Annual Newsletter - Internal
Women’s Economic Empowerment* newsletter *formally known as Community Finance
Highlights from FY18 (April 2017-March 2018) May 2016-April 2017 Key Initiatives in Women’s Economic Empowerment
R4 Rural Resilience Initiative Building resilience to climate change for long-term food security and livelihoods improvement
We’d like to introduce you to the new Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Team, formally known as Community Finance. Going forward, the WEE team will continue to manage its two flagship programs, the R4 Rural Resilience Initiative (R4) and Saving for Change (SfC), which are building resilience through women’s social and economic empowerment. The WEE team will also be adding new strands of work on issues like women’s rights, women’s leadership, women’s entrepreneurship, and women’s decent employment. Before looking further ahead, the WEE team wants to share a bit about our activities and achievements from Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18). Last fiscal year offered its fair share of political and economic challenges, but the women we aim to serve remained central to all that we did. R4 reached over 57,000 farmers including 50 percent women, and SfC reached over 730,000 people, including more than 80 percent women. We witnessed a measurable increase in the resilience of female-headed households participating in the R4 Rural Resilience Initiative (R4), launched a new Saving for Change (SfC) project focused on reproductive health, and continued to grow the scope and geographic reach of both R4 and SfC. Read on for a number of key highlights from FY18!
Updates from Africa Ethiopia In Ethiopia, R4 teams made measurable impacts on the lives of rural farmers. R4 demonstrated its effectiveness at helping smallholder farming households improve their food security. An impact evaluation carried out by Columbia
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University in R4 Ethiopia and published in September found that the project is improving food security in Tigray, especially among female-headed households. According to the Food Consumption Score, the overall decline in food security from 2013 to 2016 (in terms of the quantity and quality of food consumed) was 26% smaller for female-headed households in R4 villages than it was in control villages. The improvement
Saving for Change Strengthening grassroots capacity to manage money, leveraging it to reduce food insecurity and support income generating activities
occurred during a period of very severe drought, in 2015. The study suggests that the two most likely mechanisms through which the women improved their family’s food security were: borrowing during drought and working on micro gardens.
R4 program participant in front of her land in Tigray. Through her participation in R4, she created a biodegradable system to generate electricity for her home. Photo: Caroleena Fontes/Oxfam.
In November, the Oxfam Ethiopia team and R4 partner World Food Programme (WFP) country office in Ethiopia kickedoff a new phase of R4 together with partners and government stakeholders with a three-day retreat. This moment marked an important milestone in R4’s journey towards resilient smallholder – women and men
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– farmers. The retreat was a first step towards creating a shared vision for R4 Phase 2, building on the lessons so far.
R4 leadership from Oxfam and WFP meet in Ethiopia to develop a vision for Phase 2 of the program. Photo: Mansi Anand/Oxfam.
Senegal On the other side of Africa, R4 was able to gather evidence of its effectiveness in the Senegalese context as well. R4 partner WFP commissioned an impact evaluation of the program that was conducted by Dalberg Global Development Advisors. This study looked at the impact of R4 between 2013 and 2016. It found that program participants increased their crop production and food security, and that the R4 had a positive impact on women’s decisionmaking and financial autonomy. The full report and the topline summary are available here. In addition to longer term evaluations, Oxfam also conducts annual outcome monitoring. In November, the R4 team conducted an annual monitoring survey in the Tambacounda and Kolda regions of Senegal. The preliminary results show a net improvement in the food security situation of R4 participating households, compared to the previous assessment from November
Annual Newsletter - Internal
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2016. In particular, the food consumption score (FCS) considerably improved; the percentage of households with a poor FCS more than halved, from 34% to 15%. The improvement was even more remarkable in female-headed households’ FCS as the percentage of households with a poor FCS dropped from 52% to 12% percent.
contraceptive choices and family planning. One key takeaway from the evaluation is that men and older women have an important role to play in these conversations; beyond childbearing years, women educate and influence the younger women in their household (daughters and daughters-in-law), and broker access to contraceptives and change attitudes towards family planning. The study also found that the program should better engage men, who remain a key determinant in whether their wives use family planning.
Transitioning to the SfC program, in July Oxfam in Senegal completed an assessment report to better understand the long-term impacts of the program on group members across three regions of the country: Kolda, Tambacounda, and Kédougou. Oxfam and partners first launched SfC in Senegal in 2006 and after 10 years of implementation it is empowering 55,000 group members who have collectively saved nearly one million dollars. In the assessment report (available in French), evaluators found clear evidence that SfC is positively affecting women participants in different areas of their lives, from economic and social empowerment to social capital. One specific finding demonstrated that women have increased their self-esteem and self-confidence through their participation in SfC trainings that go beyond financial education. Mali In neighboring Mali, in March the SfC team completed an evaluation of their pilot that incorporates reproductive health training in to SfC groups. Results demonstrate that the program has been successful at educating women about
SfC group in Bla region of Mali participating in reproductive health training. Photo: Soumaila Sogoba/Oxfam.
Updates from Southeast Asia Cambodia A continent away in Asia, Oxfam in Cambodia funded an independent impact evaluation of its 2-year SfC for Youth project, which ended in June. This project supported over 3,000 people (80% women) engaged in saving and lending activities through 207 SfC groups. One interesting finding from the evaluation was that the level of participation of community
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Annual Newsletter - Internal members in public meetings and events decreased by 16% for participants. Respondents outlined contributing factors of high amounts of housework and a lack of information about the events. In response to this finding, the SfC team in Cambodia began implementing the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) in the following phase of the project. GALS helps both women and men acknowledge each other’s roles and promote shared decisionmaking at the household level. It was introduced to influence the clear need to address the unfair workloads of women engaging in income generating activities. Continuing their learning agenda in January, Oxfam in Cambodia hosted the “Regional Learning Workshop: Innovative integrated development solutions to advance Women’s Economic Empowerment”. Over 70 representatives attended the event from Cambodia’s national and provincial governments, local savings groups, donors, private sector, and members of the SfC team and the Food Systems Theme. The workshop presented different approaches for incorporating WEE across the region. These approaches included work with savings groups, government, private sector, the rice industry, agriculture, climate change, and ICT4D. During one session, an SfC group member presented on how her participation in a saving group created an additional income generator, strengthened her ability to save, and empowered her to take control of her own income.
SfC group meets in Banteay Meanchey, Cambodia. Photo: Sokunthea Chor/Oxfam.
Laos, Timor Leste, and Indonesia Just outside Cambodia, teams came together to build on lessons learned from the first year of SfC implementation in Laos in FY17 and to expand further in Southeast Asia. In February, Laos Women's Union leadership, Oxfam America staff, and Oxfam in Laos staff visited SfC groups in the Savannakeht Province. The Oxfam country team is focusing on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) as one of its top priorities for programming. Following this visit, Oxfam in Laos agreed to co-design and be part of a WEEfocused regional program with Cambodia, Timor Leste, and Indonesia.
Updates from Central America
El Salvador An ocean away in El Salvador, the SfC team launched a 2-year project serving at-risk youth with support from the Red Nose Day fund. This $500,000 grant spans three country programs: Active Citizenship (& SfC), Humanitarian, and Gender Justice, with an emphasis on
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providing a secure environment in eight public schools in Ahuachapán, in the western part of the country. To support project aims, Oxfam is strengthening life skills to help 3,620 students aged 5 to 18 create safe spaces free from violence, and providing financial skills and guidance in generating economic opportunities with the new SfC for Youth methodology they developed in 2016. As of March 2018, Oxfam and partners had helped 1,032 youth (52% women) organize into 53 new SfC groups.
A young girl shares about her experience as a member of a youth savings group in El Salvador. Photo: Joel Martínez/Oxfam.
In May, SfC members in El Salvador achieved a major milestone! Women groups in the communities of Gualococti and San Simón created a Municipal Savings Group Network and are now formally recognized by the government. The SfC groups have been working closely with the mayors of both towns who welcomed this formalization. This was a major step towards sustainability of the groups going forward. For more details on this accomplishment, check out our blog in Spanish and English. Another blog that provides a wider look at the SfC program in El Salvador can be found here.
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Annual Newsletter - Internal
SfC group members in El Salvador celebrate their new Municipal Savings Group Network in El Salvador. Photo: Joel Martínez/Oxfam.
Gender Highlights
In March, Oxfam in Cambodia organized a 3-day Train the Trainer workshop on Gender Action Learning and Women’s Leadership for two SfC partners, Action for Development (AFD) and Farmer Livelihood Development (FLD) staff. The training aimed to equip participants with gender and women’s leadership skills, and strengthen their capacity to share these skills with the people they work with. The training covered basic gender concepts, how to design a gender roadmap, women’s leadership, and facilitation. Oxfam America’s fourth Global Gender Retreat took place in February in Lima, Peru. The Program Specialist, Inclusive and Resilient Food Systems, Program Advisor, ICT4D & Community Finance, Sr. R4 Program Advisor, and Director Food Systems represented the WEE team and the Food Systems Theme. The retreat brought together 44 gender champions from offices in DC, Boston, Peru, El Salvador, and Senegal, as well as other
affiliates, and Oxfam International. After 3 days together, participants came to a shared vision for gender justice, which we share in full below: We envision an organization where gender justice is so ingrained that it comes naturally to everyone; an organization that is a vocal ally and strong financial supporter of women’s rights organizations, women political leaders, and women-led movements - globally, nationally, and locally; an organization that is recognized as a thought leader on feminist aid, gender analysis, and measuring women’s empowerment; and an organization where hierarchical structures are flattened, and the culture is non-toxic, peaceful, and inclusive.
Gender champions gather at the Global Gender Retreat in Peru. Photo: Brenda Carranza/Oxfam.
Updates from Boston
In addition to the programmatic activities, the WEE Team in Boston participated in a number of learning events and raised visibility of R4 and SfC work on international stages. In May, Mansi Anand (R4), and Diane Pueschel (ICT4D and SfC)
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presented at the 9th annual ICT4D Conference in India. This conference brought together more than 800 thought leaders from 74 different countries to explore how innovation in technology is making a measurable difference in millions of people’s lives. Mansi and Diane, along with Tapas Chakraborty from Oxfam in Bangladesh, led an interactive session where participants discussed processes that can make or break projects with ICT4D components. The idea behind their session was to create a shared space for participants to discuss failures and lessons from ICT4D interventions. It also encouraged the fail fast methodology for improving ICT4D integration processes and project results. In January, Oxfam in Cambodia hosted the “Regional Learning Workshop: Innovative integrated development solutions to advance Women’s Economic Empowerment”. The learning event was attended by over 70 representatives from Cambodia’s national and provincial governments, local savings groups, donors, private sector, and members of the Community Finance team and the Food Systems Theme, including Caroleena Fontes, Laté Lawson, and Gina Castillo. The workshop presented different approaches for incorporating WEE across the region. These approaches included work with: savings groups, government, private sector, the rice industry, agriculture, climate change, and ICT4D. During one session, an
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Annual Newsletter - Internal SfC group member presented on how the program has impacted her livelihood. Her participation in the saving group created an additional income generator, strengthened ability to save, and empowered her to take control of her own income. This workshop gave Oxfam the platform to showcase the importance of WEE in programs. Julio Espinoza represented the WEE team at the Resilience Evidence Forum (REF) in Washington D.C. in October. Nearly 200 representatives attended from USAID, other multi-lateral donors, United Nations Organizations, private and academic research institutions, and international non-governmental organizations. At the forum, Julio and other attendees: (1) shared and consolidated emerging evidence and methodological approaches for resilience analysis; (2) discussed ramifications of evidence for resilience policy and programming; and (3) identified future directions and priorities for the resilience community of practice and in specific programs as SfC and R4.
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improved data quality, more timely data collection, and robust reporting.
Partner staff enters data in Khmer during the digital monitoring system training in Cambodia. Photo: Diane Pueschel/Oxfam.
Until next time!
Thank you for your interst in and support of our work across the globe! We look forward to sharing more updates and accomplishments with you in the future.
In January, Diane Pueschel delivered a Train the Trainer training on SfC’s new digital monitoring system to 25 Saving for Change partners and staff in Cambodia. Cheth Phay and Vanndeth Seng from Oxfam in Cambodia provided support for the training to partners, leading discussions in Khmer. The rollout of this new system, which leverages the power of Salesforce and TaroWorks, is in response to a request for
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