Mission and Vision
A just world, without poverty. That is our mission. We believe that people can build independent livelihoods, provided their rights are respected. That is why we help people around the world to stand up for their rights.
1. Right to sustainable livelihood resources
Everybody must be sure of a fair income and enough to eat. Yet this is not the case for 20% of the world’s population. That is why we are working on better access to land and water, and on fair working and trading conditions.
2. Right to basic social services
Education and health care are essential for building better societies. Yet even as we make progress towards universal primary education, around the world, there are still 130 million kids in school who fail to learn basic reading, writing and maths. When governments fail to deliver, Oxfam together with partner organizations invest in quality basic social services.
3. Right to life and security
Natural disasters, climate change and armed conflicts hit millions of people every year. We support them with relief aid and reconstruction. And we prepare people to prevent or mitigate the effects of disasters and conflicts.
4. Right to social and political participation
Knowledge is power. We believe that when people can participate in public decisions that affect them, they can build independent livelihoods and thriving communities.Together with partners we give people access to information and a voice.
5. Right to an identity
Gender inequality is both a violation of human rights and an obstacle to sustainable development. In a just world there is no place for the discrimination of women and minorities.
Our Core Values
When people’s basic rights are respected, we can rid the world of poverty and injustice. This is what we stand for:
- Empowerment
We work on the basis of the power and potential of people. We provide practical and innovative solutions to empower people to build their livelihoods without poverty.
- Accountability
We call on those in power to consider people in a vulnerable position in word and action. And we of course account for our own work to governments, donors, supporters, volunteers, corporations and almost 17 million Dutch men and women.
- Inclusiveness
We are all equal, irrespective of the accident of birth, gender, faith or sexual orientation. In all our work we give special attention to the position and rights of women and minorities. And given the potentially pivotal role of women as agents of change, gender justice is at the heart of everything we do.
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Displaying 311 - 315 of 328GLA-PoV-Liberia
General
Liberia hosts large areas of the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem, recognised globally for its extremely high biodiversity. The country has committed to conserving 30 percent of its natural forests, essential for the livelihoods of local communities who directly depend on these forests and significant in the global fight against climate change. Despite national policy commitments made by the government at the national and international level and the emergence of numerous private sector initiatives to halt deforestation, Liberia has made little progress reducing deforestation in recent years. Rather, the drivers of deforestation, including illegal and destructive logging and industrial agriculture, are gaining in power and speed. Illegal logging in government-allocated logging concessions covering more than 1 million hectares and industrial-scale logging under community forestry licenses are accelerating at an alarming rate. Huge blocks of forest land inhabited by local communities have been handed out to agro-business. The political elite is grabbing lands from communities for plantations as well. More than 60 percent of Liberia’s 5 million population relies on agriculture for their livelihoods and food for their households. The sector employs more than 80 percent of Liberians with women constituting more than half of the labour force. Instead of supporting smallholders, the government has allocated large tracts of land to concessions for oil palm cultivation. As a result, forest communities in several counties have been devastated by the impacts of industrial oil palm. Environmental and Human Rights Defenders (EHRDs) and local activists that demand respect for community and human rights, and improvements in the overall well-being of communities affected by the oil palm companies, have been harassed, intimidated, and have suffered unlawful arrests. In instances where communities have stood up for their rights, they have been targeted by the state and state-security apparatuses. Liberia’s legal framework governing forests has institutionalised the participation of Local Communities and Civil Society in forest governance. Liberia has also made important progress on land tenure reforms. The country adopted a Land Rights Policy in 2013 formally recognising customary collective community land rights. It passed into law in 2018, providing communities with formal ownership over their customary lands.
AACJ-Ethiopia
General
The AACJ programme will be implemented in eight African countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal, Somalia and South Africa. The AACJ consortium believes that building strong and inclusive movements for climate justice in these countries can be the engine for a powerful pan-African movement for climate justice. For the AACJ consortium, climate justice means all people have the right to live a decent and dignified life in a healthy environment. We believe that curbing climate change and enabling all people to build resilience and recover from climate-related shocks is key to break the vicious cycle of inequality and vulnerability. The impacts of climate change are not being borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations. The voices of frontline communities who both offer solutions to protect our climate and face the harshest consequences of the immediate impacts of climate change, are excluded from the policy debates shaping their futures. Their voices are often also isolated as opposed to aligned and lack the capacity to come together in unified front calling for action. The goal of our programme is to amplify and unite the voices in Africa demanding that women, youth and local and indigenous communities in the 8 target countries can defend and realize their human rights and live a decent and dignified life in a healthy and sustainable environment, within the context of the climate emergency. We will not only respond to power asymmetries within countries, but also challenge asymmetries of power between countries. We will connect with movements outside Africa, such as Climate Action Network Europe, jointly challenging unaccountable governments and unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Making these connections will help increase solidarity across communities and make the global climate movement more inclusive and legitimate. We will work from local to regional to global level, and vice versa. We will amplify local voices – communicating both struggles and positive experiences – to advocate for strong climate policies and national laws, and demand and monitor their implementation. We will use progressive frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement, the Africa 2063 Agenda and the SDGs to influence national governments and companies for positive changes in people’s lives The AACJ consortium believes that clear and compelling narratives play a crucial to increase the engagement of youth, women and local and indigenous communities in the debate and policy processes on climate justice. Taking people’s lived experience as a starting point, these narratives will play a key role in raising awareness, unveiling prejudices and stereotypes, debunking lies and rebalancing relations of power. The AACJ consortium will amplify African voices, encouraging environmental activists, indigenous leaders, women, youth, religious leaders, artists and opinion makers to share their personal experiences and contribution to addressing climate change. We will create safe spaces for traditionally sidelined groups to develop their own narratives which demonstrate their strength, resilience, innovative capacities and contributions to the climate crisis. We will ensure that these new narratives are shared and spread through climate debates and policy processes, connecting policy makers with people on the frontline of the climate crisis. With will connect activists, movements and communities with popular media (TV talk shows, radio call-ins and other interactive platforms) to enable exchange of ideas and information, foster understanding and increase public awareness on how women, youth and local and indigenous communities are experiencing and coping with climate change. The role of FEMNET will be indispensable to implementing Pathway 2 by creating counter narratives to help shift the discourse on changing the discourse on climate change
Objectives
The programme will contribute to the following impact areas Impact Outcome 1: Empowered indigenous and local communities and CSOs will provide a strong grassroots foundation to build national movements promoting and advocating for climate justice and community driven climate narratives. The AACJ consortium in Ethiopia will work with broad networks of local organizations to conduct regular outreach activities aimed at disadvantaged communities and empower community members, especially youth, to take up leadership roles (pathway 1). The consortium will create common understanding on influencing goals amongst more than 100 CSOs, and create new platforms for existing and new women-led alliances to jointly run popular campaigns to advocate for climate justice on national, regional and international level. The consortium will create awareness and space for disadvantaged communities to voice their views on climate change solutions and support community groups to create new climate justice narratives (pathway 2). Such narratives will be taken up by activists, journalists and influencers (including athletes and artists) and inform public campaigns, mobilizing support for gender-sensitive and inclusive adaptation solutions and realizing the NAP Impact Outcome 2: Improved mechanisms for the participation of vulnerable groups, allow indigenous and local communities and CSOs to engage effectively with climate decision-makers at national and sub-national level to develop policies and adaptation plans and claim environmental and social rights. Local and national policies and frameworks for climate justice are developed and implemented. The consortium will support community members, especially women, in understanding their rights under national and international legal frameworks (Pathway 3). Affected communities and individuals will be supported to securing land tenure and use of traditional lands. Strategic litigation will be used to challenge unjust policies and practices. The AACJ consortium will develop a monitoring framework to increase scrutiny over enforcement of environmental and land rights in Ethiopia. The consortium will establish new platforms and spaces and empower communities to engage in policy and legal reforms, engaging traditionally excluded communities (women, youth, indigenous communities). The consortium will facilitate joint CSO strategy and advocacy plans and build CSO and community capacity to engage with national and regional authorities to influence Ethiopia’s NAP and NDC- increasing inclusion, climate finance and aligning climate and development plans (Pathway 5). Recognizing the legacy of restricted civic space in Ethiopia, the consortium will create mechanisms to report and engage key stakeholders on civil, political and economic rights. The consortium will also increase capacity of frontline communities to use new ICT-based methodologies for community-driven climate action, facilitate community exchanges on innovative community-driven adaptation plans and models, and support multi-stakeholder dialogues with public and private sector to scale up emerging best practices and inform advocacy strategies (pathway 4). Lessons from national policy engagement and legal advocacy will further equip Ethiopian CSOs and representatives of youth, women and indigenous communities to take part in regional bodies (ICAD, AU) and global policy platforms around the Paris Agreement
Target Groups
FEMNET will work with her partner and member-Union of Ethiopian Women and Children Associations (UEWCA, a is a non-governmental, nonpartisan consortium of 80 women- and children-focused CSOs. We will work with women, youth and local communities – as well as other traditionally sidelined groups, such as people with disabilities
Securing Land Rights phase II
General
Securing Land Rights Project will focus on the Legal Provision by looking into the land disputes backlog during the implementation o f Land Tenure Regularization Program (LTRP)