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Refugees the world over dream of rebuilding their shattered lives

June 20, 2019

Today is World Refugee Day, and with it comes a new world record: a global rise for the seventh year in a row in the total number of refugees, asylum seekers and forcibly displaced people.

Refugees the world over dream of rebuilding their shattered lives. Like us, they have experiences to share and ideas they dare to hope might one day turn into reality. Darren Brunk, a humanitarian specialist with Oxfam New Zealand, reflects on time spent in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

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Both my grandmothers were expert quilters. My mother plays her sewing machine like Glenn Gould could a piano. I know a perfect stitch when I see one. But if you promise not to tell my mum, I’ll let you in on a secret; Sara beats them all, hands down.

I met Sara*, and others like her, at a women’s group in Teknaf; a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Sara and the fifteen other women sitting with me on the woven mat floor of a woven-walled shelter have fled vicious armed violence across the border in Myanmar.

The women laid out the most strikingly beautiful and intricate embroidery I have ever seen, making me think how much my mother and grandmothers would feel at home in this company. Proud women across many ages have shown me their work; colourful intricate patterns they hope to display on International Women’s Day, to share publicly the remarkable skills they’ve rarely been able to share outside the home. Skills they hope, if seen, can be used to generate money to alleviate some of the difficulties in their family’s frayed and stretched lives.

Sara has remarkable skills and also remarkable courage, to survive the horrors she has witnessed. And now, to join this women’s group, one of the first in the camps, where women are meeting publicly, some for the first time in their lives, to talk about the very different struggles men and women face in the camps. The burden for mending families and communities rests largely on women like Sara. In the Rohingya camps, women and girls are the majority. In the home, women invest 70 hours a week caring for other family members, compared to 11 for the average man.

Darren Brunk with women’s group in host community, talking about livelihood needs

In a very real way, in these camps, Sara is stitching her life back together. A needle and thread are her one hope for income in a country where, as a Rohingya, she is forbidden from work. The mats, walls and roof of her shelter are made of grasses woven expertly together by her hands. Even walking through the camps – a mad and tight patchwork of lanes and stairs twisting around sharp shorn hills – is like a needle stitching an intricate pattern; left to be unpicked to return from each trip to the latrine, community garden or string of corrugated iron shops lining the main roads.

Sara is a refugee. Today, World Refugee Day, belongs to her; it is a day to tell her story, to remember that in every aspect of her life, she is stitching and mending her way – and the way of her family and community – back to a full life. Last year there were more people displaced around the world than any time since the Second World War, including 25.4 million refugees. The numbers increased in 2018 for the seventh year in a row, including in Bangladesh where new arrivals add daily to the 900,000 Rohingya in the camps around Cox’s Bazar.

Darren with a men’s group talking about domestic violence and how to discuss with neighbours and community

As I sit with Sara and the women of this group; as I look at the art from their hands, I desperately wish I could buy one of these precious creations, and bring it home to New Zealand to better tell Sara’s story. But I can’t. I’m not here as a buyer. As a humanitarian, I am a partner to the whole group – a space where I have been welcomed, to sit and share their stories, so that I might learn how to best bring support to them all. If I choose one, what is the unwritten price that is paid? I may damage my ability to work with the others.

So I ask what the group needs; what are the tools we can help provide as they stitch their lives back together. To a woman, the answer is the same, ‘we want to go home.’

Looking at the beauty these women have made at their fingertips, I wonder at how much weaving they have yet to do in their lives, and if they will ever be able to follow the threads that tie them back to their homes.

There is still much work to do, by many. But for now I see that in these women’s hands, there is hope in its most tangible form.\

Folk singers singing songs about early forced marriage in Balukhali camp

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

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Oxfam confederation welcomes IC’s recommendations to continue culture change and safeguarding improvements

June 12, 2019

The Oxfam confederation welcomes the final report of the Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change.

“This is exactly the report we asked for following incidents of sexual misconduct in Haiti that came to light last year”, said Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. “We set up the Independent Commission to tell us hard truths about our organisation, and to be clear about where and how we can improve. Oxfam accepts the report’s findings and we welcome its recommendations.”

The report points to significant weaknesses in the global Oxfam’s reporting mechanisms, as well as safeguarding process failures and accountability gaps within country offices and individual Oxfam affiliates. While recognising that they are not universally in all Oxfam affiliates, the Commission also pointed to serious staff issues including a work culture that in some contexts can be unsupportive and even toxic. They also note that the complexity of the organisation of the confederation may be hampering Oxfam’s ability to comprehensively address the safeguarding and organisational culture challenges.

“As an African woman, I encounter both sexism and racism in many places I go. I am pained and angered that some colleagues have done so within our organisation. We are forcefully challenging such unacceptable behaviours. I am determined to ensure that Oxfam’s internal culture lives up to the values we espouse in our work around the world”, said Winnie Byanyima.

At the same time, the Commission recognises the progress that has been made by all Oxfam to strengthen its approach to safeguarding and the organisation’s “tremendous will, energy, and commitment to reform.” Since February 2018, the Commission notes that Oxfam has taken important steps, including but not limited to new confederation wide prevention of sexual misconduct and child protection policies, standard operating procedures for reporting misconduct and a single Oxfam-wide safeguarding network. The report notes that Oxfam globally also recently developed its first survivor supporter guidelines and is working together with partners to build their capacity to address and prevent misconduct. In addition, Oxfam has strengthened its annual performance review approach to ensure that all staff support our values, our code of conduct and our leadership expectations. These changes form part of the improvements that Oxfam has been making under its “Ten Point Action Plan” to transform its working culture and strengthen its global safeguarding systems

Winnie Byanyima said: “I thank the Commission for recognising and valuing the important changes we have already made. They have rightly said we must now be courageous in delivering further reform. I could not agree more. We are moving quickly in changing our workplace culture and will continue to implement all of the recommendations of the Commission.”

Additional actions that Oxfam is planning include:

Mobilising a new €550,000 (NZD 940,000) “Global Integrity Fund” to help strengthen safeguarding work of local civil society organisations;
Boosting its own safeguarding capacity and resources in the most fragile and challenging environments in which it operates;
Establishing two new global senior leadership roles of Chief Ethics Officer and Culture Lead

The report described Oxfam’s 10,000 worldwide staff as its “greatest asset” and noted that they are “eager to contribute to building a safer Oxfam.”

“I am constantly humbled by the sheer dedication of my colleagues, whose tireless work to combat global poverty and inequality is recognised in the report,” Byanyima said. “As the Commission says, our staff are passionate about and loyal to Oxfam’s values – they want to see Oxfam change and grow. We owe it to them to deliver, and they should be part of this process.”

The Commission also referenced its research into local communities’ experiences in three countries where multiple international and local agencies were working on major humanitarian responses. Where the Commission could identify information about a specific agency or individual, it was able to alert that agency to investigate. The Commission presented no new or specific allegations of sexual abuse against Oxfam staff from this research.

Nevertheless, Oxfam says that the levels of sexual abuse and exploitation of local people the Commission describes from this part of its research were shocking and deeply unacceptable.

Rachael Le Mesurier, Oxfam New Zealand’s Executive Director said that “while the Commission did not refer any specific new allegations of sexual abuse to Oxfam about our staff, that doesn’t lessen our concern or our duty to act”. Le Mesurier said that Oxfam abhors the sexual abuse of vulnerable local people and that “tragically we have not done enough in the past to ensure that the communities we work with are protected and able to live their lives with dignity. The IC has urged our sector to redouble its commitment in this area, and we are ready to play our part.”

Le Mesurier said: “The Commission says that Oxfam affiliates around the world, have taken an important step in being publicly committed to change and transparent in our work. I’m heartened that it says we have the potential to become a voice of leadership in wider sector reform, in all the countries where we work. But it has given a strong warning that we should not under-estimate the task ahead of us – and I, along with all of the Oxfam leadership, can assure everyone, we absolutely do not.”

UPDATE 28 JUNE 2019:

Since the publication of the Independent Commission’s report and issuing of this press release, Oxfam’s safeguarding team has conducted a review of background documents which had been passed to us during the final part of the Commission’s work.

This background material, which included testimony from confidential and anonymised focus groups conducted by Proteknon researchers for the Commission, has raised potential safeguarding issues of direct concern to Oxfam which we will now investigate. This is in addition to our continuing response to broader concerns arising from the Commission’s work, which it had raised directly with us at an earlier stage of its work.

We were extremely concerned to learn of this new information and are in contact with former members and staff of the IC to establish more detail. We will provide full support to anyone who wishes to make a formal complaint, and will do all we can to help identify any alleged perpetrators and hold them to account. We will also offer support to survivors who come forward.

Where there is evidence of an offence, we will, with the consent of the survivor, refer evidence to the appropriate authorities. The UK Charity Commission and relevant donors have been notified and we will keep them updated.

Oxfam is committed to tackling abuse and we are grateful to anyone with the courage to come forward.

We update once every six months on the outcome of completed cases as part of our safeguarding 10-point plan update.

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Notes to Editors:

Oxfam set up the Independent Commission in Feb 2018 and gave it a full mandate – independently and publicly – to investigate its work and highlight what more Oxfam needed to do. The Commission was joined by eminent human rights leaders, including a former Women’s Minister in Haiti and a global expert on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Visit the Independent Commission’s website here.

Find out more about Oxfam’s Ten-Point Plan to transform its working culture and improve its collective systems of safeguarding policies and practises here.

Oxfam New Zealand is a part of an international confederation of 20 independent affiliates, working to end the injustice of poverty worldwide.

Oxfam International Response To UK Charity Commission Report

June 11, 2019

Oxfam Great Britain has today welcomed and accepted the UK Charity Commission’s judgment following its investigation into serious sexual misconduct by members of Oxfam Great Britain staff in Haiti in 2011.

Oxfam Great Britain has apologised for its failings in its investigation and case management at the time and, as Executive Director of Oxfam International, I underline Oxfam Great Britain’s apologies and reaffirm the organisation’s abhorrence for, and zero tolerance of, abusive behaviour, sexual or otherwise.

It is a violation of everything Oxfam stands for. I would like to restate our confederation’s collective commitment to keep working hard to transform our workplace culture and improve safeguarding systems.

While this was the UK charity regulator’s report into Oxfam’s Great Britain affiliate, it is clear we can only challenge these abuses if we do it together as an international confederation.

In this light, I look forward to tomorrow’s publication of the final report of the Independent Commission On Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change.

Oxfam set up the Independent Commission in February 2018 and gave it a full mandate – independently and publicly – to investigate Oxfam’s work and to highlight what more we needed to do.

The Commission was joined by eminent human rights leaders, including a former Women’s Minister in Haiti and a global expert on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The UK Charity Commission and the Independent Commission – despite their different mandates – are both helping us tremendously, by holding us to account and providing advice, as we work to become an organisation in which every person feels safe, respected and dignified.

While we have made significant progress this last year, we are on a long journey of learning and improvement and we know that we have a lot more to do. We will continue to humbly listen, to understand and to change.

Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International Executive Director, 11 June, 2019

Notes:
To read the report, visit the UK Charity Commission’s website to read the report.
Read more about the action Oxfam has taken to improve safeguarding policies and practices and to transform our organisational culture.

Minister Peters encouraged to keep turning the dial on aid

May 30, 2019

In response to the New Zealand Government’s Budget announcement today, which included slightly more than the anticipated increase in spending towards aid, Jo Spratt, Oxfam New Zealand’s Advocacy and Campaigns Director said:

“We didn’t expect a significant increase in this year’s government aid budget. We’re pleased there was a small increase of about $30 million dollars, and similar increases in future years. This is a great start and we welcome this positive trend. But we need to do more.

“Currently, for every dollar of government spending, less than one cent goes to help countries eradicate poverty and inequality. That’s not enough if we are to meaningfully support partner governments with the development challenges they face,” Spratt said.

“Minister Peters agrees we need to give more and we recognise his efforts to go some way to fixing this. Our aid currently sits at about 0.27 percent of Gross National Income, putting us below many of our OECD peers and way off the 0.7 percent of GNI that we have said we will provide. Last year Minister Peters said he wanted 0.35 percent by 2024. Now we need to see a clear timeframe for a considered, step-by-step approach to meeting this interim target.

“Development challenges are significant for countries that receive our government aid both in the Pacific and beyond. The World Bank estimates that in the coming decades many of our Pacific neighbours will struggle to find the government revenue to provide for the human development needs of their people.

“Aid can’t transform entire economies, but spent well, it can support governments to educate their people, provide health services, build and maintain important infrastructure, and respond to climate breakdown.

“Developing countries are increasingly facing the brunt of climate destruction – which they on the whole did not cause. Factor this in and it is evident we need to be increasing funding if we are to match our words with actions.”

Last year, the New Zealand Government announced it was increasing its support for climate action up to $75 million annually for the next four years. But while the move was a welcome start, it is not nearly enough, Spratt said.

“Wealthy countries, including New Zealand, have committed to providing US$100 billion by 2020 so that developing countries can protect themselves from climate destruction. After factoring in creative accounting – which Oxfam has calculated brings the running tally to just US$21 billion so far – New Zealand’s $75 million a year is a woeful contribution to this pool of funds.”

Spratt said recent shifts in the focus of New Zealand government aid towards crucial areas like good governance, women’s empowerment and young people were a step in the right direction. However, more funds are needed, especially to help Pacific communities adapt to the effects of climate breakdown.

“Time and time again, Kiwis say they want their aid to be spent on making sure nobody has to suffer the indignities of poverty. We still have some way to go before we are contributing enough to make this achievable goal a reality.”

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Oxfam International’s 10-point plan

May 21, 2019

You will have seen the stories in the news recently about the sexual misconduct of former Oxfam employees in Haiti and beyond.

We are ashamed, angry and so very sorry for the appalling behaviour that happened in our name.

We want you to know that we are committed to fixing the things we got wrong so we can better protect the people we serve – and continue to fight poverty wherever and however it exists.

What we’re doing right now: the Oxfam Action Plan.

The actions outlined below detail what is currently being undertaken, and what else has been agreed by the Oxfam Leadership Team, in response to this crisis. We will follow this plan and continue to listen and learn to ensure a comprehensive and accountable response from Oxfam around the world, which will lead to deep-rooted and lasting change.

We want to make significant and necessary changes to our policy, practice and culture to help stamp out exploitation, abuse and harassment from all parts of our confederation – protecting those we work with and ensuring justice for survivors of abuse.

So that we are fully transparent, the following information is taken directly from an official document being shared globally with everyone who works for Oxfam.

The actions listed here focus on:

Demonstrating a meaningful commitment to transparency and accountability, including through the establishment of an independent commission to review our past and current work – the findings of which will be public, and the recommendations of which will guide further action by Oxfam
Changing policies, practices and culture within Oxfam, including significantly increasing our investment in safeguarding and in gender training and support
Working with others across the humanitarian and development sector to prevent this from happening again, including efforts to reform recruitment and vetting processes to prevent offenders from moving between organisations

1. Appointing an Independent High-Level Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change

Oxfam cannot exonerate itself from the charges made against it and will not try. We will establish a High-Level Commission to operate at arms-length from Oxfam, comprised of senior leaders from across the world. Its Independent CoChairs will determine the scope of its own inquiry in consultation with the Board of Oxfam International. It will have full powers to investigate past and present cases, policies, practices, and culture. It will listen to criticisms and allegations, particularly in relation to the abuse of power and sexual misconduct. It will endeavor to create a comprehensive historical record which will be made publicly available. Oxfam will be guided by whatever recommendations the Commission makes.

We established the Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change in March 2018 to review Oxfam’s culture, accountability, and safeguarding policies and practice.

The Commission published its Interim Report on 16 January 2019 and Oxfam’s Management Response, committed to addressing weaknesses in its current approaches and to building a culture of greater safety and equality. The Commission met for the final time in March 2019 and is now drafting its final report, which will be released in June 2019.

In its final report, the Commission is reviewing the outcomes of a community-based research initiative to examine safeguarding awareness and reporting mechanisms in three countries; reflecting the findings of Commissioner visits to Peru, Haiti, Papua New-Guinea and Jordan where they met with Oxfam staff, partners and local communities; and will include the outcomes of an Oxfam culture survey; the report of a consultancy group that has reviewed past safeguarding cases (excluding those that the UK Charity Commission and other external bodies have reviewed), to recommend how Oxfam could improve its case management, and further input from the Survivor Reference Group that met for the fourth and final time.

Oxfam’s leaders and managers around the world shared the Commission’s interim findings with their teams to reflect and discuss new ways of working. The Commission has commented on the design of Oxfam’s new Safeguarding Shared Service.

2. Reiterated commitment across Oxfam to collaborate with all relevant authorities, including regulators and governments

We will redouble efforts to show transparency and full cooperation with relevant authorities in any way that can achieve justice for survivors and help to prevent any instance of abuse in the future. This includes proactively reaching out to regulators and governments in countries where we operate to offer to share any information they need or may wish to see. Our aim is to ensure authorities can again feel confident in our policies and processes, with a demonstrable commitment to transparency whilst protecting the safety and confidentiality of survivors.

Oxfam has worked hard to ensure that its programs and safeguarding approaches comply with the laws and regulations of all the countries where it operates and with the changing requirements of donors and regulators. Early evidence suggests Oxfam’s new Standard Operating Procedures for reporting misconduct have improved timeliness and consistency of reporting, including on safeguarding cases, and increased reporting and dialogue with national authorities. There is more work to be done to simplify these procedures and ensure they’re being used consistently. A review will take place in late April 2019.

As part of a routine review of Oxfam’s ability to meet sector-wide Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) for humanitarian response, several areas for improvement were identified in its Summary Report. These included ensuring that communities are made more aware of Oxfam’s new safeguarding processes and to systematically build upon previous work. Oxfam’s next audit to check progress against criteria identified by CHS is in June/July 2019. This will cover all aspects of humanitarian response, from business support functions to program quality and organizational effectiveness.

3. Re-examining past cases, and encouraging other witnesses or survivors to come forward

We owe it to anyone who may have been affected by the misconduct of Oxfam staff to look back at previous cases and re-examine whether they were dealt with appropriately. If they were not then, insofar as is possible, we will take new action in line with Oxfam’s values. This may lead to some current staff facing disciplinary action and possibly losing their jobs. We will continue to communicate to staff, volunteers, partners and beneficiaries that it is safe and indeed actively encouraged to report any instances that they experienced or witnessed that they have previously felt unable to report or were not adequately dealt with at the time. We will ensure an effective whistle-blower system that can be easily and safely utilized by staff, volunteers and people external to Oxfam. More resources will be made available for this as needed.

Oxfam commissioned two external consultants to review past cases and recommend improvements. They found a considerable variation in the policies and practice of the confederation. Many of the recommendations have been adopted or agreed in the past 6-12 months and are feeding into the establishment of the new Safeguarding Shared Service and single case management system which will operate across the whole of Oxfam, as well as in planned reviews of policies and procedures as part of our continuing improvement approach.

Our Global Humanitarian Team has improved the way that Oxfam shares information about safeguarding with affected communities (adapted from six core principles developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee). Its Monitoring, Evaluation Accountability and Learning Team has also developed specific guidance on how its work can be directly informed by community members, including piloting the use of phones or tablets to gather feedback from local people. This will be scaled up over the coming two years.

Oxfam conducted a Humanitarian Safe Programing Review in July/August 2018. This identified actions including designing a new program for staff and partners, so we will have more trained safeguarding specialists across multiple roles. We are updating our “good practice” guides and translating them into multiple languages. In March 2019, as an example, one Protection expert in Indonesia trained 214 Oxfam staff and partners in the Sulawesi response. Oxfam is expanding its “Safe Programming” approach, building on the learning within the humanitarian program and applying this to our development and humanitarian work.

Oxfam’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning teams have piloted the use of anonymous case studies to enable staff and partners to incorporate a safe response and manage risk within MEL processes, successfully trialed in Pakistan and Latin America and now shared throughout the confederation. Oxfam’s Country offices have publicized information about how to report on safeguarding for instance by displaying posters in Oxfam and partner offices including in local languages. In Papua New Guinea, for example, Oxfam is exploring different ways with our partners to socialize and increase awareness safeguard reporting throughout the country.

4. Increasing our investment in safeguarding with immediate effect

The Oxfam confederation will significantly increase investment both in budget and staffing to ensure we have appropriate resources to ensure the safety and well-being of all people who come into contact with Oxfam staff. We will also increase our investment in gender training, including recruitment of more staff who will lead our work on gender equality and empowerment in programs and humanitarian response teams.

In 2018-19, Oxfam International invested €1.1m to establish and run the Independent Commission and increase staff capacity and expertize. This boost in investment has substantially improved Oxfam’s organizational understanding of safeguarding. While acknowledging that there is more work to do, our “awareness and prevention” work is becoming timelier, better

quality and more consistent – and we’re able to manage cases better now when they do arise. All this, in turn, is driving greater trust in our safeguarding systems, including by receiving more reporting of cases among staff. We now need to concentrate on making sure that Oxfam’s reporting mechanisms are clearer and better understood and embedded in our work with partners and communities.

Oxfam conducted a confederation-wide survey to open up a process of reflective discussion and internal debate about Oxfam’s culture. The outcomes of the Culture Survey were analyzed in March 2019, and the Executive Board responded with a range of actions, including to re-enforce deeper engagement with staff, improve prioritization and planning, and earmark a budget and capacity specifically for cultural change in 2019-20.

The Executive Board approved a Safeguarding Shared Service, with the aim that it would begin delivering some services by July 2019. This new function will incorporate a single rigorous governance and oversight function for safeguarding to ensure that all cases of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse are handled appropriately and consistently. This will result in improved prevention and reporting of cases and strengthen Oxfam’s ability to improve safeguarding practice across the confederation. Our Global Humanitarian Team invested £400,000 in its “Safe Programming” Project (see Section 3).

5. Strengthening internal processes

We will improve our internal processes including to ensure that official Oxfam references are never given to offenders seeking jobs elsewhere. We will strengthen the vetting and recruitment of staff including to make safeguarding a mandatory part of the recruitment and selection process and in performance management criteria. We will make safeguarding training mandatory for all staff. We will strengthen whistle-blowing process to ensure it is safe and easy for people to use. All Oxfam affiliates will have trained safeguarding focal points, including at all major Oxfam-organized events. We will ensure our systems are reliable in order to report any suspected illegal activity to the relevant authorities.

Oxfam’s new Safeguarding Shared Service will begin delivering some services from July 2019. The team is responsible for developing and managing new safeguarding policies, training and safe programming tools, case reporting mechanisms, a single case management system, and standard

operating procedures for case management. It will work in partnership with program teams, HR, regional and country teams to ensure that our prevention and case management is stronger and more consistent.

All affiliates, regions and countries are now using Oxfam’s safer recruitment measures as standard. All staff are required to sign Oxfam’s Code of Conduct as a condition for employment. Oxfam is using World Check to detect if an individual has a history of fraudulent activity. Oxfam has a stronger system in place now for checking and providing references. Oxfam has agreed in principal to adopt the SCHR Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, developed by nine of the world’s leading humanitarian organizations, as standard for referencing where this is legal.

Oxfam is now using stronger new policies on Child Safeguarding and Protection against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse across its confederation. New Youth Safeguarding and Digital Safeguarding policies will be approved soon and a Vulnerable Adult Safeguarding Policy is now under consultation. We have trained 102 staff in investigation techniques to increase our capacity to respond to reports of misconduct. Of these, 93 are now registered on a global database and can be deployed around the world on demand.

Oxfam has two new HR initiatives: “Welcome to Oxfam” – a mandatory induction course for new staff that has a strong safeguarding component so that everyone understands Oxfam’s Code of Conduct and core values; and “Let’s Talk” – a new approach to performance management that focuses on three key behaviors of enabling, building relationships and mutual accountability.

Oxfam has new ethical content guidelines as a global standard for how personal testimony, images and video is gathered, and how it should be processed and used in communications. These rules help to ensure that people’s rights are upheld, both in how their story is gathered and how it gets told.

6. Re-enforcing a culture of zero tolerance towards harassment, abuse or exploitation

We will change the culture that enabled harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse to exist within Oxfam and help to lead this change throughout the sector. We will work with agencies to support Oxfam’s cultural shift. We will set up a Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Taskforce to make recommendations that we will act upon with urgency.

Oxfam agreed a “Safeguarding and Culture Strategy” in 2018 to create a new cultural and working environment where all staff would feel safer and more supported to reflect our values in their work. Safeguarding – and everything it means – is now more deeply understood across Oxfam. Our staff are more aware, are more comfortable in speaking out and challenging unacceptable behaviors.

We have increased our 2019-20 budget for culture change and creating new roles. Some Oxfam affiliate and country teams have created new posts dedicated to cultural change. We have brought in specialist insights, including from feminist activists, to help boost and share our knowledge. A dedicated staff group called ‘Living Our Values Everyday’ is grounding feminist principles across our cultural change work. Our Executive Board has approved a new Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity Policy. We are grounding our new Strategic Planning Process in feminist principles. We have opened many spaces for staff to reflect and debate, including a focus on the Independent Commission’s Interim Report and the outcomes of an all-staff Culture Survey. We have new performance management processes that prioritize how an individual works rather than solely what is achieved; new recruitment processes whereby applicants can better demonstrate their understanding and commitment to our values; and new induction processes that focus on ingraining values, good conduct and gender justice.

Oxfam Country Teams have held staff workshops on culture, gender and power, including most recently in Afghanistan, Haiti, Senegal, Kenya, South Sudan and Ghana. In the United States we have new Employee Resource Groups working on People of Color, Young Women Professionals and LGBTQIA+. In Australia we are working with Melbourne University on a study on Respectful Relations at Work. In Canada and elsewhere we have used the Independent Commission’s report to guide culture improvements. In Germany, Denmark and elsewhere we have run staff workshops on feminism and power. In the UK we have begun deeper work around race and inequality, including with open-staff workshops, and have based two Oxfam-wide leadership programs upon feminist transformational leadership. We have developed thinking around providing support for all survivors. In Mexico we have run internal campaigns including in support of witnesses. In the Netherlands, as part of our deeper conversations around culture and policy, we discussed how could Oxfam support a partner organization that champions the rights of sex workers, against our Code of Conduct that prohibits payment for sex: we can explain the rationale for our Code not discriminating against sex workers but rather in acting to minimize the risk of exploitation.

Oxfam’s Country Teams are working with our national partner organizations, at a minimum to ensure that they comply with our new Code of Conduct, including in different languages. This work will extend now through to signing new contracts and Oxfam supporting our partners to strengthen their own safeguarding practices. In this, we are aiming that our own Culture Change work will extend beyond Oxfam and support debate across our sector.

7. Working with our peers across the sector to tackle physical, sexual and emotional abuse

We will work with the rest of our sector to ensure people are safe, recognizing there are actions we cannot take on our own. This includes how to ensure that offenders who have lost their job with one organization cannot move on to another. We will work with UN bodies, the International Civil Society Centre and other joint NGO platforms to agree on proposals for sector-wide improvement. We will contribute to the work initiated by BOND in the UK for a humanitarian passport and/or anti-offenders’ system housed by an accountable agency such as UN OCHA.

Oxfam safeguarding staff are members of various INGO and national cross-sector working groups all around the world, including government and donor-led initiatives. Along with other INGOs, Oxfam is developing a Humanitarian ID system (Passport Initiative) whereby misconduct will be recorded and made available to an individual’s future employers. We are also working with other agencies on a ‘Misconduct Disclosure Scheme’, a referencing system, leading specifically on the legal work and its basic features. We are funding a part-time position to coordinate and finalize this initiative as well as rolling it out across Oxfam. Oxfam is part of an inter-agency group developing a Call to Action to prevent gender-based violence in humanitarian situations.

In America we’re seeing consistent demand to support other agencies on safeguarding: we participated recently in a World Bank workshop on designing programs that are accountable to communities; with the Rockefeller Foundation to explore the links between evaluation and safeguarding; with the OECD’s proposed Instrument for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; and with the UN Women’s proposed International Commission to combat Sexual Harassment. In Australia, we advised the Australian Council for International Development on sector wide safety standards and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s own prevention policy. In Canada, we co-chair the sector’s Steering Committee to Prevent and Address Sexual Misconduct where we’ve urged other agencies to sign up to the Leaders Pledge. In Germany, we are helping to strengthen best practice in the multi-agency group, VENRO, as we are doing similarly in Quebec, and Spain, in the UK with BOND, in Ireland with the Dochas Safeguarding Group, in Italy with the Italian Agency for International Cooperation, and in Denmark with Global Fokus. In Holland, Oxfam gave the keynote speech to 200 charities at a symposium organized by the regulator Toezichthouder Goede Doelen.

In Western Sahara, we are working as part of the UNHCR’s Protection Coordination oversight of refugee camps. Our Latin America Country Directors are involved in on-going discussions with other agencies in the region, similarly in Ghana, Liberia and in Mauritania and Niger where we are strengthening our local partners. We have signed a compulsory protocol in the Central African Republic that will allow agencies to exchange information on safeguarding cases. We are reporting on-going work sharing best practice on safeguarding protections with other agencies in Tajikistan, Colombia, Zambia, Jordan, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Malawi – where our team also organized a public protest to end violence against women and girls – and in Rwanda, where we are also raising awareness not only of sexual harassment but also of teenage pregnancies in schools, and have helped to train 40 health professionals in how best to support survivors of gender-based violence. In Haiti, Oxfam has built strong relations with the EU, OCHA, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, the Canadian Embassy and others. Oxfam is also an active member of the Safeguarding Committee of Haiti’s national forum for coordinating NGO activities (CLIO).

8. Active engagement with partners and allies, especially women’s rights organizations

We will reach out to partners and allies to rebuild trust including from their input on how we can learn and improve. We will reach out to women’s rights organizations and others who work on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) issues, to answer their questions, hear their reflections and concerns, and ensure our responses are defined in consultation with them.

In 2018 Oxfam launched a “Partner Integrity Survey”, opening discussions with our partner organizations about how they manage cases involving staff misconduct. More than 400 partners responded. We found that around 90% of them already had zero-tolerance against sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse and more than 80% had a code of conduct. We also designed a way to better understand the safeguarding needs of local staff, partners and communities, in order that they could make more informed choices about organizing better support for survivors. We conducted a review, which showed that 10% of our partners are specifically women’s organizations, going down to just 7% in our humanitarian emergency responses. We’re now using this information to systematically increase the number and quality of our partnerships with women’s rights groups across the board.

Oxfam has changed the methodology through which it assesses the quality and standards of the partners that we work with, from a simple check of whether a potential partner met Oxfam’s safeguarding criteria, to a more rounded and mutual assessment of the standards that both parties must achieve. This approach is being adopted by program teams and will help us to meet donor expectations in a proportionate way and ensure partners have more time to strengthen their work. Roll out is beginning in May/June 2019.

Oxfam is establishing a fund to support the capacity and capability of local partners in safeguarding and other areas of integrity such as financial management. It is designed to benefit the whole of the sector, and not just Oxfam. Our Global Campaigns and Advocacy team is committed to increase Oxfam’s engagement with women’s rights organizations across the board.

In the countries where we work around the world, Oxfam is focusing on establishing partnerships that bring us closer to women’s rights movements, so that we can better learn and support them in turn. Oxfam Canada have launched new women’s rights programs into Pakistan, Bangladesh and two in Guatemala and lobbied successfully with women’s groups to increase the federal budget for women’s rights to $160m over five years. In Latin America, we are developing joint work plans with feminist partners – specifically in Haiti, this includes building a “Young Citizen” project to foster leadership skills of young women in the cities. We are training women leader in Afghanistan and Benin, Central African Republic, and Chad, and Ghana. In Rwanda, Oxfam was selected to partner with FEMNET, COCAFEM and the Rwanda Women Network) to strengthen regional umbrella organizations. In Sierra Leone – after the country’s President had declared a state of emergency on child abuse – Oxfam volunteered to be part of a government initiative with national women’s rights organizations to improve safeguarding in schools.

9. Listening to the public

We will listen and learn from feedback from supporters around the world. We will ensure two-way communication with them, responding to the concerns they raise and explaining the actions we are taken to learn and change.

Oxfam’s senior leaders are taking personal responsibility for communicating with supporters and the public. Oxfam affiliates have all reached out to the public, supporters, donors and other external stakeholders in their own markets, issuing timely progress reports and updates on social media and all affiliate websites. In Australia, Oxfam conducted a public survey to ascertain levels of trust, as we did in Germany to 100,000 supporters. In countries where Oxfam runs High Street trading shops, we have held events and concert tours, and our volunteers have consistently tried to engage with the public where they can. In the Netherlands, Oxfam’s Executive Director sent a letter to individual supporters describing all our measures to tackle areas of weakness identified in the Independent Commission’s interim report and received dozens of emails and letters mainly appreciative of the open and honest reflection. All Oxfam affiliates have been updating institutional donors on our progress and sharing the findings of the Independent Commission’s interim report.

Oxfam continues to use the opportunities of public fora and debate to discuss safeguarding issues, responding to feedback directly from the public and demonstrating the progress that we are making.

10. Recommit to and strengthen our focus on gender justice externally

We reiterate and reinforce our commitment to putting women’s rights and gender justice at the center of our work. Recognizing we have a lot to learn and put right as an organization, Oxfam will continue to build investment in advocacy, campaigns and programming focused on tackling the injustices women living in poverty face around the world. This includes addressing social norms that cause violence against women, campaigning to rectify systematic power imbalances that trap women into poverty, and partnering with feminist and women’s rights organizations to address gender injustice at all levels. It includes strengthening and focusing our development and humanitarian programs to deliver transformational change in the lives of women living in poverty.

Oxfam has committed that 15% of all program funding will be used specifically for gender justice programs. This is part of our strategic planning process and key performance indicators. Gender Justice work is one of Oxfam’s top four fundraising priorities for 2019-20.

Oxfam’s Gender Justice Platform is responsible for our thought-leadership, political influencing, effective programming, knowledge sharing and resource mobilization on gender justice and women’s rights issues. It has finalized a reference guide that explores key concepts and advises on reflective practice, including amplifying the scope and application of feminist thinking in all of Oxfam’s work. It will be shared across Oxfam in May 2019. Two members of Oxfam’s Gender Justice Platform will participate in Oxfam’s Strategy Development Core Team. Oxfam’s global Guide to Feminist Influencing will strengthen Oxfam’s expertise of feminist principles in policy, advocacy and campaigns.

Oxfam’s Global Humanitarian Team has increased its gender and protection capacity as well as its support for teams in applying feminist principles in their work, including priority partnerships with local women’s rights organizations.

Oxfam International collated safeguarding data from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019

Over the past few years and especially since February 2018, Oxfam has encouraged its approximate 10,000 staff, 50,000 volunteers, 3000 partner organizations and millions of people it works with in communities in 70 countries across the world, to speak out and report concerns and incidents affecting them, even when the incident itself took place in the past. At the same time, Oxfam is improving and increasing its capacity to support survivors and deal with cases as they arise.

Oxfam continues to improve its systems and processes relating to safeguarding including the management of safeguarding data across the confederation. Oxfam is committed to further improving our case and data management and reporting both internally and in collaboration with the wider sector. Oxfam has adopted commonly used definitions, including by the United Nations, relating to safeguarding.

Oxfam streamlined its confederation-wide case data collection through a central global database, which now contains all information reported from April 2018. The information provided here contains all cases reported to the database from April 2018 to the end of March 2019 (i.e. end of FY2019), irrespective of the time the incident occurred.

Cases reported:

294 cases were reported during this period. 221 were closed, and 73 have been carried forward as open cases into the new financial year. The volume of cases reported has risen significantly compared to last year, which we consider to be a positive development that reflects an improvement in our systems and that people (particularly staff) are increasingly understanding their rights and know where and how to report. We would expect case numbers to continue to rise and that a greater proportion would come from partners and community members as their understanding of their rights, how to report and trust that Oxfam will follow up appropriately, grows over time.

Closed cases:

Closed cases are those where an allegation has been reviewed, investigated where necessary and/or an outcome reached and acted upon, including where the case was not upheld or did not proceed because a survivor did not want to continue.

Between 1st April 2018 and 31st March 2019, Oxfam closed 221 safeguarding cases globally. 61 of these were cases resolved for the current year, and the balance of 160 were historical cases which had been brought forward and closed within the year.

The closed caseload consisted of:

23 cases of sexual abuse;
25 cases of exploitation (including actions such as paying for sex);
74 cases of sexual harassment;
98 cases of other internal reportable issues (such as bullying other inappropriate conduct; sexual or romantic relationship against the code of conduct and conflict of interest policy for instance, in the line of management, with partner staff, or otherwise leading to conflicts of interest; non-sexual child abuse such as physical, emotional, neglect, or other non-sexual harm to an under 18);
1 case where information was not provided.

A breakdown of the 221 cases show that the complainant/survivors were made up of:

48 Adults (7 Beneficiaries; 4 community members; 1 Vulnerable Adult; 20 non-beneficiaries; 13 volunteers; 3 vulnerable volunteers)
17 Children (3 beneficiaries; 3 community members; 2 non-beneficiaries; 9 volunteers)
14 Non-Staff (2 Contractors/consultants; 12 partner staff)
117 Non managerial staff
12 managerial staff
13 Not known

Of the 221 cases, a breakdown of the Subject of Complaint (Perpetrator) shows that:

2 were beneficiaries
5 were community members
24 were volunteers
17 were non-staff (including contractors and consultants)
12 were partner staff
100 were non-managerial staff
51 were managerial staff
10 cases were not determined

Of the 221 closed cases, 200 cases reported were investigated, and action taken. The outcomes were:

79 cases: involving disciplinary action, including 43 dismissals
45 cases: non-disciplinary action e.g. training on safeguarding and code of conduct
58 cases: insufficient evidence and the allegation was not upheld
10 cases: resignation of the respondents (person against whom the allegations were made) (2 prior to allegation being raised and 8 after)
7 cases: No information available
1 case: was later identified as not related to safeguarding.

In 21 of the 221 closed cases, the complainant did not wish to go forward to an investigation.

Oxfam offers and provides support to survivors from the moment that an incident is reported, during the investigation of the case and once concluded and even when an investigation does not take place. This support can include counselling, health care and legal support.

Open cases:

At the end of March 2019 Oxfam continues to investigate 73 open cases.

Given that Oxfam is taking a survivor centered approach, some investigations take additional time to ensure that they are conducted safely and at a pace that survivors are comfortable with . Oxfam is committed to supporting survivors and remains committed to creating a culture of zero tolerance and encouraging people to come forward to report their concerns.

Correction 20 May, 2019:

In publishing our safeguarding data, on 13 May, we incorrectly stated that 79 staff had been dismissed following investigations into allegations of sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment. We should have stated that 79 of the cases resulted in disciplinary action including 43 dismissals. We apologise for our error and any confusion it may have caused.

Got a question? Get in touch.

If you would like to talk more about how Oxfam is stamping out abuse, or about anything else that has concerned you, please do contact our Supporter Relations team.

0800 600 700 (9am-5pm) | [email protected]

Oxfam Trailwalker on the move from Whakatāne

May 16, 2019

Oxfam Trailwalker will return in 2020 for what will be its fifth and final year in Whakatāne, Oxfam has announced, following which the charity’s flagship event will be moving to a new location.

The event’s new host region is to be announced later this year. Oxfam New Zealand’s Fundraising Events Manager Lizzie Quill said while it was a tough decision, the opportunity was taken to offer a new route and location to participants and to ensure the event’s continued growth.

“Whakatāne will always be a home to the event, and we are confident it is not a permanent goodbye. It has been a fantastic few years in the Bay of Plenty, thanks in large part to the strong relationships established with the local council, community groups, iwi and volunteers. We move on with the hope that Oxfam New Zealand returns to the district in the future, whether that is three, six, or nine years from now.

“This will be the start of another chapter in Oxfam Trailwalker’s story, and one we expect will bring many new and exciting opportunities.

“Oxfam New Zealand wishes to thank the Whakatāne District Council and the local communities for opening up their region to Oxfam Trailwalker for the last four years. Since moving to Whakatāne, over $3.2 million has been raised through the event for Oxfam’s work. This has made an exceptional difference to fighting injustice and poverty around the world.”

Oxfam Trailwalker has made a lasting impact in the lives of people living in poverty in the Pacific. Communities are able to build clean water supplies, families can grow more food, women are protected from violence, young people out of school gain skills for employment and children are given a chance at an education.

The 2019 event, held in in Whakatāne in March this year, raised almost a million dollars thanks to fundraising efforts from over a thousand participants.

Whakatāne Mayor Tony Bonne said that while disappointed that the 2020 Oxfam Trailwalker will be the last the district hosts for some years, it has been an absolute pleasure working with the Oxfam New Zealand team on an event that has delivered huge benefits.

“Oxfam’s kaupapa of fighting poverty in the Pacific region is something we all support and it’s wonderful to have been part of that story,” Mayor Bonne said. “We’re proud to have helped raise more than $3 million to date and we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure that the 2020 event is the best yet.”

He added that hosting this prestigious charity event has been a classic win-win situation, with the Whakatāne District benefiting from boosted tourism spending and an enhanced visitor profile.

Although Oxfam Trailwalker will farewell the Bay of Plenty for now, participants have one more chance to experience this picturesque region, and to support people in poverty, by taking part in next year’s event.

Registrations are now open for Oxfam Trailwalker 2020, which will be held over March 21-22 in scenic Whakatāne. You can take part in this incredible team challenge by registering at www.oxfamtrailwalker.org.nz.

Photo: Artur Francisco / Oxfam