Resilience has become central to the development sector in recent years, but conceptually it is still in a state of flux. In this blog post, we explore some of the new challenges associated with measuring the expanding concept of resilience in Oxfam’s impact evaluations or ‘Effectiveness Reviews’. esilience keeps getting bigger. What started off as an ambitious attempt to meld …
What can tech do for tax justice?
How can we use technology to support the work towards better fiscal systems and the citizens they affect? Sue Moore takes us through a recent hackathon in Kenya, run with this goal in mind, and explores its potential. espite Kenya’s notable economic growth, inequality levels have been rising. In a country with a tax gap of 40%, there is huge …
Cleaning up complexity: Making information useful for all
In 2015 Oxfam was awarded a Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) grant to support field staff to capture (currently undocumented) informal feedback which is received face-to-face by creatively using ICTs to enable responsive and accountable uses of information. Below Grace Higdon, Project assistance within Oxfam’s ICT in Programme team, takes us through some of the project’s outcomes. n June 2016, Oxfam …
Mobile surveys: The past, the present, the future
Since 2013 mobile surveys have become increasingly important to our survey processes at Oxfam, and across the sector. Emily Tomkys shares some of the key learning that has contributed to the latest Mobile Survey Toolkit, now available online to all development practitioners. t has been a long journey from when most of Oxfam’s data collection used paper and pen in …
Our latest research guidelines for development practitioners
LEARNING: High quality research is an integral part of evidence-informed advocacy and development programming. Here Martin Walsh, Global Research Adviser, introduces our latest research guidelines, two of them on new topics and one an update to an existing guideline. Oxfam launched its series of online research guidelines for development practitioners in November 2012. Since then, they’ve become among the most …
Using ICTs for citizen feedback on legal services in Rwanda
LEARNING: A key gap in almost all justice systems worldwide is obtaining data on the quality, effectiveness and user perception of justice services. This represents a major gap in ensuring justice sector policy is evidence based and responsive to the needs of the citizens. Through an innovative ICT-enhanced citizen monitoring approach in Rwanda, Richard Kananga explains how Oxfam is working …
Practicing partnership: reflections from South Africa
LEARNING: Partnerships in development communities require different approaches and practices depending on the relationship between organisations. Oxfam Australia’s former South Africa Country Director introduces a discussion paper which reflects on a trip where he met with 40 different partner organisations. Partnership is an important idea for the development community. Uncomfortable with the very obvious power differentials that are inherent …
Getting technical in East Africa
LEARNING: How can Oxfam, and the development sector in East Africa, make best use of ICTs? Here Francesca Reinhardt, reflects on an event which brought together Oxfam staff from seven different countries, with international NGOs, local civil society groups, technology providers, donors and others to discuss the future of ICTs in the region. Recently, colleagues from the aid and development …
Building bridges between communities and local government in the DRC
LEARNING: Annabel Morrissey recently returned from a visit to Equateur in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where she visited Oxfam’s Within and Without the State programme which aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of civil society programming in fragile states. This is no small feat in a country where there has been ongoing instability and conflict for the …
Working with partners: what’s it all about?
LEARNING: What does working in partnership mean for Oxfam and the vulnerable people we seek to help? Audrey Lejeune, Programme Learning Adviser and Yo Winder, Global Partnerships and Accountability Adviser, introduce a series of learning papers on working with partners. You probably know that Oxfam works with others to fight poverty and inequality around the world. But who are these …