GTF158: Raising Her Voice Annual Report 29th June 2012

1. Programme Identification Details

GTF number: 158Short title of programme: Raising Her Voice: Promoting Poor Women’s

Participation in Governance

Name of lead institution: Oxfam GB

Start date: 18 August 2008

End date: 17 August 2013

Brief summary of programme:

Oxfam's Raising Her Voice (RHV) programme promotes the rights and capacity of poor women to engage effectively in governance at all levels through increased voice and influence and greater institutional accountability. The overall objective of the programme is to increase the participation of poor and marginalised women in public policy, budget-setting and decision-making. RHV is achieving this by supporting women’s leadership; addressing attitudes and beliefs about the role of women in public decision-making through innovative media and communications strategies; networking, lobbying and advocacy; empowering and building the capacity of civil society organisations to work with public institutions and decision-making forums; and disseminating learning and best practice. The programme consists of a pan-African element involving project work in 7 countries, 1 Africa-wide coordination project, 9 country projects in South/East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe/CIS, and one global project covering cross-programme learning, global advocacy and the sharing of experiences across projects.

Target groups and wider beneficiaries:

This year Raising Her Voice supported 302,9791 poor and marginalised women - focussing on those most excluded from social, political and economic decision-making.

Person who prepared this report:

Emily Brown, Raising Her Voice Global Coordinator. Oxfam GB, John Smith Drive, Oxford, UKOX4 2 JY Tel: 01865 472364 embrown@oxfam.org.uk

1 Global Output Reporting data provided to date from 15 of the 17 country projects (total actual figure 272,335) from which we can assume a 17 country figure of 302,979. This will be verified once data from Mozambique and Uganda is confirmed.

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2. List of Acronyms:

ACDHRS African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (RHV Gambia partner)

AUC African Union Commission

AWRP African Women's Rights Protocol

CDC Community Discussion Class

CSO Civil Society Organisation

CSW Commission on the Status of Women (UN)

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

FGM Female Genital Mutilation

DFID Department for International Development

GBV Gender Based Violence

GTF Governance and Transparency Fund

IFFI Institute of Integral Female Education (RHV partner, Bolivia)

ILO International Labour Organisation

LHRC Legal and Human Rights Centre (RHV partner, Tanzania)

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

MTE Mid Term Evaluation

MERCOSUR Mercado Común del Sur (South American Common Market)

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

PM Project Manager

POWA People Opposed to Women Abuse (RHV partner, South Africa)

RHV Raising Her Voice

SOAWR Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition (RHV Pan Africa partner)

ToR Terms of Reference

WLG Women Leaders Group

VAW Violence Against Women

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3. Executive Summary:

In 2011-12, Oxfam project managers collectively reported that 48,9102 individual women were closely involved in the more intensive, personal empowerment elements of Raising Her Voice projects this last year – with an additional 18,537 women and 2,019 men benefitting from the RHV Pakistan identity registration campaign. A further 226,540 women and 23,329 men3 are estimated to have participated in and benefitted from actions calling for wider social and legislative changes. This brings the total estimated number of women benefitting from Raising Her Voice over the 4 years to 712,526.

The focus of RHV’s work with partners and coalitions in this 4th project year continued to be on embedding gains made whilst increasing the strategic impact of our country projects and regional advocacy. Continued reflection on the MTE findings, pointing to the importance of parallel transformations in women’s personal, social and political worlds have been an important part of this as well as the development of new spaces for sharing experiences across the programme. Following participation in the RHV Nepal peer exchange for example, the RHV coalition in Uganda has started the creation of health advocacy teams in communities in 3 sub-counties. Increased individual and community capacity to articulate demands on health issues at local level will complement the coalition’s already strong national advocacy in this area.

RHV partners in South Africa, Nepal, Pakistan, Honduras, Armenia and Guatemala all report a shift to a deliberate new engagement with political parties, in recognition of the immense influence on national policy development that these structures have. In South Africa, RHV partner POWA organised 4 community dialogues in the run up to municipal elections in May 2011, giving women a chance to ensure that prospective councillors heard their demands and increasing pressure for candidates to develop gender policy responses as part of their campaigns. One elected councillor subsequently signed a 5-year contract with women in his constituency detailing the specific commitments agreed as a result of this early engagement. Focussed campaigns to increase women’s political representation have been developed in Armenia, Pakistan, the Gambia, Honduras and Chile.

Collectively, our political analysis and the impact of partner advocacy has been further strengthened by a continued growth in evidence-led advocacy based on social audits, public opinion surveys and budget analysis. RHV partner in the Gambia for example, carried out FGM assessments and analysis of political party manifestos in 2011-12. In Guatemala, one partner carried out audits of 9 health care centres and 3 hospitals and used findings to inform community advocacy for improved services.

Projects in Nepal, Honduras and Indonesia in particular demonstrated the impact of this powerful work to hold government to account. Due to advocacy efforts by RHV local partners in Papua, Indonesia for example, members of the Paniai Local Parliament now have to write mandatory reports on constituency activities during recess sessions. In Pakistan, the RHV model is proving to be a valuable bridge over the ‘missing middle’ between local/community and sub-national/national governance structures. As well as supporting effective local activism in their communities, Women Leader Group (WLG) members are finding powerful ways to influence long-term structural changes through local and district level decision making. One Hafizabad WLG member for example filed a court stay order to ensure 15% representation for women in her Zakat (Islamic relief fund) Committee which had been established with an entirely

2 Actual Global Output Reporting figure from 15 of 17 country projects.3 Global Output Reporting data provided to date from 15 of the 17 country projects (total actual figure 272,335) from which we can assume a 17 country figures of 226,540 and 23,329 respectively. These will be verified once data from Mozambique and Uganda is confirmed.

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unelected male membership. 4 women have since been appointed. Another WLG leader took a case to the High Court to challenge the government labour office’s moves to block attempts to register a workers union in a local Coca Cola factory. She has also lobbied to improve precarious labour conditions for over 200 women and men in Coca Cola plants.

The structural, political shift that so many Raising Her Voice projects are helping to create was captured in the Armenia Final Evaluation with the evaluator’s observation that… 'a very important effect of the project is the new model of cooperation between community and local government - especially women and local government - and consequently different formal and informal ways of women’s inclusion in social and political decision-making on community level.' Services providers and local authorities also provided evidence of this shift…"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 session with them." Mr. Mohan Lamsal, Secretary, Mainapokhar Village Development Committee, Nepal

A number of RHV projects in the reporting period increased interventions to strengthen work at the individual, personal level; recognising that without work in this area, truly transformational change in women’s abilities to challenge unequal power relations cannot be made. In Honduras, Bolivia, Nepal and Aceh, Indonesia, RHV partners have facilitated focussed reflection and analysis of intra-family power dynamics, divisions of household roles and expenditure as a powerful mechanism for exploring barriers to women’s wider participation and leadership – with some powerful results: Members of Keutapang village, Aceh, Indonesia adopted a qanun law on the gendered division of labour and rights of women to participate in village development planning processes. In Nepal, 91% of women surveyed in RHV villages reported increased community/family support to women's representation in community structures compared with 15% from non-RHV villages due to new-found skills and confidence to critically assess and challenge social and family norms. Wherever RHV projects have worked to enhance women’s personal capacities to negotiate and transform power relations, we have carried out parallel work in the social sphere to attract the support of those in positions of influence – very often men. In 2011-12, an estimated 23,329 men took part in RHV and gender and governance training and community actions in support of women’s empowerment.

The gains made by RHV partners in 2011-12 must be set against the backdrop of an increasingly difficult global context for the promotion of women’s rights and of women’s ability to take ownership of the decisions that affect their everyday lives. Initial findings from the Association of Women in Development’s 2011 study into the funding realities for women’s organisations demonstrate continued financial uncertainty and precariousness, particularly for those in Latin America and Eastern Europe.4 The February 2012 CSW meeting was the first ever at which the global women’s movement failed to reach consensus on a final text; largely due to fierce opposition to women’s sexual and reproductive health rights amongst conservative and religious lobbies. These trends provide a powerful reminder of the reality of the situation that RHV partners in Honduras for example have faced on a daily basis. These experiences also remind us of the importance in some contexts of recognising our partner’s achievements in simply holding the ground on legal and policy gains made.

At the global programme management level, regional learning exchanges and a growing body of learning materials and spaces for reflection have facilitated horizontal sharing of experiences and helped to strengthen a community of practice on gender and governance within Oxfam. However, additional capacity is still required to support this as fully as we would like as interest in the programme – both internal and external - slowly grows. Additional resources are now

4http://www.awid.org/content/download/141785/1571189/file/AWID,%20WITM%20Preliminary%202011%20Research %20Results.pdf

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being sought to resource this aspect of the programme more effectively in the final year with the appointment (pending) of a part-time Learning Coordinator. This will also enable us to continue in our efforts to accelerate active promotion and fundraising efforts with new allies and potential donors – building on the strong foundations established in 2011-12.

4. Programme Management:

Annual expenditure against budget was 94% This year saw the planned completion of RHV projects in Albania, Armenia, Indonesia,

Nepal and Guatemala with good efforts to sustain partnerships and projects gains in 4 of these (see sustainability section for details)

Oxfam PMs and partners in Uganda and Tanzania have worked hard to re-energise projects after difficult years in 2010-11 following staff changes and organisational restructuring in partner organisations. We are confident that both projects are on track for a more strategic, focus to their work in this final year - and beyond.

Our project in Liberia and with one of our 2 partners in Mozambique suffered set-backs this year due to low partner capacity to ensure that RHV project (on limited budgets of c. £20,000 each) are able to make a meaningful contribution to ambitious country project aims. New Oxfam PMs in both countries have made concerted efforts to address this and in Liberia, are receiving additional support (as well as US $20,000) from Pan-Africa partner, Equality Now to strengthen the project’s advocacy component on holding the government to account on its duties to protect women from FGM.

A financial audit of RHV finances and Oxfam financial management and monitoring procedures in Papua, Indonesia was carried out after concerns were raised about one partner’s expenditure reporting. The audit found that the suspected impropriety was rather an issue related to the presentation of supporting documentation and recommendations from the audit have helped to inform a country-wide strengthening of financial procedures – and applicable lessons have been shared widely with Oxfam global programmes.

Staff turnover settled somewhat this year with 4 OGB staff/maternity leave changes (Liberia, Tanzania, Indonesia and Mozambique) and 2 partner coordinator changes (Tanzania and Pan Africa). In Liberia, the new PM is a gender specialist, taking over from an interim manager specialised in Public Health. In Tanzania, where Oxfam affiliates formally merged this year, RHV is now being managed by Oxfam Gender Justice lead - a human rights lawyer - ensuring that RHV is better integrated into Oxfam’s broader country strategy on VAW and women’s legal empowerment. The quality of handovers in all countries has improved significantly.

At global level, sharing of experience between partners was supported via a range of exchanges. This included post-MTE and learning strategy teleconferences; an MTE summary learning document; an Oxfam RHV ‘Rough Guide’ to Coalitions; 2 regional meetings for RHV partners in Africa and Asia; the production of 14 country case studies documenting project learning; in-depth case studies of the RHV Nepal and Pakistan programme models, and a refresh of the RHV ning site. The first draft of a paper looking at the intersections between VAW and political participation was also developed – documenting experiences from RHV partners in Nigeria and Honduras.

The Nepal peer exchange –and the subsequent documentation this year of the transformation RHV has supported there - has influenced Oxfam’s work more widely than was ever envisaged. RHV projects in Uganda and Honduras are both working to embed the powerful personal transformation approach into future programming, as have 5 other, non-RHV Oxfam and partner country and regional projects.

Regional RHV Pan-Africa and Asia partner meetings contributed to the programme’s long-term sustainability and the development of a Phase II RHV Pan-Africa proposal. RHV learning (and recognition of the value of the ToC) was also firmly integrated into Oxfam Asia’s new Governance Framework during a combined RHV review and Governance Strategy planning meeting; with the valuable participation of RHV Asia partners.

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5. Working with implementing partners:

This year saw the formal exit from 21 RHV partnerships as 5 early-ending projects formally closed. Oxfam continue to work with 10 of these partners through new or extended project partnerships. Project closures were marked with formal celebrations that brought partners and stakeholders together to reflect on project learning and impact; embed skills and knowledge gained and to celebrate gains made. This included in Indonesia and Nepal, screenings of short films documenting participating women’s voices and key RHV achievements; in Albania the formal closure of Oxfam Albania and the launch by former Oxfam staff of a new social enterprise ‘Quodev’ that continues to support RHV Local Action Groups; and in Guatemala, a Mayan ritual acknowledging the strength gained amongst women involved in the RHV project.

Elsewhere, the focus of RHV’s work with partners continued to be on embedding gains made at project level whilst increasing the strategic impact of their work. Continued integration of MTE findings into country project strategy and workplans - and the creation of spaces for sharing experiences across the programme and beyond - have been an important part of supporting this process.

Efforts to secure resources for continuation of projects and protection of gains made have also been a feature of our work with partners this year – a total of 8 bids were submitted with significant input from country, regional and global members of the RHV team with a combined value of approximately £12.9 million.

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6. Risk Assessment:

Nature of risk Mitigation Impact Probability

Lack of understanding of women’s rights issues or capacity within government agencies and other actors.

Insist on early constructive engagement with officials and influencers of government actors; Careful use of strategic partnerships in project areas provides sustained advisory support and

capacity building to key ministers, national decision-makers and traditional leaders; Spaces developed and exploited to ensure that indigenous, rural and mestizo poor women’s needs

and concerns are heard; Work closely with media to ensure that project aims and objectives are clearly understood and

accurately presented, particularly with regard to more controversial women’s rights issues. Clear communications strategy on good practice, including success stories from other countries,

with appropriate use of national languages, etc.; Link with work of other actors including DFID (gender action plans) and UN agencies on multi-

donor work to build government capacity on gender.

Med. Med.

Lack of political will.

Projects focus on generating and mobilising groundswell of demand for accountability –particularly at local level - to provide the necessary impetus to increase political will;

Coordinated national advocacy activity by civil society, continuing work with African Union to exert top-down and peer pressure for implementation of the Protocol;

Use of national and international commitments and accountability structures such as CEDAW, MDG plans, etc. as leverage

Strategic opportunities for amplifying lobbying impacts e.g. hosting of AU summits, constitution development, decentralisation and elections maximised;

Allies with key MPs and in key government departments identified; Possible strategic litigation by partners.

Med. Med.

Government corruption, possibilities for misuse and diverting of financial resources

Focus on raising awareness and demand for government accountability at all levels particularly at local level;

Strengthening of beneficiary, partner and coalition member capacity to hold governments to account and lobbying to increase downward accountability e.g. transparency of budget setting;

Transparent policies and strategies for communicating about RHV project expectations & resources;

Mechanisms also in place to ensure the full accountability of Oxfam GB RHV project management and partnerships.

High Low

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Violence towards partners and beneficiaries as a result of project work.

Work carefully with partners with regular updates on changes to the political situation, assess risks associated with each lobbying activity and develop local strategies to respond to these;

Empowering women to defend their rights and support others experiencing political violence. Training covers functioning of local judicial systems and processes and national legislation enshrining rights to security and involvement in peace building processes;

Peace building activities and security plans included in activities of RHV communities most at risk of political violence;

Formation of coalitions helps to amplify the scale and impact of lobbying activities and decrease the risk of negative attention on individual member organisations;

Ensure risks are considered fully and that no-one takes actions they are uncomfortable with; Work wherever possible through early engagement and ongoing collaboration with authorities –

especially at local level; Ability to adapt projects to shift focus from activities at local, district or national level in line with

changing security situations and resistance at any one of these levels.

Med. High (some countries)

Global economic crisis impacts organisational sustainability of RHV partners

RHV project aims, activities and approaches integrated organically into work plans of Oxfam, partners and wider coalition members;

Oxfam country office support to partners where relevant to increase fundraising capacity to secure additional resources e.g. introductions to other donor agencies;

Global RHV programme commitment to support country efforts to secure follow on funding. £12.9m bids developed this year now pending.

High Med (esp. Latin

America & Eastern Europe)

OGB and project partner staff turnover

Global coordination team provide RHV inductions for all new project and finance staff ensuring shared understanding of country specific project history, global programme management systems and monitoring and reporting responsibilities;

New RHV induction pack developed and used to support inductions for new OGB and partner staff; Particular attention of global RHV coordination team to monitor quality of inductions of Oxfam and

partner staff working on RHV, with remote support provided directly by global coordination team to country projects experiencing staff turnover to supplement interim staff arrangements if required.

Global coordination with Country and Regional Directors wherever possible to enhance support for country projects; resourcing, human resource management and to supplement project management priorities where staff turnover occurs.

RHV communications strategy raises programme profile and impact internally thus increasing pride in, and engagement from country directors and other project managers;

Greater ownership of RHV by wider Oxfam country offices as project enters fifth year offsets impact of individual staff losses.

High High

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RHV partner level changes

Rigorous partner capacity assessment and selection criteria ensure that Oxfam partners with the most relevant and effective organisations at all times;

Time and resources built into Oxfam project manager roles and budgets to invest in development of strong RHV partnerships based on a jointly agreed OGB support role;

Regular joint partner monitoring and review supports early identification of emerging partner capacity issues;

Direct relationships with partner organisations developed beyond OGB country PMs to wider RHV global programme team and other RHV partners ensures wider community of practice, alternative communication channels for identifying problems and remote (including peer) support is available;

OGB global and country management teams responsible for providing additional remote support and mentoring as per identified need where partners face specific challenges e.g. changes in political environment or staff turnover;

Targeted remote and country visit support to PMs experiencing particular difficulties with partner engagement or implementation e.g. coordinator visit to Guatemala.

Take swift action where partnership engagement or implementation problems cannot be resolved.

High High

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7. M&E Arrangements: Efforts to build on MTE recommendations in the review of country and global monitoring mechanisms have formed a substantial part of the programme’s work this year – based on the reorganisation proposal agreed with DFID in early 2012. The RHV Theory of Change was formally agreed by all and in Tanzania, a wholesale revision of the project strategy was supported by a full review of the M&E framework based on the new ToC – with outcomes organised instead by personal, social and political sphere.

Overall however, progress here has been slower than anticipated due to the need to prioritise emerging grant management issues at global level - in particular the investigation in Indonesia and the opportunity to respond to a number of calls for proposals. Reorganisations of most country frameworks for the final year have now been carried out, but the proposals have yet to be agreed with partners in some countries; meaning that the global level reorganisation has also been postponed. The Global Coordinator has ensured that KPMG’s Learning Advisor has been updated throughout. Despite concerns as to the value of conducting such a fundamental review so close to the project end, Oxfam country colleagues have agreed that the reorganisation will increase partner’s abilities to effectively monitor outcomes and impact, enable us to identify learning more effectively across the RHV portfolio and lays the ground for stronger future work. Oxfam’s global MEAL team continue to support the process.

Colleagues have fed back the high value of the personal/social/political framework in really focussing our partners’ strategic development for future projects. The revised ToC also forms the basis of £9m regional bids to SIDA by RHV Armenia and Pan Africa partners and Oxfam.

Other M&E highlights/changes include: Partner organisations in Pakistan, Mozambique, Liberia reported the creation of new posts to

strengthen organisational M&E capacity and staff skills. Improvements were made to 6 monthly and annual RHV reporting formats, providing greater

space for qualitative reporting as well as better reporting against logframe indicators. Final Evaluations in 5 RHV projects that completed this year will contribute substantially to

RHV’s learning about the impact of our work and broader understanding of how change happens. ToRs for these were strengthened based on learning from the MTE commissioning process and we are pleased to report that the analysis in the majority of reports is noticeably improved. The Nepal evaluation for example included a comparative control group study which demonstrated impressive indicators of knowledge, capacity and empowerment amongst women from RHV villages compared to those not involved - as well as concrete improvements to village development budget allocations and service provision – see below.

8. Logframe changes: Logframe changes for RHV Tanzania were agreed with DFID earlier this year to better reflect the wholesale review of strategy by our local partner the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) following continued political resistance to lobbying efforts on FGM and the positive opportunity to engage in the government’s Constitutional Review process (in which the LHRC lead the coordination of Tanzanian CSOs.)

9. Cross-cutting issues: The gender-based violence that women experience continues to prevent and negate improvements made elsewhere in their lives. In South Africa, POWA’s advocacy has been informed by survey findings from the Medical Research Council that more than 37% of men in Guateng Provide self-reported having perpetrated the rape of a woman; 7% reported having been participants in a gang rape. Honduran partners carrying out a social audit of GBV amongst 91 women found that 67% reported an experience of gender-based violence. Work on GBV therefore continues to be an important part of many RHV project’s work to strengthen women’s ability to participate freely in governance processes - through for example legal aid, community activism and working with men and boys to challenge social attitudes.

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In Bolivia, partners are deliberately reframing the language they use so as not to reinforce subconscious messages about violence. For example, rather than using popular strategies of hunger strikes and public protests, IFFI coalition members developed less violent forms of protest including dance, theatre and a collaboration with a popular singer to write positive lyrics describing the benefits of implementation of mandatory municipal budgetary allocations for women.

10. Progress towards Sustainability:The sustainability of RHV projects can now be demonstrated both in terms of impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of women globally and by the integration of RHV projects and learning into Oxfam and partner future programming and organisational development processes.

At project level: Ensuring that individual women have the skills and confidence to influence the systems of governance that impact on their lives and contribute to their exclusion is key to all RHV projects and a fundamental part of sustaining their impact. This year, RHV globally worked directly with over 48,910 individual women to enhance their personal ability to engage in community and local government decision making processes. For example: In Papua, Indonesia, the final evaluation reported that ‘'The RHV program successfully

encourages the emerging of several women cadres who are courageous, critical and inspiring to other women….inspiring (them) to emulate the courage to speak their voices out in public.’ Participation of these women in the creation of 12 village development plans for the very first time has ensured that funds available (£4,000-8,300 annually per village) are informed by women’s needs and demands. Where participation in RHV projects is linked to clear resource impacts in terms of increased village development budget allocations, this adds strong incentive to continued community participation. However the Aceh Final Evaluation criticised project’s poor sustainability planning – due in large part to poor communication regarding the closure of Oxfam’s Aceh office following the end of the RHV funding there.

In Guatemala, Ixmakuné women were supported through a long-term process of personal empowerment and skills training by our local partner, Ixmukané Quiche in El Quiche to establish the only community radio wholly run by indigenous women. 28 of the women we worked with in 3 communities stood for local elections in 2011. Two were successful.

RHV Pakistan estimates that around 70% of the 1,500 women leaders will maintain their involvement with the programme and with their community action committees after RHV finishes in 2013. Seats have also been allocated for women in the 2013 Provincial elections and an estimated 44% of WLG members5 are likely to stand.

In the Gambia, 3 community pressure groups of 30 women each were formed to strengthen local level advocacy on the Africa Women’s Rights Protocol (AWRP). Specific action plans developed to deal with rape cases, withdrawal of girls from school, domestic violence, employment rights and women’s political representation.

Focussed work to embed skills and confidence amongst RHV activists and trainers has been a strong focus of all projects this year, in recognition that the agency of the women we’ve worked with to date is central to project sustainability. To support this, facilitator manuals were developed in Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia and Albania to provide a concrete tool with which to record and refresh learning from initial trainings. Community radio listener group manuals and case study booklets were also produced in South Africa and Mozambique to guide facilitators of post-broadcast conversations in the interpretation and discussions that followed new shows.

5 Findings from Pakistan MTE - reflected a decrease in women ex-councillor’s willingness to continue their formal political participation in governance structures. Revisions to the project strategy (reported on in our Yr3 annual report) aim to this figure to 65%.

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RHV partner participation in the development and introduction of new laws in 2011-12 contributed to the creation of lasting frameworks to increase women’s political participation, access to justice and ability to hold government to account. Highlights include: 3 new laws in Pakistan preventing Anti-Women Practices, Acid Crimes and strengthening the

Women in Distress and Detention Fund Act; New legislation prohibiting harassment and political violence against women passed in Bolivia In Nigeria, the Violence Against Person Prohibition Act successfully passed through a 2nd

Parliamentary reading, with a 3rd and (hopefully) final reading due shortly. The Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill was also introduced to Parliament this year and has now passed 2 readings in 4 State Houses of Assembly with sustained support from RHV coalition members;

Successful prosecution by Equality Now and local RHV partners in Liberia in the case of Ruth Berry Peal, a young girl kidnapped and forced to undergo FGM. The case is now being appealed by the defendants but is already providing a valuable regional legal precedent on this controversial women’s rights issue;

Pan-African SOAWR coalition support to CSO lobbying of governments of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Cote D’Ivoire led to ratification in those countries of the AWRP;

In Honduras, RHV partner participation in lobbying for the 2011 Electoral Law reform saw new political commitment to a timeline for increasing women’s political representation at national level to 50% by 2016. The law also mandates parties to invest 10% of state funding into the training and political promotion of women members. The registration of new parties, the National Resistance Front and LIBRE (the latter, strongly rooted in the social movements created in response to the 2009 coup), contributes significantly to a break with Honduras’ historic 2-party system. Both parties include a 50% quota for women’s political participation in their statutes;

Members of the RHV regional MARCOSUR coalition coordinated Latin American advocacy on domestic workers rights and achieved significant progress towards sustainability in June 2011 when the ILO adopted a new Convention recognising Decent Work for Domestic Workers. The Convention, which promotes the respect for labour rights and regulations worldwide, is now being used by MARCOSUR coalition members as the basis for follow-up advocacy in member states. Positive collaboration with Uruguay’s Inspectorate of Works for example has seen a 50% increase in the registration of domestic workers. The coalition also developed a series of humorous open-access animations in Spanish and Portuguese to popularise the rights contained in the new ILO Convention http://www.cotidianomujer.org.uy/trabdom_byte11.swf

Partners also contributed to the development of new legislation in Mozambique (Inheritance law), South Africa (Gender Equality Bill to domesticate the AWRP) and in the Gambia (draft Bills legislating against Sexual Harassment, FGM and Domestic Violence). In Tanzania, LHRC were invited to submit recommendations on the government’s New Constitution Reform Process Bill. LHRC is also coordinating CSO submissions throughout the consultation process.

Equality Now provided support to SOAWR members in South Sudan to engage the AU and develop national advocacy plans to use the AWRP as a tool for embedding women’s rights into the development of new laws and policies.

The majority of RHV projects reported positive impacts on local services and resourcing for development in this 4th project year as a result of our interventions. Analysis from RHV Nepal’s final evaluation in particular is worth sharing in more detail: 1,472 women from a total of 2,004 Community Discussion Class participants from 81 villages

have taken on leadership roles in decision-making structures. 154 (28 %) of these are key positions, representing a significant increase over the project’s 3 years.

As at the end of September 2011, women’s representation in the four focused structures had increased to 48% from the baseline figure of 28%. Women’s participation in Health Post Management Committees for example increased from 15.6% in 2009 to 47% in 2011; from 13.2% in Water and Sanitation User Groups in 2009 to 71% in 2011. However, the

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participation of many CDC women is still inhibited by low management capacity and confidence about their roles and responsibilities, which is acknowledged and addressed in the evolving curricula of CDC classes; now focussing deliberately on embedding skills and competencies;

Nevertheless, CDC women have accessed the equivalent of £42,524 from village development committees; traced and returned a total of £11,265 of misused funds; supported countless local service improvements and health, education and resource use policy changes; contributed 31,703 volunteer hours and leveraged in-kind community contributions of £28,214.

It is testimony to the quality of RHV partner’s work that so many initiatives have succeeded in securing the government support they envisaged as part of sustainability strategies – with, in many cases, ownership for initiatives being transferred wholesale into municipal or state hands and budgets. Examples include: In Bolivia, Cochabamba municipality’s ownership and resourcing of IFFI’s ‘Violence Free

Carnival’ campaign and a strategic alliance with the Municipal Council of Cercado to formally regulate the media portrayal of women.

Formal MoUs with district and local government have now been signed in Armenia, Albania, Indonesia and Honduras.

Bappeda Agency of Northern Aceh Regency, Indonesia has adopted RHV gender responsive budget processes into all village planning guidelines.

Following the success of the 2010 AU Peace and Security Council Special Session focusing specifically on women’s experiences of violence in conflict, the Council has decided to institutionalise the session as an annual meeting tasked with formulating policy actions to increase protection of women’s rights in conflict-affected states. RHV Pan-Africa partner Equality Now facilitated contributions from women survivors of violence at the 2010 meeting and have been invited to ensure that women’s voices are central to future Council Sessions.

The sustainability of RHV also depends on the strength and resilience of the coalitions with whom our projects are delivered. Work to embed RHV coalition member skills, profile and collaborations have been central to many projects this year. In Guatemala for example, a new collaboration with Mankatitlan, an association of 5 municipalities seeking to promote women’s rights will help to sustain the skills and confidence built amongst the 3 indigenous women’s organisations with whom RHV partnered. The political training module being jointly developed will offer combining training in political activism and Mayan cosmology, has support from the University of Guatemala, and is now being accredited. In South Africa, Honduras and Uganda, coalition membership was expanded with a deliberate aim of embedding work in communities more deeply. In Uganda for example, RHV coalition members provided budget monitoring training for other members as a basis for the coalitions new pillar of work focussing on sexual and reproductive health services, rights, and information.

Oxfam country offices in Nepal, South Africa and Tanzania added over £100,000 to existing project budgets to increase programme and partner support to sustain gains made. Oxfam also funded the acquisition of the community radio station in El Quiche, Guatemala and training for 100 young women ‘communicators’.

At institutional level: Learning from RHV continues to inform the organisational development of both our work on governance and gender equality including, for example, the development of the Oxfam Confederation strategy on Active Citizenship/the Right to be Heard and with RHV case studies featured throughout our new Governance Learning Companion, due to be launched next month. Learning from RHV has also made significant contributions to the development of Oxfam gender and governance programmes in the Middle East, Yemen and Myanmar - and strongly informed a SOAWR partner project proposal in Burkina Faso.

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Oxfam colleagues and RHV partners were involved in range of work to try to secure additional funding for country and regional projects once the GTF grant ends in March 2013. Strategies employed acknowledge that a coherent global fund for Phase II of RHV looks highly unlikely in the current economic and donor policy environment. Efforts therefore focussed on: i) integrating RHV models and partnerships into Oxfam national change strategies ii) reactive responses to funding opportunities ii) proactive development of donor relations to support country and regional and global proposals. Bids to a combined total of £12.9 million were submitted last year. Highlights include an innovative collaboration with Oxfam’s Lawyers Circle Supporter group which has raised £50,000 for legal caseworkers in Tanzania and Uganda as well as the development of an exciting pro-bono programme (see below). The Global Coordinator and Oxfam’s Legal Council presented RHV’s Pan African Legal Empowerment work to a DFID/ OSI Justice Initiative donor meeting in March 2011 and met with DFID’s Access to Justice team to introduce our partner’s legal work. Securing funds for RHV post March 2013 remains a focus of the global team’s work in the 9 months remaining.

11. Innovation: RHV partners employ a wide range of innovative strategies to raise women’s voices and hold government to account with examples documented throughout this report. Highlights include:

In Guatemala our 3 partner organizations, with support from Oxfam, each developed formal accountability reports that they presented to their beneficiaries and local authorities at the project’s closure as a positive example of transparency and corruption prevention.

Pan-Africa partner Equality Now, SOAWR and the AUC developed a Model Law to guide governments and human rights organisations in the political and legal process of ratifying the AWRP – in response to the numerous practical challenges exposed by partners in countries where the process has stalled.

In the face of continued government disinterest in Honduras’ shocking femicide rates and impunity for perpetrators, RHV partners started plans to create ‘Alternative Tribunals’. These aim to provoke media coverage, public indignation and political pressure to respond by holding mock trials of VAW cases that the formal justice system has, despite solid evidence, failed to pick up.

Also in Honduras, RHV partners developed parallel visible and invisible engagement strategies to counter the post-coup government’s threats and acts of violence towards CSOs that challenge them. The invisible part of their strategy rested on the support of influential politicians who offered to be the mouthpiece for the coalitions’ more controversial messages and who effectively mobilised support from other MPs and decision-makers.

2011 saw the development of an exciting collaboration with Oxfam’s supporter group, the Lawyers Circle, a group of UK women lawyers and a number of their firms. As well as contributing funds towards 2 projects and establishing a new collaboration with the International Association of Women Judges, Circle members are now developing ToRs for the provision of a pro-bono project to produce a comparative analysis of AU member state compliance with international legislation on women’s human rights. This will hugely strengthen RHV country and regional level advocacy and strategic litigation capabilities.

Engagement in the Gambia of targeted private sector companies to secure cooperation in the implementation of Article 20 of the Women’s Act (Gambia’s law Domesticating the AWRP). The controversial Article relates to women’s right to 6 months paid maternity leave, which CSOs feared could threaten women’s employment tenure. Local partner, ADCHRS carried out training with HR Managers on the benefits to employers in terms of reducing staff turnover and retaining skilled workers. Guidance on the implementation of workplace breastfeeding programs was provided based on research evidencing cost-savings of US$3 per $1 for companies having adopted such initiatives. Participants made positive commitments to incorporating new information into operational policies and ACDHR plans to continue this training programme on the back of this success.

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12. Learning from GTF: Factors determining the ability of CSOs to impact on governance and transparency:

Government capacity to open up spaces for CSO work on politically sensitive work on governance and transparency remains a critical factor in the success of projects. For most RHV projects, solid government cooperation at local and municipal level has added real legitimacy to our partner’s advocacy efforts at national level. However in countries like Indonesia (both Aceh and Papua) where government capacity at sub-District and Regency levels is very low, this has limited the potential for scaling up project impacts despite strong support at local level. Efforts to monitor municipal budget allocations in Honduras also report being frustrated by lack of gender-disaggregated data collection;

In Aceh, Indonesia, the value of collaboration with, rather than opposition to government has proven hugely valuable to local partners and is a strategy they will continue to build on in future;

Success in this area also depends in large part on the ability of CSOs to work together and form coalitions, networks and platforms that allow them to put collective pressure on government at all levels to enhance women’s participation and leadership in governance processes. The ability of these coalitions to respond to opportunities and to mobilise resources in a way that allows them enough flexibility to engage in often fluid and uncertain operating environments is also critical. Following the floods in Sindh, Pakistan last year, Oxfam and partners observed that the RHV Women’s Leader Group (WLG) model had missed a strategic opportunity to hold government agencies and INGOs to account on the targeting and efficacy of the formal emergency response. Whilst WLGs provided invaluable, immediate assistance to survivors and INGOs and government drew heavily on their local data and intelligence, Oxfam reflected that it could have done more to support an even more effective monitoring role and build greater preparedness capacity into the relationship.

Evidence of innovative practice – see section 11 above; Influential intervention strategies for meaningful and significant social change:Transformative change is necessarily complex and multi-dimensional. RHV projects are working best, and represent greatest value for money, when they integrate work in the personal, social and political spheres. One of the most influential strategies for achieving meaningful and sustained social change continues to be training and supporting individual women to have the skills and confidence to influence governance systems and demand transparency. In Nepal for example, 42% of CDC women surveyed in the Final Evaluation stated they felt able to influence the village and district development councils to allocate financial support for the promotion of women’s interests compared to just 2% of respondents from non-RHV villages. As a result of their activism over the 3 years, 87% of CDC women surveyed also reported a change in the attitude and practice of local service providers - compared with just 3% from the control group.

Women’s manifestos in Pakistan, the Gambia, Guatemala and Honduras have helped to shape women’s leadership vision at community and at national levels; enabling women leaders to mature their understanding of leadership within a community activism context into a more nuanced, political understanding of how power is created and maintained. In Pakistan partners started discussion with UN Women to explore the potential for integrating the manifesto demands into a national plan of action for women’s development.

RHV coalition partners in Nigeria engaged (paid consultancy) a former serving legislator and previous sponsor of the GBV Bill as the coalition’s Technical Expert. Considered an ‘insider’, she has helped considerably to fast-track the process and it has proven an effective use of resources. The Bill received overwhelming support during its 2nd Parliamentary reading and partners anticipate it will pass into law in 2012, following 4 years of negotiation and lobbying.

Governance in fragile states and Access to justice and human rights: Human rights violations in one country can also shape state violence elsewhere: Partners

observed how the coup in Honduras and the lack of international accountability for the

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violations perpetrated is giving confidence to Guatemala’s leaders to perpetrate violence with a similar sense of impunity.

French and English versions of Equality Now’s ‘Guide to Using the Maputo Protocol for Legal Action’ were launched this year to assist jurists and activists to understand the Protocol and contribute to its application by the bench and bar. 50 lawyers and women’s rights activists from across Africa have also been trained. Trainings help Equality Now to establish good new legal allies across the continent and help to identify potential test cases for strategic litigation.

Several RHV partners reiterated the importance of documenting our work to provide guidance for future generations of activists. In Chile, Humanas’ documentation of how women judges and senior lawyers got into the justice system has proven very useful for women seeking to enter the profession.

Public expenditure monitoring, access to public services, addressing corruption and ensuring transparency in decentralisation processes:

Formal agreements with governments can be an important part of the sustainability of CSO initiatives such as RHV. MoUs with government have been signed in Armenia, Albania and Indonesia for example and will support the sustainability of projects there. In Honduras, partners reflected on the fact that permanent legal status of the Municipal Women’s Offices has yet to be integrated into the formal Law on Municipalities, meaning that the sustainability of these effective new spaces – and the gains made to date - remain fragile.

Partners involved in pre-election campaigning for greater women’s representation observed the need to pay particular attention at the time of the creation of party lists.... ‘despite party statutes, it’s here that the cheating starts!’ one observed.

Gender, social exclusion and governance:RHV partners in Nigeria, the Gambia and Guatemala all observed that assumptions of many development actors about the limited capacities for activism amongst illiterate and less privileged women continue to be misplaced. Partners in many countries noted the critical analysis, agency and confidence of women with little or no education or prior experience of raising their voices. In the Gambia for example, the action plans developed by new Pressure Groups in 3 regions demonstrate impressive understanding of the root causes of women’s exclusion, relative poverty and experiences of violence – as well as effective, practical strategies for addressing these.

Media and governance: In Nepal and the Gambia, partners invited targeted media editors and journalists to visit

communities in which RHV is working and reported numerous benefits: Not only did coverage and quality of reporting increase but journalists made strong personal connections with the communities; creating long-term media allies for project partners. Visitors also ran CDC trainings sessions themselves, providing professional inputs that have helped to strengthen members’ own engagement with local media;

The use of TV in Armenia was not as successful as anticipated due to the difficulty of finding women leaders able to give their time to the programme’s development. A series of monthly ‘Voice of the Community’ programmes was planned in which a woman leader who had made considerable achievements during her career was invited to speak and discuss her personal and professional experiences of the challenges faced in her community. This had to be discontinued after 6 months.

In Liberia, RHV partners have continued to experience high costs and poor radio broadcasting infrastructure which has meant that since November 2011 the shows created have not been aired. Partners are now exploring collaboration with the UN military to share their strong national radio signal to air programmes as part of the UNs gender justice programming.

In Chile, RHV partner Humanas launched a powerful ‘More Women to Power’ campaign and webpage http://www.masmujeresalpoder.cl/ deliberately unbranded so as to be openly

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accessible to women candidates’ in their 2012 election campaigns. The site also includes an interactive map of Chile with the names and campaign details of women candidates and links to useful contacts in each department.

2 RHV partners reported the successful use of e-fundraising strategies to secure funds for project and campaign activities. In Armenia, the civic centre in Ljevan targeted community members now living overseas to contribute to renovation costs. In Guatemala, one indigenous leader successfully used a Facebook presence to fundraise for her local election campaign.

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