oxfam - lac strategic 2013-2019

7/27/2019 Oxfam - Lac Strategic 2013-2019

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OXFAM GB

LAC STRATEGIC STEER2013 – 2019

Mexico, March 2013



INTRODUCTION

Two principle shis have prompted Oxfam GB in LAC to redene its strategic priories, the rst being the new

Oxfam Strategic Plan, which comes into force in April 2013, and the second being the progress made on the

SMS front in both countries (with all countries in LAC now live) and the region. This redenion of priories has

been based on a sound analysis of the context and the disnct strategic contribuon of LAC to the OSP change

goals and of OGB within Oxfam in LAC. This analysis has been developed over the last few months, starng with a

Regional Vision workshop, a specic session at the RLT and a number of exchanges within the Oxfam family.

REGIONAL CONTEXTIn a fast-changing mul-polar world, characterized by an increasingly volale global economic and nancial climate

and successive economic, energy, food and climate crisis, the Lan America region has reached important cross-

roads in terms of its future development and democracy. Relavely stable economic growth, and the growing

inuence of emerging economies such as Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, combined with a range of social policy

reforms within the context of polical democracies over the past decade, have led to some posive changes in

terms of poverty and inequality in the region. However, pervasive structural inequalies, increasing violence,

extreme climate change related hazards and the sustainability limits of an extracve economic model pose

unresolved challenges and threats.

Although overall Lan America and the Caribbean can be qualied as a region of middle income countries, theregion itself is very diverse, ranging from Brazil which is the world´s 6th largest economy, to Hai which remains

the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Since 1995, the Gini coecient in LAC has fallen from 0.57 to

0.53 and 50 million people have been lied out of poverty in the past decade alone. A range of social policy

reforms targeng poverty and exclusion have contributed to some progress in terms of poverty and inequality,

but, despite this progress, LAC connues to be the most unequal region in the world. Hai, Bolivia, Guatemala

Honduras, Brazil and Colombia have the highest levels of inequality within the region and inequalies remain a key

common denominator for the enre region. Interrelated inequalies permeate economic, social and polical life

and are key to perpetuang poverty, vulnerability and exclusion. Asymmetries in access to livelihoods and power

are mediated by a culture of mulple discriminaons. Inequality paerns aect mainly poor women, indigenous

and afro descendent populaons and the youth and elder populaons in both rural and urban areas – more than

half of the rural populaon live in poverty.

Religion and the Church connue to have a massive inuence in LAC, especially over people’s ideas and beliefs.

Over 80% of the populaon is Catholic, while Evangelicalism and other religions are gaining ground.

LAC is also the most violent region in the world. Honduras has the world´s highest homicide rate, El Salvador the

2nd and Guatemala the 8th (with Belize, Jamaica and Venezuela in-between). Violence against women remains high

and widely culturally accepted. The historically endemic polical violence related to aempts both to bring about

and resist transformaonal social change, and the violence associated with social exclusion, is now complicated

by the fact that organised crime and drug tracking have acquired massive power over states, the economy and

the enre society, in Mexico and Central America parcularly. The ght against organised crime associated with

polical agendas has led to increased militarisaon, high levels of violence and human rights abuses parcularly

in urban sengs. It has also redirected public investment from social sectors to security. Economic and social

exclusion has led to massive migratory oulows in search of economic opportunity. Increasingly women take this

hazardous path, exposed to the perils and vices of human tracking and exploitaon.

Some countries in LAC are also being aected by the shrinking of civil society space which has taken many dierent

forms. In extreme cases, such as under military coup regimes (Honduras and Paraguay), there has been direct and

severe acon taken against CSOs. While in formal democrac contexts NGO legislaon has been implemented,

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While acknowledging its diversity, we will strategically focus our eorts on large companies.

And according to aliates respecve roles under SMS

under the guise of ensuring legimacy and accountability, which has made it increasingly dicult for both local and

internaonal organisaons to operate (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, and Venezuela). Oen this legislaon is

deliberately opaque and open to interpretaon, allowing it to be applied quite liberally if a CSO steps out of line. In

both contexts there have been violent and non-violent variants of heavy policing, harassment of CSO leaders and

inltraon of communicaons. In much of the region we are witnessing the criminalizaon of social movements

that try to maintain their autonomy and speak out in favour of rights and democrac reform.

Despite the global crisis, higher global commodity prices have enabled the resource-rich LAC region to maintain

a relavely stable economic environment. Yet the LAC region is a theatre for increasing conicts over natura

resources. The scramble for resource control has led to land and water grabs, parcularly land, leading to violent

confrontaons in some cases (Honduras, Colombia, Bolivia and Guatemala). The dominant economic growth

paradigm is based on extracon of primary products and natural resources, which are scarcer in other regions of

the world. Both private and public sector investment are reinforcing an extracve model without due consideraon

for environmental impacts and sustainable development, or to the realies of the impacts of climate change.

LAC is vulnerable to the eects of climate change, in parcular Central America and the Caribbean, where cyclica

humanitarian crisis aect both rural and urban populaons. Extreme climate change related hazards lead to

severe water stress and failed harvests, and threaten food security for small holders and people living in poverty,

increasing vulnerability to social-natural disasters.

LAC is also the most urbanized region in the world with problems of exclusion and inequality clearly concentrated

in urban centres. An esmated 80% of the populaon of LAC and 66% of those living in poverty in the region

inhabit cies; extreme poverty is now equally distributed between rural and urban areas.

REGIONAL PROPOSITION – REGIONAL EXTERNAL CHANGE GOALS

The following priories have been dened based on the context, opportunies to bring about change in LAC, and

OGB´s disncve competency in the region; while bearing in mind resource constraints both for Oxfam GB and

Oxfam in general.

Our overarching purpose is that inequalies and sustainability are addressed through policies that deliver socia jusce and greater resilience within a resource constrained world. This requires a shi in both the ideas and

beliefs and the public policies and instuons that underpin the prevailing economic model. As well as a greater

focus on structural inequality and redistribuon, more sustainable public policies and corporate pracce, and

more resilient sociees.

Our overarching strategy to inuence this change is through Acve cizenship and eecve states (rights based

approach) with a growing emphasis on inuencing the transparency, responsibility and accountability of the

private sector. Oxfam´s contribuon to this will be by supporng cizens and communies in the exercise and

demand of their rights - including in crisis; by holding states accountable for protecng and promong those rights

as duty bearers; and by pung Women´s rights at the centre of all our work, through increasing the proporon of

our current programme work that adopts a strong focus on women’s empowerment and engagement in decision-

making processes.

Over the next six years, OGB in LAC will work with others, in the countries where we operate , towards ensuring:

• Acve cizenship and gender jusce

• Fair and sustainable food systems and use of natural resources

• Saving lives and building resilience

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Acve cizenship and gender jusce

Within a broader context of civil society engagement on issues of inequality, Oxfam GB in LAC will work with

others to contribute to reducing inequalies and discriminaons aecng women, with a parcular focus

on young urban women. As a contribuon to the drive for more eecve state policies that address the

underlying causes of inequality, we will help strengthen the agency of women´s organisaons in demanding

eecve public policies for gender jusce and the fullment of women´s rights. We will contribute to

shaping a culture of rights and changing ideas and beliefs around inequality – maximizing the use of new

technologies.

We will also contribute to the protecon and creaon of civil society space and the rights of women

parcularly where under threat, as a result of violence, threat from resource intensive industries, statefragility and/or of deliberate state policies.

Fair and sustainable food systems and use of natural resources

Oxfam GB in LAC will work with others to ensure the right to food for all within planetary boundaries:

contribung to the development of appropriate public frameworks, policies, public and private pracces

and investment for a sustainable food system and natural resource use.

We will support communies, parcularly women, to exercise safe access to and control over natural

resources by defending their right to land and water in order to produce food and generate livelihoods.

We will inuence state policies and the business pracces of companies to ensure that women small holderproducers are supported through investment, an enabling legal environment and can access markets on fair

terms; and that investment is made to promote scalable agricultural producon systems that sustainably

increase yields and support adaptaon and resilience to climate change.

We will engage business for more transparent, fair and sustainable pracces, while also confronng bad

pracces.

We will engage with consumers, parcularly urban, to change ideas, beliefs and pracces and generate

greater demand for sustainable agricultural products.

Saving lives and building resilience

Oxfam GB in LAC will work with others to build resilience in communies facing shocks (be they disasters,violence and conicts, or economic ones) in both rural and urban areas. We will challenge entrenched

power and gender inequalies that perpetuate risks and vulnerabilies for the poorest people and support

the right to resources and capacies that people need in order to cope and even thrive within contexts of

long-term change, volality and unexpected shocks.

We will hold States to account on their responsibility to protect their cizens, while also delivering appropriate

assistance and invesng in building States´ response capacies where possible (at local, naonal and regional

level) with a clear focus on urban sengs.

We will bring assistance to those in need where there is no appropriate state (nor naonal civil society)

capacity or willingness to do so.

We will ensure urban is eecvely mainstreamed in all our strategies and that we gradually increase our program

investment in urban sengs and issues to maximize opportunies for change.

We will opmize the use of technology in all aspects of our programming.

We will increase our understanding of violence and its impact on the fullment of rights and develop our work in

violent contexts based on our mandate and added value.



OUR ROLE AND REGIONAL ENABLING CHANGE GOALS

As the region evolves and as our resources as Oxfam decline, the role we play and the way we carry out our

programs will evolve as we try to achieve transformaonal change at scale. This will mean working with a systemic

approach and taking on more of an inuencing role, as a facilitator and broker and being less operaonal. We

will review, diversify and strengthen our alliances and partnerships accordingly at country and regional levels

We will develop further synergies and arculaon to avoid silos and maximize impact.

We want to make the reducon of our resources an opportunity to make strategic choices, to beer focus ourintervenons, and foster quality. In summary, we aim at doing less but doing it beer.

Being part of the World wide Inuencing Network

We will strengthen our inuencing and networking capacies in the region, in parcular at naonal level

bringing a signicant contribuon to the G20/BRICSAM strategy (Brazil, Mexico as members of the G20, and

emerging powers like Colombia), and maximize the potenal of arculaon across countries.

We will engage with sociees in order to contribute to changing ideas and beliefs, parcularly with the rising

middle classes - to ensure they ally with the poor and not with the elite – maximizing the use of technologies and

social media which are widespread in LAC. We will strengthen Oxfam’s posion as a thought leader on poverty

inequality and sustainability, developing our own research as well as building relaonships and networks with

think tanks and researchers across the region.

We need to be polically bold, and strengthen our exibility and agility to be able to assess and react both to

opportunies and risks, including through conngency resources.

Enhancing Programme quality, monitoring, evaluaon and learning, and our accountability

Our aim is to develop transformaonal programs that achieve change in power relaonships at scale and in a

sustainable way. Programme standards will be central to our pracces, culture and business systems. We wil

improve our knowledge management to ensure that we are capturing learning and impacts m ore systemacally

and eecvely, and that we are sharing these both internally and externally, with special emphasis on our alliesand partners. We will ensure space and resources for innovaon. We will reinforce our accountability both

internally and externally, with parcular emphasis to partners and communies.

Invesng in people

We require new skills and competencies in order to adapt and implement this new vision. We will parcularly

aim at improving diversity in our teams, building naonal sta capacies, as well as ensuring we develop our

One Oxfam culture.

Boosng our income and improving our cost eecveness

We will connue our eorts to diversify our donors, focusing strategically on high impact opportunies, and

ensuring robust donor relaons. We will further develop our alliances and capacies to leverage resourcestowards the causes we defend, developing and maximizing mul-stakeholders approach. We will ensure we

develop inter aliate frameworks, strategies and ways of working to maximise the One Oxfam potenal.

We will develop iniaves at regional and country level to achieve SMS measure of success#2, in parcular by

reducing nancial and transaconal costs through harmonized and simpler processes, and ones that encourage

beer collaboraon at country, regional and global level; by developing models for shared programme support

resources and other shared services we will turn the reducon of resources into an opportunity to improve the

eecveness of our structures and ways of working.

oxfam - lac strategic 2013-2019

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