General

The Power of Voices Partnership (PvP) is an influencing programme with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The programme FAIR for ALL led by Oxfam Novib is a five year long initiative implemented jointly with consortium members Huairou Commission, SOMO and Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Africa) aimed at supporting and collaborating with people’s rightful demands towards companies, governments and multilateral organizations for economic, social and environmental justice, promoting global trade and value-chains that are fair for all. The main focus of the FAIR for ALL programme is to support and strengthen CSOs to play their diverse roles; aseducators, mobilizers, creators and watchdogs to make trade and value chains FAIR for ALL. In Uganda,FAIR for ALL programme aims at strengthening CSOs to create space and mobilize demands of small-scale producers to contribute to more inclusive and sustainable agribusiness value chains (focus on agriculture, specifically coffee and horticulture) that respect land rights and promote grassroots women’s rights and economic empowerment in Uganda, and a conducive environment that promotes equal opportunities for individuals and businesses,resulting in poverty reduction, better service delivery and sustainablebusiness practices. The Uganda FAIR for ALL programme will be implemented by Oxfam in Uganda and partners, aiming to: 1) Enhancing women’s access to local, regional and global value chains (agriculture, specific focus on coffee and horticulture) by strengthening their organizations and capacity to influence stakeholders in value chains, including public actors, for more inclusive policies and constituencies on production practices; 2) Strengthen women’s participation and leadership through capacity strengthening of women smallholder farmer groups in negotiation skills, policy analysis and advocacy, and market and price analysis; 3) Enhancing space for CSOs, in particular regarding land rights issues. Reviving cooperatives and collective enterprises of smallholder farmer producer groups as an alternative business model to mobilize and organize small-scale food producers in agribusiness value chains; 4) Addressing human rights violations in agribusiness, with a focus on compliance with FPIC; and 5) Advocating for a fair tax system and budget transparency, paving the way for pro-poor spending, including investment in agriculture, social protection, basic services and human capital development with linkages to fair trade policies and practices. These objectives will be achieved by supporting civil society to navigate shrinking space; addressing deeply rooted cultural norms against women; strengthening CSOs’ and alliances’ influencing capacities, in particular related to land, fiscal and trade policies, inequality and exclusion; and by strengthening CSOs’ capacities to engage with the private sector. To achieve the main objectives of the programme in Uganda, Oxfam will collaborate with: SEATINI (they also works with Oxfam and other CSOsthrough the Tax Justice Alliance Uganda); Agency for Community Empowerment (AFCE); Uganda Agribusiness Alliance (UAA); Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) and the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers' Forum (ESSAF).

General

This 40-month Project aims to expand space for Vietnamese civil society to engage in policy processes through capacity building forseven multi-stakeholder coalitions and advocacy for improvements in laws and policies relating to cross-cutting issues that are critical to an enabling environment for civil society. Through various capacity building activities, the seven coalitions will have improved knowledge, skills, mutual value and cooperation on fundamental human rights, role of civil society in development, policy making process, advocacy and organizational improvement. They will deploy their improved capacity in collaboratively advocating for improving policies on freedom of association, rights to access to information and freedom of assembly, which will also further improve their capacity in claiming and practicing civil rights. The Project builds on and links to the results and experience of Oxfam in supporting civil society-led advocacy coalitions, which include participation of supportive government agencies, media, academic experts, and the private sector since 2013 under the Coalition Support Program. The co-applicants to this Project coordinate four such coalitions: the Coalition on Agriculture and Farmer#s Welfare, Forest Land Coalition, Mining Coalition, and the Clean Water Coalition.Three other civil society-led coalitions/ networks # the Budget Transparency Coalition, People#s Action for Health Equity, and the M.net migrant workers# rights network # will participate in capacity development activities of the Action as beneficiary groups. The Overall Objective of the Project is to contribute to increased space for Vietnamese civil society to engage in policy processes. This overall objective will be realized through a combination of policy advocacy, public education, and alliance building around three cross-cutting civic rights affecting civil society space: access to information, freedom of association, and freedom of assembly. These are basic conditions of an enabling environment for civil society participation in public life. The Action seizes opportunities in the National Assembly#s legislative agenda to raise awareness and seek to influence policy discussions surrounding the Law on Access to Information (passed in April 2016, entering into force in July 2018), proposed Law on Associations (to be considered by the NA in November 2016) and Law on Demonstrations (also known as Peaceful Assembly, to be considered in 2017), plus sub-law decrees and guiding circulars for each of theselaws. The Project has two Specific Objectives as follows: 1. Vietnamese civil society has increased capacity to influence policy decisions and implementation that affect their lives. 2. Policy processes on cross-cutting issues relating to civil society space are influenced by coalition members# policy recommendations. And four results as follows: Result 1: Annual plans for capacity development, cross-cutting research and advocacy among 7 multi-stakeholder coalitions are developed. Result 1 will deliver: # A political economy analysis of policy opportunities relating to Access to Information, Association, and Assembly, updated in Years 2 and 3 # Detailed schedules for capacity development and advocacy activities in Years 2 and 3 # Seven annuallyupdated advocacy strategies and plans of the seven coalitions Result 2: Coalition members have improved knowledge, skills, and mutual cooperation on cross-learning topics critical to increasing civil society space. Result 2 will make changes as follows: # 560 cumulative participants in capacity development activities (50% female) # 7 coalitions complete bi-annual Qualitative Assessment Scorecards to monitor their progress # 4 coalitions have improved capacity in advocacy, campaigning, negotiation andcommunication skills,and research as assessed through a partner capacity tool. Result 3: At least 2 advocacy campaigns on cross-cutting laws and policies relating to rights to association, information and assembly are conducted by Oxfam and the coalition partners. Specifically, the Project will produce the following changes: # 6 sets of recommendations on laws and sub-laws on access to information, association and assembly are produced and signed by Oxfam and coalition members and sent to relevant policy making bodies. # 500 state officials are reached by the coalitions# joint advocacy on access to information, association and assembly # At least 250 print, online, and broadcast media products about coalition-led advocacy over the period of the Action. Result 4: An assessment on the progress of changing civil society space in 2015#2018 is completed. Specific deliverables: # A published civil society space assessment (2000 copies in Vietnamese, 500 in English) # Assessment available online # Atleast 5 media articles about the assessment results # An academic journal article describing the findings # Findings presented at 3-5 workshops and conferences, organized by Oxfam as well as other international development partners. The Centre for Environment and Community Research (CECR), an NGO based in Hanoi that coordinate the Coalition for Clean Water. CECR initiated the Hanoi Lakes Club and now coordinates six local community monitoring groups (who aremembers of the coalition) around the country. Due to its community links and active advocacy on local water pollution issues, CECR has been invited by the Ministry of Justice to contribute to provincial workshops on human rights. With an interest in access to information and thepolicy-making process, CECR will host activities on these subjects and reach out to the coalition#s local members tobuild their capacity on policy influencing and monitoring.