#oxfamnovib

| 10 Sep. 2020

Ten, slightly nervous students trickled into the hall little by little. A green visitor card pinned on their chests. Soon, they would no longer just be visitors. They were introduced to each other as the ten new interns of Oxfam Novib! I am very glad I am one of them.

Luckily, we were not thrown into the deep end completely. Before starting our internships, we got to meet each other and the organization during the two-day introduction program of the Oxfam Novib Academy. The Oxfam Novib Academy, set up to bring together theory and practice, offers students the opportunity to develop themselves professionally while working towards a more just world.

Besides working on different tasks in different departments, the Academy offers us bi-weekly sessions in which we will discuss topics related to development and receive additional support where needed. Next to these sessions, several events will be organized by us to share our internship experiences with other Oxfam Novib employees. And last but not least: this blog will be the platform on we will share our stories with anyone interested in Oxfam Novib or development in general.

Getting to know each other

Meet the new interns: Eline, Emil, Joris, Louise, Melissa, Marion, Nina, Saskia, Marjorie and Yvette. After a quick introduction round we played a name game, which was harder than it might seem. After we finally learned each other’s names and got to know about some of our craziest stories, we were ready to learn more about what we were here for: Oxfam Novib!

….and Oxfam Novib 

It was none other than director Farah Karimi who told ours more in-depth about Oxfam Novib as an organization and where the organization stands for. After a brief but inspiring talk about the increasingly interconnected world in which we all have to play our part, we got the opportunity to ask her questions. After learning more about the organization and the beliefs and motives that drive Oxfam Novib, we explored the building and talked to our soon-to-be colleagues.

Empowerment, Inclusiveness and Accountability

Empowerment, inclusiveness and accountability: the three values of Oxfam Novib. This was one of the things we learned during our corporate communication workshop on Wednesday. On Thursday we had another workshop on gender equality in which we played the so-called ‘power line game’ in which not only gender inequality was addressed but also our own prejudices were challenged.

Later that day we got the opportunity to put Oxfam’s three values into practice; we were given the option to join the #HollandagainstHate protest at the Malieveld. It was inspiring to see that even on a rainy day in The Hague, so many people showed up to express their discontent with the policies of Donald Trump. I believe this shows there is hope for a more inclusive and tolerant future.

“We can change the system not only by helping people. It is also about us. Our way of life. How the economic order and global relationships are organized” -Farah Karimi

Work hard, play hard

Next to all the fun activities, we quickly found out that something else was expected from us during the introduction days. While having lunch in the canteen on Wednesday, some of us spotted a poster, promoting the pitches that we were supposed to deliver on Thursday. While nervous at first, we all delivered powerful pitches, informing our new colleagues about ourselves, our motivations and our internship expectations.

We ended the two introduction days with a quest around The Hague during which we had to complete several (slightly embarrassing task) tasks. I shall not dwell on over the exact tasks, but feel free to stop by one of us and ask for a video or photo from the quest!

I can say that, and I think speak for all us of, that we had two great introduction days. Thanks to Gwendolyn and Esther form the Oxfam Novib Academy for making this all possible. We are very excited to start our time at Oxfam Novib!

Welcome aboard spring academy of 2017!

My internship experience as Oxfam Novib intern has enabled me to impact the lives of thousands people. One of the reasons that motivate me to work in Oxfam is the moto of ‘making a difference’. Above all my research output can actually change in the life of thousands.  While working as part of the impact evaluation team as quantitative researcher, we evaluate project progress and possible outcomes. I believe impact evaluation is vital to identify evidences of what works in international development by assessing the true impact of an intervention, programme, policy, or project. During my internship experience, I conducted research from a baseline survey collected under ‘Right to food’ project in Uganda and Indonesia. ‘Right to food’ project is one of the projects on progress in 15 countries under strategic partnership program in collaboration with partner Oxfam affiliate. The research aims to look at; Who are vulnerable groups? Does the extent of households’ vulnerability determine their knowledge about farming practices? How likely is that vulnerable groups participate in activities to ensure their land right and access to water?

For this research purpose vulnerable groups are classified on the basis of the household head’s gender and on the condition of being affected by food insecurity and climate change.  Gender equality and women’s’ right to own land are crucial components to realize food security.  Due to traditional patriarchal norms in rural part of Uganda, women have been deprived from possession of property inheritance and divorce settlement, regardless of the fact that they are the main actors of production. Additionally, current climate variability and future climate change impact women more in comparison to men because of their social position. Famer’s knowledge about seed management knowledge and practice is also considered as one of the main factors which increase productivity to ensure food security. This is because the extent of vulnerability could be decreased by adapting seeds which are highly productive and resistant to climate change conditions. In the ‘Right to Food’ project, land and seed rights are taken as fundamental enablers to realizing citizens’ right to food.  

One of the research outcomes indicates applying seed selection and weed and pest control knowledge will increase the probability of food security by more than two times while applying planting and spacing knowledge triples the probability of food security. Another positive finding is that as the households’ level of knowledge about seed selection, plant and spacing and; weed and pest control increase their ability to tackle climate change also increases. Furthermore, as female households’ education level increases it doubles the probability of practicing farming activities and participate in activities to secure their right to land and access to water.

Findings like this will help to develop innovative decision making towards policies and strategies targeting food security. I believe there needs to be more plat forms where development professionals in the NGO sectors share their research findings. It creates better awareness about the ongoing programs and projects as well as impacts obtained as a result of the intervention.

* All starred words are explained in the ‘Glossary of Expertise’ at the end

International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world with dancing; singing; eating and celebrating gender equality achievements globally and making steps towards future parity. However, in the Oxfam Novib Impact Measurement* Team, the 8th March was instead a day for celebrating methodology*; measurement; evaluation and impact at Humanity House in the centre of Den Haag. As the new intern on the quantitative* side of the team I was invited to attend the day.  

It began at 8.30 as the team gathered in the building, finding projectors and flipcharts and welcoming people as they ventured into the basement where the plenary sessions would take place. My Dutch vocabulary expanded as I directed people to the cloakroom: “garderobe” and for tea and coffee “thee of koffie?”, although my incapacity to respond to any questions more complicated than “where are the toilets?” quickly gave me away as a non-Dutch imposter. I snuck into the back of the opening session and learnt about the necessity of failure for learning – should we have a mandatory level of failure*?  Other themes that reoccurred throughout the day were questions such as: how do theory and practice relate? How to involve key stakeholders*? How to create ownership* of evaluations? How to learn from results?  

  Photo credit: Tessa Moolenaar

At the back of the plenary session I was able to nod along and take notes as if I too was an expert but in the breakout sessions this changed. After hiding on the last row during the presentation on an initiative called Balika trying to reduce child marriage in Bangladesh (which was a mistake as I am only 158cm tall…) we split up into smaller groups where the real experts were able to critically reflect on the presentation and results. I realized very quickly how little I knew about development projects – I had no idea about the issue of child marriage (this project aimed at improving the skill level of girls so they were perceived as an asset and not a liability); I had no idea about what are considered “good” results (apparently a change of 20% in 18 months is a surprisingly high result) and I had no idea about the differences between, outputs; outcomes and impact (please see glossary). The learning curve was steep but the climb was aided by the supply of biscuits, tea, coffee, and, of course, lunch.

 Photo credit: Tessa Moolenaar

Lunch was one of the highlights of the day: it was an incredible feast of salads and sandwiches and little sweet treats. It was also an opportunity to meet with some of the ‘experts’, who were very willing to share their work and experiences. I met one woman who had spent a year in a Nigerian village growing her own food to exchange with her neighbours (there was a roadblock by armed rebels, preventing any food from reaching the village) during her time working on a local finance initiative.   Everyone could also “run like a refugee” in Humanity House’s immersive experience which I did, ending the experience by pulling a trigger on some of the experts who had “run” earlier – something I would not like to repeat in reality!

Photo credit: Tessa Moolenaar

The second breakout session simply confirmed what the morning had already taught me: that my expertise lies more in drinking tea than in impact measurement. However, the presentation from OxfamGB* really interested me. Their emphasis on investing in skills of the people in partner organisations and giving back to the local community caught my attention. For example, the data is immediately made available to the community once everyone has been interviewed – allowing them to see, for example, how many goats the community has, or what is the average perception of the occurrence of GBV*? I think that skills investment is key to creating sustainable change and giving back means the interview relationship is not abused by taking too much time and knowledge without returning anything.  

The day ended with one final get-together, exchanging the last pieces of advice and conducting an online survey (it was an impact measurement event after all…) to see which pieces of advice we collectively liked the most.  The final part of the day is where my expertise came in useful – drinking red wine, eating snacks and chatting to new people at a borrel*.

Glossary of Expertise

Borrel – Dutch word to describe drinks and chatting, normally accompanied by snacks such as meatballs and bitterballen. It is gezellig!

GBV – an acronym of Gender Based Violence; “Gender-based violence involves men and women, in which the female is usually the target, and is derived from unequal power relationships between men and women.”[1] It is often used interchangeably with the term “Violence against women”.

Impact – contested definition but most people consider it a long-term result of a project (both positive and negative) such as higher income or greater employment opportunities. It is often derived using outputs and outcomes but is much harder to measure.  

Impact measurement - the measurement of the impact of various projects. Not to be confused with MEAL (or MEL) – monitoring, evaluating and learning which is similar, but often more short term.

Mandatory level of failure – for example this might be a rule that states that 20% of all projects have to be failures; the motivation behind this is to allow honesty and greater learning.

Methodology – the process of how the research is carried out, so for instance it could be surveys and then followed up with interviews, or it could be participatory action research.

Outcome – the result of an output, so for instance an increase in the number of children attending schools.

Output- a countable change eg the number of schools built.

Ownership – the idea that project leaders/beneficiaries/stakeholders need to be involved in all aspects of the project so they feel the results are applicable to them and they can use them, so it is not just an external requirement.

OxfamGB – the biggest Oxfam affiliate with a different method of carrying out impact measurement to Oxfam Novib, these are known as Effectiveness Reviews. Also known as OGB.

Quantitative – quantitative is concerned with data analysis, opposite to qualitative.

Stakeholders – everyone that is involved in a project so Oxfam, partner organizations, donors, beneficiaries etc.

[1] Taken from http://guides.womenwin.org/gbv/conflict/context/what-is-gender-based-violence 14/03/2016

Treasure hunt always made me think of Disney films like Peter Pan or this Dutch board game ‘Het Betoverde Doolhof'. But after attending the Introduction Days of the Oxfam Novib Academy (ONA), it got a different meaning for me. I will tell you my story about that…

During the first week of February all new interns of Oxfam Novib were attending the Oxfam Novib Academy Introduction Days. Three days of introduction particularly for new interns starting in February. Although I was an ‘exception’, because I already started my research internship in the Impact Measurement Team three weeks before, these Introduction Days were also for me really useful and fun. Three days about getting to know the organization and her employees in the first place, second, to let the organization get to know you as a new intern and last but not least about getting to know each other, your fellow interns.

Getting to know the organization and her employees was done by the three different ‘Treasure Hunts’ we did. One of them was to find certain people within the Oxfam Novib building and talk with them about their function and career. My group talked to Rudolf, who already worked for more than 20 years at Oxfam. He told us about the travels to Africa he made during his time at Oxfam and about the biography he is writing at the moment in honor of Oxfam Novib’s 60th birthday. We also met Cor. Getting to know Oxfam Novib and not getting to know Cor is almost impossible. Cor is the man in the building who knows everything and who is always walking around to arrange different kind of things. He can help you to get your tag for entering the front door and he is for example also responsible for preparing the meeting rooms. But besides that, Cor is also Oxfams own DJ and present at every farewell party and the famous ‘Christmas borrel’ every year.

Next to the Treasure Hunt we also had some workshops of Oxfam Employees, one about Impact Measurement and the other one about Gender & Intersectionality. Marjolein, one of the new interns, was especially interested in the workshop about Impact Measurement.

Marjolein:

“The workshop on Impact Measurement led to an interesting discussion about the value of research and evaluation for the work of Oxfam, and the challenges and opportunities that emerge while doing so. Since it is the team I am interning in, it also contributed to the understanding of the other interns about what I will be working on”. 

To let the organization get to know you as a new intern was realized by the pitches we gave the second day. We had a workshop of Eric Prinzen who explained us the ins and outs of pitching. To make it personal was the way to do it. In the afternoon the room got full of curious Oxfam Novib employees and each one of us took the stage. New intern Marjolein told us about growing up as a child at Texel and how she was faced to injustice and poverty for the first time when her parents took her on holiday to South Africa. My own pitch was about my background in Anthropology and passion for travelling. I also told the people more about my research internship which I am doing now within Oxfam about storytelling and impact measurement.

By having these Treasure Hunts, workshops and presenting ourselves during the pitches, not only the organization got to know us and we got to know them, but we also learned a lot about each other. By getting to know your fellow interns, you’ll also hear stories about the different department and teams within Oxfam Novib. And besides that you’ll have always someone to have lunch with.

So, in the train back to Utrecht (where I live) on Friday after these three days, I felt tired but satisfied. These Introduction days gave me a lot of new relevant information about Oxfam Novib. From how to find certain persons and where they are in the building to where to find the nicest sandwiches for lunch (which is just around the corner at Jimmy’s Broodjes).

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