Briefing papers & notes

People-centered resilience

mborum — 2009-11-16T10:04:41Z

Globally, 1.7 billion farmers are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The many who are already hungry are particularly vulnerable. World hunger currently stands at 1.02 billion people, its highest level ever. Yet scaling up localised ‘resilience’ successes offers hope for these farmers, while helping to address the climate problem. New thinking to recognize vulnerable farmers as critical partners in delivering solutions is needed to increase their resilience and to enable them to help combat climate change. Bold new public investment to the supporting institutions will be needed.

Achieving farm resilience requires building up the resilience of vulnerable farmers by developing their skills, expertise and voice while supporting their use of agro-ecological farming practices. Building resilience depends not just on how farmers manage resources, but on how well local, national, and global institutions support farmers. Agro-ecological practices can empower vulnerable small-scale farmers, offering them both greater control over their lives and an accessible means of improving their food security, while decreasing their risk of crop failure or livestock death due to climate shocks. Vulnerable farmers can use agro-ecological practices to build resilient farms and improve their livelihoods, achieving multiple benefits: 1. improved food security; 2. adaptation to a changing climate; and 3. mitigation of climate change.

People-centred resilience consists of five principles which should guide how investments in vulnerable farming communities are designed and implemented. They are:

Restored and diversified natural resources for sustainability.
Responsive institutions grounded in local context.
Expanded and improved sustainable livelihood options.
Sound gender dynamics and gender equality.
Farmer-driven decisions.

Following these principles ensures that investments support farmers in their efforts to become food-secure and adapt to climate change. Four institutions central to delivering people-centered resilience are: secure land rights; dynamic farmer associations; responsive agricultural advisory services; and public support for environmental services.

Protect and serve or train and equip?

Marc J. Cohen, Tara R. Gingerich — 2009-11-19T19:22:08Z

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent declaration of the “Global War on Terror,” US international security assistance has increased substantially, with billions of dollars going to support security forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other “frontline” states. The United States has also adopted a new approach to security assistance in fragile states, called security sector reform (SSR). In principle, SSR moves security assistance well beyond the traditional “train and equip” approach and takes the physical security of the state’s population and protection of human rights from the sidelines to mid-field.

In practice, however, US-supported SSR efforts often continue to focus primarily on training and equipping military and police forces, especially in connection with counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. This paper looks at the implementation of US-supported SSR programs, and particularly at how they have integrated protection of civilians. The paper identifies current gaps between global standards of good practice—with which US doctrine and principles increasingly conform—on the one hand, and actual US practice in the field on the other. Oxfam believes that protection of civilians must be a cornerstone of US foreign policy, so effective links between SSR and protection must be present in practice as well as in principle. The paper concludes by offering legislative and policy recommendations that can help ensure that US-supported SSR serves as an instrument of protection.

Transparency is happening right now: USAID and Indonesia's national budget

Porter McConnell — 2009-10-26T16:16:12Z

Transparency is key to strengthening local ownership of US foreign aid. It’s already happening in Indonesia.

Band aids and beyond

cmccabe — 2009-10-22T14:48:56Z

On the 25th anniversay of an Ethiopian famine that left one million people dead, Oxfam calls on interntational donors to adopt a new approach to humanitarian crises which focuses on preparing communities to prevent disasters before they strike.

Memo to the President: Key Recommendations to the Next Afghan Government

mhart — 2009-11-03T19:17:21Z

Aid agencies working in Afghanistan say Afghanistan’s next government must improve the lives of ordinary Afghans by devoting greater resources to building up to 6,000 new schools, training upwards of 5,000 new midwives, and professionalizing the police force.

Missing pieces? Assessing the impact of humanitarian reform in Pakistan

mhart — 2009-10-01T17:21:06Z

The displacement of more than three million people in Pakistan has triggered one of the biggest emergency responses of the year. Four years after the launch of the UN-led humanitarian reform process, national and international response capacities appear to have improved on some fronts—but on the whole, humanitarian assistance still falls far short of being adequate, timely, impartial and appropriate.

Beyond Aid

mborum — 2009-09-15T21:52:25Z

Climate-related shocks are affecting the lives of millions of poor people with increasing frequency and severity. Without urgent action, recent development progress will stall—then go into reverse.

The international community must make a new commitment to fund adaptation to climate change. Funds must be additional to the promise to deliver 0.7 per cent of rich country income as aid and raised and managed in new ways. A global adaptation finance mechanism is needed, able to deliver the scale of funding required and governed according to the principles of equity, subsidiarity, transparency, and accountability. This will insure against future development losses and help to resuscitate the international climate negotiations, laying the foundations for a fair and safe deal at Copenhagen at the end of 2009.

The new adaptation marketplace

mborum — 2009-09-11T15:25:29Z

Climate change is a growing humanitarian crisis that we cannot ignore. Developing innovative ways to adapt to its impacts is a necessity. Policies that address the impact of global warming on the world’s most vulnerable communities can drive the market toward new innovation and stimulate the US economy.

Why should water, sanitation, and hygiene advocates lead on aid reform?

mborum — 2009-09-09T20:47:51Z

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) funding has made impressive strides in recent years. But the US WASH portfolio is currently scattered across an out-of-date bureaucracy and lacks a government-wide approach to development.

Why should health advocates lead on aid reform?

Porter McConnell — 2009-08-12T15:08:15Z

US global health programs have made impressive strides in recent years, but our global health portfolio is currently scattered across agencies and lacks a clear strategy.

What development professionals need: Voices from the frontlines

mborum — 2009-09-11T21:33:24Z

USAID will hire 1,000 Foreign Service Officers over the next three years. What tools will these new development professionals need to be most effective at fighting poverty?

Empty promises

mborum — 2009-07-20T17:24:45Z

The Doha Development Round was meant to rebalance decades of unfair rules in agriculture and address the needs of developing countries. Instead, the negotiations have betrayed this promise. The trade Round has become a market access negotiation, in which developing countries are expected to give disproportionately more and will receive little but stale promises of the general benefits of liberalization. The economic crisis presents an imperative, and an opportunity, for real reform.

Waking the Devil

mborum — 2009-07-14T20:28:49Z

The military operations launched against the FDLR since early 2009 have been presented as a bid for the unity (Umoja Wetu) and peace (Kimia II) that have so long eluded eastern DRC. In that light they have received considerable international acclaim and support, particularly through the UN peacekeeping force, MONUC. Warnings of potentially devastating consequences for civilian protection over recent months have repeatedly met with the response that this is 'the price to pay for peace.' In May 2009, Oxfam and a number of its partners interviewed residents in some of the areas of North and South Kivu where that price is being exacted.

Suffering the Science

rbaker — 2009-07-02T22:51:55Z

Climate change is damaging people’s lives today. Even if world leaders agree the strictest possible curbs on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the prospects are very bleak for hundreds of millions of people, most of them among the world’s poorest. This paper puts the dramatic stories of some of those people alongside the latest science on the impacts of climate change on humans. Together they explain why climate change is fundamentally a development crisis. The world must act immediately and decisively to address this, the greatest peril to humanity this century.

Investing in Poor Farmers Pays

mborum — 2009-07-01T22:37:08Z

Decades of faltering public commitment to investing in agriculture has hindered farmers' ability to cope with price volatility, climatic and economic shocks, or to pull themselves out of poverty. Yet donors and governments must see investing in agriculture as part of the long-term solution to the food, financial, and climate crises. Global agricultural growth and rural livelihoods cannot be improved nor poverty reduced without renewed public commitment to invest more, and more wisely in agriculture. Investments must include the forgotten poor people who live in marginalized areas, be context specific, demand-driven, participatory, and promote sustainable rural livelihoods through environmentally sustainable and empowering practices that treat men's and women's needs equitably.