Research & reports

R4 Rural Resilience Initiative

akramer — 2013-03-19T14:59:36Z

R4 represents a new kind of partnership, bringing public- and private-sector actors together in a strategic, large-scale initiative to innovate and develop better tools to help the most vulnerable people build resilient livelihoods. R4 promises to leverage the respective strengths of its partners: Oxfam America’s capacity to
build innovative partnerships and the World Food Programme’s global reach and extensive capacity to support government-led safety nets for the most vulnerable people. This partnership will enable thousands more poor farmers and other food insecure households to manage weather vulnerability through an affordable, comprehensive risk management program that builds long-term resilience.

In this report we share key accomplishments during the July–September 2012 quarter, including the enrollment results for the 2012 agricultural season in Ethiopia, and present the regional level analysis conducted in Senegal in preparation of the pilot rollout in 2013.

Viv Tankou Moun

mhart — 2012-12-13T19:38:13Z

From a peak of 1.5 million, the number of displaced people remaining in the camps that came into being after Haiti’s devastating earthquake of January 2010 has dropped significantly to around 358,000 nearly three years after the disaster. Despite the official end to the emergency phase of the crisis, conditions in the camps are deplorable and the people who remain are by and large those who are the least able to get back on their feet. This study was commissioned by Oxfam in order to gain a better understanding of the problem, particularly in the 16 sites in the commune of Delmas where Oxfam has provided water and sanitation services.

Salt in the Wound

mhart — 2012-12-13T19:38:40Z

As the third anniversary of the January 2010 earthquake, which brought so much destruction to Haiti, approaches, this briefing note highlights the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians still living in camps and still without adequate housing. Against this backdrop, displaced Haitians now face persistent and worsening threats of, often violent, eviction from landowners eager to get their land back. It is vital that national and international attention be brought to bear on this serious problem, so that the rights of displaced people can be properly protected.

The climate finance cliff

bgrossmancohen — 2012-12-13T19:39:11Z

At the 2009 Copenhagen talks, developed countries committed to pay $100 billion per year by 2020 of climate finance and agreed to make a down payment of $30 billion for 2010-12, called ‘Fast Start Finance.’ At the 2011 Cancun talks the Green Climate Fund was established to channel the $100 billion commitment. In just over a month, the Fast Start Finance period will end but the Green Climate Fund remains empty.

Commodities of War

ebhatti — 2012-12-13T19:39:52Z

Recent waves of displacement in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, affecting more than 760,000 people since the beginning of 2012 in the Kivu provinces alone, reflect a new dimension to the country’s ongoing crisis. As the Congolese army fights M23 rebels, localised armed groups are springing up, and areas that were relatively stable are again under attack. Evidence gathered by Oxfam in 2012 shows that government soldiers, armed rebels, police, and civilian authorities are all vying for the right to exploit local communities and extort money or goods from them, pushing people further into poverty and undermining their efforts to earn a living.

Harvesting data

jedwards — 2012-11-20T16:34:50Z

This Research Backgrounder paints a picture of overall US government spending on agriculture during the 10-year period 1998-2007 using a macro, evidence-based approach and treating “official development assistance to agriculture” as it was defined prior to the global food price crisis. The author hopes to thus provide researchers and others with a baseline against which to track shifts in spending patterns that result from the whole-of-government approach that emerged from L’Aquila.

Planting Now (2nd edition): Summary

mhart — 2012-10-15T14:33:16Z

Agriculture in Haiti has suffered three decades of crisis and institutional neglect. Nevertheless, almost 60 percent of Haitians live in rural areas and rely on farming for their livelihoods.

For that reason, agriculture must play a central role in post-earthquake reconstruction. However, the plans and programs of the Haitian government and the international community have proven insufficient to revitalize the sector and improve conditions for small-scale farmers, and have failed to recognize the important roles of women in agriculture.

The Haitian government and the main actors in agriculture should continue to prioritize agricultural development, while putting greater emphasis on long-term programs to assist Haitians to get back on their feet and improve their living conditions with dignity.

Click here for the full report.

Planting Now (2nd edition)

mhart — 2012-10-15T14:35:22Z

Agriculture in Haiti has suffered three decades of crisis and institutional neglect. Nevertheless, almost 60 percent of Haitians live in rural areas and rely on farming for their livelihoods.

Summary available here.

Summer of high food prices and hot air: CFS meeting crucial in fighting hunger

bgrossmancohen — 2012-10-12T14:10:57Z

The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) meeting in Rome should break the cycle of government inaction and agree to set a path toward an equitable, sustainable and resilient food system.

Our Land Our Lives

bgrossmancohen — 2012-10-05T20:01:50Z

With food prices spiking for the third time in four years, interest in land could accelerate again as rich countries try to secure their food supplies and investors see land as a good long-term bet. All too often, forced evictions of poor farmers are a consequence of these rapidly increasing land deals in developing countries. As the world’s leading standard-setter and a big investor itself, the World Bank should freeze its own land investments and review its policy and practice to prevent land-grabbing. In the past the Bank has chosen to freeze lending when poor standards have caused dispossession and suffering. It needs to do so again, in order to play a key role in stopping the global land rush.

Busan in a nutshell

aperera — 2012-10-05T21:18:19Z

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, established in Busan, South Korea in 2011, set the international standard on the principles of effective aid and good development to which all development actors should subscribe. These principles include: country leadership and ownership of development strategies; a focus on results that matter to the poor in developing countries; inclusive partnerships among development actors based on mutual trust; and transparency and accountability to one another.

All development stakeholders—including traditional donors and emerging providers—must respect and uphold these key principles by fulfilling the promises they made at Busan. For this to happen, the Global Partnership will need to rely on strong vision, high-level political engagement and a robust but flexible global accountability mechanism.

Community Consent Index

jedwards — 2012-12-11T15:53:33Z

Increasingly, around the world local communities are demanding a meaningful voice in determining whether and under what conditions oil, natural gas, and mining projects take place. This Research Backgrounder collates a representative sample of the publicly available position statements concerning community rights made by 28 major oil, gas, and mining exploration and production companies, with a primary focus on 2010 to 2012.

From Controversy to Consensus?

jedwards — 2012-11-20T16:39:41Z

In light of the urgent need to reduce conflict around extractive industry and other large-scale development projects with potentially significant impacts on indigenous peoples and local communities, Oxfam America compiled the case studies in this report highlighting lessons learned from three community consultation experiences.

Haiti Rice Value Chain Assessment

nhailu — 2012-11-01T17:20:23Z

The paper provides an assessment of the Haitian rice value chain, including an exploration of areas for improvement. Total rice production has not grown significantly over the past 35 years, despite significant financial and technical assistance provided in some geographical areas. The market share of nationally produced rice has shrunk dramatically in the face of competition from inexpensive, subsidized commercial and food aid rice imports from the United States, which have become dominant in national diets, increasing the risk of long-term food insecurity in an era of global food price volatility.

R4 Rural Resilience Initiative

aperera — 2012-12-21T20:53:23Z

R4 represents a new kind of partnership, bringing public- and private-sector actors together in a strategic, large-scale initiative to innovate and develop better tools to help the most vulnerable people build resilient livelihoods. R4 promises to leverage the respective strengths of its partners: Oxfam America’s capacity to build innovative partnerships and the World Food Programme’s global reach and extensive capacity to support government-led safety nets for the most vulnerable people. This partnership will enable thousands more poor farmers and other food-insecure households to manage weather vulnerability through an affordable, comprehensive risk management program that builds long-term resilience.

By combining HARITA’s successful model for participatory design and capacity building with the World Food Programme’s global capacity, R4 will help accelerate the scale-up and testing of this innovative approach in Ethiopia, Senegal, and two other countries in the next five years. R4 also constitutes a first step toward developing a sustainable insurance market for poor people, an essential factor in ensuring farmers’ livelihoods and food security, and in improving farmers’ resilience over the long term.

In this report we share information on project expansion in Ethiopia for the 2012 agricultural season and present outputs of the national level analysis conducted in Senegal in preparation of the pilot roll-out in 2013.