MZANSI NEWS

July 2010

Oxfam GB Southern Africa

A message from the

The past year has been very exciting for Southern Africa and the Oxfam programme in particular. The World Cup Soccer tournament in South Africa provided exciting opportunities for our programmes, particu-larly around the development of campaigns. We were also able to take the first practical steps towards the development of joint strategies in the six countries in which Oxfam works. Sadly, one of the key transitions within this period was the departure of Charles Abani, Regional Director for Southern Africa, who was in post for the past three and a half years.

Our programme delivery work included strong shifts towards advocacy and campaigns. OxfamGB has been able to work with and mobilise African Civil Society actors to form the Fair Play for Africa coalition, whose primary purpose was to reinforce the key message of health for all and emphasise the duty of African leaders to accelerate the achievement of the Health Millennium Development Goals. This has been a very enriching experience for the African civil society coalition as well as for Oxfam, which was involved in a global partner-ship in this essential services campaign .

The Copenhagen Climate Change conference also provided exciting opportunities to work with our partners in mobilising around the climate change global agenda . This campaign provided opportunities for countries such as Malawi, Zambia, and South Africa to mobilise them-selves and link up with the broader global movement and its climate change agenda. The most noteworthy and powerful manifestations of this mobilisation was the involvement of poor farmers whose voices were heard by global leaders in Copenhagen. Oxfam will build on the momentum generated at the Copenhagen confer-ence to build towards the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17), scheduled to be held in Johannesburg in December 2011.

Oxfam has also been very successful in fighting human trafficking through the Red Light Campaign, which offered great opportunities to work in partner-ships with Women Leadership in Southern Africa, the Southern African Network on Trafficking and Abuse of Children, and Gender Links to create awareness across the SADC region through messaging on 120 radios stations in 13 languages. Oxfam has also seen growing awareness among government officials, and has been actively proposing policy changes in a number of countries in the SADC region.

On the humanitarian front, the region was relatively stable, with localised emergencies in Malawi, Angola , and Zambia. Oxfam was able to maintain the appropriate levels of readiness and preparedness, and responded to these emergencies in an appropriate and timely manner. Oxfam has also begun exploring the

2Photo and cover photo: Neo Ntsoma

possibilities of including members and staff from Oxfam affiliates as well as our partners in the emergency response teams (ERT). We have made considerable progress in planning for the positioning of humanitarian emergency stocks in Zimbabwe as well as developing a consortium approach in Mozambique for positioning and maintaining emergency contingency stocks to meet the requirements of a large number of people over an extended period of time.

We also increased our efforts towards improving the quality of our programmes, particularly the skills and practice of a rights based approach. We have embarked on skills development for programme staff, and are putting together a rights based approach manual that will serve as a guide for field staff. We have strength-ened our thinking towards “empowering partnerships” that go beyond delivering programmes together to developing effective relationships.

On the programme strategy front, it has been a great process of learning for OGB in the six countries where we are jointly developing strategies during the imple-mentation of the Single Management Structure (SMS). It has been a great opportunity to reflect on the engage-ment with local organisations, seriously critiquing our model of change, and taking the steps (sometimes small) towards joint ownership of strategies. We are looking forward to the lessons that Malawi and South Africa will be able to share in the next few months as they forge ahead of the other countries as ‘early adop-ters’ under the SMS.

Looking forward, we should see the further develop-ment and consolidation of the joint work with OI at both country and regional level, a shift in programming towards a more deliberate Rights Based Approach, growth of our private sector engagement as part of our livelihoods work, an increased focus on women’s rights, and increased use of social media in the delivery of programmes.

Lastly, on behalf of the region I would like to appre-ciate the leadership of our former Regional Director, Charles Abani, who helped improve the quality of our programmes in the region, and took the bold steps to explore new areas and new ways of delivering our programmes. We welcome Fikre Zewdie, who will be joining us as Regional Director from August 2010 and look forward to more exciting and impactful work as we support the rights of poor people, enabling them to overcome poverty and fulfil their aspirations.

Nellie Nyang’waInterim Regional Director

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Humanitarian: On the cutting edge Economic Justice: Creating wealth through our programming

Gender Justice : Human trafficking on the agenda

Essential Services: A winning team

Angola: Many lights for human rights

Zambia: The power of partnership

South Africa: Look Here I Am

Zimbabwe: WASH — Targeting the most vulnerable

Mozambique: Ensuring basic education

Malawi: A new strategy in the offing

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Photo: Nicole Johnston

regional director

By Daniel Sinnathamby, Humanitarian Coordinator

With growing populations and pressure on natural resources, the world’s exposure to natural hazards as well as man-made disasters is inevitably increasing. This is particularly true in coastal areas where the strongest population growth is located (with greater exposure to floods, cyclones and tidal waves). To make matters worse, any land still available for urban growth is generally risk-prone, such as storm run-offs, flood plains or steep slopes subject to landslides.

The statistics over the past 50 years show an exponential increase in disasters. This raises several questions. Is this due to a significant improvement in access to information? Are poor communities and households becoming increasingly vulnerable to sudden shocks and disasters? What part does population growth and infrastructure development play? Is climate change behind the increasing frequency of natural hazards?

These are some considerations that have been taken into account in identifying priorities and designing a strategy for Oxfam’s humanitarian (Rights in Crisis) work in Southern Africa. This work is governed by mandates in Oxfam’s 2010-2013 Strategic Plan — Oxfam Strategic Steer — and is detailed under Aim 3, which seeks to ensure the realisation of the “Right to Life and Security”. The goal for this mandate states that “All women and men in humanitarian crises will be assured of both the protection and the assistance they require, regardless of who or where they are or how they are affected”.

With the increasing shift of humanitarian responsibilities to the regions and countries in which Oxfam works, there is a realisation that Oxfam needs to become more effective in mobilising its humanitarian capabilities across Southern Africa. There is also recognition that disaster preparedness is as important as responding to emergencies. These two requirements have helped shape the strategy for Oxfam’s humanitarian work in the region for the next two years.

Oxfam’s humanitarian strategy for Southern Africa is designed to meet the requirements of established humanitarian assistance and protection standards as outlined in the commitments and expectations of Oxfam’s humanitarian department and established by Oxfam International. The two key components of this strategy are ensuring that in Southern Africa there is an effective preparedness and capability for humanitarian response as well as an ability to anticipate and manage risk and reduce vulnerability. These components require that there is a considerable amount of investment in planning and preparedness both at regional and country level.

On the cutting edgeSOuTHErN AfrICA’S HuMANITArIAN STrATEGy

Emergency responseAt a regional level an emergency management plan, an emergency response team (ERT), and investments in technical capabilities — such as water and sanitation and hygiene (WASH), emergency food security and livelihoods, and humanitarian protection — positions Oxfam well to respond to humanitarian crises and support countries affected by significant emergencies.

Over the coming months Oxfam will undertake a review of the ERT and explore the possibility of including staff of OI and partners we work with as members of the team. Oxfam will also explore the possibilities of maintaining emergency contingency stocks in the region to ensure that relief assistance is able to reach communities and populations affected by disasters quickly and effectively.

At the country level Oxfam has established contingency plans that will guide humanitarian response work in the event of emergencies and disasters. These plans are developed based on probable disaster scenarios that have been established for each country and outline roles and responsibilities within the offices as well as details of possible response interventions. This year Oxfam will undertake contingency planning for urban situations, which has not been done before.

In strengthening country office capabilities, Oxfam has invested in making sure that each country has a humanitarian programme coordinator, who is responsible for ensuring that contingency plans are current and up to date, partnerships for humanitarian response are in place, humanitarian awareness is maintained, and disaster risk reduction activities are implemented. The humanitarian programme coordinator is also responsible for in-country operational management of emergency response actions.

Within the Southern Africa region Oxfam is working on

rights in Crisis

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establishing ‘humanitarian registers’, which are rosters of experienced humanitarian personnel who could be mobilised in times of disasters to support emergency response activities.

Over the next two years there will be an increased emphasis on strengthening both regional and country level capabilities to anticipate and manage risk and help reduce vulnerabilities of the communities with whom Oxfam works. A regional humanitarian context analysis will inform and strengthen Oxfam’s ability to make decisions with regard to “slow onset” crises such as food insecurity, drought-related livelihood issues and outbreaks of epidemics such as cholera, while helping establish and maintain strategic partnerships with various global and regional humanitarian actors.

Disaster risk reductionThe most exciting and innovative work within the humanitarian strategy will be on supporting communities and households in risk reduction and helping strengthen the ability of communities to anticipate, manage and mitigate the effects of disasters and shocks. Community-based disaster preparedness is an area of work where communities come together to identify disaster scenarios, propose solutions and develop measures to reduce their vulnerability. Other areas of work will include the exploration of possibilities and options to reduce the risk of loss of assets and livelihoods through micro-insurance, micro-finance and access to credit as well as addressing post-harvest losses.

Disaster risk reduction will also include climate change-related adaptation work, which Oxfam has highlighted as a priority. This will help communities and households to be more resilient and cope better with the adverse effects of climate change on livelihoods and agricultural activity.

Digital visionWith the advances in digital and communication technology the possibilities of enhancing the effectiveness of humanitarian work have expanded considerably. Existing mobile phone technology allows for processing of large amounts of needs assessment information and data. This will help in processing information more quickly to make quicker decisions on responding to those affected by disasters and displacements. Smart card technology can replace paper-based distribution and family cards, which offers possibilities of these cards being used in recovery and rehabilitation phases to access relief items, open bank accounts, enroll in credit, savings and micro insurance schemes as well as realise entitlements.

The ‘digital vision’ initiative is a priority within Oxfam and envisages the use of digital technology in communicating better, exchanging information more effectively and making ‘real time’ decisions across scattered geographies, which is critical in humanitarian situations. Investments have already been made in enhancing some of these capabilities and a way forward this year is to agree and finalise ways of integrating these technologies into smarter “ways of working” within our humanitarian procedures and protocols.

Challenges and constraints will continue to crop up and need to be recognised and addressed. The various transitions related to the implementation of the SMS, staff turnover, the difficulty in resource mobilisation and humanitarian access are some of the more significant challenges. But the strategy has been approved by the Regional Leadership Team and, under the SMS discussions, it has been agreed that this would form a robust basis for an Oxfam International Regional Humanitarian Strategy. Therefore there is a confidence that Oxfam will continue to be on the cutting edge’ of humanitarian work over the next two years.

A series of earthquakes rocked Karonga, Malawi , late last year and early this year, damaging houses and leavng huge gashes in roads where the earth split apart. The largest quake measured 6.2 on the Richter Scale. Months later more than 300 families are still living in tents (left).

Photos: Nicole Johnston

By Craig Castro, Economic Justice Advisor

Comrades! The new financial year has begun and promises to be a year of significant change in our approach to working on agriculture in the region. As you no doubt know, Hugh Cole has left his position as Regional Climate Change Advisor to take up a position coordinating global campaign work for the next year and I left Oxfam GB in mid-July. Despite these turnovers, there is exciting work planned for the region, which I would like to share with you in this space.

INTEGrATING A MArkET–BASED APPrOACH IN LIvELIHOOD PrOGrAMMESSeveral years of repositioning our programme in Malawi has demonstrated a way forward in integrating a markets-based approach into current livelihoods programming. The Malawi programme plans to strengthen focus on supporting producers to engage with markets, building on the previous work that has been done in supporting people to rebuild their asset base and become stronger to outside shocks. The programme seeks to go beyond “meeting immediate needs” to building the capacity of people to produce and sell, and influencing the policies and practices of government and private sector actors. In essence, the team is searching for a more appropriate balance of the three elements of our One Programme Approach: humanitarian response; long-term development; and advocacy and campaigns.

I would like to share with you a few initiatives the team is involved in, and for more details you could access their PIP and projects on OPAL.

Anyway, one of the most significant moments in my time with Oxfam GB occurred during a strategy workshop organised by the Malawi team in May in Lilongwe (reported to be “the most boring capital” in Southern Africa, but contested by many). This was the first time that our colleagues in the region spoke of creating wealth through our programming in the place of reducing poverty. It is a significant shift and one that is long overdue. So what is the Malawi team planning?

The main initiative is to engage a private company — social entrepreneurs they would call themselves

Creating wealth ...THrOuGH LIvELIHOOD PrOGrAMMING

— to improve honey production and marketing in the country. The team is planning a collaborative pilot project with Honey Care Africa, with the aim to bring improved production techniques and organise honey producers into groups at community level to generate economies of scale to bring better prices, secure markets, and better technical support. Taking the Market Systems Development approach that our Global Markets team is supporting across the organisation, the initiative in Malawi will focus on strengthening the capacity of resource-poor producers to negotiate better prices and conditions, and engage more effectively with other actors in the honey value chain; building evidence to influence policymakers to create a more enabling environment for the sub-sector in the country; and supporting greater coordination, planning and delivery of market services that producers need to prosper.

The other significant initiative is the integration of the gendered market-mapping approach to identify economic opportunities for women to access new markets in pig-rearing, vegetable production using small-scale irrigation, and milk or dairy sub-sectors. The initiative signifies a start in the process to build on previous work whereby people received goats, treadle pumps, vegetable seeds, and pigs as a means to rebuild livelihood assets for vulnerable populations in southern Malawi.

The process to integrate a markets approach has been slow because of internal restructuring and the SMS process. One of the biggest constraints our colleagues identified was a lack of confidence to enter into a new way of working – from giving handouts to working in a more transformative way that puts people firmly at the centre of identifying and managing their own development processes. In 2008, the Malawi team hosted a training workshop on markets, which was conducted by our global markets advisor David Bright. In 2009, Chiyambi Mataya and Dorothy Ngwira, programme officers in the Blantyre office, participated in a workshop “Making Markets Work for the Poor” organised by the Springfield Centre for Business in Development in Glasgow (www.springfieldcentre.com).

Economic Justice

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Photos: Abbie Trayler-Smith and Annie Bungeroth

It has taken a lot of courage for the Malawi senior leadership team to make such a shift in their programme. It will not be easy, but the team has a strategy to ensure there is sufficient technical capacity to begin the journey. We are finalising a technical support plan to ensure that Malawi becomes the focal country working on markets in Southern Africa.

The Zimbabwe team is also making an effort to move towards greater engagement with the private sector to increase market access for communities. One initiative has been funded by the European Commission Non-State Actors programme and will include linking market garden groups to local supermarkets. These vegetable-producing groups were first established in the DfID-funded Protracted Relief Programme in mid-2000, and some continued to function after our funding ended. The groups opened negotiations with Shoprite to sell their crops but have run into common problems facing smallholder producers: sufficient quantity and quality of produce delivered on a timely basis. The EC funding will support the groups to overcome these challenges, and strengthen their capacity in dimensions such as internal governance, administration and functioning, and business development.

Another initiative does not have funding at the moment, but a concept note has been submitted as one of four concept notes to the Nippon Foundation from Oxfam GB globally. This is an Action Research project developed with the African Institute for Agrarian Studies and is to be initiated first in Zimbabwe and then in Malawi and Zambia. The project idea includes in-depth research in year one to better understand what worked in our past programme areas to rebuild livelihood assets of people living in poverty, and the shifting agrarian economy that is unfolding because of the economic meltdown in the country. What has emerged is new service providers in the transport, trading and financial services arena that are building the link between rural producers, and local and national markets. Through the research in year one, evidence will be built that will feed into programme design and policy influencing at different levels in the country, starting from municipal wards, districts and provinces.

From a regional level there are a few initiatives to share. During the last year, I contributed to the development of our OI Pan African EJ Operational Plan, which includes interventions in three broad goal areas: 1) Increase Targeted Investment in Sustainable Agriculture; 2) Promote Land Rights; 3) Build the Capacity of Farmers’ Organisations; and 4) Promote Climate Justice.

Under the goal of promoting land rights, we are in the process of producing a continent-wide briefing paper on the impact of land-grab-bing on people in communities — the objective being to bring the points of view of the people affected into the global debate; a voice that has been largely absent. In Southern Africa we are hoping to include case studies from Mozambique, Zambia and possibly Angola and Malawi. The paper should be finalised, signed off and launched by 28 or 29 July.

Later this financial year, we will be producing a Continental paper on Women and Agricul-ture. The objective is to raise the profile of women as producers in the public space and among policymakers to ensure that we have specific messages for national governments on how to support women farmers as they struc-ture their budgets to meet the Maputo Declara-tion target of 10% to the agriculture sector.

Alice Banze, Katy McDermott and myself are working on developing a research project that will help us understand the constraints women farmers’ face and we will use this to feed into the continental paper. Alice is also planning to organise a regional programme learning event to draw lessons from our past interventions from which we expect to develop a guidance note for colleagues in developing future pro-grammes and projects.

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Photo: Neo Ntsoma

By Alice Banze, Gender Justice Advisor

Over the past few months the RLC has increased its lobbying and campaigning activities. The number of reported cases of human trafficking

in the region has increased, and strong coalitions have been established in countries such as South Africa, Mozambique , Zambia and Swaziland.

The campaign has recorded numerous successes over the last year. These include:n The RLC has established itself as a key anti-trafficking stakeholder within 2010 Fifa World Cup initiatives.n The campaign’s engagement with the South African government helped fast-track a comprehensive new law against human trafficking before the start of the soccer World Cup on June 11.

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe put the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill to Parliament in March, but unfortunately the law has not been passed to date. The Bill provides for prosecuting those involved in trafficking and imposing appropriate sentences on them; it will give South African courts extra-territorial jurisdiction to prosecute acts outside its borders; and obliges internet providers to report suspect activity and addresses.n In October 2009 an anti-trafficking Bill was passed in Swaziland as a result of the work the RLC had been doing.n In Zambia, WLSA secured leaders’ commitment to take action against trafficking. WLSA is acknowledged by Zambia’s Ministry of Home Affairs on issues of trafficking and is a player in the formulation of the country’s Anti-Trafficking Plan.n The RLC’s engagement with the Department of Education and Social Work has led to the department’s decision to include the issue of trafficking in the educa-tion curriculum and the practical work of students. n South African Police Services/Police-TV: In November, a project was undertaken with South African Police Services’ Police Television (POL-TV), which airs on SABC 2 and Soweto TV. The programme, When Duty Calls, features police work and collaborative efforts with civil society, with a specific focus on human trafficking. SABC2 TV has an estimated 2.5 million viewers daily during prime time, which is when the programme was aired. This programme featured interviews with junior citizens, the local police and organised crime experts.

Human trafficking on the agenda

THE rED LIGHT CAMPAIGN

The red Light Campaign (rLC) was launched last

year by Women Leadership in Southern Africa (WLSA) and the Southern African Network on Trafficking and Abuse of Children

(SANTAC) to ensure that the 2010 World Cup did not increase women’s and girl’s vulnerability to trafficking

in Southern Africa. The campaign will continue beyond the World Cup

to keep this issue on the regional agenda and tackle policy issues surrounding

human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Gender Justice

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On 15 May 2010 Gender Links launched a commu-nications campaign, Together We Can End Human Trafficking , in partnership with the RLC, the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) and Community Media for Development (CMFD), with support from IOM and Oxfam GB. The campaign will run until 15 September 2010.

Three radio spots were developed based on key mes-sages of the Red Light campaign. The first was broadcast on 10 June 2010 to coincide with the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup.

The spots address various aspects of human trafficking and provide information on where to go to report cases of trafficking et cetera.

With the support of IOM, the spots were produced in English, Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans and Seswati and distributed to 120 community stations in South Africa’s nine provinces. An accompanying presenter’s guide encourages discussion with local experts and calls from community members. The spots will also be produced in Portuguese, French, Nyanja, Chichewa, Setswana, Shangaan, and Shona, with support from Oxfam and the Red Light Campaign.

The spots have been successfully launched at four different events, the first being held at the border of Mozambique and Swaziland, where traditional leaders

started to record and broadcast anti-human trafficking messages via the community radio stations that received the Together We Can End Human Trafficking CD. The stations offered to broadcast the spots for free, and traditional leaders expressed a desire to take the project forward. The Zambia and Zimbabwe cross-border launch was also well attended by traditional leaders, who are keen to take the agenda forward.

Another event was held in South Africa at the Let Us Grow project in Orange Farm, Johannesburg. A result of the launch was that the founder of Let Us Grow, Mama Rose Thamae, was invited by a local radio station to share the work the Orange Farm project has been doing.

Gender Links also launched the spots at the Man Up campaign international summit.

The Spots1) False Promises: Her dream job in the big city becomes a nightmare when a young woman is forced into sex work.2) Taxi Driver: A taxi driver realises he did nothing to prevent a young women from being trafficked, and vows to never let it happen again.3) Not for Sale! Two young women recognise that a human trafficker is in their midst, thanks to information provided to them through community outreach.

TOGETHEr WE CAN END HuMAN TrAffICkING

To listen to the radio spots visit: http://www.genderlinks.org.za/article/together-we-can-end-human-trafficking-radio-spots-2010-05-26

Traditonal leaders attended the launch of the radio spots in Chirundu, Zambia, a town at the border with Zimbabwwe.

LIvErPOOL fOOTBALL CLuB JOIN fOrCES WITH fAIr PLAy fOr AfrICA

By Pooven Moodley, Essential Services Advisor

The Fair Play for Africa campaign, with the support of Oxfam, was given a huge boost in May with the arrival of former players and coaching staff from Liverpool Football Club. This was the first activitiy in an ongoing partnership between Liverpool FC, Fair Play for Africa and Oxfam.

The club’s five-day trip to South Africa helped promote the call for better healthcare and HIV and AIDS treatment on the continent through Fair Play for Africa. The campaign was launched at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola in January to push for universal access to HIV treatment and wider health services, particularly for women, who make up 60% of those infected with the virus. This visit also links with other key activities organised around the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. The campaign aims to ensure governments in 10 African countries, including South Africa, meet their Millennium Development Goals on health.

Fair Play for Africa campaign manager Wole Olaleye said: “2010 is the year the whole world will descend on Africa. African governments have made pledges to deliver quality healthcare and services to all Africans. Fair Play for Africa wants to make sure our governments deliver on these commitments .”

The team from Liverpool held coaching clinics in town-ships including Mamelodi and Soweto, working closely

with women football clubs like Dlala Ntombazana. The team were hosted by the Royal Bafokeng in Rusteburg and coached the Sports Academy coaches and youth.

At a dinner hosted by the British High Commission and supported by DFID, the health and HIV issues were high-lighted by the various speakers from Liverpool, Fair Play for Africa and the British High Commissioner to South Africa, Dr Nicola Brewer.

Brewer said: “I hope South Africa’s first World Cup will harness the magic of football to support campaigns throughout the world, like Fair Play for Africa. They show how important football can be in achieving a better quality of life, particularly for everyone living with HIV and AIDS. I would like to give my support – and that of the new UK government – to the Fair Play campaign and hope the visit of the delegation from Liverpool will help it achieve its goals.”

A visit to Orange Farm brought home the issues in terms of HIV and access to healthcare.

Bill Bygroves, of Liverpool FC, said: “Working with Fair Play for Africa and Oxfam will bring hope to people living every day with poverty and inequality. Seeing HIV on the scale it is here means we must take responsibility.”

Following the highly successful World Cup in South Africa , Fair Play, Oxfam and Liverpool will continue to work to ensure health for all on the continent.

A winning team

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Essential Services

Photos: Neo Ntsoma

fAIr PLAy fOr AfrICA AND kNOW yOur STATuS CAMPAIGN

Many lights for human rights

By Gabriel DeBarros, Angola Country Director

On 16 May Angola joined the world in marking the 27th international AIDS candlelight memorial “Many Lights for Human Rights”. Oxfam GB partners Fair Play for Africa and the Know Your Status Campaign held events and rallies in Benguela to honour those who lost their lives to HIV and AIDS and to raise awareness around the disease.

Chairperson of the Angola Network of Aids Service Organisations (ANASO) and Fair Play for Africa country lead Antonio Coelho said the Candlelight Memorial is an opportunity for civil society to renew its commitment to the fight against the spread of HIV, to learn from past actions and reduce the suffering of those living with the virus. “In a country … like Angola with over half a million people living with HIV and a new generation of youth emerging every day, we must continue to create a public space to learn from the past and motivate actions to improve our approach to HIV and other development and health challenges in the future,” Coelho said.

Coelho said HIV prevalence is on the increase because of insufficient voluntary counselling and testing, and antiretroviral treatment. “Under these circumstances, many people don’t know they have had HIV for a long time and could be spreading it. Getting tested is huge! Be honest and mature and know your status to support Angola to meet health-related MDGs.”

The memorial put the spotlight on the barriers marginal-ised communities face in attempting to access antiretro-viral treatment, HIV support and prevention services, and basic healthcare for HIV-related diseases.

Events included an installation at the Benguela pro-vincial AIDS Network by women’s support group and Oxfam GB partner Ekumbi Ombaka, which highlighted the stigma associated with virus. “We had people sitting in a group with black strips of cloth across their eyes and mouths and their hands tied with ropes to signify the ignorance and discrimination that a person infected with HIV goes through,” said coordinator Apolonia Zau. Some volunteers held placards that read “Break the Silence, Set Us Free”, while others distributed educational mate-rial about HIV and AIDS.

A charity soccer match was held at Ombaka Stadium

between friends of former Angola soccer player Akwa (who is currently a Member of Parliament and Fair Play for Africa ambassador ) and friends of former Portuguese soccer player Luis Figo; and NGOs observed a silent vigil at Benguela’s African Square.

The Know Your Status Campaign set up free HIV testing mobile units at all events and over 500 people were tested.

Oxfam partner Cruz Azul Angola (CAA), a local NGO working on an Aids awareness project with a particular focus on women drug addicts, held a brief religious ceremony. The CAA’s Castilho Singelo said “programmes like these not only help create awareness, but also help the community to bind together to move ahead and fight this deadly disease. We all should contribute in every possible way to spread awareness and help save lives.”

Started in 1983 by the Global Health Council, the Can-dlelight Memorial takes place every third Sunday in May and is led by a coalition of about 1,200 community or-ganisations in 115 countries. In 2007 civil society organi-sations in Angola started taking part in the memorial. This year about 100 Angolan groups participated in a display of community activism and solidarity.

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Angola

Zambia

By Montgomery Mulungeshi, Harris Nyatsanza, and Bonarventure k Siantumbu

Since 2008 the Oxfam Zambia Programme in Western Province has been involved in the implementation of a Community -Led Water and Sanitation Project, which provides communities and schools with water facili-ties. To deliver these services and ensure good quality, Oxfam has been working with partners like small-scale contractors and community-based private service providers .

Small-scale contractor Sydney Ngombo Chipipa (28) is one such partner. He is married with four children. He completed his training in Water, Hygiene and Sani-tation at Lusaka Trades Institute in 1996, and in 2001 started his own company, Muchingo Water Wells and Construction.

Sydney previously worked with Keepers Zambia Founda-tion, digging wells and equipping them with hand pumps. He has worked with the Oxfam project since May 2009, and has dug and equipped 48 wells. Under his con-tract, Sydney’s workforce has increased from five to 15 people. This has had a positive effect on the community because his employees are able to support their families by providing education, accommodation, food and health care. Some also now own assets, have opened up small shops, and two are planning to study next year. Sydney is also planning to go to university, since his staff are able to cover for him in his absence .

Sydney has earned more than K70 million since he started working with Oxfam and has invested this money in various ventures, including the purchase of a motorcycle to monitor projects more efficiently. He has bought land on which to build an office, and has started moulding concrete blocks to build a house for his family who currently live in a makeshift shelter. Sydney’s relationship with Oxfam has raised his company’s profile and helped him build a good reputation. He hopes to grow his company to compete with larger contractors and to work with other big organisations .

Sydney says the water points his company has in-stalled have made a huge difference to communities as some people would draw water from scoop holes teem-ing with tadpoles and frogs, while others would share their water source with livestock. Now they have access to clean water from a well with a pump. He says commu-nities used to walk long distances to fetch water, but now they are able to draw water closer to home.

SCOrING HEALTH Oxfam led and facilitated the participation of CSOs in the Joint Annual Review (JAR) of the performance of the health sector in 2009. This is the second year that Oxfam has represented CSOs in the process.

The JAR brings together donors , CSOs and the Ministry of Health to evaluate the performance of the health sector against the National Health Strategic Plan. The thematic areas for review are Human Resources for Health, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, and Drugs and other Medical Supplies. However , due to the corruption scandals in 2009 at the MOH, CSOs and donors recommended that Governance and Leadership be included as one of the review areas.

Given the limited time and resources it is not possible to review the performance of the health sec-tor in all nine provinces and so two are selected each year. The JAR team reviewed the Western and North Western provinces , which are predominately rural with a high prevalence of poverty.

There were some impressive positive health indica-tors on the delivery of Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health in both provinces. For example, the overall number of children on ART increased from 26 in 2008 to 33 in 2009. The numbers of fully immunized children

The power of partnershipSMALL-SCALE CONTrACTOrS

HELP DELIvEr WATEr AND SANITATION SErvICES

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Photo: Oupa Nkosi

under the age of one in 2009 reached 81% compared to 70% in 2007. The proportion of underweight children decreased from 3% in 2008 to 2% in 2009. However, the review team identified numerous challenges. Drugs and other medical supplies remain a perennial chal-lenge, with stock-outs of essential medicine reported at various health posts, obsolete maternal delivery kits and inadequate labour rooms. Shortages in nursing , medical and other key personnel has meant that some rural health centres are being run by untrained staff.

The main governance challenges identified, which will inform Oxfam’s focus on health advocacy , were:n The weak financial and procurement systems that led to the massive fraud exposed in 2009;n The failure to conclude and sign the IHP+ with CPs and CSOs;n The high dependency of the Ministry of Health on external funding to support the delivery of the health sector is not sustainable; n Weak community participation in the design, delivery and monitoring of the performance of the sector; andn Lack of transparency: Most health facilities don’t display their income and expenditure statements.

We are currently working with partners from the Civil Society Health Forum in Lusaka and the rural districts to ensure that more CSOs participate in the JAR 2010.

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Drr: ENGAGING COMMuNITIESThe Joint Oxfam disaster risk reduction (DRR) project is being delivered in three districts and two provinces (Southern and Western) in Zambia, where communities have been keen to engage on issues of DRR and put in place mitigation and adaptation measures that will protect them from the negative impacts of disasters.

Most communities have responded well to DRR information concerning preparedness and response to early warning systems in relation to climate change. One such community is Liyoyelo, which is situated on the confluence of the mighty Zambezi and Lwanginga rivers, west of Mongu district in the Western Province. The village hosts about 120 households.

Liyoyelo benefited from the 2009 Flood Response Project, which included the distribution of mosquito nets, fishing nets, chlorine, maize and vegetable seeds. The village has a permanent area on the upper land for relo-cation during floods, and this year community members took advantage of the fair harvest of maize and stocked the crop for the upper land, ensuring sufficient food stocks during the flood period.

At community level the Satellite Disaster Manage-ment Committee is mandated and trained to spearhead disaster preparedness and response activities in the village.

Sydney Ngombo Chipipa and a colleague

An exhibition of young artists’ work at Museum Africa in Newtown, Johannesburg, during the 2010 Soccer World Cup was the outcome of an exciting arts-based advocacy project, Look Here I Am, facilitated by Oxfam and non-profit organisation New Exposure with the participation of the Kliptown Artists Advocacy Project.

The project, which is based around the Millennium Development Goals, aims to empower young Kliptown artists with the technical skills to produce messaging that exposes the human rights and development challenges facing their communities.

In South Africa progress has been slow in achieving the MDGs and persistent inequalities are hampering development . The objective of Look Here I Am is to “South Africanise” the MDGs and root them in community experience , exploring both the impact of the slow pace of development and government’s lack of accountability . By doing so the project seeks to advance the pace of development and secure the right to dignity and essential services for marginalised communities in Kliptown.

In a series of workshops conducted over a four-week period the young artists received specialised training in the use of video, photography , poetry and visual media to communicate advocacy messages, to challenge and influence audiences through innovative and provoca-tive art mediums, and to mobilise citizens to engage in dialogue about their rights and how to exercise them.

Following the training, the artists used cameras and film recorders to produce images exploring the

Look Here I Am‘SOuTH AfrICANISING’ THE MDGs

Artists are true advocates of human rights because they know how vital is the protection of free-

dom: of thought and of expression. Artists recognise these freedoms as the foundation of social justice and, as protectors and promoters of human rights, have the ability to elevate culture, to unite societies and to bring about greater peace

and social understanding.”

Sipho Jantjie, kliptown Artists Advocacy Project

“

“South Africa

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Sacred Circle around the Fire, Ginger Mahlamvu

Outdoor Performance Space in Kliptown

MDGs and depicting, from their own experience , the impact of lack of access to socio-economic rights and essential services in Kliptown. They complemented the images with poetry and sound clips of interviews with residents from their communities. This body of work was exhibited at Museum Africa for the duration of the World Cup.

Further exhibitions are planned to raise public aware-ness of the development challenges in South Africa as a whole and to advocate for political leaders to scale up the pace of development. Participant-scripted, produced and performed plays and poetry that focus on the “South Africanisation” of the MDGs will also be performed in open spaces in Kliptown and filmed for presentation during exhibitions.

Kliptown generates an extraordinary creative energy. It is a location of symbolic and historic significance; it is where the Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955, marking the start of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle . In 1996 the Freedom Charter became the foundation of South Africa’s Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Yet many of the Charter’s provisions remain to be realised in Kliptown. This district of Soweto faces extreme poverty and is home to the country’s highest density of informal settlements, where residents struggle to access essen-tial services and have no security of tenure or formal housing . HIV prevalence is high, women are vulner-able to gender-based violence, and health services are inadequate .

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Cycles of Servitude, Mpapa Majola

Words of integrity are spoken through my poetry, go slow and flow with me as I free trapped souls from this mental slavery Mankind has lost its identity and dumped its cultures, traditions and values, worshipping material wealth more than their own lives defining existence by the use of force and power. Human beings can no longer dream They are throwing their fists around flapping gigantic mouths far and wide And I might as well define my dreams lyrically and honour the art of the mouth Words of integrity, empower me with rhymes to bring this chaotic world to order. True words spoken within will touch you inside just open your hearts, feel the rhythm of an African drum listen to its sound while it plays!

Sibusiswa (16)

Poverty? Integrity

Zimbabwe’s water supply and sanitation services, once a source of national pride, have suffered a major collapse in both urban and rural areas. This contributed to the cholera epidemic that broke out in August 2008, resulting in more than 100,000 cases and 4,300 deaths being recorded by July 2009. The national epidemic spread to 60 of the 62 districts, and into neighbouring countries.

The outbreak was not an isolated phenomenon, but a red flag indicator of the state of neglect of the water and sanitation sector. Current epidemiological reports show cholera cases reported thus far are from eight of the 62 districts. Rural areas are still carrying the burden of outbreaks, with 85% of current cases occuring in these areas, supporting a recommendation for the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The impact of the infrastructure breakdown continues to be worsened by a frail health system that is charac-terised by high vacancy rates, limited financing, and resource and information service constraints .

In 2009 Oxfam GB rehabilitated a total of 219 bore-holes and drilled 18 to provide target beneficiaries across nine districts with access to safe drinking water. Open wells were upgraded in both urban and rural villages.

Oxfam is currently providing WASH facilities in clinics through the construction of latrines and installation of water facilities, and through the Block Grants initiative, which is aimed at supporting orphans and vulnerable children.

Community awareness, empowerment and capacity building have been increased through the work of Village Health Volunteers, and the training of Home-Based Care Worker clubs, school clubs and water-point user com-mittees. Other public health promotion activities included clean-up campaigns, and the development and dissemi-nation of information and education materials.

WASH ADvOCACyA key objective of the WASH programme is to raise community awareness, with a particular focus on women , children and the most vulnerable members of the community .

Through the implementation period, WASH advocacy centred on lobbying for appropriate and affordable technologies, service provision through a rights-based approach, community self-management systems, and a relaxation of some of the existing laws and by-laws. This was done through participation in council meetings and WASH committee meetings at provincial and district level.

Lobbying for the adoption of low-cost technology is still being pursued through the water technical and sanitation working groups, and Oxfam GB continues to

WASH: Targeting the most vulnerableZimbabwe

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participate in the Urban Clear Water Task Force, with a view to influencing the relaxation of by-laws that impede improved access to safe water and affordable sanitation for the urban poor. WASH has also commissioned a con-sultant to undertake research on WASH advocacy issues and to make recommendations of service provision and equitable access.

Oxfam GB is the focal organisation for Harare, Midlands and Mashonaland East under the WASH Emergency Response Unit (WERU) Framework. The organisation registered a record response time of less than 24 hours to reported emergencies, including the cholera alerts in Kadoma, Kwekwe, Seke and Chiredzi, the typhoid outbreak in Mabvuku, Harare, and floods in Mbire. This contributed to controlling and mitigating the impact of WASH-related diseases.

OGB continues to co-lead the WASH cluster with UNICEF and is represented in the Joint Health Cluster and WASH cluster meeting, Cholera Command and Control Centre (C4), social mobilisation working group, Strategic Advisory Group and inter-cluster capacity

kEy LESSONS frOM 2008-09 CHOLErA OuTBrEAk

n The severity of the outbreak was heightened by the breakdown of the water and sanitation services in many large and small urban areas (CDC, 2009).n Coordination of activities by WASH sector organisations can enhance impact by reducing the severity of the outbreak, duplication of initiatives and allowing for joint mobilisation of resources. n Emergency relief WASH initiatives need to be closely linked to recovery/long-term develop-ment initiatives such as investing in the rehabili-tation of WASH infrastructure and by extension revitalising Zimbabwe’s health system.n Community ownership of WASH is essential for sustainable initiatives.n Economic, social and cultural rights need to be enshrined in the new Constitution.n The movement of people from heavily affected urban areas to other locations spread the disease throughout the country. (CDC, 2009)n The quality of the interventions needs to be monitored to ensure their effectiveness in reducing transmission.

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HEA CONSOrTIuM LAuNCHED

Oxfam GB, Concern World-wide, Save the Children uk, and Action Contre lafaim (ACf) formed a consortium to improve national assessment approaches in Zimbabwe on food security. This is being coordinated with the Zimba-bwe vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimvAC). The project is using the House-hold Economy Approach (HEA) as the framework of analysis, which focuses on understanding sources of food, income and expenditure patterns for different wealth groups in various livelihood zones. The project aims to strengthen food security monitoring by establishing livelihood baselines following a food security and liveli-hood rezoning exercise that was conducted by ZimvAC in 2009. food Economy Group (fEG) and SADC regional vulnerability Assessment Committee (rvAC) members are training NGO staff and government workers in using the HEA. Oxfam GB is leading in five zones and is the entry point for engagement with key structures in the govern-ment to improve food security analysis in Zimbabwe.

Drr — THE PrEfErrED APPrOACH

under Drr, a capacity building initiative was rolled out for Oxfam GB staff, affiliates , partners and government structures like CPu (civil protection units). Training on sphere standards, OI partnership humanitarian policy and mapping studies , gender and HIV/AIDS in emergency, policy advocacy in emergency logistic and finance system were some key capacity-building events undertaken in this project. This helped improve rela-tionships and coordination between partners, Oxfam staff and government officials, particularly at district level.

building meeting to discuss terms of refer-ence for early recovery.

A SHIfT TO rECOvEryRiC work in Zimbabwe focuses on responding to chronic food insecurity; mitigating cholera and other water-borne diseases; and enhancing humanitarian capacity and disaster risk reduction.

Zimbabwe has faced protracted food insecurity for the past three years. More than 1.9 million people were food insecure in the just concluded agriculture marketing year, and Oxfam provided food handouts to 83 618 people over seven months in four districts of the Midlands province.

Community ownership of the programmes was increased through participatory reg-istration and targeting. People agreed on vulnerability criteria, ranked themselves accordingly , and took control of managing food distribution. To improve accountability, feedback mechanisms were implemented, including suggestion boxes, a help desk, FDP committee, and public address and caucus meetings. These enabled the community to contribute to decision-making processes around programme implementation . A community and house-hold surveillance survey was also conduct-ed jointly with WFP.

Zimbabwe is in transition and so there is a shift from a humanitarian to recovery approach. Oxfam adopts a two-pronged strategy to recovery, with a targeted safety-net intervention (for example, targeting HIV-positive people for food handouts) and cash programming to support agriculture recovery and the local market. Oxfam is doing an assessment in the field to better inform our transition to recovery approach. A food security HSP has been deployed to undertake this assessment and steer the process of programme development.

As part of the one programme approach, a research study was commissioned to analyse policy regime around the food security sector. This will be instrumental in developing a position on key policies on food security in Zimbabwe.

WASH: Targeting the most vulnerable

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Ensuring basic education

Photos: Neo Ntsoma

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ZAMBEZIA EDuCATION PrOGrAMME

By Deizi Sitoi

The Zambezia Education Programme focuses on partner capacity building and advocacy, and is being implemented in five districts in Zambezia province : Gile; Namaroi; Ile; Gurue; and Alto Molocue. Its aim is to improve access to quality basic education that is both gender and HIV and AIDS sensitive through increased government accountability and capacity to develop , budget and implement education plans; and the active participation of national and local NGOs in the design and implementation of these plans.

Ile is one of the most remote districts in Zambezia province and is lacking in all essential services. In this district Oxfam is partnering with three local organisations — MEPT (Education for All Movement), AMME (The Association for Mozambican Women and Education), and Kukumbi — which focus on the budgeting tracking initiative , school councils, and working with girls (mainly on issues related to the retention of girls in schools as well as abuse of girls).

School councils are the link between the com-munities and schools. They are elected by the community and comprise teachers and student representatives as well as members of the community . Their role is to manage the daily activities of the school and ensure the children get a decent education.

The school council in Nampevo e Mucorrecorre is an example of good practice. Community engagement with the council is high and members work closely with partner organisations to deter-mine what support and resources are necessary for the council and school to function at their best.

Advocacy training has helped council members manage the school more effectively and efficiently . The council president says: “Now we are working in harmony, all of us know the role that we have to play and we are supportive of each other, and my role as a president is now facilitated ”.

One of the biggest challenges facing the school councils is retention of children. Families often keep their children out of school to help work in the fields or to care for sick relatives. The Nampevo e Mucorrecorre school council has made huge strides in reducing the drop-out rate, by going door-to-door and talking to parents about the benefits of sending their children to school.

Mozambique

MALAWI PrOGrAMME SET fOr ‘SOME INTErESTING SHIfTS’

A new strategy in the offing

Malawi

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By Elvis Sukali, Communication and Media Officer

The Malawi Programme is in the proc-ess of designing a new strategy, which is expected to roll out in 2011. The current 2007-2010 strategy aims to improve sus-tainable livelihoods for poor people in the context of a major HIV and AIDS epidemic.

Recently the programme held a strategy development workshop that brought together staff and members of the Malawi Strategic Management Committee — a representative body of the four Oxfam affiliates with a stake in the Malawi Pro-gramme — to hammer out a framework that would form the foundation for the strategy.

During the workshop, each participant was asked to compile a list of issues that affect poverty in Malawi. Participants’ lists were discussed in working groups and points of convergence were identified.

“The process has been a great process for me and I am actually amazed by the investment the team have had to make in trying to come up with the strategy. There is a greater ownership and it does look like we are going to have some interest-ing shifts in the Malawi Programme,” the Acting Regional Director for Oxfam GB for Southern Africa, Nellie Nyang’wa, said at the end of the workshop.

She said staff entrusted with the task of completing the strategy should do a lot more thinking especially in areas that are new so that “we deliver the right things.”

“I think that this has been an excellent time we’ve spent with the team. What strikes me most about this team is the energy. This is the team with really good and positive energy. What I find very interesting is the fact that the team can be critical of their own work, but can also be critical of the work that each of them is doing without taking it personally,” said Navin Vasudev of Oxfam Hong Kong.

Navin said he enjoyed listening to the wide perspectives put forward during the course of the discussions. “I am very posi-tive that what comes out of this process is going to really strengthen the programme”.

Kate O’Donnell of Oxfam Ireland, who is also the chairperson of the Malawi Strate-gic Management Committee, said she has learnt a lot about teamwork by participating in this workshop. “We managed to produce the bones of a strategy which is really a joint strategy owned by all the people in the room in a way that is something I haven’t seen done to this extent before.”

Malawi Country Director Sanjay Awasthi said the next step in the strategy devel-opment process would be to widen the consultations to include other key stake-holders including poor people in Malawi.

Photos: Elvis Sukali