Gender and its Intersections in Localisation of Humanitarian Action since the World Humanitarian Summit of 2016: The Case of Oxfam Canada

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Gende and i In e ec ion in Locali a ion of H mani a ian Ac ion ince he Wo ld H mani a ian S mmi of 2016

The Case of Oxfam Canada

29 January 2021

Lara Ehrenzeller

Supervised by Luz Paula Parra Rosales, Uppsala Universitet

Thi he i i bmi ed fo ob aining he Ma e Deg ee in In e na ional H mani a ian Ac ion.

By submitting the thesis, the author certifies that the text is from his/her hand, does not include the work of someone else unless clearly indicated, and that the thesis has been produced in

accordance with proper academic practices.

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Ma e The i The Case of Oxfam Canada

Abstract

While both localisation and gender were major topics at the World Humanitarian Summit of 2016, they have largely been considered in isolation. Yet, the underlying issue in both cases are power inequalities, which this research seeks to highlight through an intersectional feminist perspective. Based on a qualitative case study on Oxfam Canada, this research thus aims to understand how social locations based on gender and their in e ec ion i h o he ocial loca ion a e in eg a ed in o O fam Canada di c ion around a feminist approach to localisation. Based on a thematic analysis, this paper e al a e he main p opo i ion ha O fam Canada femini approach to localisation is largely based on a conceptualisation of gender as a binary and as an isolated category.

Thi a la gel confi med b he empi ical finding ha e ealed ha O fam Canada foc clea l lie on local (p e mabl ci -gender heterosexual) women. Nevertheless, the empirical analysis also showed burgeoning aspects of intersectional feminist perspectives such as the focus on power analyses that at times span across different levels (i.e. household, community, societal, and global), their emphasis on the importance of acknowledging their own positionality, as well as their commitments to coherence between their objectives and ways of working.

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Acknowledgments

This thesis was carried out at the Uppsala University in the framework of the Erasmus M nd Join Ma e P og amme in In e na ional H mani a ian Ac ion.

I am indebted to my supervisor Dr. Luz Paula Parra Rosales, who has supported me throughout the entire research process. Without her relentless optimism and encouragement, this study would not have been completed with the same rigour and depth. Her valuable inputs and feedback have been essential to achieve an adequate, pertinent and coherent discussion of the issues at hand.

I am, moreover, deeply grateful for the support of my peers that have provided valuable feedback throughout the joint seminars as well as my friends and family who have supported me with their feedback and encouragement. They have spent hours reading, pondering and discussing parts of this thesis and have always managed to come back with fresh ideas.

Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to the readers of this thesis who take the time to delve into this topic that I care about deeply and give feedback that will certainly help me in my future endeavours.

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Preface

This research is embedded in a feminist framework and thus does not pretend to be objective, universal, or neutral. Instead, as it recognises that women have been subordinated, this research is to be considered as engaged (see Denis, 2008, p. 678). As Mendes wrote in the introduction to her PhD thesis, her feminist approach renders her position as a researcher politically charged. But, she argues, so is every other study as the concep ion of a e ea ch q e ion i elf i in in icall ied o he e ea che bjec i e values (Mendes, 2009, p. v). The same could thus be said to apply here. This research does not pretend to be neutral as both humanitarian action despite its claims of neutrality, independence, and impartiality as well as feminism are political projects.

While objec i i appea impo ible, e al a ing one po i ionali in ela ion o he research topic is crucial in order to ensure transparency. As this research does not include field research, my positionality towards the research subject is most and foremost impacting the research through the way I am asking questions, filter information and construct the world and derive conclusions form the information at hand (see Berger, 2015, p. 220). As such, it is thus important to note that I am writing from an extremely privileged position: As a white cis-woman from the Minority World, I am not affected by most of the discriminations discussed in this paper; hence, I cannot pretend to grasp them fully. My understanding of these issues has thus primarily been shaped by literature, conferences and valuable discussions with peers who might have a deeper understanding of these issues or even be affected by some of them.

Ho e e , a e ill al o di c in hi pape , i i no he e pon ibili of he opp e ed o each he opp e o hei mi ake (Lorde, 1980/2016, p. 17). This research is thus to be understood as only the beginning of my learning process to become more aware of how my actions, my way of questioning, and my way of constructing the world might be occulting the experiences of certain people. The purpose of this research is thus not to reveal an absolute truth but rather to take some people who might be in a similar position with me on my journey to start taking note of what we might have missed and start understanding the mechanisms that allow us to miss these issues and how to overcome them.

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List of Appendices

Appendix I Overview of Publication Selection Process ... 76 Appendix II Oxfam World Humanitarian Summit Commitments ... 79 Appendix III Thematic Analysis Coding Overview ... 89

List of Tables

Table 1: Driving Factors for Localisation ... 10 Table 2: Impeding Factors for Localisation ... 13 Table 3: Overview of Core Commitments from the World Humanitarian Summit 2016 ... 18 Table 4: Overview of Oxfam's Individual Commitments from the World Humanitarian Summit 2016 ... 19 Table 5: Overview of Selected Empirical Data ... 31

List of Figures

Figure 1: Overview of Mentioned Social Categories ... 39 Figure 2: References to Gender Beyond a Woman-Man Dichotomy ... 46

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List of Abbreviations

CSO Civil Society Organisation GBV Gender-Based Violence

HPN Humanitarian Practice Network IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee

INGO International Non-Governmental Organisation

LGBTQI+ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex MEAL Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

OCA Oxfam Canada

OCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OI Oxfam International

PSEA Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse RPF Rwandan Patriotic Front

SHEA Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse

Sida Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SOGIE Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression UN United Nations

WHS World Humanitarian Summit

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1 Introduction

Nine pe cen of elief e ice a e e ima ed o be p o ided b local ac o (Südhoff, 2019). Two point one percent was the amount of humanitarian aid that was directly channelled through national and local actors in 2019 (Development Initiatives, 2020).

Affected populations are the first to respond during a crisis with neighbours, volunteer groups and local civil society organisations (CSO) engaged before international or even national actors might arrive (Gingerich & Cohen, 2015, p. 18; Roepstorff, 2020, p. 284).

Yet, these efforts are largely neglected by the public, the media and most importantly, they are marginalised in the humanitarian sector (Gingerich & Cohen, 2015, p. 8;

Roepstorff, 2020, p. 284; Stoddard et al., 2015, p. 68; Wall & Hedlund, 2016, p. 9). This approach has had a detrimental impact in many instances where local capacities and institutions were overlooked and eroded (Audet, 2011, p. 1156; Elkahlout & Elgibali, 2020, p. 236) leading to adverse effects and dependency rather than sustainable improvement of a situation (Audet, 2011, p. 1156).

While the norms have slowly adapted, the model itself has not undergone significant changes and essentially still relies on experts from the Minority World to assist victims of the Majority World (Audet, 2011, p. 1152). The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) of 2016 tried to remedy this. Bringing together the highest number of representatives of United Nations (UN) Member States, international organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGO), civil society, affected populations, and the private sector in the history of the UN (UN Secretary-General, 2016), 399 commitments were made to support an app oach o h mani a ian ac ion ha a a local a po ible, a in e na ional a nece a (WHS Secretariat, 2016, p. 22). This paper now looks at the localisation agenda from an intersectional perspective with a focus on how gender and its intersections are accounted for in the localisation agenda based on a case study of Oxfam Canada (OCA).

1.1 Research Problem

Localisation and gender were important topics at the WHS 2016 in Istanbul (UN Secretary-General, 2016, p. 10; WHS Secretariat, 2016, p. 5). However, they seem to

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have been treated as largely separate categories. One of the main goals of localisation is to reduce the unequal power relations between expatriate and national staff (De Geoffroy et al., 2017), yet, the agenda seems rather blind to gender dimensions that could and arguably should inform this agenda. When gender issues (within the localisation context as well as outside of this) are addressed, it seems to have largely been reduced to sex (Enarson & Pease, 2016) and as almost exclusively concerning women and girls (Cohn, 2013, p. 3; Giboin & Bernard, 2013, p. 2; Hilhorst et al., 2018, pp. 5 6). The sole reference to anything gender-related in the section on localisation was an explicit men ioning ha omen and omen g o p a e incl ded in he e m local ac o hich

ho ld be engaged, capaci a ed and f nded (UN Secretary-General, 2016, p. 10).

Conversely, in the sections on gender, we can find a bit more references to reflections on the intersection of these two agendas. These include references o local women and omen g o p ho ho ld be empo e [ed] a cen al ac o , leade , and agen of change (WHS Secretariat, 2016, p. 17); some commitments made to increase the number of partnerships with women-led o omen organisations (WHS Secretariat, 2016, p.

17); or commitments to the use of a gender lens in programming (WHS Secretariat, 2016, pp. 17 18). Furthermore, these sections stress that humanitarian programming should become more gender-responsive in general. However, there again, we can see that gender seems to be reduced to women and girls (WHS Secretariat, 2016, p. 17). Hence, how gender intersects with other social categories is largely absent from discussions around localisation and/or gender.

1.2 Relevance of Intersectional Feminism and Localisation

Intersectional feminist perspectives are relevant for humanitarian action overall and localisation in particular as inequalities and humanitarian crises are closely interrelated.

This is reflected in conflict settings where patriarchal fo m of e hnici can n omen bodies in o ba leg o nd a a man i con ide ed o p od ce child en a e e hnicall his through the raping of women regardless of their ethnic affiliation¹ (Handrahan, 2004, pp.

1 Handrahan (2004, pp. 437 438) argues that this is for instance the case when ethnicity is paternal or ma c line, ende ing omen e hnic affilia ion i ele an . Con eq en l , in Bo nia, non-Serb women were raped by Serbian male soldiers and forced to give birth to children that were considered Serb; in Rwanda, young women were kept captive by both the former Rwandan army and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in o de o e e a inc ba o of a ne gene a ion ; d ing he Pa i ion of India (Handrahan, 2004, pp.

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437 438, emphasis in original). More generally, inequalities including inequalities based on gender and sexual orientation can be exacerbated during humanitarian crises (Rumbach & Knight, 2014, pp. 33 34).

Nevertheless, humanitarian decision-making processes often forgo the inclusion of insightful actors such as national women leaders and civil society representatives who could inform a feminist and context-specific response and instead privilege international organisations and agencies predominantly based in the Minority World (Kemitare et al., 2019). These international agencies are arguably even more unaware of concerns relating to various sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions (SOGIE), which can exacerbate marginalisation and lead to exclusion in the response (Rumbach & Knight, 2014, pp. 33 34). Consequently, the lives of women and girls (Kemitare et al., 2019) as well as of people with various SOGIE are negatively impacted (Rumbach & Knight, 2014, pp. 33 34) and potential is lost as these organisations would be on the ground, would often quickly be ready to respond, would have better access to remote communities, are well connected and possess important knowledge about their communities (Kemitare et al., 2019) or particular skills (Balgos et al., 2012; Gaillard, 2011).

Feminism and localisation have a major common denominator: both aim at a transformation of unequal power relations that are deeply embedded in humanitarian action (Rhodes, 2018). Consequently, it appears that humanitarian practices could benefit from more feminist perspectives, especially intersectional feminist perspectives that take into account heterogeneity as they acknowledge the interaction between different layers of identity such as gender, sexuality, class or ethnicity (Gines, 2011, p. 275) and aim at analysing how structures of power emerge and interact (Kaijser & Kronsell, 2014, p. 418).

However, while feminism is becoming more important in some parts of the international sphere as governments and NGOs start to declare that they pursue a feminist approach, the humanitarian system seems to be lagging behind (Bart, 2019; McGuinness & Rejali, 2019). This research thus aims to contribute to this discussion specifically around the localisation agenda, as this agenda has come into a stronger focus since the WHS 2016

undergone conversion and were oftentimes only accepted back in their communities if they abandoned their children, for whom they considered conversion to be impossible (Dey, 2016, p. 113).

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and as we can find patriarchal or heteronormative² hierarchies within the humanitarian system as well as within societies (Bradshaw, 2016, p. 57; Lambert et al., 2018, p. 15) and these hierarchies interact together.

Finally, this case study focuses on an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) because of the specific and increasingly important place they occupy within the humanitarian system. On the one hand, they significantly contribute to the shaping of the narrative within the humanitarian ecosystem; and on the other hand, they hold an important place on the funding level with a majority of the funding going through either UN agencies or INGOs, in pa ic la he big five (Maietta et al., 2017, p. 26). Among ho e big fi e i O fam, which has been selected for this case study (Maietta et al., 2017, p. 26). It is relevant not only because of its size and nature as an INGO but also because it is an organisation albeit not the only one that is organized as a confederation with independent organisations that are affiliated to the international secretariat (Oxfam International, n.d.-b). Moreover, it is a multimandate organisation, bridging the humanitarian development divide and thus having great potential for localisation (Morgan, 2018, pp. 272 273), and it is an organisation that states explicitly that it is guided by feminist approaches (Oxfam International, n.d.-a). In order to go more in- depth, I have chosen to limit the empirical analysis to OCA.

1.3 Research Objectives

The purpose of this study is thus to understand the place that intersectional aspects of gender occupy in discussions on localisation within the humanitarian sector. I specifically seek to shed light on how social locations based on gender are considered in relation to other social locations ha i , a pe on po ition on the various axes of different and intersecting systems of oppression (Hulko, 2009, p. 48) in the context of localisation. It strives to highlight the commonalities between the purposes of intersectional feminism and localisation, namely, the focus on understanding and transforming power relations.

Highlighting the understanding of power relations as the core of a feminist conceptualisation of gender inequalities, I hope to contribute to a discussion on gender

2 Heteronormativity refers to thinking that considers heterosexuality as universal, fixed and natural making every other form of sexual expression deviant or invisible (Yep, 2002, p. 167).

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that goes beyond a heteronormative understanding of the concept and evaluates its intrinsic links to other social locations. In particular, this research aims at gaining insight into how and to what extent OCA considers social locations based on gender to intersect with other social locations in their discussions around localisation.

1.4 Research Question and Main Proposition

The guiding question for this research is thus: How have social locations based on gender been considered to intersect with other social locations in discussions on localisation within Oxfam Canada since the World Humanitarian Summit 2016?

The main proposition posits that other social locations intersecting with social locations based on gender³ have insufficiently been taken into consideration, which appears to at least partially stem from an interpretation of gender that continues to be dominated by a binary vision and the effects of gender oppression continue to be viewed largely in isolation. Consequently, a more intersectional feminist perspective that is centred around an analysis of power across and within different levels (e.g., household, community, society, global) and domains of power (i.e. interpersonal, cultural, disciplinary and structural) and axes of oppression would be needed to avoid (to the extent possible) further marginalisation and unintended harm in localisation of humanitarian action.

1.5 Research Design

In order to reach the enunciated objectives of this case study, this research has been structured according to a qualitative research design and includes, after this introduction, a background chapter outlining the localisation agenda within humanitarian action and how gender and its intersections with other social categories are integrated into this agenda, as well as how localisation, gender and intersectionality have been embedded within Oxfam. This is followed by a conceptual framework, which, together with the background chapter, sets the stage for the empirical analysis. The empirical analysis will consist of a thematic analysis of text data from OCA and will examine how gende

3 Hencefo h, e ill a ime efe o gende in e ec ion i h o he ocial ca ego ie in o de o facilitate reading. It is however to be understood as specific social locations based on gender and their intersections with social locations based on other social categories such as race/ethnicity or class.

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intersections with other social categories have been discussed within the context of localisation since the WHS 2016. As such, it meets the three key criteria for the suitability of a case study approach put forth by Yin (2018): first, the research question is trying to an e a ho q e ion; econd, I canno con ol beha io al e en ; and hi d, he foc lies on a contemporary phenomenon. Moreover, this is an adequate method as case studies despite vast variations tend to aim at shedding light on a decision or a set of decisions regarding the underlying reasons, its implementation, and results. Consequently, beyond science, it is also closely linked to decision making and policy (Schramm, 1971, p. 6), which makes it well compatible with feminist approaches to knowledge production discussed in the preface.

Hence, informed by the conceptual framework, the empirical analysis aims at providing analytical findings and is constructed around a single-case design. This approach is considered appropriate if it meets any of five characteristics: being (1) critical, (2) extreme or unusual, (3) common, (4) revelatory, or (5) longitudinal (Yin, 2018). OCA could arguably be considered an unusual case as the Oxfam Confederation has explicitly adopted a feminist approach (Oxfam International, n.d.-c), which is still extremely rare in the humanitarian sector (Bart, 2019). Moreover, Canada has adopted a feminist International Assistance Policy in 2017⁴, making it the only one apart from France (in 2019) among the Oxfam affiliates to have adopted a feminist foreign policy (Thomson, 2020). This research focuses on OCA alone because Canada feminist foreign policy has existed for longer and almost coincides with the temporal scope of this research of 2016 to 2020. Conversely, Oxfam is also interesting because despite these commitments, they (more specifically Oxfam GB) have been at the centre of a series of cases of sexual abuse discovered in 2018. Evidence from incidents in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti as well as in 2006 in Chad was uncovered and had eventually given way to the establishment of the Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change (hereaf e Independen Commi ion ) to carry out a review of working culture and practices across all Oxfam affiliates (BBC News, 2018).

4 Fo he official doc men o lining Canada Femini In e na ional A i ance Polic , plea e ee here (Global Affairs Canada, 2017).

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1.5.1 Employed Methods for Data Collection

The text data has been obtained through OCA eb i e and can be di ided in o o main categories: text data from webpages and text data from publications⁵. The text data from the webpages is predominantly concerned with the values and mission of OCA and their websites have thus been searched for information related to their mission, values, approaches and codes of conduct. The publications retrieved from OCA eb i e ha e been manually filtered according to their pertinence to the research question (see Appendix I). They were thus selected based on the criteria that they had to be produced by OCA, they had to include a focus on their feminist approach and/or gender as well as on localisation (explicitly or implicitly). This has resulted in five publications to be retained for the empirical analysis. Unfortunately, this publicly available data could not be complemented with data from planned semi-structured interviews with employees of OCA as my interview requests were left unanswered.

1.5.2 Employed Methods for Data Analysis

This case study relies on pattern matching to evaluate the main proposition. As such, it compares the empirical pattern found with the proposed pattern derived from the literature review and the theory (Almutairi et al., 2014, p. 241). In order to identify a pattern within the empirical data from OCA, that is, the analysis of reports and webpages from OCA, a thematic analysis is undertaken. The data is thus first coded, which refers to the process of identifying specific semantic and latent features of the text units, and then throughout a process of multiple revisions, these codes are organized into themes that are relevant to answer the research questions. The present analysis predominantly takes a theoretical approach to the thematic analysis (as opposed to a purely inductive approach) in order to ensure pertinence to the research question. Hence, it does not aim at comprehensively describing the data in its entirety but aims at a detailed analysis of certain aspects of the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

5 The Oxfam Digital Repository and ReliefWeb have also been searched for publications but the results were discarded as they did not produce relevant results (i.e. their publications were almost exclusively limited to OI instead of OCA).

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1.6 Limitations and Ethical Considerations

While this research draws on an intersectional framework, the scope of this paper does not allow for an analysis of all relevant intersections of different social locations in all combinations. This thesis is thus targeting the intersections of different social locations with social locations based on gender specifically. While gender is the starting point for this analysis, this is not to be interpreted as gender being estimated to be the most important factor in any given situation, as an intersectional framework opposes such a hierarchisation (Bailey, 2009, p. 32), but merely as a delimitation of the scope of this study.

Further, it is important to note that the methodological approach imposes additional limits to this study. The empirical analysis is based on publicly available data, that is, selected content from their website and selected reports and could not be complemented with interviews with OCA employees as planned. Further, there has also been no engagement with partner organisations or even clients due to limited resources, time and COVID- related travel restrictions. Hence, this is not in line with a feminist approach to research that encourages an engagement with the research subject to avoid over-generalisations (Staeheli et al., 2004, p. 4), the construct validity of the case study is weakened due to limited diversity of sources, and lastly, potential discrepancies between localisation on the policy level within OCA and he ac al implemen a ion of OCA localisation efforts in practice need to be borne in mind.

Finally, it is important to draw attention to limits inherent in language. While feminist researchers might employ intersectional perspectives in order to contribute to a deconstruction of the hegemonic order with the distant goal of moving towards more complex and inclusive systems, it is not possible to completely escape the normalising confines inscribed in language (McCall, 2005, p. 1777), which is why social categories aiding in the description of social locations, are nevertheless present in this paper.

Especially regarding gender and sexual orientation, it is impossible to capture their complexity and fluidity in language, and terminology vastly varies across different cultures (Mulé, 2018, p. 91). In an attempt to avoid imposing a language from the Minority World, I will thus use the acronym SOGIE (Se al O ien a ion and Gende Identity/Gender Expression) coined in the 2000s that encompasses people who in the Minority World might be described with the terminology of LGBTQI+ (Hacker, 2020, p.

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26). Similarly, it is challenging to find apt terminology to capture the inequalities stemming from an unequal distribution of power and resources across the globe. I have opted for employing the term Majority World as opposed to terms ch a de eloping co n ie o e en hi d o ld a it is presumabl le conno a ed i h lag-behind assumptions (Schiemer, 2017, p. 43) and draws attention to the fact that a majority of the global population lives in regions that are marginalised (Carrington et al., 2018, p. vii).

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2 Background

Before we dive into the theoretical aspects of this paper, it is important to situate this research in the humanitarian context. For this purpose, this chapter is dedicated to first, providing an overview of discussions and efforts around localisation in humanitarian action; subsequently, evaluating the place that gender and its intersections have been occupying within localisation of humanitarian action; and finally, tracing the historical efforts of Oxfam to include localisation, gender and its intersections with other social categories in their work.

2.1 Localisation in Humanitarian Action

Localisation has become a major topic of discussion not only in humanitarian action but in all of the so-called triple nexus meaning the fields of humanitarian action, development and peacebuilding (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 148; Morgan, 2018, pp. 275 276). As illustrated in Table 1, a variety of factors contribute to the growing importance accorded to the localisation agenda, ranging from pragmatic considerations requiring a change in the system to political convictions denouncing the power imbalance and the lack of sustainability within the humanitarian sector.

Table 1: Driving Factors for Localisation

Pragmatic Factors Political Factors

Funding deficit: localisation as a way to reduce costs (Al-Abdeh & Patel, 2019, p. 245; Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 156; de Geoffroy et al., 2017, p. 1; Elkahlout

& Elgibali, 2020, pp. 235 236) and thus overcome the funding deficit of an estimated 15 billion USD (Georgieva et al., 2016, p. v) as national NGO staff is associated with lower salaries, insurance costs, over- heads and might work with volunteers (Elkahlout &

Elgibali, 2020, p. 238; Tanner & Moro, 2016, p. 17) Shortcomings of the current humanitarian system:

o Failings of humanitarian responses to natural disasters due to exclusion of local authorities, civil society and affected populations as well as in- sufficient understanding of the context (e.g., Haiti) (Haver, 2011, p. 10)

Power imbalance: striking power imbalances between the Minority and the Majority World (Duclos et al., 2019, p. 2; Roepstorff, 2020, p. 286), slow pace and narrow scope of past reforms (Morgan, 2018, pp.

272 273) leading to a questioning of who is legitimate to lead the humanitarian response (Morgan, 2018, p.

259) structured around two stances:

o National governments should be at the core of the humanitarian response with international actors only intervening when necessary (Gingerich &

Cohen, 2015, p. 43)

o Local, national, regional and international actors need to be strengthened and the focus should lie on the comparative advantage on each one of them (El Taraboulsi et al., 2016, p. 4)

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Ma e The i The Case of Oxfam Canada o Failings of humanitarian response in conflict situa-

tions, especially in cases of protracted conflict, fre- quently linked to access challenges forcing humanitarian actors to rely more on local actors and remote management⁶ (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p.

149)

Security-related risks and concerns: concern over security risks (for expatriate staff) (Roepstorff, 2020, p. 286) privileging remote management based on the assumption that local staff is less exposed to security threats due to their embeddedness in their communities (Elkahlout & Elgibali, 2020, p. 245;

Hoelscher et al., 2015, p. 2; Stoddard et al., 2006, p.

38)⁷

Growing assertiveness of actors from the Majority World: expansion of capacities and level of organisation of NGOs based in the Majority World without international assistance (El Taraboulsi et al., 2016, p. 2; Elkahlout & Elgibali, 2020, p. 237; Zyck, 2015, p. 2) as well as the rise of middle-income countries and regional actors (Development Initiatives, 2015, pp. 34 41; Morgan, 2018, p. 275;

Ramalingam & Mitchell, 2014, p. 22; Stoddard et al., 2015, p. 42) leading to growing assertiveness and visibility (most notably at the WHS) (Morgan, 2018, p. 275)

Humanitarian-development-peace nexus: localisa- tion as an element of rendering humanitarian inter- ventions more sustainable and bridging the gap between crisis response and long-term development (Morgan, 2018, pp. 272 273) as local organisation mi ion end o go be ond he e divides (Gingerich & Cohen, 2015, p. 20), potentially because of their proximity and constant engagement with the affected populations (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 157; Gingerich & Cohen, 2015, p. 20)

Since the early 1990s, we can thus find a number of documents advocating for a stronger incl ion of local ac o . Thi end a fi foc ed on b ilding and b ilding on local and national capacities (see e.g., Global Humanitarian Platform, 2007; ICRC, 1994;

Principles and Good Practice of Humanitarian Donorship, 2003/2018; Steering

6 Examples for such an approach can be found in Syria (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 149; Duclos et al., 2019, pp. 4 5; Elkahlout & Elgibali, 2020, pp. 239 240; McGoldrick, 2015, p. 1203; Meininghaus, 2016, pp. 1463 1464; Svoboda & Pantuliano, 2015, p. 9; Wall & Hedlund, 2016, p. 13), South Sudan (Tanner &

Moro, 2016, p. 19), Yemen (Alterman, 2018, p. 1), or Afghanistan (Dickmann et al., 2019, p. 1860).

7 This has faced criticism for effectively instrumentalising localisation for a transfer of security risks (Donini & Maxwell, 2013, p. 385; Elkahlout & Elgibali, 2020, p. 235; Roepstorff, 2020, p. 288; Stoddard

& Renouf, 2010, p. 28; Zyck, 2015, p. 5).

Note. A ho o n elabo a ion ba ed on o ce efe enced in he able.

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Committee for Humanitarian Response & InterAction, 2000; Resolution 46/182, 1991).

Capacity-building is generally understood as a transfer of knowledge and skills (only) from an international to a local actor by investing resources into their improvement (Audet, 2011, p. 1152; Morgan, 2018, p. 269). Apart from its effectiveness having been limited due to a lack of money and time invested in it, these efforts were also perceived as being imposed by outside actors and detached from the local realities (Morgan, 2018, p. 269). The local is thus constructed as a passive recipient of these skills and knowledge (Audet, 2011, p. 1152; Morgan, 2018, p. 269). Hence, these efforts did not effectively increase local participation (Audet, 2011, p. 1157). The focus then gradually shifted toward increasing the decision-making power of local actors. In 2011, the Inter- Agency Standing Committee (IASC) called for national authorities to contribute and lead in the cluster approach when they are able and willing to do so (IASC, 2011, p. 2).

This development gained momentum through the Charter for Change of 2015, signed by INGOs from the Minority World and endorsed by a number of NGOs from the Majority World, aiming at the former passing on 20% of funding to NGOs based in the Majority World by 2018 and introducing their partners to their own donors to support direct financing (Charter for Change, 2015); the WHS 2016; and the Grand Bargain coming out of the WHS 2016 aiming at 25% of humanitarian funding reaching national and local ac o a di ec l a po ible b 2020 (WHS Secretariat, 2016, p. 28).

Yet, despite these growing commitments, discussions and efforts appear to progress comparatively slowly in the field of humanitarian action (Morgan, 2018, pp. 275 276).

This is strikingly reflected in the allocation of humanitarian assistance reaching national and local actors directly: After a timid increase from 2% of the total in 2016 when the Grand Bargain was launched (Development Initiatives, 2017, p. 69) to 3.5% in 2018, it dropped to 2.1% again in 2019 (Development Initiatives, 2020, p. 45) far away from the 25% target set out by the Grand Bargain for 2020 (Development Initiatives, 2020, p.

48). The difficulties of the humanitarian sector to translate these commitments to action might be linked to a variety of political factors and funding obstacles that are summarized in Table 2.

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Ma e The i The Case of Oxfam Canada Table 2: Impeding Factors for Localisation

Political Factors Funding Factors

Fear of future politicization of aid (i.e., concern over non-compliance with neutrality or the humanitarian principles as a whole by local and national actors) (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 150;

Barbelet, 2018, p. 6; de Geoffroy et al., 2017, p. 5;

Duclos et al., 2019, p. 2; Elkahlout & Elgibali, 2020, p. 238; McGoldrick, 2015; Wall & Hedlund, 2016, p.

4), which some even consider to reflect neo-colonial attitudes towards power and leadership (Roepstorff, 2020, p. 286; Wall & Hedlund, 2016, p. 4)

Current politicization of aid in which it is used as a Foreign Policy instrument (Morgan, 2018, p. 279) Rise of populist and right-wing forces in global poli-

tics that can lead to a decrease of aid levels and shrinking space for international humanitarian actors as well as national actors challenging the ruling ideas (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 157)

Inter-organisation competition: perceived threat of competition with the rise of national and local actors (de Geoffroy et al., 2017, p. 2; Knox Clarke, 2018, pp.

262 263; Wall & Hedlund, 2016, p. 21), a zero-sum mentality potentially reinforced by the Grand Bar- gain 25% le (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 150) Intra-field competition: competition for whose voice

and capital (social, cultural, and symbolic) counts and how: the most striking example being the qualification of knowledge in which expert knowledge appears to be largely considered superior to local knowledge (Morgan, 2018, pp. 286 287)

Donor s regulations that favour international agencies such as:

o Lack of allocated space for local and national NGOs in their budgets (De Geoffroy et al., 2017, pp. 2 3) o Domestic laws requiring donors to work with

organisations with headquarters or an office within their respective countries (Morgan, 2018, p. 278) and/or their will to promote their organisations and interests (Audet, 2011, p. 1164)

o Dono p efe ence fo a fe ed pa ne o minimize risk (Morgan, 2018, p. 277)

o Dono epo ing eq i emen rendering direct funding near impossible (Knox Clarke, 2018, p.

258)

Risk of donors using their financial power to exer- cise control over the national and local NGO work (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 156; Kluczewska, 2019, p. 368)

It thus becomes evident that while the localisation agenda is enjoying increasing attention, its implementation is tainted by tensions between different motivations for localising humanitarian action as well as various constraints tied to political as well as funding factors. In the following section, the focus will lie on what place gender and potentially its intersections with other social categories has occupied in the discussions and efforts around localisation.

Note. A ho o n elabo a ion ba ed on o ce efe enced in he able.

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2.2 Gender and its Intersections with other Social Categories in Localisation Gender has taken on an increasingly important role in humanitarian action and the literature on humanitarian action, but it has rarely been discussed in the context of localisation. However, some of the developments of gender in humanitarian action inevitably also affect localisation efforts such as gender mainstreaming. The concept has been promoted since the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women as the global strategy to work towards gender equality (UN Women, 2020, p. 2) and was defined in the 1997 ECOSOC resolution, later on giving way to the integration of a gender perspective into all of humanitarian policy in 1998 (IASC Working Group, 1999, p. 1), as

"[ ] he p oce of a e ing he implica ion fo omen and men of an planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and ineq ali i no pe pe a ed. The l ima e goal i o achie e gende eq ali . (ECOSOC, 1997, p. 3).

However, gender mainstreaming has also been criticised for neglecting structures and gender relations and instead focusing on the individual as a free agent who is assumed to be capable of transforming policymaking and institutions. Consequently, the feminist origins of gender mainstreaming have gotten lost. Through an under-conceptualisation of gender relations in practice, i i an fo med in o a go e nmen ali (Davids & van Eerdewijk, 2016, p. 85) a Foucauldian concept describing how power dimensions govern conduct, and how this relies on knowledge, rationalities, and belief systems (Davids & van Eerdewijk, 2016, p. 80). Consequently, gender mainstreaming, in celebrating women as change agents, can conceal the feminist focus on structural inequality between genders (Davids & van Eerdewijk, 2016, p. 81).

Most interestingly for this research is, however, how gender and localisation were discussed at the WHS 2016. There, the inclusion of gender in the context of localisation was limited to a call for integrating omen and omen organisations into localisation efforts (WHS Secretariat, 2016, p. 17) apparently effectively equating gender with women. Including omen organisations in localisation efforts can indeed be important as women actors arguably better understand how a given crisis might affect women in particular and might be aware of context-specific gender dynamics (Gingerich & Cohen,

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2015, p. 19; Tanner & Moro, 2016, p. 14). Ho e e , pa icipa ion of omen and omen groups in humanitarian action often relies on very specific, namely essentialist, expectations of women as nurturing and altruistic (Hilhorst et al., 2018, p. 7) which bears the risk of adding on to their burden as well as further entrenching gender stereotypes (Hilhorst et al., 2018, p. 7; Hyndman & de Alwis, 2003, p. 215; Olivius, 2016a, p. 10).

Lafrenière et al. thus argue that while partnering with local omen organisations, something that is nevertheless still rare, could be a promising pathway to account for local omen in e e , this needs to be considered with caution. Prevailing unequal po e d namic can en ail a change in he mi ion of he omen organisation and prevent a well-informed short-term response that could set the stage for a sustainable transformation (Lafrenière et al., 2019, pp. 190 192).

We can thus note that while there has been an attempt to include gender in localisation, the focus lies on women alone, heterogeneity within women, gender identities beyond a men-women binary or discussions on how gender might intersect with other social categories are neglected and an in-depth understanding of the structural character of gender inequalities appears to remain absent.

2.3 Localisation, Gender and Intersectionality within Oxfam and Oxfam Canada In line i h O fam In e na ional (OI) commi men o keeping omen ights at the hea of e e hing e do (Oxfam International, n.d.-d), OCA femini app oach equally emphasise he impo ance of omen igh , hich he con ide o be he starting point for ending global poverty (Oxfam Canada, n.d.-a). As this case study aims to understand how OCA approaches gender in the context of localisation today, it is important to understand how OCA app oach o gende , o a Crewe (2018, p. 112) titles it in he e ea ch of O fam GB i o n pecific hi o of femini m , ha e ol ed o e ime a people ac ion i hin an organisation tend to be both affected by patterns from the past as well as new circumstances, actors and demands (Crewe, 2018, p. 112).

2.3.1 Beginnings of Oxfam and Oxfam Canada

Oxfam e fi mi ion al ead had a foc on omen as its roots trace back to the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded in 1942 to support starving women and children in Greece during the Second World War (Oxfam International, n.d.-d).

Subsequently, they focused, however, more generally on refugees in central Europe

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(Marshall & Sterparn, 2013, p. 301) and with time, their focus shifted from relief work to development work as they were engaged in the context of UN campaigns fighting hunger and early decolonization movements. In this setting, Oxfam insisted on designing projects to be middle scale, with a solid financial foundation, and most interestingly for this research, to be long-lasting and in close collaboration with local community groups (Marshall & Sterparn, 2013, p. 301). At the same time, they wanted to inform citizens of the Minority World about the Majority World with the purpose of involving them in their efforts and engaging them in fundraising, which is how they turned to the Canadian public and eventually established OCA (Marshall & Sterparn, 2013, p. 301).

OCA was founded in 1963 and incorporated as an independent organisation in 1966 (Oxfam International, n.d.-d). After initial struggles to mobilise, the late 1960 with the Vietnam War brought to the consciousness of many the power discrepancies within international relations and led to a significant surge in OCA f nding, hich led o OCA increasingly asserting its independence (Black, 1992, pp. 169 172). Most notably, OCA criticised Oxfam GB for promoting what they considered cha i able aid ba ed on paternalistic structures allocated to projects led by missionaries and other expats as oppo ed o ha he con ide ed de elopmen al aid, hich a inhe en l linked o he fight for social justice and thus the undermining of prevailing power structures. In this context, OCA thus aimed to transform their overseas programming to reflect their domestic efforts of raising awareness on the inequities between the Minority and the Majority World; hence, the goal was to concentrate aid in type and place not to expatriate o mi iona o ke b o he indigeno g o p i ing o comba he material and poli ical po e of he opp e ed (Black, 1992, p. 173). Hence, we can identify currents demanding a localised approach very early on within OCA.

2.3.2 Emerging Focus on Gender Equality and Women

While we could see that OCA already early on started to engage in critical discussions around localisation, it is more difficult to identify when and how OCA foc on gende and women emerged exactly as there appears to be relatively little literature on OCA and even their website provides relatively scarce information on how the organisation evolved (see Oxfam Canada, n.d.-c). However, more information is available about OI, which was set up by different independent NGOs in 1995 (Oxfam International, n.d.-d). Ever since, its different affiliates have been trying to align their work based on a shared vision and

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the idea that poverty is perpetuated through power imbalance and systemic inequality to enhance the collective impact of Oxfam (Wakefield, 2012, p. 586). A key moment in this regard was the confederation-wide agreement to adopt the same rights-based approach to humanitarian relief and development with gender equality as a central pillar in their 2001- 2006 strategic plan (Wakefield, 2012, pp. 587 589).

After only mediocre progress due to a lack of context-specific analyses of gender issues and investment in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems, the following strategic plans (2007-2012, 2013-2019) introduced he e m Gender Justice . This aims o en e f ll eq ali and eq i be een omen and men in all phe e of life, he e women jointly and on an equal basis with men define and shape policies, structures, and deci ion ha affec hei li e and ho e of ocie a la ge (Wakefield, 2012, p. 588).

This included on the one hand, he in- ack app oach, in which gender mainstreaming and stand-alone gender programming are combined, and, on the other hand, an emphasis on omen agenc and empo e men a he han hei lne abili (Wakefield, 2012, pp. 588 590).

2.3.3 Localisation and Gender in World Humanitarian Summit Commitments

The WHS provided an additional opportunity to reinforce these commitments. OI has aligned itself with all Core Commitments, that is, the commitments prepared prior to the WHS that could be endorsed by stakeholders through their alignment with them, summarized in Table 3 (for a detailed overview of all commitments see Appendix II). For this research paper, OI pledges in the realm of gender, that is, their pledges to empower women and girls, to make humanitarian programming gender-responsive, and prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) as well as their pledges regarding localisation such as the increased financing of national and local humanitarian action and the promotion of multi-year unearmarked and flexible humanitarian funding, are arguably most relevant (OCHA, n.d.). Looking at these commitments in light of the historical development of OI p io i ie , e can h ee ha he la gel eflec OI p e io l established priorities or can be seen as an extension thereof.

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Ma e The i The Case of Oxfam Canada Table 3: Overview of Core Commitments from the World Humanitarian Summit 2016

Additionally, OI has made individual commitments, among which we can find multiple commitments relevant to gender and localisation (OCHA, 2016). Table 4 summarizes the relevant points sorted according to the associated Core Responsibilities (for a detailed and comprehensive overview of all commitments see Appendix II).

Note. Reprinted from Core Commitment Alignment by OCHA, n.d. Retrieved from https://agendaforhumanity.org/

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Ma e The i The Case of Oxfam Canada Table 4: Overview of Oxfam's Individual Commitments from the World Humanitarian Summit 2016

Ac o all Co e Re pon ibili ie e cep he Co e Re pon ibili In e in H mani , we can see numerous commitments to gender-related issues with a strong focus on GBV and mo and fo emo omen and omen igh . Simila l , O fam emphasises the need to work towards more equal power relations in the international sphere in general (i.e. fair distribution of responsibilities across countries regarding displaced people) but particularly the importance of including local actors in humanitarian decision-making and ensuring more space for their leadership and priorities (OCHA, 2016).

2.3.4 Sexual Abuse and Exploitation within Oxfam

Despite Oxfam historicall pla ing a leading ole ega ding omen igh i hin he aid sector Oxfam GB even publishing the most important scientific journal in this field Gende and De elopmen (Hacker, 2020, p. 26) and having been considered a ba ion of good go e nance, e hic , and h man igh (Khan, 2018, p. 1019), Oxfam

#1: Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

• Partnerships with women's rights organisations

#2: Ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical

missions

• Inclusion of GBV in protection efforts

• Protection training of Oxfam staff to include GBV

• Protection analysis and thereout following actions to include GBV

#3: Leave No One Behind

• Advocacy for fair distribution of responsibilities across countries in hosting and supporting displaced people

• Oxfam staff in each crisis to include at least 30% of women

• All humanitarian responses to be informed by a gender and GBV analysis and to include indicators for measuring improvements

• Financial support to women's rights organisations to be increased

• Support to women and men to contribute to transforming gendered power relations in humanitarian settings

#4: Change People's Lives:

From Devlivering Aid to Ending Need

• More appropriate, effective humanitarian action that is more responsive to the needs of people and communities affected through the adoption, use and monitoring of the Core Humanitarian Standard

• Promotion and acknowledgement of local actors in communications

• Endorsement and signing of Global Humanitarian Platform's 2007 Principles of Partnership

• Further involvement of local partners in designing programmes and inclusion in decisions and monitoring of Oxfam's programmes and partnership policies

• Increased use of cash- based programming incl.

investment in capacities of national governments to develop cash programming

• Inclusion of ongoing gender assessments in cash-transfer programming to ensure benefits for women and girls

• Bring voices of affected people to centres of power and decision makers

• Endorsement of Charter for Change to enable greater local leadership

#5: Invest in Humanity

• Fair compensation for local organisations for loss of skilled staff when recruited by Oxfam

• Adequate payment to local NGOs for core administrative and direct programme costs and publishing percentage of Oxfam's humanitarian funding transferred to local NGOS for capacity building

• Direct transfer of at least 30% of Oxfam's humanitarian funding to local NGOs and introduction of local NGOs to Oxfam's donors

• Streamlining of requirements for partners (i.e. capacity assessments, funding proposals and reporting)

• Publishing of types of organizations Oxfam works with in real-time

Note. Ba ed on da a f om Wo ld H mani a ian S mmi Commi men : O fam In e na ional b OCHA, 2016.

Retrieved from https://agendaforhumanity.org/stakeholders/commitments/236.html.

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GB was at the centre of a series of cases of sexual misconduct in Haiti and Chad uncovered in 2018 (BBC News, 2018). It is important to underline that no allegations against OCA have been brought forth in this context and that Oxfam GB is a legally distinct entity from OCA and even OI (Phillips, 2019, p. 1). However, the case of Oxfam GB and the commonness of sexual exploitation within the humanitarian sector (Khan, 2018, p. 1020) highlight that seemingly exemplary ca e of good governance do not preclude such events from taking place.

As a reaction to the sex exploitation cases, Oxfam increasingly emphasised the importance of afeg a ding , hich he define a being commi ed o e o ole ance of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse in our organization. This means that we will do everything in our power to prevent these from happening, and rigorously address it each and every ime i happen (Oxfam International, n.d.-e). It became a key word in many of the documents elaborated following the scandal⁸. These documents include pledges to improve recruiting processes, reporting, training of staff and handling of incidents (Hacker, 2020, p. 28).

In m, e can ee ha O fam femini app oach ha emerged early on and has historically largely been focused on (presumably cisgender heterosexual) omen igh and empowerment. The 2018 reveal of numerous cases of sexual misconduct within Oxfam GB highlights, however, that commitments do not necessarily or consistently translate into action. In relation to OCA specifically, it is particularly interesting to note for this research that as they grew to be more independent, they soon diverged with Oxfam GB o e he incl ion of local ac o , a OCA in particular considered that aid needed to go more directly to the people suffering from poverty and oppression as opposed to expatriate or missionary workers.

8 Important safeguarding documents include the One Oxfam Policy on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), the One Oxfam Child Safeguarding Policy and the Joint Code of Conduct.

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3 Conceptual Framework: Localisation and Intersectionality

With the core focus of this paper lying on how considerations of social locations based on gender and their intersections with other social locations are embedded in localisation efforts, it is crucial to define the underlying concepts of localisation and intersectionality.

Hereafter, we will thus first take a closer look at localisation before turning to intersectionality to establish how these concepts are to be understood for the purposes of this paper.

3.1 Localisation

As the background chapter has shown, localisation is garnering growing attention within the humanitarian sector but is simultaneously confronted with numerous tensions. It is thus not surprising that there is a growing body of academic literature on the topic but that a clear definition remains absent. We will first situate localisation within the literature on humanitarian action before attempting to determine how localisation can be conceptualised.

3.1.1 Situating Localisation within the Literature on Humanitarian Action

While localisation has been discussed across all of the triple nexus (Barakat & Milton, 2020, p. 148; Morgan, 2018, pp. 275 276), the literature in the field of humanitarian action is progressing comparatively slowly (Morgan, 2018, pp. 275 276). Moreover, the literature focuses almost exclusively on the perspective of international agencies and on crises where international agencies intervened despite the fact that many small scale disasters are treated exclusively by local and national actors; hence, it is challenging to identify concrete dynamics regarding local responses (Wall & Hedlund, 2016, p. 10).

Nevertheless, localisation has been the subject of discussion in the humanitarian field since at least the 1990s. We can identify three important themes in this literature: First, we can find a strong focus on capacity-building (Smillie, 2001), especially in early discussions (Morgan, 2018, pp. 268 269). Second, with time, it appears that a more critical engagement with the underlying power structure of the humanitarian system and how these are addressed or not within the context of localisation emerges (Audet, 2011;

Pincock et al., 2020; Wall & Hedlund, 2016). In this context, a strong focus also lay on the valorisation of different kinds of knowledge and capital (Apthorpe & Borton, 2019;