Irish Aid

Our project here will directly reach 37,970 women, youth and other vulnerable people. They are from mining and pastoralist communities, living under extreme poverty and facing severe labour rights violations.

Our work will focus on governance and accountability for;

• effective service delivery, 
• promotion of women’s rights,
• enhanced local capacity for effective disaster preparedness and response,
• improved income and food security.

Spotlight on: Resource Rights Africa (RRA)

Fridah Musiime - Head of Programmes at Resource Rights Africa

RRA was formed in 2016 and they work to empower people in local communities to live a dignified life by helping them know their rights, specifically around natural resources. RRA does education and advocacy to help make sure that natural resources are equitably distributed and that there is no abuse of power by those who control these resources.

It mainly works around mining, gas and mineral resources, but also forests and water resources. 

There are 51 different minerals in Karamoja, where RRA work. The most common are gold, marble and limestone. RRA works with communities to help them to make the most of these resources.

“First of all, empower them with information about these resources and their rights over these resources,” says Fridah. “If they have the information, they are able to demand transparency and accountability from people who are utilising these resources.”

Our project here will reach 67,500 people directly from 15,000 households in some of the poorest communities. 

We will partner with the government, as well as national and local non-governmental organisations to;

• improve access to services for those who have experienced gender based violence,
• increase the part women and girls play in decision making,
• promote gender equality,
• promote resilient livelihoods.

Spotlight on: Concerned Youth Organisation

Harvey Chimaliro, Executive Director of Concerned Youth Organisation (CYO)

"With this funding we are able to implement and reach out to those people that need to be supported" - says Harvey Chimaliro, Executive Director of Concerned Youth Organisation (CYO), our partner in Malawi.

Conerned Youth Organisation (CYO) was set up in 2002 by young people who wanted to address the challenges facing them, and especially those facing young women.

“We focus on youth and women,” says Harvey.

The organisation’s main areas of work are in youth economic empowerment, the environment and climate change, gender, human rights and health.

For the work CYO is carrying out with Oxfam and the Irish Aid grant, gender is the main theme. 

“In gender justice we are focusing on strengthening local structures,” notes Harvey.

CYO train people on committees that carry out assessments for gender- based violence. They deliver specific training for the area where they are working. This means working with courts, the victim support unit in the police, social welfare departments and other services. 

Harvey notes that this collaborative approach is to ensure that they all “work together to address the challenges” that exist in these communities. CYO plans to place an emphasis on empowering women in leadership by providing leadership skills training in the future. 

Harvey notes that getting funding and resources can be a challenge. Working with Oxfam under the Irish Aid grant means that CYO have the resources to address issues in communities. The funding means that they can actually do what they set out to do. 

“With this funding we are able to implement and reach out to those people that need to be supported,” continues Harvey. “This also empowers young people that they can be trusted."

Our projects here will reach 18,900 people directly. These people include women, youth and people living with disabilities from communities which are prone to climate shocks and natural disasters. 

We will partner with local non-governmental organisations to help vulnerable communities to;

• move away from food insecurity,
• get to a place of resilience, where they are less dependent on humanitarian aid,
• address gender based violence,
• realise their rights.

Spotlight on: Women's Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE)

Margret Zinhumwe, Programmes Manager at Women's Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE)

 “Most of these women have good leadership qualities, but the reason they’re not taking up leadership positions is they’re not economically strong to fund their leadership activities,” - Margret Zinhumwe, Programmes Manager at Women's Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE), our partner in Zimbabwe

WALPE was set up in 2018, as a direct response to the outcome of the election in Zimbabwe. 

“It was founded after we realised that women were not fully represented in the 2018 elections,” says Margret.  “Our organisation is premised on capacity building, advocacy and lobbying and knowledge building.”  

Getting more women to get into politics and run for the next election is WALPE’s goal. It works to give women the skills to take up leadership positions at all levels, whether that be in politics, or within their communities. Church leadership, village leadership and leadership in other areas is all encouraged, as this gives women experience if they decide to run for parliament.

As well as leadership skills training, WALPE also delivers business or social entrepreneurship training. This covers business management, how to run a business and how to run a project. 

“We assume once they are leaders they’ll be running projects,” comments Margret.

The idea is that if they can set up businesses and make profit, they will have the skills to become leaders, and also the funds to do this. 

Margret explains that to run for the presidency in Zimbabwe, it costs $20,000USD. To contest to be a member of parliament it costs $1,000USD and to be a senator or councillor, people must pay $100USD.

“Most women are stay at home wives, they can’t raise that money,” Margret notes. 

WALPE also organises visits so that the women they work with can see other women participating in politics. Last year, they visited Kenya to see how elections work there 

Our project here will reach 15,600 people directly from vulnerable households. These include households headed by women, elderly people and even children.

We will work with partners to;

• promote local humanitarian leadership, 
• anticipate crises so that communities can act quickly,
• improve agriculture and food systems, 
• promote women’s leadership, 
• promote economic empowerment,
• end violence against women and girls.

Spotlight on: Nutri Aid Trust

Peter Manda, Country Director of Nutri Aid Trust

 “We want humanitarian efforts to be the last resort,” says Peter Manda, Country Director of Nutri Aid Trust, our partner in Zambia.

Nutri Aid Trust was set up in 2007 and works with smallholder farmers. “Our core business is working with smallholder farmers, strengthening their linkages to input markets, and output markets and strengthening their adaptive and resilience capacity around climate change,” notes Peter.

They teach farmers different technologies and practices so that they can be more resilient to climate change.

“We teach agricultural management practices,” he continues. “This is with the view that farmers can earn some income through markets and can further reinforce the resilience and food security issues. We want humanitarian efforts to be the last resort.” 

If people can grow their own food, they will have more surplus income to help minimise the need for humanitarian support. 

“Our primary target group is women and youth,” says Peter. 

Farmer field schools, as well as training and learning events are just some of the ways that the organisation helps people. 

Peter notes that the extra support from Oxfam will help Nutri Aid Trust to expand its operations

Our project here will reach 34,800 people directly, especially women and youth from pastoralist communities. These communities are affected by frequent droughts. They also experience high levels of food insecurity, conflict and gender inequalities.

We will work with local partners to support the needs of these communities across the themes of;

• water,
• sustainable livelihoods,
• peace building.

Spotlight on: Candlelight

Elijah Mulumba, Programme Manager of Candlelight

“The contribution from Oxfam to Candlelight is immense,” says Elijah Mulumba, Programme Manager of Candlelight, our partner in Somalia and Somalilan

Candlelight works with people in communities who are living in extremely difficult circumstances. 

“Sometimes when it’s too bad, they basically have nothing left, because they are living off humanitarian support, like Cash Transfers,” says Elijah.

Candlelight was set up in 1995 and works across all of Somaliland. The organisation works in the areas of environment and livelihoods, education, and health. They respond to gender and humanitarian issues across all these areas.

“In our humanitarian response, we do WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programmes), protection, food security and livelihood, sometimes we also do health with mobile teams,” continues Elijah. “We do humanitarian response across the different thematic areas. We do development and resilience building interventions as well.”

Part of this development work is their work in education, as Candlelight run primary schools. They also run vocational centres, where they deliver training for different skills.
Elijah notes what the partnership with Oxfam has meant to Candlelight.

“Oxfam has supported a number of local organisations to grow,” continues Elijah.

He notes that some ways Oxfam has assisted Candlelight is with capacity strengthening and helping the organisation to grow, as well as funding opportunities.

Our project here will directly reach 24,000 people in communities most affected by armed conflicts.

With our partners we will work to;

• deliver a strategy to contribute to peace, stability, poverty reduction and the protection of civilians,
• provide support to communities to help them overcome crises and challenges.

Spotlight on: Solidarité pour la Promotion Sociale et la Paix

César Ngango Lumoo, Programme Protection Manager of Solidarité pour la Promotion Sociale et la Paix (SOPROP)

“We teach communities how to identify conflict, how to warn with warning systems and how to resolve conflict,” César Ngango Lumoo, Programme Protection Manager of Solidarité pour la Promotion Sociale et la Paix (SOPROP), our partner in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Translated to Solidarity for Social Promotion and Peace, SOPROP “is an organisation that defends and protects human rights,” explains César. 

They cover six communities in eastern DRC and implement several projects, with the Oxfam project under Irish Aid being one of these. 

This project is mainly about community protection and livelihoods. 

As an organisation, SOPROP works to help people build their understanding on what rights they have, so that they can interact with law enforcers and  other authorities.

“We do capacity building on knowledge of law and the rights that protect people,” continues César. 

A major part of their work is around teaching people how to get information, where to get it and making sure people are empowered by this knowledge. 

“We have benefitted a lot from Oxfam,” says César. 

He lists capacity building on management, human resources and finance as ways Oxfam have benefitted SOPROP. He notes that this involves Oxfam helping them with their MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning) capacity.

Our project here will directly reach 27,000 returnees (people who left as refugees, but are returning), internally displaced persons and host communities.

We will work with partners to help people in these conflict-affected communities.

With our partners, we will help to ensure that people, especially women and youth, will have improved resilience from disasters under the themes of;

• integrated food security, 
• climate resilience, 
• gender, 
• good governance,
• peace building interventions.