I joined Oxfam in Myanmar in 2017 as a research coordinator to lead overall project management and coordination between researchers in Myanmar and researchers in the UK for the innovative Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) project. A4EA is an international research programme, implemented by a consortium which Oxfam is part of, led by The Institute of Development Studies (IDS). …
Women’s land rights on paper are not enough
Land is critical to our daily lives. It is intrinsically linked with our identity, dignity, livelihoods, food, housing, education and health. Secure land rights are essential to sustainable and equitable economic development as well as to social and political development. This holds true, especially for women. For women to have secure land rights, the legal and policy framework must recognise …
Are Communal Tiger Worm Toilets a sustainable option for camps?
We tested Communal Tiger Worm Toilets in challenging conditions in Myanmar, and evaluated their sustainability. The ‘Tiger Team’ talk us through their findings. As increasing numbers of people are living in camp settings for longer, we need more sustainable alternatives to commonly used pit latrines. Tiger Worm Toilets (TWTs) are a novel sanitary solution that contain composting worms to digest …
Trust and democratic change – reflections from Myanmar
What lessons can be learnt from a governance programme in Ayeyarwady, Myanmar? Araddhya Mehta reflects on the complexity of building trust in a changing political context. Building trust – vertically between citizens, civil society organizations (CSOs) and local government institutions, and horizontally between citizens and within and across social groups – is at the heart of democratic change, including effective …
Being a better partner in conflict situations
A new report from Oxfam and International Alert looks at how violent conflict impacts local civil society and how international partners respond. Here Harriet Lamb, CEO of International Alert and Mark Goldring, CEO of Oxfam GB, reflect on the key findings and their implications for future and current partnerships in conflict. Violent conflicts cast a shadow every day over millions …
Tiger worms: the little sanitation engineers
Could tiger worms be the answer to some of the challenges of providing toilets in refugee and displaced people camps? Oxfam is conducting a pilot project to find out, working with the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education in camps in Myanmar. ‘What do you think about worms? Would you be comfortable working with worms?’ Bagus Setyawan from Oxfam’s Global …
Putting gender at the heart of national budgeting
Having an accountable system for public spending is central to the democratic relationship between citizens and the state. What if gender inequality was taken into account in the budget process? Poe Ei Phyu and Jasmine Burnley share key findings from Oxfam in Myanmar’s research into gender responsive budgeting. A country’s budget can be the most powerful tool a government has …
Walking the talk with Participatory Impact Assessment Learning Approach (PIALA) in Myanmar
Adinda Van Hemelrijck reflects on how we adapted PIALA for an impact evaluation in Myanmar. n 2015, Oxfam commissioned an impact evaluation of its resilient livelihoods project in the Dry Zone in Myanmar (part of the Effectiveness Review series). This project worked to develop a village-level mechanism – called Membership Organisation (MO) – that could facilitate broad citizen participation in local …
Thinking outside the baseline
Dustin Barter takes us through Oxfam’s baseline management for a Durable Peace Programme in Myanmar and lays out how, this time, our approach was so different to the status quo. llocate some funding, get a consultant to collect data and write a report, and there you have it, baseline done. Share it with the donor and if they’re happy, contract …