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32. Social Accountability in Lebanon: Promoting Dialogue in Humanitarian and Development WASH Programmes
- Author:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Publication Date:
- 03-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Oxfam’s work in Lebanon, both on humanitarian WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and more long-term water development programmes, uses social accountability mechanisms to assess community needs, empower citizens and promote dialogue among affected stakeholders. This strategy has helped to unlock some tensions in an effort to provide basic rights and services to vulnerable people. However the situation in many settings remains fragile, and further efforts are needed to promote dialogue and to anchor consultation processes to the water sector dynamics in Lebanon.
- Topic:
- Infrastructure, Accountability, Humanitarian Crisis, and Empowerment
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Lebanon
33. Opening the Vaults: The Use of Tax Havens by Europe’s Biggest Banks
- Author:
- Manon Aubry and Thomas Dauphin
- Publication Date:
- 03-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The world of tax havens is a murky place. In Europe, only one sector is required to publicly report its profits and tax on a country-by-country basis – the banking sector, as a result of regulation following the financial crisis. Since 2015 all banks based in the European Union have been obliged to report on their operations in this way. This report showcases research by Oxfam that uses this new transparency data in depth for the first time to illustrate the extent to which the top 20 EU banks are using tax havens, and in which ways. The urgent need now is to extend public country-by-country reporting to all sectors of the economy. If tax transparency is extended to all sectors, it will be easier for governments to clamp down on tax dodging and to repatriate lost tax revenues that could be used to fight inequality through investment in healthcare, education, social protection and job creation.
- Topic:
- Inequality, Tax Systems, Banks, Transparency, and Banking
- Political Geography:
- Europe
34. Good Jobs in Greater Manchester: The Role of Employment Charters
- Author:
- Emily Ball, Ceri Hughes, Donna-Louise Hurrell, and Tom Skinner
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- A more inclusive labour market would offer more people the chance to take part in rewarding, well-paid work, bringing both economic and social benefits. In the context of declining union membership, limited employment regulation and a growing disconnect between pay and living costs, employment charters are one means for cities to engage employers and start a conversation about how their employment practices can enable local people to live and work well. This paper and the accompanying case studies grew out of a conversation about ways to facilitate more inclusive growth in cities. It focuses on Greater Manchester and reviews the rationale, design and impact of several local employment charter initiatives in the UK to assess the role that they can play in creating and sustaining quality jobs.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Labor Issues, Employment, and Inequality
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
35. Towards Sustainable Food Security in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Strengthening rangeland governance
- Author:
- Naama Baumgarten-Sharon
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Bedouin and herder communities are among the poorest and most marginalized populations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In the West Bank, an estimated 30,000 Bedouin live in 183 communities in Area C, under complete Israeli control. In the Gaza Strip, there are some 75,000 Bedouin living in 18 Bedouin communities, many in border areas where there are access restrictions enforced by the Israeli army. These communities suffer from lack of access to basic services and are some of the most marginalized in Gaza. Better rangeland management would enable the available resources to be optimized and would increase the productivity of the agricultural sector, increasing food security under the existing constrained conditions. The aim of this paper is to describe the challenges facing rangeland management in the OPT and the possibilities for change.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Natural Resources, Territorial Disputes, Food Security, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Palestine, Gaza, West Bank, and Irsael
36. A Resilient Present and Future are Possible
- Author:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Asia is exposed and vulnerable to a wide range of natural and manmade hazards. In many respects, it is the global epicenter for disasters. Its location makes it prone to destructive hazards that are exacerbated by climate change, leading to an increasing number of cyclones, sea level rises, severe drought, and other extreme climate effects. This vulnerability is compounded by poverty. The majority of the world’s poorest people today live in Asia, thus protection and recovery from these disasters remain difficult. In Asia, Oxfam continues to work with partners and vulnerable communities to promote resilience against existing risks and new risks from natural and human induced disasters that impact disadvantaged poor people in Asia. This map provides an overview of the extensive work in 11 countries in Asia and features different kinds of approaches towards building resilience: small holder agriculture and enterprises; water resilience; urban resilience; natural resource management; working with the private sector to build resilience; and climate finance and gender justice, among others.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Disaster Relief, Gender Issues, and Water
- Political Geography:
- Asia
37. ‘We’re Here For an Indefinite Period’ Prospects for local integration of internally displaced people in North Kivu, DRC
- Author:
- Aurore Mathieu
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Internally displaced people in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are struggling to find long-term solutions to improve their resilience to shocks in a region that has been beset by armed conflict for more than 20 years. In 2016 Oxfam partners undertook a survey among host communities and displaced people in Masisi and Lubero, North Kivu, to gain a picture of the formal and informal mechanisms developed by displaced people to integrate into host communities. It revealed that although the majority of displaced people wish to return eventually to their place of origin, the least vulnerable displaced people are those who manage to integrate into their host communities. This paper reports the views of displaced people and host communities. It aims to influence the debate underway on solutions to displacement in the province of North Kivu and provides concrete suggestions for ways to strengthen those mechanisms; in particular by redefining the interventions of humanitarian and development actors and authorities to consider the needs of host communities
- Topic:
- Displacement, Local, Humanitarian Crisis, and Internal Displacement
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo
38. Building a More Equal Scotland: Designing Scotland’s Poverty and Inequality Commission
- Author:
- David Eiser, Ryan McQuigg, and Francis Stuart
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- In 2015 Oxfam Scotland called for the creation of an Inequality Commission, building on Scotland’s politicians from across all parties stating their support to tackle economic inequality. The Scottish government has committed to establishing a Poverty and Inequality Commission in 2017–18, but its design will be critical. This report, produced in collaboration with the Fraser of Allander Institute, explores the scale of inequality in Scotland and the drivers behind it. The report examines some, but not all, of the intersecting and overlapping dimensions of economic inequality and poverty – as well as potential policy responses and the powers of the Scottish Parliament. The report then explores lessons from the work of previous commissions and makes a series of recommendations for the Scottish government as it establishes the new Poverty and Inequality Commission.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Governance, Inequality, and Economic Inequality
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom, Europe, and Scotland
39. Women’s Empowerment in South Africa: Evaluation of the Raising Her Voice project
- Author:
- Gavin Stedman-Bryce
- Publication Date:
- 06-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- This evaluation is presented as part of the Effectiveness Review Series 2015/16, selected for review under the women’s empowerment thematic area. This report documents the findings of an impact evaluation, carried out in January 2016. The purpose of the evaluation was to rigorously assess the effectiveness of the Raising Her Voice project in South Africa (RHV-SA), in terms of its contribution to greater women’s empowerment. Usually, evaluations under this thematic area are evaluated using quasi-experimental impact evaluation techniques. In this case, given the characteristics of the project, a different impact evaluation technique has been applied, called process tracing. Where interventions have small sample sizes for evaluators to draw from (referred to as small ‘n’ evaluations), this can make it difficult to adopt traditional counterfactual approaches to establishing causality for a range of technical and practical reasons. This is a situation typically faced in projects under Oxfam’s Good Governance outcome area (previously known as Citizen Voice and Policy Influencing). Evaluations of interventions under this outcome area are concerned with establishing whether or not they contributed to an observed change; in other words, they are concerned with assessing a causal claim. To make this type of assessment possible, Oxfam developed a pre-qualified protocol, based on process tracing.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Governance, Gender Based Violence, and Feminism
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Africa
40. Governance in Tajikistan: Evaluation of the Women Smallholder Farmer Advocacy Campaign
- Author:
- Clay Westrope
- Publication Date:
- 06-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- This evaluation is presented as part of the Effectiveness Review Series 2015/16, randomly selected for review under the good governance thematic area. This report documents the findings of a qualitative impact evaluation, carried out in May 2016. The evaluation used process tracing to assess the effectiveness of the GROW campaign in Tajikistan. In an effort to complement agricultural value chain programming implemented by a variety of organisations in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan, Oxfam GB (OGB) integrated aspects of its global advocacy campaign, GROW. The GROW campaign takes a multi-pronged approach to the multi-faceted issue of global food insecurity by focusing on a diversity of causes, including climate change, land reform issues, industrial farming, and private sector policies. In Tajikistan, the campaign team selected contextually relevant key issues to guide its advocacy activities, including climate change, land reform, and water availability with a focus on women smallholder farmers as the key agricultural producers. OGB did this through trainings, workshops, round tables, and highly visual events integrated with previous and currently existing programming. In Tajikistan, the GROW Campaign was implemented in a distinctive way by leveraging synergies between previous, existing, and future programming both directly and tangentially related to the main themes of the campaign. Rather than serving as a standalone campaign, GROW served as a platform from which to promote, influence, and advocate on issues through related projects being implemented on the ground.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Gender Issues, Governance, Feminism, Rural, Farming, and Empowerment
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Asia, and Tajikistan