Strengthening Women’s Leadership Networks in Asia (Planning Phase)

Description

Over the past two years, Oxfam and its partners in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through Oxfam America, have worked to promote women’s leadership in locally led humanitarian action. Through a series of local, national and regional meetings, women’s organizations succeeded in forming new formal and informal networks, strengthening capacity through professional and leadership development, and conducting research to build an evidence base on how to strengthen women’s leadership in humanitarian action. The project also involves co-creative and feminist approaches to learning, enabling the exchange of knowledge and experience between partners and Oxfam.

This exploratory project is very important considering that the global humanitarian system is facing more and more emergency situations every year. The need to respond better to disasters and reduce suffering is increasingly urgent, especially for women, girls and other marginalized groups who are often overlooked in emergency situations. Women’s leadership has been proven to produce more gender-inclusive and transformative outcomes, making humanitarian systems more effective and just. Therefore, Oxfam and its partners are committed to learning from women’s organizations and women leaders on how to reduce gender-specific vulnerabilities and prepare communities, especially women, to respond to disasters.

Building on the success of the first phase, Oxfam plans the second phase of the project to deepen and expand the impact of women’s leadership in the humanitarian sector in Asia. This project will remain focused on the same countries and involve the Oxfam Asia Regional Platform. This proposal outlines the details of the planning and design phase of the Phase 2 project, where we will collaborate with our partners, Oxfam colleagues and other participants, to determine the best overall structure, objectives, outcomes, activities and future timeline of this project.

Funding

This program is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through Oxfam America, program period 1 May 2024 – 31 October 2024 with total financial support of USD 45,000.