There are two major planks supporting Oxfam’s approach to development: human rights and advocacy. Lindenberg & Bryant (2001:181) trace the source of RBA to the dynamic relation between advocacy and operations: as NGDOs became more outspoken on human rights, the focus on services and capacities shifted to poverty reduction centred on inclusion rights. Oxfam does not take this stand alone: CARE and MSF are also evolving a RBA to development. Oxfam’s RBA is central to the research methodology of this thesis and will be elaborated in section 6.7 below in relation to Oxfam New Zealand. For the moment this section attends to Oxfam advocacy in the name of human rights and ‘fairness’.76
75 Confirmed in a personal communication with Oxfam International, June 1, 2007. 76 As noted in Chapter 4, Oxfam’s RBA draws on Sen’s work (1984; 1989; 1999), and
‘fairness’ captures one of the primary development values promoted by Fowler (2005) which is incorporated in Oxfam’s strategic plan (see Section 6.5 of this chapter).
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The political struggle of Oxfam’s origins (1941-42) set the organisation’s course on “combining operational work with advocacy and a focus on addressing the structural causes of poverty” (Lindenberg & Bryant, 2001:192). Oxfam GB includes domestic issues in its brief, which has put their status as a charitable organisation at risk more than once (ibid).77
On the international political scene Oxfam GB has held consultative status with UNESCO since 1973, and Oxfam America since 1993 (Lindenberg & Bryant, 2001:187). Oxfam International has official status on working groups with donor organisations, including the Bretton Woods institutions
In the US Oxfam America does very little work on domestic issues, but focuses its work on lobbying US government on issues affecting developing countries (ibid).
78
Lindenberg & Bryant (2001:151) report on a more recent dialogue between Oxfam and six globalising organisations of Southern origin. Oxfam was advised that while collaboration on global activities is useful, the organisation’s advocacy or . In 1997 Oxfam, along with CARE, MSF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met with the UN Security Council for the first time (Lindenberg & Bryant, 2001:197). There is no direct role in decision-making, but such consultation is an opportunity for information-sharing and dissemination of NGDO views, and for gaining media exposure and leverage, an important function in the political process as Lindenberg & Bryant (2001) observe.
According to van Rooy (2001:37), Oxfam’s role in international advocacy and engagement in global political debate is an exception for traditional development agencies. Campaigns on education, cutting conflict, fair trade and debt relief exemplify careful economic analysis and arguments designed to challenge IFI positions on their own ground. Oxfam’s commitment to RBA is supported in organisational units dedicated to public education, research and policy papers, and to advocacy.
77 See also Smillie, 1995. Campaigning on human rights is not regarded as a charitable
activity by the UK Charities Commission (Slim, 2001). There are similar constraints operating in New Zealand.
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development operations within Southern nations would not be welcome. These organisations preferred Oxfam International to take a lead in changing Northern institutions and perspectives through advocacy. There is a clear message here that Southern organisations are finding their own strengths, and that organisations like Oxfam have a different role to play in the current and future theatre of development. De Senillosa notes how Southern NGOs are urging their Northern counterparts
to give more importance to defending the interests of Southern people, and especially to influencing the business, financial and development aid policies of their governments, their trans-national companies and the multilateral institutions … to intervene decisively in awareness-raising, protest and lobbying activities (1998:47).
De Senillosa goes on to quote a 30-year old response from Julius Nyrere to a question from an Oxfam representative on how the organisation might best help Tanzania:
Take each and every penny that you have planned for Tanzania and spend it in the United Kingdom explaining to your co-citizens the nature and causes of poverty (ibid).
Fisher puts the situation more bluntly: organisations which promote empowerment (as Oxfam does in its value statements) are
[turning] issues that directly engage the self, subjective experience and daily life into crucial sites of political contestation. … This perspective emphasises the tight relationship between ethics and politics. … Ethical judgements are essentially political (1997:458).
Advocacy is thus a political spring-board to promote Oxfam’s conception of RBA. However, advocacy needs to be accompanied by organisational reflection for its significance and impact (Sogge, 1996), a reminder of the importance of a ‘learning organisation’ as described in Chapter 4. Reflection on experience which leads to reframing the development problem or strategy and future action is also a means to define and refine organisational values.
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This section has described how advocacy and human rights are fundamental to Oxfam’s approach to development. The next section considers how these features are translated into the organisation’s strategic plan and change goals.