WEE Initiatives > Country Profiles > Vietnam

Vietnam

Name of Organization: Oxfam Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)

Country/Affiliation: Occupied Palestinain Territories

Organization/Project Profile: Through Oxfam’s strategic partnerships with PFU, AMAN, PalTrade, RWDS and key value-chain actors, the FAIR for ALL consortium in OPT will establish a dynamic network of allies and coalitions to in-fluence local and national bodies to achieve systemic changes in policies, regulations, and laws in favor of vulnerable men, women, and youth producers. The enabling environment will be strengthened through a free-market approach to optimize the space for and capacity of targeted groups to compete, especially with larger private-sector players.

Oxfam has also received funds from PPL, the fund allowed Oxfam in oPt the opportunity to further expand its pilot work on VWW. Through this fund, Oxfam managed to develop a framework for its future and interventions in VWW including profiling and gender analysis and engaged various actors in the process to promote its importance.

F4A Project Statistics

Date of Implementation: Jan 2021 till Dec 2025

Total Number of Beneficiaries: 1663 Women, 1120 Men, 68 Organization.

Number of women and men are involved in Women Empowerment Initiatives of the F4A Programme:

Women’s organizations involved in the Women Empowerment Initiatives of the F4A Programme:

  1. UN Woman
  2. GIZ
  3. CARE International
  4. Rural Women Development Society
  5. Al-Najdah Association (Palestinian Women’s Development Society)
  6. The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees in Jenin
  7. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
  8. The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development
  9. WATC
  10. Behmtkom
  11. The General Union of Palestinian Women
  12. MUSAWA
  13. Aisha Association for women and child protection
  14. Inash Al Usra
  15. Mother’s School Society
  16. role for social change association
  17. Women Media and Development
  18. Ministry of Women Affairs
  19. The Union of Cooperative Associations for Saving and Credit (UCASC)
  20. Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
  21. The association of Women’s Action committees
  22. Palestinian Working Women Society
  23. ADWAR

Valuing Women Work Project

Date of Implementation: December 2021 – 31 March 2023

Total Number of Beneficiaries: 250 (150 women, 100 men)

Women’s organizations involved in the Women Empowerment Initiatives of the F4A Programme:

  1. UN Woman
  2. Aisha Association for women and child protection
  3. In addition to other coordination with GIZ and CARE International.

Areas of Operations where Women’s Economic Empowerment is a thematic focus

Name of Communities/locations of F4A implementation on WEE-related activities: West Bank and Gaza.

Partners in the Implementation

Oxfam: valuing women work

Oxfam in cooperation with international NGOs like UN Woman, GIZ and other civil society organizations organized the first national conference on Valuing women work. The profile of these organizations is as follow:

  • UN Woman: A UN organization delivering programs, policies and standards that uphold women’s human rights and ensure that every woman and girl lives up to her full potential.
  • GIZ: An international organization dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. GIZ has over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security.
  • CARE International: is a 75-year-old global confederation working to fight poverty and social injustice in the world, with a specific focus on the empowerment of women and girls. CARE works side-by-side with communities to understand the root causes of poverty and find innovative, locally led solutions. CARE seeks to demonstrate the results and methodologies used in our projects to ensure transparency and accountability and advance the quality of their work.

The rules of Oxfam and its partners through the VWW:

  • Contributed to sit the concept of valuing women work in OPT and to prepare for the conference through setting its theme, goals, objectives, and content of its thematic sessions.
  • Contributed to the creating of social media campaign on valuing women work which included full branding, 2 videos, 30 social media messages, twitter campaign, press release.

Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade): A CSO with a national mandate to increase sustainable economic growth in Palestine, through a competitive business-enabling environment dedicated to improving international trade. Provides a wide range of export support services around market intelligence, export promotion and export policy.

  1. Strengthened civil society actors work in coalitions demand transparent, accountable and progressive fiscal, trade and value-chain regular.
  2. Strengthened civil society mobilizes the public to influence governments for stronger legal protection of people in value chains, especially women.
  3. Empowered citizens and youth have oversight of and voice in trade and fiscal issues and governments have increased political will for inclusive, transformative development.

PFU: The Palestinian Farmers’ Union (PFU) is a broadly recognized Palestinian farmers’ network, with active district branches and collaborative relations in all agricultural sectors and communities, which represents farmers to defend their rights and interests and achieve a more securing and enabling policy and business environment, and which provides quality services to strengthen farmers’ skills to better product, process, and market their commodities and cope with shocks and changes.

PFU operates under three main pillars:

  1. Strong Farmers’ Movement: Public and private sector stakeholders, at local, national, regional and international levels, have recognized PFU as the Palestinian farmers’ network, with active Governorate Farmers’ Associations and collaborative relations in all agricultural communities and main agricultural sub-sectors.
  2. Lobby and Advocacy: Farmers, represented by PFU, have successfully defended their rights and interests, and have achieved a more securing and enabling policy and business environment.
  3. Quality services to farmers: Information and services, directly or indirectly facilitated by GFA’s and PFU, have improved farmers’ access to health and financial services and have improved the production, processing and marketing of their commodities.

RWDS has a strong and respected presence among grassroots rural communities, with over 3,000 female members that form a network of 56 women’s clubs. It is this unique structure, geographic breadth and large core of dedicated volunteers that distinguish RWDS from other Palestinian women’s organizations.
RWDS advance the rights of rural women by fostering empowering and supportive spaces within their local communities. This is achieved through clubs, which highlight women’s invaluable contribution to Palestinian society, and through designing innovative projects on the topics of economic empowerment, political and social participation, and the prevention of violence.
RWDS use education and community participation, as well as mobilization, skill-building, and advocacy as tools to develop women into strong, committed and able leaders within the rural community
The main focus of RWDS in the project as a partner in the project mainly targeting poor and vulnerable women (and their households) is to provide capacity strengthening to these target groups to actively participate in claiming their rights to enhance their livelihoods and social status. They will also be actively involved in and benefit from awareness on women’s socio-economic and labor rights, social norms and constraints that hinder women’s empowerment, social accountability, equal access to decision making, and improved knowledge of economic opportunities

Priority of Interventions

Women’s economic empowerment faces various challenges and barriers. Although 13.1% of total female workers were employed in agriculture, they encounter obstacles in entering the green economy as entrepreneurs and assuming leadership roles. Female farmers face additional constraints, such as limited access to land and water, lack of awareness about agricultural policies, and inadequate representation in cooperatives.

Measuring women’s economic empowerment is not a straightforward task, and traditional methods often fail to capture their true essence. The concept of empowerment is expanding to include individuals’ capacity to dream and have faith in themselves. This evolving empowerment has implications within the Palestinian context.

One of the significant issues that affect women’s agency in delivering economic empowerment services for women in Palestine is the donor policies, most of the fund being provided to those organizations is restricted and conditional. The sustainability of fund also is rare which, most of the time, creates challenges to the establishment of women led business and units and may cause an economic shock on later stages.

Challenges to women’s economic empowerment in Palestine include high unemployment rates, limited job opportunities, safety concerns, cultural barriers, and preferential treatment of male workers. The transition of men out of agricultural activities has resulted in more unpaid work for women and girls in farming and herding, which remains undervalued and unrecognized. Despite comprising a significant portion of the agricultural labor force, women own a minimal percentage of agricultural land and are not officially recognized as farmers. In the care economy, Palestinian women overwhelming carry the burden for unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) which is unrecognized and limits their ability to participate in paid work. According to the PCBS, Palestinian women spend an average of 3 hours and 42 minutes during the day in household work, compared to the 1 hour and 17 minutes spent by men for the same purpose . Although, UCDW is instrumental to the functioning of families and the productivity of the labor force and economy at large, it remains invisible and is rarely considered in the policy arena which is primarily geared towards the functioning and productivity of the paid workforce. This negligence of UCDW within the policy arena stems from underlying social narratives that fail to value the contribution of women’s work, as a result Palestinian woman continue to do UCDW without any rights nor adequate compensation.

WEE-related activities from inception to March 2023

In 2022, the Palestinian Farmers Union (PFU) and the Rural Women Development Society (RWDS) carried out various activities to empower women and promote gender equality in the agricultural and cooperative sectors in Palestine.

The PFU conducted two workshops aimed at strengthening women’s role in decision-making positions within agricultural councils, with a specific focus on vegetables, grapes, and fruits. The workshops assessed women’s needs, shared strategies to enhance their representation, and emphasized the importance of their participation in agricultural decision-making. Barriers faced by female farmers, such as limited resources and societal constraints, were highlighted. Another assessment focused on strengthening women’s participation in agricultural councils, particularly in vegetable, grape, and fruit councils. The assessment identified challenges and proposed recommendations, including legislative measures, procedural improvements, and the establishment of advisory councils. Training programs, financial incentives, and partnerships with women’s organizations were emphasized to support women’s involvement in decision-making.

PFU also conducted a need assessment on Palestinian women entrepreneurs, particularly female farmers, to identify their challenges and needs. The assessment revealed various obstacles, including a lack of knowledge and skills in areas such as sales, marketing, financial management, and technology use in agriculture. These findings served as a basis for designing further training programs and support initiatives.

The RWDS implemented several activities in collaboration with PFU. These activities included awareness sessions on women’s labor rights and cooperative law, proposing business relationship models between women-led businesses and the private sector, organizing experience sharing trips for business units and cooperatives, and establishing women coalitions in different regions to advocate for private sector support. Meetings with women’s rights organizations were held to strengthen advocacy efforts, and awareness-raising workshops were conducted on integrating gender sensitivity into cooperative law. A national campaign was launched to promote gender-sensitive policies and cooperative laws, while a caring system policy paper was developed for working women. Initiatives were also implemented to document women’s labor rights abuses, raise awareness about the importance of fiscal budgets for cooperatives, and develop a complaint system using a mobile application.

Moreover, training sessions were provided for women and young entrepreneurs on starting their own businesses, including business plan preparation. Support was given to develop innovative business plans, and grants were provided for their implementation. Central training was organized for representatives of the Women Status in Cooperative Work Coalition, focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship.

A national campaign was coordinated with the Women Coalition to advocate for policy and procedural changes regarding the registration and opening of bank accounts for women cooperatives.

For Valuing women work components:

The PPL funds allowed Oxfam in oPt the opportunity to further expand its pilot work on Valuing women work. The activities were implemented contributed to the empowerment of women or at least created a good understanding regarding women economic rights, valuing women work as a concept, setting rules or basics with relevant stakeholders. Below are the main interventions done:

  1. Valuing Women Work Program Framework Development
    Through 2022 and earlier 2023, a first draft of a program design on valuing women work was developed by Oxfam team and in cooperation with expert consultant and local civil society organizations. The design included set of interventions falling under 3 main actors that contributes to the main goal “To contribute to the redistribution and reduce unpaid care and domestic work, and to support women informal workers gain rights, respect and a violence free decent quality of life”. The program design is aligned with OGB framework on VWW and can be used to seek funds on VWW for OPT.
  2. Profiling and Gender Analysis
    The study aimed to present a scientific and solid ground regarding profiles of women working at home, in undervalued sectors such as nursery, paid care related services, or informally in different sectors, especially in agriculture and food processing. Each profile gives in-depth and accurate information on each targeted group of women’s skills, size, resources, assets, representation, unpaid work, and women’s level of engagement with collective structures and social networks. Also, the PGA described and analyzed women’s participation in the labor market and economy (nature and quality of work, type of contractual work relation, compensation and salaries, work benefits, representation, engagement with collective structures) and collective perception of women’s work.
  3. National Conference on Valuing Women Work
    The Valuing Women Work National Conference organized by Oxfam in cooperation with UN Women, GIZ, Care International, and other civil society organizations, was held in the Gaza Strip on 21 March 2023, in celebration of International Women’s Day. The conference highlighted the importance of recognizing and valuing women’s work and their significant contributions to society and the national economy. The conference was attended by approximately 250 different actors (Governmental institutions, INGOs, Donors, NGOs, Civil society organizations and other activists on Gender and economic empowerment for women). Palestinian women’s work is unpaid and unrecognized in the household and undervalued and underpaid in the labor force. VWW conference main objective was to focus on recognizing, redistributing, and reducing unpaid care and ending domestic violence in addition ensuring decent work for formal informal workers (conditions and quality, and SGBV prevention).
  4. Scoping and Analysis of Donors’ Conceptions, Policies and Actions Regarding VWW was doone in February 2023
    In February 2023, the scoping and analysis study on VWW donors’ policy main objective was to generate new knowledge around VWW in the Palestinian context. The research focused on the supply side and analysed the donors’ landscape for VWW programming and services. Understanding donors’ priorities, past and present, as well as their assumptions and approaches. Through the study Oxfam managed to:
    • Have a clear Mapping of the donors’ priorities in OPT, policy, regulations and procedures and the extent they include valuing women’s work issues in their supported programs.
    • Understand and realize the impact of these policies, positive and negative, on advancing efforts and progress on systematically addressing issues of valuing women’s work in conflict areas.

Current Challenges with the Implementation

The challenges related to women’s economic empowerment within the contexts include social norms, perceptions, expectations, and constraints. Women face barriers due to the lack of awareness about their economic rights, limited advocacy and lobbying skills, and the absence of a business approach. Access to markets, both external and internal, is also a challenge. Additionally, financial resources pose obstacles to gender equality in Palestinian cooperatives. Restricted access to and control over savings and assets. Cultural, socio-economic, and organizational factors further impede the mainstreaming of gender equality in cooperatives. Laws that do not protect women’s land ownership rights make it difficult for them to sustain independent agricultural enterprises. Furthermore, patriarchal norms and inequitable power dynamics hinder women’s advancement in the workforce and their ability to take on leadership roles.

One of the significant challenges also is the donor restricted policies regarding women economic empowerment projects and shortage of fund. Women’s rights organizations are facing different challenges in this regard which threatening the sustainability of the women economic interventions for women.

Key Learnings

The importance of empowering women and increasing their awareness of women entrepreneurs’ significance. Initially, many women did not prioritize their role as entrepreneurs over their responsibilities as caregivers. However, through awareness sessions and support provided by PFU and RWDS throughout Oxfam Partnership, these women have been inspired to establish their businesses and aspire to leadership positions in local elections.

Ensures that targeted communities have meaningful access to impartial assistance and services without any barriers. Special attention is given to individuals and groups who may be particularly vulnerable or have difficulty accessing assistance and services.

RWDS has established a Feedback & Response Mechanism, which enables beneficiaries to freely express their concerns and complaints at different stages of implementation. These concerns are treated seriously, confidentially, and appropriate actions are taken in accordance with RWDS’s complaints policy.

Through implementing the valuing women work components also there were some learnings:

  • Involvement of relevant stakeholders in the VWW framework design resulted in promoting their understanding of the program pathways of change, program objectives and contributed to a clearer picture of the proposed interventions.
  • Public events such as VWW conference contributed to set the correct understanding of VWW concept and a good way to exchange experiences between different actors.

Building the interventions on solid and evidence-based literature and studies promotes the intervention ability to be more convincing and better informs its activities to target actual gaps and real needs.

WEE Project Milestones

Opportunities currently being implemented to address challenges to promote women’s economic empowerment in the project?

The government sector plays a crucial role in women’s economic empowerment by offering incentives and facilities that support their advancement. Community awareness is essential for empowering women economically, as it helps challenge traditional norms and encourages gender equality. Private sector institutions also contribute significantly by providing counseling, training, mentoring, and networking opportunities for women’s economic empowerment. Developing a business mindset among women is vital to their economic empowerment, as it equips them with the skills and mindset needed to succeed.

Promoting women’s economic empowerment by providing funding for women to implement their own agricultural projects. Over the past year, PFU and RWDS conducted an assessment to identify the gaps in the success of current agricultural projects led by women. The findings and recommendations from this assessment were shared with the women leading to provide additional funding for these projects but also offer support to ensure the successful operation of sustainable agriculture projects. This support aims to enable women to generate income and actively contribute to society.

Opportunities in the future to promote women empowerment and visibility of women in the projects/F4A Programme?

PvP project has identified several opportunities to empower women economically, with a key focus on linking them to the private sector. Private sector Comply with Human and labor right especially for Women.

It is essential to shift from a traditional approach that solely focuses on relief or subsistence and adopt a business and development-oriented mindset. This change is necessary to empower women economically and build their capacities in alignment with regional and international changes.

Success stories of women who have successfully established and managed their own businesses with funding from the project. These success stories are intended to inspire other women to pursue entrepreneurship and to increase women’s representation in leadership roles, particularly in agricultural councils.

Continues to support the socio-economic empowerment of women in rural areas, adhering to principles such as voluntary membership, democratic control, and member participation.

The organizations also emphasize a gender approach in their programming, recognizing the obstacles women face in entrepreneurship and aiming to raise awareness about the value of women as economic agents. Economic development efforts in Palestine, like elsewhere, have realized the importance of empowering women economically for substantial and sustainable progress. The measurement of women’s economic empowerment is evolving beyond traditional methods, acknowledging the importance of personal capacity, dreams, and self-belief. This expanded perspective has significant implications for projects designed within the Palestinian context.

Under the VWW components, there was a launching for the women economic justice coalition in Gaza. The formulation of the coalition is significant for promoting economic rights for women in Gaza. The coalition consists of 15 women’s rights organizations where their efforts on the micro and macroeconomic levels to ensure just and fair economy for women in Gaza, to advocate to change on the policy levels.

Supporting the coalition would be a good opportunity to support women economic sector for women in Palestine,

What are you most proud of in your WEE-related project/ intervention (best practices)?

Efforts are being made to enhance the capacities and skills of women in lobbying and advocating for the challenges they face in their businesses and projects. It is important to raise their awareness of their significant economic role and prioritize their entry into markets. The Palestinian Cooperative Law, issued in 2017, was a step towards regulating cooperative associations in Palestine. However, there is a need for additional bylaws, regulations, and instructions to fully implement the law and align it with cooperative principles. The law has created confusion regarding the registration, banking, and financial processes for cooperatives, particularly for women members. To address these issues, RWDS launched an influencing campaign supported by OXFAM through the F4A Project. This led to the formation of a national coalition called “Woman Status in the Cooperative Work Coalition” consisting of governmental and non-governmental organizations and consultants. The coalition aims to strengthen advocacy, mobilize decision-makers, and focus on the economic and social empowerment of women cooperatives. It also seeks to avoid duplication of efforts, expand women’s participation in cooperative work sectors, promote their role in decision-making positions, encourage women’s groups to engage in land-related work, and attract young people to participate in cooperative activities to improve the status of women’s cooperatives.

WEE Project Plans

Increase community awareness: Conduct awareness campaigns and training sessions to foster their understanding and investment in economic empowerment activities.

Connect with relevant support entities: Facilitate connections between targeted groups and support organizations within their business value chains, such as private sector organizations, financial institutions, and training centers. In addition to support women’s rights organizations, movements and building coalitions whether technically or financially.

Advocate for supportive regulatory frameworks: Advocate for regulatory frameworks that establish an enabling environment for business development.

Highlight the impact of closures: Gaza Strip Blockage and limited economic activities and entrepreneurship growth.

Shift social norms: Encourage changes in social norms to enable women and youth to take on leading roles in income-generating activities. In addition to support the engagement of men in the redistribution and reconsider of the unpaid domestic work to alleviate the burdens on women.

Links to your profile

Photo Documentation

Related Documents

Organization

Project Resources

Contact Person

Full Name: Juan dela Cruz
Position: Project Manager
Organization: Lorem Ipsum
Email address: email@email.com