies) and a silent march through Brussels.

Oxfam in Azerbaijan organized a one-‐day volunteer-‐led event called “Young Talents and Activists Saying NO to Gender Based Violence hand in hand with CSOs” and worked with volunteers to translate a campaign toolkit into Azerbaijani. This project, called "One Page Per Person,” included awarding 15 volunteers with certificates and small gifts from the library of Oxfam in Azerbaijan.

In South Africa, Oxfam partnered with POWA (People Opposing Woman Abuse) to celebrate the launch of a Special Edition of the book “Breaking the Silence,” a collection of poems, stories, and essays on ending violence against women (see image). Oxfam in Ethiopia organized a learning forum on Women’s Economic Leadership amongst staff from Oxfam and partners.

Oxfam in Nigeria planned a stakeholder consultation November 26th on a number of gender justice concerns, including female transformative leadership, political participation, violence against women in politics, and more. Oxfam Novib Executive Director, Farah Karimi and several board members of Oxfam Novib were in in Nigeria at the time.

Oxfam in Georgia supported a round table discussion on November 26, 2013, with implementing partner Women's Information Centre, on women's political participation. Representatives of civil society and members of the Coalition for Increasing Women's Political Engagement participated. This was conducted within the framework of an Oxfam supported project and operating in Shida Kartli, conflict-‐affected region of Georgia. On December 11-‐13, 2013, the same partner organized a three-‐day capacity building training for the gender focal points within local governmental municipalities. The training aims at building awareness, skills and knowledge of the newly appointed gender focal points to assist them in fulfilling their duties through mainstreaming women's rights in the local governance. Also within the framework of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-‐based Violence, Oxfam's partner Association of Disabled Women and Mothers of Disabled Children will produce and distribute a leaflet on domestic violence against women, bringing together information about legislative and institutional mechanisms on domestic violence and remedies where women can seek protection. Leaflets will be distributed across 40 communities in Zugdidi, a conflict-‐affected region of Georgia. The organization also plans to conduct a series of youth discussions on gender-‐based violence across 20 schools in the municipality of Zugdidi. Up to 300-‐350 young people participated in the discussions. Oxfam in Mali put together a campaign of Vincent Tremeau’s (Oxfam RIC media Lead in Mali) stunning photographs displayed in public places such as cultural centres, prisons, railways. The photos spread the message of 16 Days and drew attention to the issue of violence against women. The campaign included a launching event at the Galerie Medina in Bamako, titled “From the Shadow into the Light”. The gallery included portraits of women, opinion leaders, children and pictures focusing on the following themes: education, life-‐stories of violence, GBV, harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, conflict, reconciliation and justice. The photo

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Oxfam in Uganda staff and partners sending out a shout to all marking 16 days of activism. Credit: Dorah Ntunga/Oxfam

“We need to empower ourselves first to be able to empower others. Having a big number of women in leadership who are not empowered does not make a difference in changing the lives of women, we need informed, confident and empowered leaders to push for gender inclusion, Thank you to Oxfam for bringing the future leaders into this discussion” Margaret Kakande, head budget monitoring and accountability, Ministry of Finance, Uganda

exhibition also took place in Gao (region in the North of Mali where Oxfam is working). It was accompanied by radio and TV broadcasting throughout the 16 days featuring spokespersons from Oxfam, civil society organizations and other interviews to promote the 16 Days campaign. There was also a facebook, twitter, and blog posts to promote the campaign. In terms of advocacy, Oxfam in Mali is promoting the findings of their latest report on the impact that the conflict has had on the social fabric, titled “Piecing together the jigsaw,” to highlight the positive role women can play in conflict resolution.

Oxfam Canada, over the course of the 16 Days, released six short stories drawn from visits and interviews with our partners. Each story shares the voice of a different person’s experience with, and standing up against, gender violence. They also released a discussion guide to tie our stories together and support people convening to discuss issues of violence in their communities and around the world. Oxfam Canada’s social media through the 16 days will focus on sharing conversations and reflections from those who have read the stories. On December 10th -‐ International Human Rights Day – the affiliate will convene a digital discussion on our stories with Canadian partners working in the women's movement to be broadcast live for public viewing. The short stories and discussion guide are available online at www.oxfam.ca/16-‐days

Oxfam in East Africa held a twitter campaign on the account @oxfameafrica, where they tweeted on a different VAW related topic each day. The first tweet focused on a blog post from RIC advisor Sam Rosmarin, from the Women Under Siege Project, titled “When we Focus on Rape, What do we miss?” http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/blog/entry/when-‐we-‐focus-‐on-‐rape-‐what-‐do-‐we-‐miss

The Control Arms Campaign also contributed to a twitter campaign by publishing #16Days tweets. They have released a blog written by partners from WILPF and Reaching Critical Will on GBV in the Arms Trade Treaty, and launched a graphic today related to landmark gender provision in ATT on the Control Arms Facebook page.

Policy & Practice circulated a newsletter with a special focus on ending violence against women and girls as part of the 16 days of activism campaign. It features a blog post by Catherine Meredith -‐ Violence against women: changing attitudes and laws, with a focus on the work of Raising Her Voice. There is also special page on the website with this short url: www.oxfam.org.uk/evaw. On the Policy and Practice page, you can also find links to the Gender and Development Journal’s latest issue on conflict and violence, two policy notes on gender in emergencies, and a range of blog posts and other resources on eliminating violence against women (EVAW). Oxfam in Uganda held an event in the Oxfam office that focused on the role that power plays in relationships, which was attended staff, partners and a team of

students from Makerere University and Uganda Christian University, and Mukono under the leadership of YADEN, an Oxfam partner organization that majorly engages the youth. The students engaged in a lively debate with the theme “Women’s economic empowerment is not sufficient

itself to end VAW.”

The head of the budget monitoring and accountability unit in the Ministry of Finance, Margaret Kakande brought to reality what Gender Budgeting in Government looks like and highlighted the role of Ministry of Gender and the performance of relevant ministries in gender budgeting. It was a useful event for program teams who were able to gain an understanding of gender budgeting in relation to their programming in order to undertake to influence effective gender budgeting and demanding accountability.

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Oxfam Novib held a "mini campaign" during the 16 days, throughout which they tweeted and launched a facebook action. The action asked supporters to wear orange and join saynotoviolence.org/orangeyourworld (see image from Niger). Novib also highlighted Oxfam India’s VAW Campaign on facebook.

Oxfam India held a number of events during the 16 Days. On the first day, Oxfam India launched the “No More Shhh...” campaign, which encourages people to end the silence around gender based violence and raise their voices against this injustice. Through various thought provoking messages, Oxfam India aims to shape a positive public opinion about gender justice throughout the 16 days of Activism

against Gender based Violence. The campaign included actions on facebook and twitter, and through the Close the Gap website: http://closethegap.in/shhh/. Oxfam India and Chotti Productions also presented "Between the Lines" -‐ a thought provoking play by Nandita Das that highlights the embedded gender imbalance in Indian society. On the Human Rights Day (December 10), Oxfam India organized a stocktaking of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act in Lucknow. The status report was shared with the Department of Women and Child Development and demands have been made for the immediate and effective implementation of the act in the state. Also,

during this event, women survivors of domestic violence were championed for their courage and efforts to end violence in their lives.

Oxfam in Armenia launched the “16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence” on November 25 by participating in a public event at UN Armenia House, on the theme “Inspiring Women for Self-‐Empowerment, Confidence and Personal Growth.” Members of a Women’s Cooperative and young members of the youth Eco club from the Gomk Community of Vayots Dzor province presented their produce during the events (photos available here). Oxfam in Armenia also established a “Youth for Justice” online group, which led a campaign during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Other online activities included a “Bloggers for Gender Equality” contest, which included training for bloggers and province media representatives on how to write about gender issues for social and traditional media. Posts of bloggers are publicized in the Oxfam Competition blog page and WomenNet website blog portal and disseminated through Oxfam’s other social channels. On Human Rights Day, December 10, a flash mob of youth performed a public display for human rights protection on Yerevan’s Northern Avenue. They also collected petition signatures calling on the government to support—not defund—the important work of the Ombudsman’s offices in Armenia’s six regions, which face the risk of being shut down. Young members and supporters of five civic centers in Vayots Dzor and Syunik will mark global Human Rights Day with public actions emphasizing the importance of protecting human rights and calling for all six branches of the Ombudsman’s offices to remain open.

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