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Begin New Search Topic Gender Issues Political Geography Africa Publishing Institution Oxfam Publishing Publication Year within 25 Years

1. Tackling Gender Inequality in the Cocoa Supply Chain: Are big chocolate companies delivering on their global commitments in Ghana?

Author:
Albert A. Ahrin
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
In 2013, leading chocolate companies Mars, Mondelēz, and Nestlé made global commitments to reduce gender inequalities across their cocoa supply chain. This report follows up on these commitments and presents findings on the gender equality programs Mars, Mondelēz, and Nestlé – and their agribusiness suppliers – are implementing in the cocoa supply chain of Ghana, a key sourcing country. Specifically, the report examines the extent to which each of the companies has (1) conducted and published impact assessments on women in their cocoa supply chains in order to understand and show how this population is faring in Ghana; (2) developed a specific action plan to address issues raised by the assessments that could lead to improved conditions for women; (3) signed on to the United Nations’ Women’s Empowerment Principles, a set of seven principles for businesses offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace, and community; and (4) engaged with other powerful actors
Topic:
Gender Issues, Inequality, Supply Chains, and Chocolate
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

2. Kasai: The Forgotten Province of DRC – Gender Assessment

Author:
Iulia Andreea Toma
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The Democratic Republic of Congo is currently gripped by national political deadlock and plagued by localized armed conflicts, both old and new. In the central region of Kasai, the conflict between government forces and the Kamwina Nsapo militia escalated dramatically in the first quarter of 2017 and has caused a serious humanitarian crisis extending over five provinces. The crisis has led to major food insecurity, and exacerbated the existing vulnerabilities of the local population. Women in DRC play a limited role in public life and their access to services and opportunities is constrained. The crisis in Kasai is entrenching existing inequalities in gender norms. In this context, Oxfam conducted a gender analysis in October-November 2017 in order to identify the impacts that the conflict is having on women, girls, boys and men in the province and their coping mechanisms. This report presents the findings of the analysis and recommendations intended to inform Oxfam’s own humanitarian programmes and those of its partners and other organizations, as well as the wider humanitarian response.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Women, and Norms
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo

3. Exploring the Need for Gender-Equitable Fiscal Policies for a Human Economy: Evidence from Uganda and Zimbabwe

Author:
Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Fiscal policy can be a powerful tool for governments to help achieve a ‘human economy’, if these policies are designed to address gender inequalities and the gender biases in current macroeconomic thinking. This report uses the case of one element of fiscal policy – public spending – to demonstrate how such policy design could help achieve gender equality and improve human development outcomes in developing countries. The report identifies unpaid care and domestic work as a key area where fiscal policy has a significant impact on gender equality. Using data from Oxfam’s 2017 Household Care Survey in Uganda and Zimbabwe, the report explores the impact on adults’ and children’s/adolescents’ time use of access to improved water sources, electricity, healthcare and childcare. It also considers secondary impacts on measures of well-being and women’s empowerment, including women’s health and decision making.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Science and Technology, Infrastructure, Fiscal Policy, and Domestic Policy
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, and Zimbabwe

4. Closing the Divide in Malawi: How to Reduce Inequality and Increase Prosperity for all

Author:
Clare Coffey, Jessica Hamer, and Chiara Mariotti
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Inequality between the richest and the rest in Malawi continues to rise, with poverty remaining extreme and endemic. Climate change is compounding the challenges, with recent droughts and floods likely to have worsened poverty, resulting in one in three Malawians relying on humanitarian assistance in 2016. Economic inequality threatens to undermine the hard-fought and important progress on some aspects of human development in Malawi. This report presents a vision, roadmap and policy recommendations for a more inclusive, equitable and prosperous Malawi. It shows that inequality is not inevitable but the result of policy choices made by those with power. Breaking out of slow and unequal growth requires government, development partners and institutions to work for all, especially for those living at the margins, rather than serving powerful vested interests.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Gender Issues, Inequality, and Tax Systems
Political Geography:
Africa and Malawi

5. Infrastructure and Equipment for Unpaid Care Work: Household Survey Findings from the Philippines, Uganda and Zimbabwe

Author:
Sandrine A. Koissy-Kpein and Lucia Rost
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Care work is essential for personal wellbeing, a healthy society and a functioning economy. But across the world, it is overwhelmingly done by women, which restricts their opportunities. Policy makers rarely recognize the public responsibility for facilitating unpaid care and domestic work through investments in infrastructure and care services. In 2017, Oxfam’s Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-Care) initiative conducted a Household Care Survey (HCS), collecting data in the Philippines, Uganda and Zimbabwe, to inform the design of public policies and local development programmes. The study tests which infrastructure, equipment and other factors influence care-work patterns. It finds that access to improved water sources is associated with reduced hours of care work, and household equipment facilitates men’s participation in care. It also finds that heavy workloads related to long hours of unpaid care can impact women’s health and well-being. Perceptions of care work, community expectations and fear of sanctions for deviating from social norms play an essential part in maintaining the gendered division of care work. The report presents recommendations for government and private sector decision-makers, development practitioners and researchers in the area of women’s economic empowerment on how they can contribute to facilitate the recognition, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care work.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Gender Based Violence, Local, Norms, and Empowerment
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, Philippines, Zimbabwe, and Asia-Pacific

6. Women’s empowerment in Tunisia: Impact Evaluation of the Project ‘AMAL: Supporting Women’s Transformative Leadership’ in Tunisia

Author:
Simone Lombardini
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This evaluation is presented as part of the Effectiveness Review Series 2016/17, selected for review under the women’s empowerment thematic area. The evaluation took place in November 2016 in Tunisia, and intended to evaluate the success of the ‘AMAL: Supporting Women’s Transformative Leadership’ project in increasing women’s empowerment. The project ‘AMAL: Supporting Women’s Transformative Leadership’ is a multi-country programme operating in Morocco, Tunisia, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Yemen, with regional coordination from Lebanon. The results coming from this Effectiveness Review are not meant to be indicative of the overall impact of AMAL, but more a focused assessment for the Tunisia component. The AMAL project operating in Tunisia started in 2012, following the revolution of 2011, with the objective to increase women’s awareness of their political and socio-economic rights, and support women to play a more active role in the political and socio-economic life of their community and country.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Gender Based Violence, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Africa and Tunisia

7. Resilience in Burkina Faso: Impact evaluation of the ‘Resilience, Food security and Nutrition’ project

Author:
Robert Fuller and Alexia Pretari
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The Resilience, Food Security and Nutrition Project (Projet de Resilience, Securite Alimentaire et Nutritionnelle, PRSAN) was carried out in the North and Centre-North regions of Burkina Faso between 2013 and 2017 by Oxfam and Christian Aid, together with two implementing partners, the Alliance Technique d’Assistance au Developpement (ATAD) and the Office de Developpement des Eglises Evangeliques (ODE). The project was aimed at enabling particularly vulnerable households to increase their resilience and improve their food security and nutritional situation. Project activities included supporting households in crop production, market gardening, processing and household businesses, providing awareness-raising on good nutritional practices, carrying out community-level disaster assessments and establishing early-warning committees, and distributing livestock and cash transfers. The Effectiveness Review was aimed at evaluating the success of this project in enabling participants to build their resilience to shocks, stresses and uncertainty. This report is part of Oxfam’s Effectiveness Review Series.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Gender Issues, and Farming
Political Geography:
Africa and Burkina Faso

8. The Cost of Justice: Exploratory Assessment on Women’s Access to Justice in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Yemen

Author:
Sarah Barakat
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Women in the Middle East and North Africa region face challenges in their attempts to seek and get justice. Despite some promising legal awareness initiatives, mostly led by civil society, women’s knowledge of their rights and family law is limited. They lack social capital and the financial means to claim their rights, and the systems in place to provide financial support are insufficient and often ineffective. Women’s pursuit of justice is further limited by entrenched patriarchal values at community and court levels. Though some laws in the countries covered by this research have been positively amended recently, women still face discrimination in the judicial system based on their sex, their religion, and their financial status.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Women, and Justice
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan

9. Understanding Norms around the Gendered Division of Labour: Results from Focus Group Discussions in Zimbabwe

Author:
Emma Samman
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Social norms refer to the shared expectations held by a given community. They are often held in place by social approval or rewards for conformity, and by disapproval or sanctions for transgressions. Understanding how and why social norms hold sway can provide a powerful means for understanding the gendered division of work that prevails in many communities and inform strategies aimed at promoting change. This report summarizes the main findings from the qualitative research conducted in August 2017 to support on the identification of the main social norms related to unpaid care and domestic work in rural communities in four districts in Zimbabwe. The research served to identify who the leaders are that communities look up to in order to validate social norms change. It helped to identify nascent opportunities for changes in the gendered division of labour, and what the implications are of the findings for planning and practice in addressing inequalities on unpaid care and domestic work.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Labor Issues, Norms, Empowerment, and Care
Political Geography:
Africa and Zimbabwe

10. Drought, Displacement and Livelihoods in Somalia/Somaliland: Time for Gender-Sensitive and Protection-Focused Approaches

Author:
Emma Fanning
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Thousands of Somali families were displaced to urban centres by the 2017 drought. Research by a group of NGOs indicates that they do not intend to return home anytime soon. It also shows how precarious and limited are the livelihood opportunities for displaced people in Somalia; how far people’s options are affected by gender; and how changing gender dynamics present further protection threats to both men and women. Comparing the findings for Somaliland with those for the rest of the country, the research underscores the importance of local dynamics for people’s opportunities and protection. Gaps were highlighted in the provision of basic services for women particularly. Local, state and federal authorities, donors, and humanitarian and development actors need to improve displaced people’s immediate access to safe, gender-sensitive basic services – and to develop plans for more durable solutions to displacement. As floods in April to June 2018 have forced more people to leave their homes, an immediate step up in the response is essential.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Displacement, NGOs, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia