Laura Gyte describes why Oxfam intervened in a court case brought against the UK government over arms sales. UPDATE: on 20 June the Court of Appeal ruled that UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are unlawful. In April, the Court of Appeal heard a claim brought by Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) on whether the UK government’s decision to …
Making international development campaigns work for girls
Rosie Walters discovers how girls can take a much more creative approach to feminist activism than campaigns would give them credit for. In the past decade, countless campaigns have emerged with the aim of empowering girls in the Global South. Many of them cite statistics about the returns of investing in girls’ education, including increased economic output, delayed maternity and …
Accommodating uncertainty in advocacy and campaign evaluation
Jim Coe and Rhonda Schlangen, experienced advocacy evaluators, discuss the evolving challenge of monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning in the context of influencing work. Over the last couple of decades, there has been a seismic shift in thinking about evaluating influencing work. As we argue here, we need to think critically about where we’ve got to and how to manage …
How Oxfam has influenced for change over the last 75 years
In advance of the Oxfam Research Network’s Evidence for Influencing conference (Soesterberg, Netherlands, 23-24 October), Ruth Mayne, Chris Stalker and Andrew Wells-Dang look back over Oxfam’s history of influencing and future challenges. Influencing policymakers is in Oxfam’s genes. Right from its inception in 1942, Oxfam called on Prime Minister Winston Churchill to lift the Allied blockade of Nazi-occupied countries to …
World-wide influencing: what is it?
A changing world poses new challenges, and opens up new opportunities, for Oxfam’s work to end poverty, inequality, and injustice. Steve Price Thomas, Oxfam International’s Director of Advocacy and Campaigns explains why Oxfam has adopted a ‘world-wide influencing’ approach, as part of a series on influencing for change. Our world faces seismic shifts—is Oxfam prepared to deal with them? More …
Influencing for social justice: nudge, shove, show or shout?
What do, closed door talks with civil servants about climate change, street theatre about the impacts of domestic violence, and anti-tax haven marches have in common? Answer: They’re all about influencing for a fairer, safer, greener world. Sally Golding and Ruth Mayne introduce the what, how and why of ‘influencing’ in the first of a new series of blog posts. …