CO-Refugee & LHL Advocacy – Uganda (Hilt This project will build on Oxfam’s track record of advocating for refugee leadership and LHL at the national level in Ethiopia and Uganda, the regional level in the Horn/East Africa, and the global level. Through this project, Oxfam will elevate RLGs) and RLOs  leadership in national, regional, and global fora to hold policymakers accountable for progress on global commitments, strengthen RLOinstitutional capacity, and build the evidence base on refugee rights and representation to catalyze sector-wide recognition of RLOs’ leadership.

This project reflects the liked-minded approach that Oxfam and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation take to advocacy: building on evidence from programming, research, and learning. The work will be grounded in capacity strengthening support to RLOs and their networks in Ethiopia and Uganda, in tandem with research, in-country learning, and cross-country learning. In line with LHL and feminist principles, we will ensure that the local groups and organizations with whom we work are stronger for having partnered with Oxfam. As a result of this work, RLOs will be represented more equitably in decision-making forums and have the necessary organizational abilities to lead advocacy and program delivery in their communities. Throughmore principled engagement with local actors asequals we will minimize the impact of the power differential between Oxfam and refugee-led and other local organizations.

The success of this project will be demonstrated by the establishment of strengthened RLOs and RLO networks in Ethiopia and Uganda; greater representation of RLOs in national and global refugee spaces, as well as national and global LHL policy spaces (IASC, Grand Bargain,Charter for Change); and consolidation and socialization of learning about supporting and facilitating refugee leadership among donors and international humanitarian actors. More specifically, local actors will have increased ability to conduct their own advocacyin national, regional and global spaces through relationships and connections that Oxfam supported them in cultivating, and throughimproved advocacy skills generally.

National

Ethiopia and Uganda both have useful refugee response frameworks in place that provide ready-made structures where RLOs can further engage, but the contexts do differ to some degree. Specifically, while the government of Ethiopia has passed the CRRF, it has yet to develop a plan for how that framework will be applied and implemented. Oxfam’s workin Ethiopia will therefore include collaboration with the government on this task. In addition, RLOs in Ethiopia need to have formal status in order to work on refugee response safely and sustainably and to contribute to the rollout of the CRRF. Helping RLOs register as official actors in Ethiopia will need to happen even as the rollout is developed.

Once RLOs are functional in Ethiopia and Uganda, Oxfam will support them to create national networks for advocacy, in particular. Uganda already has an RLO network that can be strengthened and reproduced in other locations, and in Ethiopia the creation of such a network will add to RLOs’ ability to influence the government’s response to refugees and its rollout of the CRRF.

The foundation of the proposed work will be at the nationallevels in both Ethiopia and Uganda, where Oxfam will support RLOs– including women-led RLOs and refugee youth organizations– to help strengthen their institutional capacity, create influencing strategies and messages, identify advocacy targets, and to advocate incoalition for greater impact. The purpose of increasing that capacity will be to engage with policy makers– including government actors– to hold them to their refugee-related commitments and to push for policies that allow them to operate openly and safely in refugee communities and guarantee their rights.

In addition to giving voice to their own experiences on the ground, the Oxfam teams inEthiopia and Uganda, and local partners and actors, will use findings and lessons learned from direct programming to help inform advocacy messages and selection of targets. They will also bring country-specific information and messages to the regional and global influencing levels. Using operational evidence in advocacy is a preferred Oxfam practice.

Evenas these organizations and networks come together, Oxfam and its RLO and LNGO partners will be working to change the national conversations about refugees in both countries. This will take several forms, including supporting partners to raise awareness and offer education on refugee issues for the general public as well as relevant policy makers. RLOs will also work to influence national media to bring attention to the issues refugees and RLOs face, and to highlight solutions.