is currently working in Pakistan on several projects targeting women rights, security and disaster risk reduction. So far it has completed 22 projects working with 38 partner organisations in Pakistan and claims to have helped more than 150,000 people.
Oxfam Australia’s CEO Helen Szoke told SBS Urdu that in the run-up to the country's general elections in the country, the organisation worked on the ‘She Can Lead’ project that helped Pakistani women become more involved in the political process.
“This project was established anticipating national elections and its purpose was to encourage the participation of women in various parts of Pakistan, to register to vote, to vote when elections came but also to encourage them to think about standing for office.
"The great thing about this project is that it was very complimentary to the regulatory reforms that are occurring in the country. So the Election Commission of Pakistan had a big campaign to register people to vote. They made very specific provisions to make the electoral process safer but more comfortable for women, transgender, and people with disabilities.
"So it was great to see Oxfam supporting the direction in a more formal sense from the government of Pakistan,” Ms Szoke says.
SBS Urdu also asked the Oxfam Australia head that the perception of NGOs in Pakistan is sometimes not positive and some of them are considered to be entities with foreign agenda. Ms Szoke replied that Oxfam has earned the trust over a period of time in the country.
Source: Shiza Malik/Oxfam
“This is an issue that we face globally. If we want to be seen as legitimate and credible, then we really have to understand about how we work in different countries and in different contexts. And one of the best things that we aim to do is to ensure that where possible, there are national staff that have grown up and often educated in the country."
"We don’t have expat staff in to have a view as to what should the country be doing. The staff is the citizens with the vested interest in the success of Pakistan.
"Secondly, we work through partner organisations, so it is rare that we do direct service delivery.”
Apart from supporting women in the electoral process, Oxfam is also working on several other projects.
“Pakistan is subject to many climatic hazards, so disaster risk reduction work is very important. There is a terrific initiative that has come from the team, involving the use of plastics. So they have partnered with the army to run a campaign reducing the use of throwaway plastic containers, plastic bags.
"It is a really critical issue for a country with a huge population and many beautiful parts that need to be protected including waterways."
"Other projects include building capability around agriculture. Water is a big issue in Pakistan and we are also looking at the opportunities to work in that space.” Ms Szoke said.
On the question of future projects in Pakistan, Ms Szoke said that Oxfam wants to continue the work around women and their involvement in the political process.
“We know that there are potentially important works that can be done around water governance and the use of water. We will be trying to look for funding sources for some of that work and we will continue to do what we can around helping the country respond to floods and other major climatic events.”
