OXFAM GB LAC STRATEGIC STEER 2013 2019

Mexico, March 2013

INTRODUCTION Two principle shifts have prompted Oxfam GB in LAC to redefine its strategic priorities, the first 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 redefinition of priorities has been based on a sound analysis of the context and the distinct strategic contribution of LAC to the OSP change goals and of OGB within Oxfam in LAC. This analysis has been developed over the last few months, starting with a Regional Vision workshop, a specific session at the RLT and a number of exchanges within the Oxfam family. REGIONAL CONTEXT In a fast-changing multi-polar world, characterized by an increasingly volatile global economic and financial climate and successive economic, energy, food and climate crisis, the Latin America region has reached important crossroads in terms of its future development and democracy. Relatively stable economic growth, and the growing influence of emerging economies such as Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, combined with a range of social policy reforms within the context of political democracies over the past decade, have led to some positive changes in terms of poverty and inequality in the region. However, pervasive structural inequalities, increasing violence, extreme climate change related hazards and the sustainability limits of an extractive economic model pose unresolved challenges and threats. Although overall Latin America and the Caribbean can be qualified as a region of middle income countries, the region itself is very diverse, ranging from Brazil which is the worlds 6th1 largest economy, to Haiti which remains the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Since 1995, the Gini coefficient in LAC has fallen from 0.57 to 0.53 and 50 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the past decade alone. A range of social policy reforms targeting poverty and exclusion have contributed to some progress in terms of poverty and inequality, but, despite this progress, LAC continues to be the most unequal region in the world. Haiti, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil and Colombia have the highest levels of inequality within the region and inequalities remain a key common denominator for the entire region. Interrelated inequalities permeate economic, social and political life and are key to perpetuating poverty, vulnerability and exclusion. Asymmetries in access to livelihoods and power are mediated by a culture of multiple discriminations. Inequality patterns affect mainly poor women, indigenous and afro descendent populations and the youth and elder populations in both rural and urban areas more than half of the rural population live in poverty. Religion and the Church continue to have a massive influence in LAC, especially over peoples ideas and beliefs. Over 80% of the population is Catholic, while Evangelicalism and other religions are gaining ground. LAC is also the most violent region in the world. Honduras has the worlds 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 political violence related to attempts both to bring about and resist transformational social change, and the violence associated with social exclusion, is now complicated by the fact that organised crime and drug trafficking have acquired massive power over states, the economy and the entire society, in Mexico and Central America particularly. The fight against organised crime associated with political agendas has led to increased militarisation, high levels of violence and human rights abuses particularly in urban settings. It has also redirected public investment from social sectors to security. Economic and social exclusion has led to massive migratory outflows in search of economic opportunity. Increasingly women take this hazardous path, exposed to the perils and vices of human trafficking and exploitation. Some countries in LAC are also being affected by the shrinking of civil society space which has taken many different forms. In extreme cases, such as under military coup regimes (Honduras and Paraguay), there has been direct and severe action taken against CSOs. While in formal democratic contexts NGO legislation has been implemented,
1 Note: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e23a2b34-678e-11e1-b4a1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2HfeWbqME

under the guise of ensuring legitimacy and accountability, which has made it increasingly difficult for both local and international organisations to operate (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, and Venezuela). Often this legislation is deliberately opaque and open to interpretation, 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 infiltration of communications. In much of the region we are witnessing the criminalization of social movements that try to maintain their autonomy and speak out in favour of rights and democratic reform. Despite the global crisis, higher global commodity prices have enabled the resource-rich LAC region to maintain a relatively stable economic environment. Yet the LAC region is a theatre for increasing conflicts over natural resources. The scramble for resource control has led to land and water grabs, particularly land, leading to violent confrontations in some cases (Honduras, Colombia, Bolivia and Guatemala). The dominant economic growth paradigm is based on extraction of primary products and natural resources, which are scarcer in other regions of the world. Both private and public sector investment are reinforcing an extractive model without due consideration for environmental impacts and sustainable development, or to the realities of the impacts of climate change. LAC is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, in particular Central America and the Caribbean, where cyclical humanitarian crisis affect both rural and urban populations. 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 estimated 80% of the population of LAC and 66% of those living in poverty in the region inhabit cities; extreme poverty is now equally distributed between rural and urban areas. REGIONAL PROPOSITION REGIONAL EXTERNAL CHANGE GOALS The following priorities have been defined based on the context, opportunities to bring about change in LAC, and OGBs distinctive competency in the region; while bearing in mind resource constraints both for Oxfam GB and Oxfam in general. Our overarching purpose is that inequalities and sustainability are addressed through policies that deliver social justice and greater resilience within a resource constrained world. This requires a shift in both the ideas and beliefs and the public policies and institutions that underpin the prevailing economic model. As well as a greater focus on structural inequality and redistribution, more sustainable public policies and corporate practice, and more resilient societies. Our overarching strategy to influence this change is through Active citizenship and effective states (rights based approach) with a growing emphasis on influencing the transparency, responsibility and accountability of the private sector.2 Oxfams contribution to this will be by supporting citizens and communities in the exercise and demand of their rights - including in crisis; by holding states accountable for protecting and promoting those rights as duty bearers; and by putting Womens rights at the centre of all our work, through increasing the proportion of our current programme work that adopts a strong focus on womens empowerment and engagement in decisionmaking processes. Over the next six years, OGB in LAC will work with others, in the countries where we operate3, towards ensuring: Active citizenship and gender justice Fair and sustainable food systems and use of natural resources Saving lives and building resilience
2 While acknowledging its diversity, we will strategically focus our efforts on large companies. 3 And according to affiliates respective roles under SMS

We will ensure urban is effectively mainstreamed in all our strategies and that we gradually increase our program investment in urban settings and issues to maximize opportunities for change. We will optimize the use of technology in all aspects of our programming. We will increase our understanding of violence and its impact on the fulfilment of rights and develop our work in violent contexts based on our mandate and added value. Active citizenship and gender justice Within a broader context of civil society engagement on issues of inequality, Oxfam GB in LAC will work with others to contribute to reducing inequalities and discriminations affecting women, with a particular focus on young urban women. As a contribution to the drive for more effective state policies that address the underlying causes of inequality, we will help strengthen the agency of womens organisations in demanding effective public policies for gender justice and the fulfilment of womens 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 protection and creation of civil society space and the rights of women particularly where under threat, as a result of violence, threat from resource intensive industries, state fragility 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: contributing to the development of appropriate public frameworks, policies, public and private practices and investment for a sustainable food system and natural resource use. We will support communities, particularly 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 influence state policies and the business practices of companies to ensure that women small holder producers are supported through investment, an enabling legal environment and can access markets on fair terms; and that investment is made to promote scalable agricultural production systems that sustainably increase yields and support adaptation and resilience to climate change. We will engage business for more transparent, fair and sustainable practices, while also confronting bad practices. We will engage with consumers, particularly urban, to change ideas, beliefs and practices 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 communities facing shocks (be they disasters, violence and conflicts, or economic ones) in both rural and urban areas. We will challenge entrenched power and gender inequalities that perpetuate risks and vulnerabilities for the poorest people and support the right to resources and capacities that people need in order to cope and even thrive within contexts of long-term change, volatility and unexpected shocks. We will hold States to account on their responsibility to protect their citizens, while also delivering appropriate assistance and investing in building States response capacities where possible (at local, national and regional level) with a clear focus on urban settings. We will bring assistance to those in need where there is no appropriate state (nor national civil society) capacity or willingness to do so.

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 transformational change at scale. This will mean working with a systemic approach and taking on more of an influencing role, as a facilitator and broker and being less operational. We will review, diversify and strengthen our alliances and partnerships accordingly at country and regional levels. We will develop further synergies and articulation to avoid silos and maximize impact. We want to make the reduction of our resources an opportunity to make strategic choices, to better focus our interventions, and foster quality. In summary, we aim at doing less but doing it better. Being part of the World wide Influencing Network We will strengthen our influencing and networking capacities in the region, in particular at national level, bringing a significant contribution to the G20/BRICSAM strategy (Brazil, Mexico as members of the G20, and emerging powers like Colombia), and maximize the potential of articulation across countries. We will engage with societies in order to contribute to changing ideas and beliefs, particularly 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 Oxfams position as a thought leader on poverty, inequality and sustainability, developing our own research as well as building relationships and networks with think tanks and researchers across the region. We need to be politically bold, and strengthen our flexibility and agility to be able to assess and react both to opportunities and risks, including through contingency resources. Enhancing Programme quality, monitoring, evaluation and learning, and our accountability Our aim is to develop transformational programs that achieve change in power relationships at scale and in a sustainable way. Programme standards will be central to our practices, culture and business systems. We will improve our knowledge management to ensure that we are capturing learning and impacts m ore systematically and effectively, and that we are sharing these both internally and externally, with special emphasis on our allies and partners. We will ensure space and resources for innovation. We will reinforce our accountability both internally and externally, with particular emphasis to partners and communities. Investing in people We require new skills and competencies in order to adapt and implement this new vision. We will particularly aim at improving diversity in our teams, building national staff capacities, as well as ensuring we develop our One Oxfam culture. Boosting our income and improving our cost effectiveness We will continue our efforts to diversify our donors, focusing strategically on high impact opportunities, and ensuring robust donor relations. We will further develop our alliances and capacities to leverage resources towards the causes we defend, developing and maximizing multi-stakeholders approach. We will ensure we develop inter affiliate frameworks, strategies and ways of working to maximise the One Oxfam potential. We will develop initiatives at regional and country level to achieve SMS measure of success#2, in particular by reducing financial and transactional costs through harmonized and simpler processes, and ones that encourage better collaboration at country, regional and global level; by developing models for shared programme support resources and other shared services we will turn the reduction of resources into an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of our structures and ways of working.