GUA DE PROCESOS

OBLIGATORIOS
DE OXFAM

Photo: Saikat Mojumder

SEEDS GROW
Harvesting Global Food Security
and Justice in the face of Climate Change

PROGRESS REPORT:
1st October 2013 31st March 2015
Tom van der Lee

Director of Advocacy and Campaigns,

Oxfam Novib

Sida Contribution: 61050063

Submitted to: Emili Perez, Program Manager, Global Economy and Environment
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida
Submission Date: 30 September 2015

For more information please contact:

Marieke Feitsma, Programme Leader SeedsGROW
[email protected]
 CONTENTS
ACRONYMS 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6
SDHS 7
SIDAGROW 10

1 CHANGING CONTEXTS 12
SDHS: CHANGES IN THE SEEDS SECTOR 13
SIDAGROW: CHANGES IN POLITICAL CONTEXT 14
CHANGES IN OXFAMS INTERNAL CONTEXT 14

2 FINDING SYNERGIES 16

3 PROGRESS REPORT ON SDHS, OCTOBER 2013MARCH 2015 18

PREPARATORY PHASE 20
SDHS OVERARCHING ACTIVITIES 20
SDHS PILLAR 1 22
SDHS PILLAR 2 27
SDHS PILLAR 3 29
SDHS PILLAR 4 34

4 PROGRESS REPORT ON SIDAGROW, OCTOBER 2013 MARCH 2015 39

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: BUILDING A STAKEHOLDER MOVEMENT 41
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2: GLOBAL-LEVEL POLICIES AND GOVERNANCE 45
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 3: NATIONAL-LEVEL POLICIES AND GOVERNANCE 53
MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING 57

5 SEEDSGROW PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT 59

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING 60
HUMAN RESOURCES 61
PROGRAMME REPORTING AND GOVERNANCE 61
PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT 62

6 SEEDSGROW FINANCES 63
SDHS FINANCES 65
SIDAGROW FINANCES 67
CASH FLOW AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE GAINS AND LOSSES 68
BALANCE OF INCOME VERSUS EXPENDITURES 69

ANNEX 1 70

SEEDSGROW 3
 Acronyms
ANDES Asociacion para la Naturaleza y el Desarrollo Sostenible
ARIPO African Regional Intellectual Property Organization
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASPSP Association Sngalaise de Producteurs de Semences Paysannes
BtB Behind the Brands (Oxfam International campaign)
CAO Compliance Advisor Ombudsman
CAWR Centre for Agro-ecology, Water and Resilience
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity
CCA Climate change adaption
CFS Committee for World Food Security
CGN Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands
CLRA Community Land Rights Alliance
COFERSA Convergence des Femmes Rurales pour la Souverainete Alimentaire
COP Conference of Parties (used in the context of UNFCCC)
CSA Climate-smart agriculture
CSM Civil society mechanism
CSR Corporate social responsibility
CSO Civil society organisation
CTDT Community Technology Development Trust
DDS Deccan Development Society
DRR Disaster risk reduction
EP European Parliament
ETC group Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration
EU European Union
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
FBC Food and beverage company
FCJ Food and Climate Justice (Oxfam International campaign)
FFS Farmer field school
FSE Farmer seed enterprise
FQD Fuel Quality Directive
GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit
(German Corporation for International Cooperation)
GPC Global Programme Committee
HDDS Household Diet Diversity Score
HR Human resources
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFC International Finance Corporation
ILC International Land Coalition
IPSHF Indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ITPGRFA International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
MFS Medefinanciering Stelsel (funding from Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
MoU Memorandum of understanding
NGO Non-governmental organisation
NPL National Postcode Lottery, the Netherlands
NUS Neglected and underutilised species
OI Oxfam International
ON Oxfam Novib
PGR Plant genetic resources
PGRFA Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture

4 SEEDSGROW
PPP Public-private partnerships
PRA Participatory rural appraisal
PRC Plant Genetic Resource Center
RED Renewable Energy Directive
RPO Regional programme officer
RRI Rights and Resources Initiative
RSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
SADC Southern African Development Community
SDHS Sowing Diversity = Harvesting Security
SEARICE Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment
Sida Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
SPM SDHSs Senior Programme Manager
SRD Center for Sustainable Rural Development of the Can Tho University
SWOT Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
TOA SDHSs Technical and Operations Advisor
ToT Training of trainers
TWN Third World Network
UMP Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe district, Zimbabwe
UN United Nations
UNFCCC UN Framework on Climate Change Convention
UPOV Union for the Protection of Plant Variety
VGGT Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Land Tenure
WBG The World Bank Group
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization

SEEDSGROW 5
Photo: Saikat Mojumder

Executive
summary

6 SEEDSGROW
All of humanity has the right to food. Much of this food to knowledge, livelihood resources and public goods
starts as seed. in the context of climate change and increased
competition over resources.
The world produces sufficient food to feed everyone,
yet 842 million people are chronically undernourished, To achieve this objective SeedsGROWcomprising SDHS5
of these 70 percent live in rural areas or are engaged in and the GROW campaigntakes a dual programme
agriculture1. Current food production, distribution, trade approach. It uses a multi-stakeholder, gender-just
and consumption is not effective at solving the problems approach focusing on:
of hunger, poverty and under-nutrition. Hunger is not due
to an inadequate amount of food; it is largely to do with enabling seed diversity, harvesting food and nutrition
unequal access to food. This unequal access is a result security; and
of a complex reality of unequal power relations, gender building a more equitable and sustainable food
inequality, insufficient governance structures, climate systemincluding by strengthening the rights,
change, land use rights, low investment in smallholder opportunities and resilience to climate change and
farmers, declining biodiversity, and volatility of food related injustices of people living in rural poverty,
prices, to name just a few of its causes. particularly women, to fairly access livelihoods
resources and global public goods.
Furthermore, the broken global food system is not only
unequal but unsustainable. Food production is exhausting FIGURE 1. SEEDSGROW
natural resources, including arable land, water and
biodiversity. Worryingly, the FAO predicts that food SeedsGROW GROW
production must increase by 70% by 2050 to meet the
challenges of an increasing global population2.
SDHS Programme GROW campaign
(seed diversity, food & (equitable & sustainable
SeedsGROWthanks to the invaluable support of nutrition security) food systems)

its partners Sida, International Fund for Agricultural

Funded by: Funded by:
Development (IFAD), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs SidaGROW
(through its MFS funding programme) and the Dutch MFS MFS
National Postcode Lottery (NPL)is tackling the issues IFAD Oxfam
Sida Other donors
of unequal and unsustainable global seeds and food NPL
systems. It will also demonstrate how to make changes,
and identify how effective methods can be replicated
and sustained. Oxfam and its partners are proud of the
programmes considerable achievements over its first
year, which include: developing and testing baseline SDHS
and farmer field school tools with smallholder farmers;
allowing farmers to meet high-level global stakeholders SDHS aim: to uphold, strengthen and maintain the
including the World Bank; and influencing several national rights and technical capacity of indigenous peoples
and global policy-making processes, including on EU and smallholder farmers, and to influence local to
biofuels and the FAOs Commission on Genetic Resources global policies and institutions on the access toand
for Food and Agriculture seed policy guideline. sustainable use ofplant genetic resources for food and
nutrition security under conditions of climate change.
This first progress report for the five-year Sida programme
SeedsGROW: Harvesting Global Food Security and Justice
in the Face of Climate Change (Contribution ID: 61050063) NOTE
provides a comprehensive review of programme activities, 1
TFAO, WFP, IFAD (2013). The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013.
progress towards outcomes, risks encountered and lessons The multiple dimensions of food security.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3434e/i3434e.pdf.
learned in the first 18 monthsfrom 1 October 2013 to 31
2
FAO. (2009), 2050: A third more mouths to feed, http://www.fao.org/
March 2015.3 It also discusses adjustments required to Year news/story/en/item/35571/icode/.
2 implementation as a result of these findings.4 We start 3
For SDHS, this represents the preparatory phase (1 October 2013 31
with a brief reintroduction of the programme: December 2013), inception phase (1 January 2014 31 December 2014)
and initial implementation phase (1 January 2015 31 March 2015). For
GROW, this represents the implementation phase (1 January 2014 31
SeedsGROW overall objective: Harvesting greater food March 2015).
4
security and food justice by supporting the gender- It should be noted that an interim report was submitted to Sida in
September 2014. While the current report reflects the whole implementation
just transformation of the global governance of food period, it may refer to the interim report for additional details.
systems, and strengthening affected citizens access 5
Funded by Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFS), IFAD, Sida and NPL.

SEEDSGROW 7
The SDHS programme recognises that smallholder sharing of commitments are vital.
farmers play a major role in the global food system, but
may not have access to the formal seed system, while Implementation was somewhat delayed due to
the formal seeds system does not consider the needs recruitment and contracting taking longer than
of smallholder farmers or womens preferences. The anticipated and inception meetings taking place later.
informal seeds sector is facing problems of seed purity, Community-level project implementation was impacted by
health, degeneration and unstable yields; access to this with a later than anticipated start of the consultation
breeding materials; good quality seeds and the markets rounds and adaptation and testing of diagnostic tools
necessary for adapting to changing agro-ecological to accommodate the diversity of specific contexts and
and market conditions. Furthermore, the informal seeds agricultural seasons. Programme staff aim to catch up by
sector itself is under threat from regional and global seed Year 2, and should be back on schedule by Q1 2016.
policies and laws that favour the formal sector.
Key Achievements
SDHS countries:
India
Consultations at local, national and global levels;
Laos
Improved baseline survey framework and tools on
Mali plant genetic resources developed and implemented
Myanmar in three countries;

Peru Three FSE scoping studies and initial talks with

potential partners for public-private partnerships;
Senegal
Developed innovative baseline survey framework and
Vietnam tools for diverse household nutritious sources (plants
Zimbabwe and crops) and their seed systems, which were
implemented in three countries;

In Year 1, progress has been made on all four pillars of SDHS: Comparative study of eight country seed law studies;
Pillar 1 (Scaling up Models): Strengthen the adaptive With others, consortium partners successfully
capacities of IPSHF in seed conservation, access influenced the final draft of the Guide for national
and sustainable use by scaling up innovation and seed policy formation, at the CGRFA 15th session
incorporating guidelines in relation to informal seed
engendered models of biodiversity management.
systems;
Pillar 2 (FSEs): Enhancing the livelihoods and seed
An integrated four year global plan
security of IPSHF by producing and marketing good-
quality and diverse seeds through public-private
partnerships. Methodological development
Pillar 3 (Women, Seeds and Nutrition): Empower Consultations with indigenous and farming communities
women to reclaim their role in food security through are time-consuming and enriching processes consistent
strengthening their capacity in seed management, with the principles of free, prior and informed consent,
nutrition and global policy engagement enabling them and are prerequisites for these groups ownership and
to claim their right to food.. empowerment. These consultations further refined the
Pillar 4 (Governance and knowledge systems): objectives and methodologies of each countrys projects,
Strengthen the capacities and knowledge base and ensured downward accountability. In addition,
of developing countries and their IPSHF to secure such consultation was important for the integration of
national and global legislation and policies for the full indigenous knowledge with scientific knowledge. The
implementation of farmers rights and the right to food. findings from the community and country consultations
were brought together in a January 2015 meeting, at which
In this inception year, partner organisations6 commenced intervention strategies and activities were discussed and
implementation of SDHS in eight countries, beginning refined into a four-year programme logframe.
with community and national-level consultations. As this
is a global programme that involves about 60 partners The testing and development of methodologies is
and allies with many stakeholders, the agreement of important for achieving coherence in a global framework
expectations, the definition of joint-programme inter- to allow cross-country learning, comparisons and
ventions, the pooling of expertise and resources, and the aggregation towards a coherent global policy agenda
on supporting farmers seeds systems. Therefore,
methodologies have been adapted and tested in many
NOTE
6
locations through participatory processes (e.g. baseline
Partner organisations are sometimes referred to as consortium
partners or counterparts. A list can be found at the start of Chapter 3. surveys, Household Diet Diversity Scores (HDDS), resource

8 SEEDSGROW
flow maps of neglected and underutilised species). The the required methodologies and tools for baseline
potential for farmer seed enterprises (FSEs) has been information collection, and scoping research for Pillar 2.
assessed through a series of scoping studies, while These were refined using the experiences and feedback
the laws and policy spaces have been analysed for of SDHS partner organisations collected during a
opportunities to mainstream and sustain programme methodological workshop in March 2014.
interventions that support farmers seed systems.
Baseline surveys were conducted on plant genetic
The methodological phase is also important for the diversity and diverse household nutritious sources
scaling-up strategy of the programme, enabling (plants and crops) and their seed systems, in work for
communities, civil society organisation (CSO) partners Pillars 1 and 3, respectively. Pillar 1 mainly focuses on
and allies to implement their own local programmes. To staple crops such as rice, maize, potatoes, sorghum and
this end, information on the tools developed will be freely millets; Pillar 3 focuses on neglected and underutilised
published and disseminated for other programmes and species (NUS), such as vegetables and supplementary
organisations to use and adapt. staples. Equipped with information from hunger and
sufficient periods7, communities could decide on plans
Farmer Field Schools to strengthen the cultivation of plants or crops that are
Farmer Field Schools (FFS) will be the major vehicle important for them particularly during hunger periods.
for the delivery of outcomes after the inception The programme team is currently refining the baseline
phase. FFS curricula will be developed based on the methodologies and tools, taking into account their
information gained from community consultations experience and lessons from communities and partners.
and baseline studies. FFS are grounded in discovery-
and experience-based learning processes, whereby In the Farmer Seeds Enterprise (FSE) pillar, scoping studies
farmers and indigenous communities are encouraged identified and compared country contexts, providing
to reflect on their current situations and, building on opportunities for detailed feasibility studies for two pilot
their existing traditional knowledge, propose solutions FSEs and specific in-country multi-stakeholder dialogues
or develop plans to conserve and manage their plant to verify feasibility and co-design business models.
genetic resources for food security. Farmers are thereby Establishing the FSEs will be important for exploring and
enabled to carry out their own innovation, adapting their possibly influencing the policy environment, and enabling
knowledge to any given context and external challenges. farmer seeds systems to gain more equitable market
access. Some of the objectives for the FSEs are:
The FFS system both empowers farmers and equips To provide small farmers in more diverse and stressful
them with tools to tackle the problems they face. FFS areas appropriate varieties of high-quality seeds;
participants propose their own solutions to the challenges To improve the diffusion of farmers diverse cultivars;
associated with suboptimal yields, pest and disease and
infestations, climate change and lack of access to To increase plant genetic resources diversity through
appropriate diversity, which increases their agency. The access to wider seed markets.
schools also provide participants with the tools to tackle
these problems, e.g. through the evaluation of new crops The final scoping study is to be completed in Year 2;
and new varieties accessed from outside the community, however, in Year 1, after completing the scoping study
or through selection and breeding for preferred traits in Myanmar, an opportunity arose for a public-private
using available varieties and segregating populations. FFS partnership (PPP) with East-West Seeds Company and the
aim to empower people to demand local resources and Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish an FSE in
services, and engage in decision-making processes, while Myanmar, which has been substantially explored.
they continuously adapt their plant genetic resources.
Pillar 3 has been discussed above along with Pillar 1 as
Programme progress the Year 1 activities of these pillars are similar.
The January 2015 global partner meeting in Driebergen
drew from the inception period, and contributed to the final The fourth pillar of SDHS builds on the global networks and
consolidated SDHS four-year logframe and budget submitted experience of Oxfam Novib and its consortium partners
to Sida on 27 February 2015. This submission brought to improve the global governance of food systems. In
together the highly diverse and complex farming systems in the past year, seed law country studies8 were completed
eight countries, and included nine consortium partners and
around 60 multi-stakeholders institutionsmaking it the
largest informal seed system programme in the world. NOTE
7
The availability of wild foods may vary according to traditional seasonal
agricultural cycles. For example, wild food availability may be greatest
A further achievement was the development of during rainy seasons, which occur before harvests of main cereal crops.

SEEDSGROW 9
in eight countries, and are currently under review by Specific Objective 1: building global, multi-stakeholder
partners. It focuses on policies relevant to the functioning movements
of small-scale farming systems, taking into account that Specific Objective 2: improving global-level policies
it is difficult to provide a single description of small- and governance
scale farming systems. Seed lawsin particular in the Specific Objective 3: improving national-level polices
eight project countrieshave formed the central topic and governance, and linking these with global-level
of this study because their impact on the functioning of campaigning
small-scale farming systems has hitherto received less
attention than the impact of intellectual property rights In 201415, GROW launched various public actions
laws. In addition, plant breeders rights legislation has (spikes) in support of its campaigns towards multilateral
been analysed. The study will form the basis for further institutions, national governments and companies.
analysis, in particular, farmers and CSOs inputs will Following the launch of Oxfams Food and Climate Justice
be included through a number of national workshops. (FCJ) campaign in March 2014, two important public
This will help the consortium partners define the focus spikes stood out:
of policy strategies and interventions. The studys final
report will be published after its presentation at the global 1. Behind the Brands (BtB), which engaged with ten
stakeholder meeting currently planned for early 2016. international food and beverage companies (FBC).11
2. The Road to Paris trajectory, engaging with the UN
Overall, despite some specific areas of delay, the SDHS Framework for Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC)
programme is on track to meet key influencing events process, which aims to achieve a legally binding and
such as submission of a technical paper and briefing universal agreement on climate change, involving all
note for the Sixth Session of the Governing Body of the the nations of the world.
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food
and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).9 The BtB spike focused on two of the ten FBCs (Kellogg
and General Mills), and resulted in over 235,000 sign ups.
This directly contributed to General Mills (29 July) and
SIDAGROW Kellogg (12 August) announcing commitments to address
climate change in their supply chain and operations.
SidaGROW builds upon and strengthens Oxfam In the Road to Paris trajectory, a highlight was the
Internationals Economic Justice campaign (referred to #MakeTheRightMove campaign, which was led by five
hereafter as GROW).10 In this report, reference is made to Asian country teams, and achieved a reach of over one
both Oxfam International (OI) and Oxfam Novib. This is to million people on Twitter with its message about climate
differentiate between Sida support for a number of GROW and disaster risk policy across Asia. Simultaneous and
campaign activities that are led by other Oxfam offices, related public campaign activity was conducted across
and those components that are led by Oxfam Novib. southern Africa and Latin America.

SidaGROW aims: To contribute to building a more One sub-objective in all campaigns is the forging of
gender-just, equitable and sustainable global food strong alliances to have one voice during campaigns.
system by empowering people living in rural poverty, A recent success was the signing of a memorandum of
particularly women, to increase their resilience and understanding (MoU) in Spring 2014 with the International
to claim their rights and opportunities to fairly access Land Coalition (ILC) and the Rights and Resources
food, livelihood resources and public goods. Initiative (RRI), in order to implement a future Call to
Action on Community Land Rights.
SidaGROW focuses on policies from the local to the global
level regarding climate change, land rights and biofuels. Alliances are central to Oxfams engagement with
These are reflected in the three objectives of the GROW international organisations. For example, Oxfam helped to
component of the SeedsGROW programme: create a common response to the World Bank Safeguards
Review, which was signed by 300 CSOs around the world,
with 100 focusing on land. Oxfam was involved in a
NOTE roundtable on community land rights on 6 October 2014,
8
Which also considered legislation covering plant breeders rights. which was the first public exchange on the topic of land
9
To be held in Rome, 59 October 2015. See: http://www.planttreaty. between the World Bank and CSOs. Another important
org/content/gb6-meeting-room (all reference links in this report last event was the launch of a briefing paper on International
accessed in September 2015, unless otherwise specified).
10
Finance Corporation intermediary cases at the World
For more information, see: https://www.oxfam.org/en/campaigns/
about-grow Banks 2015 Spring Meetings.12 The focus on the revision
11
For more information, see: http://www.behindthebrands.org/en-us of World Bank Safeguards will continue in 201516.

10 SEEDSGROW
 tenure is moving on from norm-setting to implementation,
Key Achievements with the Netherlands being the first country to start a multi-
stakeholder dialogue on land governance on the basis of the
VGGTs. However, during the reporting year, Oxfam learned
The BtB spike starting on 20th Of May 2014, that it will have to pay more attention to the practical
resulting in over 235,000 sign ups. In response, challenges faced by private sector and other actors in
General Mills (29 July) and Kellogg (12 August)
meeting the high standards set in practice, and provide
announcing commitments to address climate
change in their supply chain and operations; constructive criticism when necessary.
Launch of the #MakeTheRightMove campaign,
led by five Asian country teams, and achieved a For a number of years, Oxfam has been strongly involved
reach of over one million people on Twitter; in the Roundtable for Sustainable Oil (RSPO), and is the
The heads of state of Bangladesh and Pakistan only social organisation on the board. From this position,
including key messages from Oxfam in their it influenced the RSPOs land agenda on smallholders
speeches during the South Asian Association for human rights. However, such multi-stakeholder initiatives
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meetings; remain difficult settings for the creation of substantial
Signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and concrete policy changes. The land case between
with the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby and local communities
Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), in order to is currently progressing well (see Box 14), but it must be
implement a future Call to Action on Community noted that this case has been underway for over a decade.
Land Rights;
The EP voted in favour of limiting the use of crop- Both SidaGROW Pakistan and Niger made considerable
based biofuels in EU transport, providing for a 7 efforts to build a sound support base with communities,
percent cap on food-based biofuels, reporting
CSOs, NGOs and academic institutions to design and
on emissions caused by the displacement of
agriculture by the demand for biofuels (indirect implement national GROW campaigns. In the past year,
land-use change), and enhanced references to both national campaigns organised public events that may
social and environmental sustainability; have directly and/or indirectly influenced their respective
Pakistan and Niger GROW campaigns were national delegations at COP20.
launched
SidaGROW Vietnam pushed forward with national
Oxfam coordinated with other international agencies policy research and advocacy, which aims to boost
Action Aid, Birdlife, Client Earth, European Environmental the voices, rights and choices of small-scale farmers
Bureau, Friends of the Earth, and Transport & in the governments new rural reform and agricultural
Environmenton biofuels advocacy with the EU, which led strategy. Campaign staff also developed a new strategy
to progressive proposals being proposed by the European for the promotion of private-sector resilience, and
Parliament (EP) to the European Commission (EC). On 28 co-led the #MakeTheRightMove campaign with partner
April 2014, the former voted in favour of limiting the use of organisations. The GROW team in Cambodia contributed a
crop-based biofuels in EU transport, sealing a deal with land case to OIs global BtB campaign.
the Council of Ministers to reform the relevant directives.
The resulting final text provides for a 7 percent cap on Over the reporting period, the focus of the SidaGROW
food-based biofuels, reporting on emissions caused by learning agenda shifted to a learning-by-doing approach,
the displacement of agriculture by the demand for biofuels inspired by the #MaketheRightMove campaign. Lessons
(indirect land-use change), and enhanced references learned from this campaign are being used in the design
to social and environmental sustainability safeguards, and implementation of a pan-African campaign in 2015.
in particular the need to protect the land rights of
communities affected by deals to produce biofuels.13 Overall, total expenditure for SeedsGROW in Year 1 was
Supporting campaigning towards UNFCCC, SidaGrow 3,744,000 euro, with an absorption rate of 78 percent.
contributed to the heads of state of Bangladesh and See Chapter 6 for more information on finances.
Pakistan including key messages from Oxfam in their
speeches during the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) meetings prior to the 20th Conference
NOTE
12
K. Geary (2015) The Suffering of Others: The human cost of the
of Parties in Lima (COP20) in December 2014. International Finance Corporations lending through financial
intermediaries, Oxfam International, https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.
oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/ib-suffering-of-others-international-
Apart from the follow up on the Voluntary Guidelines on finance-corporation-020415-en.pdf
Governance of Land Tenure (VGGTs)a monitoring framework 13
European Parliament (2015) Environment Committee backs switchover
to be approved by the UN Committee for Food Security (CFS) to advanced biofuels, press release, 24 February, http://www.europarl.
europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20150223IPR24714/html/
in October 2016Oxfams work on the governance of land Environment-Committee-backs-switchover-to-advanced-biofuels

SEEDSGROW 11
Photo: Shepherd Tozvireva

Chapter 1

Changing
contexts

12 SEEDSGROW
The contexts in which SeedsGROW operates has Overall, these trends in commercial agriculture will
changed, both in terms of the policy environment and the increase the role of hi-tech and high-cost solutions, and
commercial seed sector. Such developments require that strengthen the position of breeding companies that can
the programmes policy agenda be revisited. invest. This may result in reduced competition in seed
markets, and may affect the diversity in farmers fields,
including in small-scale agriculture.
SDHS: CHANGES IN THE SEEDS SECTOR
These trends in commercial agriculture may also lead to
The seed sector is undergoing significant consolidation, changes in policy and legislation. Political pressure on
both globally and regionallyparticularly in Africa. governments to introduce or adapt seed-marketing and
DuPont acquired PANNAR (South Africa) in 2013, Syngenta plant variety protection laws in support of the private
acquired MRI Seeds (Zambia) in 2013, while Monsanto seed sector are likely to increase. In the past, such
and Limagrain acquired parts of SeedCo (Zimbabwe) in developments have resulted in limitations upon the rights
2014. As a consequence, some of the very few medium- of farmers to save, reuse, exchange and sell their seeds.
sized home-grown sub-Saharan seed companies have Indeed, a number of (regional groupings for) developing
become part of the global top four. At the global level, countriessuch as the members of the Organisation
the worlds largest seed company, Monsanto, is trying Africaine de la Proprit Intellectuelle, representing
to purchase Syngentathe worlds largest pesticides Francophone African countries, and the African Regional
company, and the third largest in seedswhich would Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), representing
create an even more powerful market leader, although Anglophone African countriesare at different stages of
it is speculated that the EC might demand that part of negotiating to join the Union for the Protection of Plant
Syngentas seed business be sold to third parties.14 This Variety (UPOV), the international plant variety protection
will be closely monitored by SDHS partners, which will act treaty, which originated in Europe in the 1960s. The
as necessary. The possible merger of these seed giants current UPOV Act of 1991 sets strict limitations on the
would concentrate corporate power over issues that are rights of farmers to save, use, exchange and sell seeds of
close to global food security. protected varieties, and may be incorporated into national
legislation following UPOV membership. If enforced rigidly,
Meanwhile, the gap between small- and medium-sized this would reduce the affordability and availability of
seed companies and multinationals widens. This gap can improved varieties in local markets and communities,
also be seen in reactions to the European Patent Offices and give small-scale farmers fewer options to integrate
decision to grant precedent-setting patents to varieties preferred new traits into their own varieties or to adapt
(of broccoli and tomato) with naturally occurring traits such varieties to local circumstances.
bred through conventional (though marker-assisted)
breeding. CropLife International, which brings together SDHS aims to promote the communication and exchange
the worlds eight largest seed and agro-chemical of experience, as well as the exchange of crop seeds
companies, openly lobbied for the decision.15 However, between small-scale farmers communities worldwide,
the European Seed Association, which represents the full and such practices need to be further strengthened.
spectrum of European seed companies, is said to regret A major policy development in this arena is the coming
the decision, as it would restrict access to breeding into force of the Nagoya Protocol. In principle, its
material and generally discourage breeding in areas implementation at the national level should lead to
covered by such patents.16 increased benefit-sharing, including with farmers
communities. Careful monitoring of implementation
Research by the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and of policies on the genetic resources and traditional
Concentration (ETC Group) and others shows that novel knowledge used for product development will be needed
plant-breeding strategies are increasingly integrating
technologies stemming from synthetic biology.17
Technological innovations in areas such as weather NOTE
monitoring and crop information management, farm 14
It should be noted that on June 8, 2015, Syngenta rejected Monsantos
second offer, calling it inadequate.
machinery and fertiliserstogether known as precision
15
C. Saez (2015) EPO Backs Patents On Conventional Plants: Broccoli,
agricultureare likely to result in changing practices Tomato Cases Decided, Intellectual Property Watch, 1 April, http://www.
for commercial agriculture in coming years. While ip-watch.org/2015/04/01/epo-backs-patents-on-conventional-plants-
broccoli-tomato-cases-decided/
integration of such technologies in commercial farming 16
European Seed Association (2015) ESA regrets broccoli/tomato
might increase yields, it is not clear to what extent the decision of European Patent Offices enlarged board of appeal, 31 April,
development of new technologies and practices will https://www.euroseeds.eu/esa-regrets-broccolitomato-decision-
european-patent-offices-enlarged-board-appeal
result in profound changes for small-scale farmers. 17
ETC Group (2015) Seed Characters, communiqu, 14 May, http://www.
etcgroup.org/content/seedy-characters

SEEDSGROW 13
to ensure the minimisation of unwanted effects on the following a statement by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
exchange and use of genetic resources and traditional The call made by Pope Francis during his encyclical on
knowledge within small-scale agriculture. the environment on 18 May 2015. In his statement, he
considers the reduction of greenhouse gases one of
The developments described underline the importance the most serious challenges for humanity.
of the work of SDHS in supporting farmers to maintain In August 2015, US President Barack Obama travelled
and develop seed diversity, and influencing governments to Alaska, where he spoke of climate change as one of
to respect and fully realise the right to foodas well as the biggest threats faced by humanity, that it is being
farmers rights to save, use, exchange and sell seeds. driven by human activity, and that it is disrupting US
citizens lives in the present day.

SIDAGROW: CHANGES IN POLITICAL CONTEXT National political contexts

Political unrest in Pakistansuch as the mass demon-
European Parliament stration calling for the dismissal of Prime Minister Nawiz
The May 2014 EP elections were an important contextual Sharifaffected the movement of Oxfam staff, but has
development. The new parliament set ambitious targets not resulted in significant delays for the national GROW
on biofuel sourcing as expected; however, with the campaign. However, in Niger, the suspension of parlia-
appointment of climate sceptics to the EU executive mentary sessions for six months of the reporting period
council, CSOs had to engage with national governments resulted in delays to the processing of new agricultural
and new members of the EP to call for climate change laws, and limited influencing opportunities for CSOs.
to become a priority for high-level appointments and
influence the commissioner to set more ambitious Regional institutionssuch as the SAARC and ASEAN
targets. For example, the legislative process within the in Asia, and the African Union, the Southern African
EU on biofuels (the Renewable Energy Directive, RED, and Development Community (SADC) and the Economic
the Fuel Quality Directive, FQD) saw the Council approving Community of West African States in Africacan and do
less ambitious deals than the parliament. contribute to the design, adoption and implementation
of climate treaties. However, this report demonstrates
UNFCCC that national governments are the main window of
The most significant window for change in 2015 is the opportunity to engage with regional institutions; there
21st UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris. are limited opportunities to engage with them directly.
This COP could result in a climate treaty calling for the
mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, especially by Geopolitics
rich countries, and the adaptation to climate impacts The turmoil around Ukraine and unrest in the Middle East
financed by rich countries through a new Global Climate due to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have not
Fund and other global and national climate funds. had a negative effect on current debates around climate
Oxfams campaign and advocacy work is focused on change and land. Major UNFCCC, World Bank Group, FAO
this event and related preparatory meetings, and the and CFS meetings took place as planned.
organisation is using it as an angle for engagement with
relevant actors.
CHANGES IN OXFAMS INTERNAL CONTEXT
A contextual development increasing the effectiveness
of Oxfam campaigns towards climate change in future is Oxfam International
that more key actors are becoming aware of the urgency The SeedsGROW programme is embedded within
of addressing climate change. Reference is made to: Oxfams governance structure. It links particularly to the
Chinas plan to peak its emissions and commit to organisations strategy goals for sustainable food and
delivering 20 percent of its energy with non-fossil fair sharing of natural resources.18
fuel sources by around 2030, a move Oxfam believes
to have the potential to help catalyse action against As SDHS involves a global consortium, aligning and
climate change globally. China is expected to shortly synergising with existing Oxfam country programmes
submit its Intended National Determined Contribution in Mali, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos,
Peru, and India is an essential process. This requires
continuous action to ensure proper coordination, sign-off
NOTE and risk management. This has been impacted by Oxfam
18
Goals 4 and 5, respectively, of Oxfams Strategic Plan 201319. Oxfam Internationals change process, named Oxfam 2020,
(2012) The Power of People Against Poverty: Oxfam Strategic Plan, as described below. Initial workincluding establishing
20132019, https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/oxfam-
strategic-plan-2013-2019.pdf effective relationships, a review of current country

14 SEEDSGROW
programmes and mapping of potential commonalities and programming will be a central intervention strategy, and
synergieshas been undertaken by Regional Programme the Sida-funded SeedsGROW programme will serve as an
Officers (RPOs), and will be continued by the SDHS team in important example of this for learning and the sharing of
The Hague, and Oxfam country teams. experience.

Oxfam Internationals current GROW campaign, of As part of this change, organizational and staffing
which SidaGROW is part, will conclude on 31 December structures were revised. In line with Dutch labour laws,
2015. A framework for campaigning on issues related the SeedsGROW team has been a part of this review. This
to Economic Justice in 20162019, which will build on has taken place in Year 2, and resulted in staff changes
and continue a substantial part of the current GROW in both the SDHS and GROW teams. The impact of these
campaign, was shared with Sida on 27 February 2015. changes can be discussed in detail with Sida at the next
The overall plan has been completed, informing the work monitoring meeting.
presented in the Sida-funded GROW logframe and related
budget in the documents submitted with this report.

Oxfam 2020
In order for Oxfam to effectively tackle the root causes
of poverty and inequality, and still be able to influence
on behalf of those without a voice, Oxfam needs to
change. To this end, the confederation is implementing
a significant change process, called Oxfam 2020.
This will further align the 17 Oxfam affiliates and the
secretariat, and also create new affiliates with observer
status. Oxfams purpose will remain the same, and the
confederation will continue to work in three key areas:
campaigns, development and humanitarianism. The
changes are a response to the shifting loci of poverty
and power, as well as changes in the way that aid is
distributed. Effective poverty reduction is no longer
about transferring money from North to South, but about
addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality.
Oxfam will focus more of its resources in those countries
where it can make the most difference to those living in
poverty. The changes will occur at national, regional and
global levels and include programme governance and
management, shared services (HR, IT and finance) and
the architecture of the global confederation.

Oxfam Novib
Oxfam Novib is in the last year of its current strategic
plan (201115), and has been planning for the period
201620. Food security remains a central theme, in
which agro-biodiversity and global campaigning will form
important elements. Oxfam Novib was recently awarded
a grant for a new phase of strategic partnership with the
Dutch Government. This will contribute to Oxfam Novibs
work on food, land and water over the next five years.

Changes to the funding environment and the Oxfam 2020

changes have necessitated changes for Oxfam Novib.
The management of a world-wide influencing network,
fundraising and knowledge-building and sharing will be
central elements to the changed organisation. In this
process, the focus will be on the quality of programmes,
effective collaboration within the confederation, as
well as intensive fundraising. Multi-country and global

SEEDSGROW 15
Photo: Kimlong Meng

Chapter 2

Finding
synergies

16 SEEDSGROW
SDHS and GROW run in parallel, addressing different SidaGROW Objective 3, which runs in Niger and Pakistan,
aspects of the broken food system with different and SDHSwhich works in eight countriesboth seek
albeit overlappinginterventions. This overlap creates to convene relevant stakeholders to improve national-
opportunities for synergies and increased impact. For level policies and governance, and link these with
example, SidaGROW Objective 1 and SDHS Pillar 4 seek to global policies. A review sought to identify possibilities
build an influential, global multi-stakeholder movement for cooperation with Oxfam programmes in the SDHS
focused on addressing and improving the broken food countries, resulting in some opportunities related to
system. GROW approaches more aspects of the food GROW campaign work upon which we may be able to
system than SDHS, which focuses on the seeds systems, capitalise in coming years. In the SDHS team, several staff
but both strategies meet at the global level through members have explicit responsibility to search for these
forums such as the UNFCCCattended by the Third opportunities with Oxfam country teams. For example,
World Network (TWN), South Centre and Oxfamand the SDHS consortium partner CTDT is participating in the
UN Committee for World Food Security (CFS), which was Zimbabwe country component of the GROW pan-Africa
attended by ETC Group and Oxfam. All SDHS partners campaign.
engage constructively in larger civil society coordination
mechanisms where also the GROW campaign plays a role, In Oxfam Novib in the coming years, work around food,
such as the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) at the CFS. land and water will based on a shared Theory of Change,
Despite proposals by CFS Chair Gerda Verburg, the CFS further detailing and linking the GROW and SDHS work as
High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition initiated in the SeedsGROW programme. This will ensure
has so far not wanted to take up seeds and agricultural that natural opportunities for joint work will be identified
biodiversity as a topic. If this were to happen, there would and acted upon to generate maximum impact on our
be increased scope for joint or coordinated advocacy of shared agenda.
SDHS and GROW in these forums.

At this stage of the programme, specific coordination

between SDHS and GROW takes place in joint meetings
and through inputs into each others initiatives. For
example, the SDHS and GROW Vietnam teams have given
essential input into the decision on how Oxfam should
relate to the Sustainable Rice Platform in Asia, which
resulted in Oxfam opting for observer status. Staff
members from both teams have also taken part in each
others strategy development meetings.

GROW work on the resilience of small-scale food

producers and their communities to climate change could
possibly benefit from lessons learned from SDHS Pillars 1
and 3, which seek to build the capacities of indigenous
peoples and smallholder farmers (IPSHF) to strengthen
their informal seed systems in the face of climate change.
We are expecting that the discussions around the 2016
UNFCCC COP in Morocco will focus more on climate change
adaptation. Therefore, case studies and community
experiences from the SDHS programme could provide
valuable material for GROW advocacy and campaign
activities.

SEEDSGROW 17
Photo: Shepherd Tozvireva

Chapter 3

Progress
report on
SDHS
October 2013March 2015

18 SEEDSGROW
Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant Oxfam Novib and the SDHS consortium partners built on
and animal species which we will never know, which our the interventions and learning from the IFAD-Oxfam Novib
children will never see, because they have been lost Putting Lessons into Practice programme. The current
for ever. The great majority become extinct for reasons Sida grant will enable significant scaling up of proven
related to human activity. concepts and methodologies, the creation of rigorous
... documentation that will allow global level comparisons
a sober look at our world shows that the degree of human and analysis, and improved knowledge management for
intervention, often in the service of business interests and South-South capacity building. This includes consistency
consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and in concepts (e.g. scaling-up frameworks), methods
beautiful, ever more limited and grey, even as technological (e.g. participatory plant breeding, baseline surveys)
advances and consumer goods continue to abound and indicators (e.g. number of households and women
limitlessly. We seem to think that we can substitute an reached, seed security, food and nutrition security,
irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which and policy engagement). This consistency has been
we have created ourselves. Pope Francis 201519 developed in an iterative and participative manner with
inputs from partners and communities, and scientific and
The Sowing Diversity = Harvesting Security (SDHS) technical experts, in consultations led by Oxfam Novib.
programme is being implemented by a consortium of nine
international organisations: Agreed global frameworks, methodologies and tools
the Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community are adapted to specific local circumstances. Pilots are
Empowerment (SEARICE); conducted in the field with communities, partners, Oxfam
the Third World Network (TWN); Novib and experts, allowing for the further refinement of
GRAIN; frameworks, methodologies and tools until meaningful local
the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and information is obtained in a form that can be aggregated
Concentration (ETC Group); and analysed at regional and global levels, in order to inform
the South Centre; global policy debates with evidence-based advocacy.
the Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT); Oxfams resulting publications and reports will be distributed
Asociacion para la Naturaleza y el Desarrollo Sostenible to global governance bodies, such as the International
(ANDES); Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (ITPGRFA), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the
(CAWR);20 and Committee for World Food Security (CFS), and a special
Oxfam Novib. contribution to the State of the World Report on Biodiversity
for Food and Agriculture 2017, to be published by the Food
In some cases these partners are themselves working and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).
with national partners:
SEARICE works with: Therefore, the programme and its advocacy is built upon the
o The Metta Foundation in Myanmar. strength and knowledge of IPSHF, bolstered by and assessed
o The Mekong Delta Development Research Institute through scientifically robust frameworks, methodologies and
of Can Tho University, and the Plant Resources tools. It was therefore imperative that a common approach
Center in Vietnam. was agreed and implemented by all consortium partners
o The Plant Quarantine Division of the Department of at the beginning of the programme. Oxfam Novib and its
Agriculture in Laos. SDHS consortium partners were able to build upon existing
CAWR works with: work and learning from related programmes, such as the
o The Deccan Development Society (DDS) in India. aforementioned Putting Lessons into Practice.
o The Association Sngalaise de Producteurs de
Semences Paysannes (ASPSP) in Senegal. Preparatory and internal activities are briefly described
o The Convergence des Femmes Rurales pour la below, followed by detailed accounts of activities and
Souverainete Alimentaire (COFERSA) in Mali. progress under SDHSs four pillars, between 1 October
2013 and 31 March 2015. It follows the activities as
SDHS aims to provide greater access to seeds and outlined in the Annual Workplan submitted to Sida with
nutritious foods to, raise the policy awareness of, and the interim report on 20 November 2014.
increase the technical and influencing skills of 300,000
households, with women comprising at least 50 percent
of beneficiaries. The aim is to enable them to uphold, NOTE
19
strengthen and mainstream their rights and technical http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/
papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
capacities, to access and sustainably use plant genetic 20
In programme documents, CAWR is referred to as CAFS, which is the
resources (PGR) for food and nutrition security. organisations previous name.

SEEDSGROW 19
PREPARATORY PHASE Much of this was reported in the interim report.
Some work, however, is by its nature continuous, such as
The preparatory phase put in place the core elements recruitment or discussions with private sector actors.
needed to launch the programme and its inception phase. A chronological summary of these activities follows.

OctoberDecember 2013

Activity Actions Outputs

1. Staff recruitment and capacity 
Oxfam Novib recruitment 
Programme Leader, Contract
building process Manager, Senior Programme
Manager, Thematic Specialist,

SDHS programme partners Researchers, (Regional) Programme
recruitment processes Officers, Financial Officer and Team
Administrator recruited

Desk study
2. Discussions with Dutch private 
Workshop to be organised in The 
Meeting minutes
sector Hague with private sector actors
3. Oxfam Novib appraisal process 
Country needs analysis 
Country needs analysis report and
(toolbox process) toolbox documents finalised for

Toolbox discussions with eight countries
partners, and Oxfam country
offices where relevant
4. SDHS initial team meeting 
Oxfam Novib and SDHS partners 
Agreement on the date and agenda
met in Laos, 3 December 2013 for the directors, inception and
methodological meetings

The directors of the SDHS consortium successfully methodology workshop were discussed and agreed.
conducted a preparatory meeting on 3 December 2013 in
Laos, where the agenda for the March 2014 SDHS directors One difficulty encountered with recruitment for the Oxfam
stocktaking (a review of successes and challenges in Novib SDHS team was finding a seeds specialist and a
existing programmes), programme inception meeting and nutritionist.

SDHS OVERARCHING ACTIVITIES

January 2014March 2015

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15
Internal Designed and Populated the Populated the
communications created the Cloud Cloud with Cloud with
(Cloud project) FFS modules, participatory
literature tools, literature
Visibility and GIZ conference: CGRFA side event,
validation of Farmers Seeds Rome
framework and System
approaches
Capacity building Financial
of consortium capacity-building
partners assessment
incorporated with
toolbox processes
Global partner Global partner Global
meetings methodological consultation
meeting (review and
planning)
Monitoring IFAD financial Pillar specialist Pillar specialist
monitoring visit review meeting review meeting;
to Peru financial
monitoring visit to
the Philippines
20 SEEDSGROW
Internal communication (Cloud project) obtain derogations from procurement procedures, while
Implementing such a complex and diverse programme others have been addressed with partners individually,
requires well-coordinated internal communication, so such as providing support with reporting or auditing.
that all partners are aware of each others work, outputs,
lessons and achievements. While this is most effectively Global partner meetings
achieved when partners are face-to-face, such as at the The first global partner meeting of all consortium
January 2015 Global meeting, lessons from the Putting partnersthe Methodological Workshop and Inception
Lessons into Practice project proved that a common Meetingtook place in The Hague on 512 March 2014.
place for storing and accessing documentation is Agreements from this workshop form the basis of the
beneficial. The SDHS Cloud was launched on 12 September common framework agreements for the activities
2014, and populated with programme documents. It is a undertaken in the inception year within each pillar. These
key tool for knowledge management. meetings were discussed in detail in the interim report.

Dialogues (visibility) A second global partner meeting to define the logframe

The consortium was able to successfully increase its and Year 2 activity plan for SDHS was held on 2627
visibility and the rigour of its frameworks, methodologies January 2015 in Driebergen. All implementation partners
and reports. This was achieved through discussions attended, including representatives of the national
and the sharing of experience at global consultation partners of SEARICE and CAWR, and the following
meetings; scientific reviews of specialists results during objectives were agreed:
field monitoring visits and specialist review meetings; and 1. Solving institutional and administrative programme
feedback received from presentations of the programme governance and management issues;
at key events for the private sector, government 2. Providing an opportunity for partners to move to
agencies, donors, and key policy events. These included: the content thematic areas for the purposes of
An event at GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fr synthesising research tools, sharing information,
Internationale Zusammenarbeit), entitled Farmers documenting experiences and identifying collaborative
Seed Systems: The challenge of linking formal and agricultural innovation processes with farmers for
informal seed systems on 4 June 2014 in Bonn.21 inclusive and sustainable development within the four
A side event at the 15th Session of the FAO Commission pillars; and
on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) 3. Working out how to synthesise lessons emerging from
in Rome on 1623 January 2015, entitled Scaling up the SDHS programme, and identify emerging policy
Support for Farmers Seeds Systems: International options for strengthening innovations generated by
Obligations and National Seed Laws. farmers, to achieve positive development outcomes
and the sustenance of agricultural biodiversity,
A number of successful discussions were held with Dutch community-based seed systems and IPSHF capacities.
private sector actors, most notably East-West Seeds
Company and Plantum NL (the Dutch association for the Attendees revisited and refined the four-year logframes
plant reproduction material sector). These dialogues are outcomes and indicators (ensuring that the four key
ongoing, and will be discussed under Pillar 2. indicatorsseed security, food security, gender, and
policy engagementwere represented) and established a
Capacity building of consortium partners common understanding and ownership of the programmes
Partners capacity-building needs were discussed during methods and approaches. These include baseline surveys,
the March 2014 methodological workshop. Partner- participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools and knowledge
specific coaching by SDHSs technical and operations management. Common ways of working were established
advisor took place throughout the inception period, and for each of the four pillars, which are critical for the ability
has continued under Pillars 1 and 3. to compare and consolidate data across contexts for
global analysis. Most importantly, the global meeting was
In 2014, Oxfam Novib reviewed and updated its opportunity very successful in terms of building collaboration, trust
and risk assessment tools for assessing prospective and understanding among the SDHS partners.
partners, and in doing so created a new financial
capacity-building assessment tool. The latter has been As reported in the interim report, after initial work on the
used when completing the opportunity and risk appraisals
of partners for 201516. Open discussions with partners
enable them to raise their concerns about compliance NOTE
with contract conditions. Some issues were addressed at 21
GIZ (ed.) (2014) Framers Seed Systems: The challenge of linking formal
consortium level, such as a process to allow partners to and informal seed systems, documentation of the Expert Talk, 4 June
2014 in Bonn, http://www.giz.de/expertise/downloads/giz2015-en-do-
kum-expert-talks-farmers-seed-syst.pdf

SEEDSGROW 21
Country Needs Assessments in five of the eight countries, Monitoring (financial, methodological and programmatic)
it was decided that it would be more efficient to combine In the inception year, the work of the partners was heavily
the Country Needs Assessments focusing on national dependent on the output of the Oxfam Novib team, and
seed laws with the baseline surveys currently underway much of their work involved the development of Pillar 3
as part of Pillar 4. Initial work on the national seeds laws and refinement of the Pillar 1 baseline survey framework,
and Pillar 4 baseline was completed and refinement of the methodologies and tools. These baseline surveys are
studiesincluding country workshopscontinues into vital, because the programme will depend on them over
Year 2. its five years to assess progress and impact.

SDHS PILLAR 1

Objective: To strengthen the adaptive capacities of IPSHF in seed conservation, access and sustainable
use by scaling up innovative and engendered models of biodiversity management

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Community, Laos, Vietnam,

national Myanmar
and global (SEARICE),
consultations
Zimbabwe (CTDT)
Baseline surveys Review and Review and refine Pre-test IFAD-ON Baseline surveys Baseline survey
refine IFAD-ON IFAD-ON baseline baseline tool (Laos, S Vietnam, (Laos, S Vietnam,
baseline tool tool Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe)

Technical Review partners Coaching Coaching

support to survey plans partners on partners in
partners baseline survey baseline survey

Framework Develop FFS Joint review of Guidelines for

curriculum for review framework FFS curriculum, FFS curriculum
FFS using training and manual
of trainers finalised
approach, and
participatory
varietal selection
and participatory
plant breeding
Improve PGRFA Partners provided
framework at inputs
three levels (PGR,
ecosystem, farm)
and systematise
pathways for
three countries
Gender Review of gender
framework data

In Year 1, Pillar 1 aimed to develop a common gathered from the methodological workshop, global
understanding of the methodology with partners and consultation meeting and pre-testing of the tool in Laos.
conduct consultations at community, national and global Using these improvements, baselines were successfully
levels, as well as undertake baseline surveys in Laos, created for Laos, south Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The
Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The Pillar 1 baseline survey tool overall analysisincluding the remaining baseline for
for PGR was improved due to suggestions and lessons Peru and the end line conclusions for Peru, Vietnam and

22 SEEDSGROW
Zimbabwe in the IFAD-ON Scaling-up programmewill be Pillar 1 baseline surveys
completed in Year 2. Baseline surveys for Pillar 1 have been conducted in Laos,
south Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The Pillar 1 survey will
A final set of guidelines (suggested methods and tools) also be administered in Peru in Year 2, once a contract
for the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) curriculum were is signed with ANDES, who opted to join the programme
completed and circulated to partners; the first draft of a year late. The improved Pillar 1 baseline survey tool for
the improved FFS curriculum is scheduled for completion PGR in the context of climate change was pre-tested in
in Year 2. Gender data from the baseline surveys were Laos by SEARICE and its national partner, with support
reviewed in Year 1, which, along with information from from the Oxfam Novib team. The improved Pillar 1 baseline
the final results of the IFAD-ON Scaling-up programme, survey tool was a revised version of the survey tool
will be important for the creation of the improved gender initially used in the IFAD-ON Scaling-up programme. The
framework to be finalised in Year 2. pre-testing also involved representatives of agricultural
extension agencies from the target provinces.
The strengthening of the PGR focus in all Pillar 1
activitiesthrough improved baseline survey tools and The pre-testing and training included conducting survey
guidelines for the FFS curriculum and manualswill interviews with Laotian farmers in the village of Nam Pok
ultimately contribute to achieving the overall outcomes in Vientiane Province. This exercise resulted in further
of the programme. The emphasis on PGR will strengthen improvements to the Pillar 1 survey questionnaire, which
farmers technical capacities and management of was then administered during the actual baseline survey in
diversity at the genetic level; seed systems, conservation Laos and south Vietnam. This process ensured downward
and development of diversity at the species level; and the accountability, as the baseline tools had been tested and
conservation of ecosystems and landscape. refined jointly with the communities and will ultimately
provide the communities with the information they need to
Community, national and global consultations understand their current situation and develop a community
The first round of community- and country-level plan. The target provinces in Laos were Oudomxay,
consultations was completed in September 2014 in Laos, Xayabouly, Vientiane, Salavan and Attapeu. In south
Vietnam, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe. These are crucial to Vietnam, they were Soc Trang, An Giang and Hau Giang.
ensure communities ownership of SDHS programme content
and outcomes, and to include their recommendations within Box 1. Objectives of the baseline survey on PGR
the programmes planning (in Years 2 to 5).
1. To develop and adapt tools locally in order to create
In Vietnam and Zimbabwe, communities close to SDHS
baselines.
target areas are currently participating in the IFAD-ON
Scaling-up programme, which has similar objectives
2. To apply these tools to assess:
to SDHS Pillar 1. Concrete results were demonstrated in
these areas, such as the reintroduction of crops and Community and household socio-economic situation;
varieties that are (nearly) absent in the farming systems, Status of agricultural biodiversity in relation to
as well as selection for preferred traits between varieties peoples food security within the specific ecosystems
of staple crops obtained from the external sources. These of the project sites;
results were viewed positively by the SDHS communities. Socio-economic and cultural changes that have
Lessons learned from the IFAD-ON programme, in taken, or are taking, place at household and
particular about methodologies and tools, will be applied community levels related to adaptation of agricultural
production to climate change;
and improved in the SDHS communities.
Roles of women farmers in agro-biodiversity
SDHS partners in Laos, Senegal, Vietnam and Zimbabwe management under changing climatic conditions;
approached relevant local and national government Farming communities understanding, perceptions
agencies, as well as local research institutions. A and strategies to respond to the effects of climate
series of meetings were used to introduce the SDHS change
programme and identify complementarities between The baseline guides the development of a monitoring
governmental development agendas and the programme. plan, under which four key indicators (seed security,
food security, policy engagement and gender) are
These consultations set the right tone, and ensured
monitored constantly to measure the programmes
that communities and stakeholders felt ownership in the progress. More importantly, the baseline tools provide
implementation of SDHS. communities with the information necessary for them
to understand their current situations and develop
their own plans.

SEEDSGROW 23
 In Zimbabwe, a reduced version of the baseline survey
(data collection through focus group discussions in
FFS sessions) was conducted in Chiredzi, Goromonzi,
Tsholotsho, and Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (UMP). This
was appropriate because the SDHS target villages in
these districts are in close proximity with those currently
implementing the IFAD-ON Scaling-up programme.
Therefore, some parts of the full baselinecommunity
and household socio-economic situation, biophysical
information, climatic phenomena, farming systems, agro-
biodiversity, institutions and policies, as well as gender
relations in agriculturecould be assumed.

At the time of writing, household surveys and PRA

sessionsincluding community validation and analysis
of the results by partnershave been completed for
Laos, south Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The country baseline
reports will be completed in Year 2. Given the situation, it
is now planned that, by the end of Year 2, a draft analysis
will be prepared for four countries: Laos, south Vietnam,
Zimbabwe and Peru. The draft analysis will compare the
baseline and end line results of the IFAD-ON Scaling-up
programme to the baseline of Pillar 1. Thereby, lessons
and gaps from the three-year IFAD-ON programme will Source: CTDT (2013) Example of PRA tool
be identified, and this information will be used jointly
with the findings of the Pillar 1 baseline to inform the incorporating rigorous scientific knowledge, to address
community and Pillar 1 programme planning. challenges and threats to farmers and their seed systems
(including climate change, intellectual property rights law).
Technical support to partners The aim is to increase smallholder farmers awareness and
The Oxfam Novib team was in close contact with both Pillar understanding of their livelihood situations, in particular
1 and Pillar 3 partners about the survey methodology. They seed security and food security, and of past and present
provided technical support to the Laos team during the changes and future challenges and opportunities.
pre-test of the Pillar 1 baseline survey. Oxfam Novib and
its partners jointly discovered the need to focus upon PGR. Furthermore, stocktaking was used to analyse existing
During the test, some recommendations for improvements partners FFS curriculum. SEARICE has a curriculum
were made. The improvement took into account the and manuals on rice and maize, while CTDT has one on
inclusion of the following tools: a set of agro-biodiversity conservation agriculture under mixed farming systems,
tools, including those for assessing crop and genetic which incorporates Participatory Plant Breeding and
diversity, seed systems, and to gather farmers analyses Participatory Variety Selection techniques. These
of their own PGR management. Furthermore, a specific tool existing curricula and manuals provided SDHS with a
assessing the strengths and weaknesses of farmers seed good starting point to implement a series of training
systems (access, capacity to create diversity, techniques of trainers (ToT) sessions in order to improve the FFS
to facilitate genetic progress, capacity for adaptation curriculum. For FFS to become self-replicating, ToT and
trials) and in particular identifying those strengths derived the development of basic curriculum are essential. ToT
from indigenous knowledge systems was included in the sessions are indispensable, since a successful FFS is
tools improvement. also dependent on a skilled facilitator. The FFS facilitator
should have skills in managing participatory, discovery
Framework for the FFS curriculum based learning as well as technical knowledge to guide
The SDHS programme aims to develop an FFS curriculum the groups learning in fulfilling the FFS objectives. While
that focuses on the management of genetic diversity. initially partners staff were trained, the ToT will primarily
As a result, the SDHS programme will contribute to the target (advanced) farmers and other local stakeholders
conservation and development of species diversity (i.e. extension services staff) as facilitators to ensure
and the conservation of ecosystems and landscapes. the sustainability of the programme. By teaching others
Ultimately, the FFS as an empowering learning approach to provide FFS training, cadres of extension staff
will facilitate the generation of knowledge that builds on and advanced farmers could independently facilitate
local knowledge systems, values, traditions and beliefs, dozens of FFS sessions per season in just half a day per

24 SEEDSGROW
week. This could fulfil the scaling-up objective of Pillar be developed into a briefing note and technical paper to
1, as it would make the SDHS programme sustainable, be submitted to the Sixth Session of the Governing Body
with lessons reaching greater numbers of farmers of the ITPGRFA.22 These submissions will draw on work
independently without the need for structural support. from Pillars 1 and 4, and will highlight effective methods
However, to achieve this vision, technical assistance that have been identified in the IFAD-ON Scaling up
for plant breeders is currently needed, and therefore programme, which intended to scale-up seed genetic
recommended as a valuable addition to the team in diversity within smallholder farm communities. The case
Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The plant breeders should be studies from that projects three countries will be used to
able to support ToT facilitators, by ensuring the flow of illustrate the improvements to the PGRFA framework.
pre-breeding materials, and enable technical support
from research institutions, as well as ensuring that the Gender framework
scientific and practical documentation available to FFS Gender is a priority in the SDHS programmes activities,
trainers is sufficient. methodology and tools, and is one of the key indicators
being measured on an annual basis. Given its importance,
Three ToTs were already conducted in Year 2: May 2015 preparatory work on an improved gender framework
in Vietnam, July 2015 in Zimbabwe and August 2015 in started this year, and will be completed in Year 2. Gender
Peru. The first draft of the improved curriculum will be data from the IFAD-ON baseline surveys and gender
finalised following the completion of the last of these. studies carried out by partners such as SEARICE were
Given the limited availability of professional experts, reviewed. This review will be taken into account in the
the autonomous organisation of FFS by stakeholders is development of the scaling-up pathway. Specific effort
vital, and the only way to move from anecdotal, isolated will be put into understanding how gender-related
examples of success to a high-impact phase. Therefore, innovation is developed in the programme.
the development of a user-friendly FFS curriculum is
important for scaling up and empowering trainers. One important lesson learned already relates to the timing
of FFS sessions. The best time for farmers to gather
A set of guidelines for a FFS curriculum and manual was data from FFS research plots is just after sunrise, when,
circulated in Q5 for partners to review. These suggest among other advantages, insects can easily be monitored
improvements for the existing FFS curricula that partners or even captured for study. However, early mornings
use. tend to be extremely busy for women, for example,
because this is when they may be preparing food for their
Improve PGRFA framework and systematise families. Therefore, a gender-sensitive FFS must provide
pathways for three countries approaches to ensure that women are relieved of such
As part of SDHS, the plant genetic resources for food and early morning household chores during FFS seasons.
agriculture (PGRFA) framework and scaling-up pathways
used in the IFAD-ON Scaling-up programme will be scaled Analysis and risk management
up to villages and/or provinces near IFAD-ON programme With key preparatory work completed in Year 1, the
areas of Peru, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, as well as to a new finalisation of some activities will be carried over into Year
country, Laos. The scaling-up pathways describe how 2. This includes country baseline survey reports for Laos,
programme outputs (innovations and best practices) are south Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Peru; a draft analysis for the
to be used within and outside programme areas in order global baseline survey; the improved FFS curriculum and
to maximise their impact on social, environmental or the gender framework.
economic conditions.
While a clear plan to finalise these activities is in place, it
The IFAD-ON concluding report on country-level results will is acknowledged that they will be executed mainly in the
elaborate the achievements of the three-year programme second half of 2015, partly because some are deliverables
at three levels (PGR, ecosystem and farm) compared to to be presented at the Sixth Session of the Governing Body
baselines. It should also report on the progress made of the ITPGRFA. At the time of writing, mitigation strategies
on the four key indicators: seed security, food security, for this risk of delay are in place. A detailed timeline for the
gender and policy engagement. Taking into account the completion of the pathways and the framework at three
importance of the end line reports inputs to the PGRFA levels has been developed and circulated to partners,
framework and scaling-up pathways, it was decided to so that deadlines for partners inputs or submissions are
shift the conceptualisation of the PGRFA framework and known by all.
scaling-up pathways to Year 2. At a follow-up meeting
held at the beginning of Year 2, a draft timeline was
NOTE
proposed to ensure partners inputs to a draft scaling- 22
To be held in Rome, 59 October 2015,
up pathway paper drafted by Oxfam Novib. The latter will see: http://www.planttreaty.org/content/gb6-meeting-room.

SEEDSGROW 25
For the writing of baseline reports in Laos, south Vietnam and refine the Pillar 1 tools according to local conditions
and Zimbabweas well as the draft analysis for the (please also refer to Pillar 3 achievements on nutrition
global baseline surveyefforts will be made to allocate baselines). However, the coordination of global and
sufficient time and resources when planning Year 2. national-level partners on survey and report writing could
However, there is a risk of finishing behind schedule due be further strengthened. The gathering of data and the
to the complex nature of the work, which includes: drafting of reports is iterative and requires communities
cooperation, input and feedback, in order that they own
The translation of data from local languages into the findings and the eventual programme plans. Such
English; processes can take more time than might be expected,
data collation, processing and triangulation; so unofficial drafts will be circulated to Oxfam Novib one
the writing, analysis, validation of findings; and month in advance of the baseline report submission, in
comparison and synthesis of data from across order to assess whether the findings are sufficient to
countries. inform the communities when developing their own plans,
or if further consultation and data-gathering would be
Lessons learned and reflections necessary to complete the gaps. In order to help with
Lessons have been learned from the baseline survey ensuring that results are globally comparable, a common
process, most notably that planning is key. The framework and questionnaire was developed by the
programme has been able to successfully pre-test, adapt consortium to guide the survey/analysis/writing process.

Box 2. IFAD-ON programme in north Vietnam

Given that IFAD-ON activity will be scaled up through the activities of SDHS Pillar 1, the FFS approach adopted in
North Vietnam and illustrated in the story below will be replicated in south Vietnam.

Due to the dominance of commercial rice production, much of the diversity in the rice fields of Vietnam has been
lost. The estimated rice land in the north is up to 1.5 million hectares, of which around 600,000ha is planted with
hybrids, and up to 900,000ha with inbred.23 One inbred rice variety, BC15, is cultivated in up to 60 percent of the
latter land. BC15 is a modern variety, with good eating quality and tolerance to pest and diseases. However, like
any other variety, it will deteriorate over timedue to introgression, mutation, or decreased resistance to pests
and diseases, etc. Eventually there will be a need to rehabilitate or develop new and more diverse varieties, and
the current dependence on a very narrow set of varieties could make rice production very vulnerable. This context
has been relevant in shaping the FFS objectives of the programme, and will continue to be relevant for scaling up.
Despite the dominance of hybrid and modern rice varieties, famers still maintain some traditional varieties for their
eating qualities and/or cultural importance. This is especially true for sticky rice varieties, of which there are very
few if any being introduced by breeding and research organisations.
Nep Lech is a traditional sticky rice variety that is very popular for consumption by farmers on special occasions.
Through the diversity wheel exercise,24 the programme in Vietnam discovered that most farmers in Bao Ai commune
normally grow Nep Lech in small plots of land to make rice wine and cakes, especially for traditional festivities,
including the Tet Holiday. The communities grow Nep Lech because of its good eating traits; it is aromatic, tastes
good, and is soft and glutinous in texture. However, due to market incentives for higher and more stable yields, a lot
of traditional rice varieties are lost, or not easily accessible in the local market. This was not the case for Nep Lech,
given its niche value. Additionally, the communities reported that they needed to improve the quality of the Nep
Lech variety, to improve its productivity, taste, and aroma, and increase tolerance to pests and diseases. Through
the FFS, the communities in Bao Ai commune, particularly the women, were supported to assess the strengths and
weaknesses of Nep Lech, which resulted in the setting of the womens breeding and selection objectives. Through
this process, the women were able to identify their preferred traits. After three seasons of systematic selection, the
Bao Ais communities were able to enhance the quality of their Nep Lech variety, with a reported 30 percent increase
in productivity, and greater pest resistance. This result is a good example of conservation through use, where the
women conserved their local cultivar by enhancing the cultivars traits.
Another best practice in Vietnam for scaling up is illustrated by the partnership model between farmers and plant
breeding institutions on Participatory Plant Breeding. Through this programme, the Field Crop Research Institute
provided two fourth-filial generations (F4) for each FFS in Son La. The FFS in Son La successfully applied the bulk
selection techniques for three seasons, which resulted in well performing F8 cultivars, better than the strongest
inbred lines that survived the massive drought caused by El Nio at the beginning of 2015.

NOTE
23
GN.L. Nguyen (2013) Rice production in Vietnam and future orientation, presentation at the South-East Asian Agri-
benchmark Rice Network, Bangkok, 1922 March 2013, http://www.unapcaem.org/Activities%20Files/A1112sanya/vn.pdf
24
The diversity wheel is one example of the PRA tools used in the IFAD-ON programme. This tool was initially developed
by a Nepalese NGO, Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD), and Bioversity International.
26 SEEDSGROW It is useful to monitor the level of genetic erosion of traditional crops and prevent their possible loss.
 Photo: A woman from Bao Ai commune in Vietnam
proudly showing the Nep Lech rice variety at FFS
summer 2014. Credit: SEARICE (2014)
SDHS PILLAR 2

Objective: To enhance the livelihoods and seeds security of IPSHF by producing and marketing good
quality and diverse seeds through public-private partnerships

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Scoping studies Developed Scoping study in Scoping study in

scoping Zimbabwe Vietnam
framework

Tested and
conducted
scoping study in
Myanmar
Study of Dutch Study of Dutch Study continued Study continued Study continued
seed sector seed sector,
including
dialogue with
seeds companies

Farmer Seed Enterprises (FSEs) are seed-production and of the Dutch seed sector was successfully completed,
marketing cooperatives. They vary in form, organisational and dialogue with Dutch seed companies is ongoing,
structure and market engagement, ranging from village- particularly with Simon Groot of the East West Seeds
based groups to larger-scale commercial companies. Company, who agreed to review the draft FSE business
The Pillar 2 objective over the period under review was to models. A possible opportunity for a public-private
conduct scoping studies to identify key variables for the partnership (PPP) arose between the Dutch Government,
establishment of pilot FSEs. East West Seeds Company and the Metta Development
Foundation, SEARICEs national partner for Myanmar. An
The scoping study framework was developed in April additional scoping study was conducted in Myanmar
2014. It drew from literature reviews, discussions of (March 2015) to assess the potential of integrating these
partners experiences with FSEs,25 and the experiences of new stakeholders.
the Oxfam Novib team. Scoping studies were conducted
in Myanmar (May 2014), Zimbabwe (June 2014) and
Vietnam (March 2015).26 Since Oxfam Novib is based in the
Netherlands, the programme staff initiated contact with
several globally recognised Dutch seed companies and NOTE
built constructive relationships. A simultaneous study 25
Held during the methodological workshop in March 2014.
26
The last was conducted in Peru in April 2015.

SEEDSGROW 27
Analysis and risks management Metta has agreed to explore the potential to collaborate
As communicated to Sida on 27 July 2015, the scoping on a mung bean FSE with the East-West Seeds Company
studies were behind schedulewith the final scoping study as a PPP.27 Mung beans are a neglected and underutilised
being conducted in April 2015, and the reports for Vietnam species (NUS) with which commercial seed companies
and Peru completed in June 2015. This occurred because are not involved and have not expressed an interest.
of the realisation of a risk identified in the SDHS project However, they are an important source of protein for poor
proposal: it was not possible to hire a business specialist people. East-West is a Dutch family enterprise with a
with experience in the seeds industry. The biological nature strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) record, and is
of seeds (e.g. the significant time and unpredictability in the top 10 vegetable seed companies in the world.28 In
involved in the development of varieties, and differing March 2015, a meeting between the Agricultural Counselor
propagation and sprouting times) together with the of the Dutch Embassy in Myanmar, the SDHS technical
nature of the seeds business (long-term investment, the operations advisor (TOA), the SDHS senior programme
need to cooperate with diverse stakeholders, and legal/ manager (SPM), and the Myanmar manager for East-West
certification impediments) makes the seed sector in took place. The Dutch Agricultural Counselor and the
each country and region unique. As such, country- and/ SPM agreed to jointly finance a feasibility study for a
or region-specific knowledge of the sector is essential for mung bean FSE in Myanmar, and terms of reference area
FSE pilots to be successfully established. Therefore, Oxfam to be drafted. However, before a PPP can be formalised,
Novib decided not to renew the contract for the global agreement must be sought from OI, Oxfam Myanmar, Metta
business specialist from March 2015. Instead the business and the SDHS Global Programme Committee (GPC).29 The
expertise will be gathered by working with more specialised first step will be GPC approval in October, after which a
consultants for market analysis etc. The coordination role multi-stakeholder meeting will be conducted.
formally held by the global business specialist will be taken
up by a programme officer. Planned visits to two existing FSEs were rescheduled,
and are likely to be cancelled all together, because the
As a result of these delays, there was a need to prioritise scoping studies have suggested that they were unlikely
pending activities. Oxfam Novib decided to first focus on to be helpful.
completing the scoping studies of four countries and, in
October 2015, the GPC will approve two initial countries Make-or-break points
(and respective crops) for establishing pilot FSEs. Oxfam The scoping studies left the make-or-break points
Novib will then proceed with preparing terms of reference for FSEs essentially unchanged from those previously
and contracting a specialist to conduct feasibility studies submitted to Sida as an annex to the original proposal,
in the two proposed countries. The studies will then with the addition only of a point relating to the readiness
inform any potential changes and further customization of the prospective FSE managers to run a business.
of the draft business model so a business plan can be Proposed FSEs will be reviewed based on the overall
developed for each new FSE. strength of these points.

Figure 2. Updated make-or-break points for FSEs

Seed quality & production Market Demand Instituntional Support

Organization of seed production Responding to and/or creating Institutional linkages

Availability of improved & demand building capacity for
premium varieties Volume, peaks of demand, entrepreneurship & management
Meet seed quality standards marketing approaches, access to capital, credit, cash
Complinace with regulatory market chains flow
requirements Infastructure
Business management readiness

Source: Extracted from the document Towards a Business Model, updated with findings from scoping studies

NOTE
27
See: http://www.eastwestseed.com/international/en/index.php
28
In terms of seed production.
29
The SDHS GPC is made up of the directors of the eight consortium
partners, the SeedsGROW programme leader and SDHS senior programme
manager. For further details, please see the Programme Management
section of this report.

28 SEEDSGROW
 Box 3. FSE commitments under the SDHS programme to increase farmers incomes; and
to develop sustainable business models and models of
Potentially financially viable and equitable to farmers; partnership with the private sector.
Will deliver increased diversity, reliability, and are of
good quality; Reflecting upon these is important because, even if one
Will be affordable and manageable for farmers in such country or partner scores highest in the make-or-break
a way that the seeds do not create dependence and points, it may still not present the best opportunity if it
genetic erosion; and cannot fulfil the objectives. Myanmar, for example, has a
Will serve as a learning platform to lobby for seed strong demand for rice seedsso a rice FSE scores highly
laws and policies that are more inclusive of farmers on the criteriabut this demand comes from large, rich
seed systems and how PVP and seed certifications farmers in prime irrigated lands, which means that it misses
should be changed accordingly. the basic Pillar 2 objectives. Hence, in the FSE scoping
report for Myanmar, mung beans instead of rice seeds were
Year 2 plans recommended. Zimbabwe provides another example: maize
Upon presentation of the summary page for the scoping hybrids are in greatest demand, but this is from less dry
studies, the SDHS GPC will select two countries in which zones, while dry zones prefer an open pollinated variety of
to establish FSEs. These two will be prioritised for Year maize which has very unreliable market demand. A dry land
2. Feasibility studies (including market studies) will legume, cow pea, will therefore be proposed since they are a
be conducted and discussed with country-specific crop preferred by women, and are self-pollinating and easy to
stakeholders, and the business model will be further produce on farm.
fine-tuned for each FSE to develop business plans in
consultation with those likely to be involved with, and Establishing a business of any kind is challenging.
affected by, each FSE. The first of these business plans is Establishing a socially responsible FSE is extremely
likely to be available for submission to Sida by the end of complicatednot only is the business administration
April 2016. However, as all four scoping studies identified complex, but the products themselves (seeds) can be
potential for interesting and varied business models, it unpredictable and require a significant time investment.
has been concluded that additional fund-raising should be To do this successfully, a considerable amount of local
undertaken, in order to run all four pilots in due course. knowledge needs to be collected and analysed. Lessons
include:
Lessons learned and reflections More time needs to be invested in creating contacts with
The main objectives of Pillar 2 are: existing national seed enterprises before scoping teams
to provide appropriate varieties of high-quality seeds to arrive;
poor farmers in marginal or high-stress areas; More time needs to be invested in desk studies of each
to help diffuse farmers diverse varieties and increase country and its FSE sector before commencing studies
diversity through market access; themselves; and
Local market research is essential, and must be
conducted by people with specific local knowledge.
SDHS PILLAR 3

Objective: To empower women to reclaim their role in food security through strengthening their capacity
in seeds management and nutrition and global policy engagement to claim their right to food

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15
Country Vietnam and Mali and Senegal
consultation Myanmar (by (by CAWR)
workshops SEARICE), and in
Zimbabwe (by CTDT)
Community Vietnam and Mali and Senegal
consultations Myanmar (by (by CAWR)
SEARICE), and
Zimbabwe (by CTDT)
Nutrition Developed nutrition Developed nutrition Piloted nutrition- Nutrition baseline
baseline component of the component and baseline surveys surveys in Myanmar
survey programme and common framework (Myanmar and and Vietnam
common framework for baseline survey Zimbabwe) (sufficient period)
for baseline survey
Nutrition baseline
surveys in
Zimbabwe
(hunger period)

SEEDSGROW 29
Considering that nutrition was a new topic for all SDHS workshops in January 2015 with representatives of
partnersand a new tool that combined the strengths various regions in two different locations: in Sikasso, with
of two independent tools needed to be createdthe participants from Mopti and Sikasso, and in Koulikoro,
achievements under Pillar 3 are quite significant.30 with representatives from Kayes, Sgou, Bamako
The Pillar 3 baseline tool and common framework were and Koulikoro regions. Altogether, 107 women and 13
completed, circulated to partners for improvement, and menthe majority of whom are members of COFERSA
pre-tested in the field with national partners in Myanmar cooperatives (two cooperatives from Koulikoro and five
and Zimbabwe. The baseline tool was developed through from Sikasso)were informed and have ownership of the
the merging of the Household Dietary Diversity Score project. The consultations resulted in refinements to the
(HDDS) and the NUS resource flow tool.31 This survey recommendations for achieving Pillar 3s objective in Mali.
tool is conducted during both periods of sufficiency Four sessions of the Project Steering Committee for the
and hunger (e.g. immediately prior to harvests) in order programme implemented in Mali, facilitated by a woman,
to understand which NUS are important enough to be were also held in May, July, October and December 2014.
collected throughout the year and are indispensable
during hunger periods. Furthermore, the HDDS needs to In Senegal, CAWRs implementing partner, ASPSP, carried
be measured twice in order to investigate the seasonality out a series of consultations and workshops in villages in
of food security.32 The SDHS amended HDDS survey for March 2015. An inception workshop in the city of Sdhiou
the sufficient period and NUS resource-flow focus group involved 150 participants, including women representing
discussions were carried out by national partners of the 21 villages participating in the SDHS programme,
SEARICE in Myanmar and Vietnam; the hunger period CSOs (FONGS,33 AJAC,34 and Entente de Diouloulou), local
survey was carried out by CTDT in Zimbabwe. Lessons authorities and media organisations. In addition, the ten
learned from the first round of surveys will be used to project leads and 21 village-level facilitators visited local
improve the common framework and shared with partners and regional authorities in three regions of Casamance
implementing the survey in Year 2 (CAWR for Mali, Senegal (Sdhiou, Kolda and Ziguinchor). These facilitators will
and India, and ANDES in Peru). The community and be organising activities at the village level, including
national consultation rounds took place successfully in future FFS sessions. The local authorities welcomed the
Mali and Senegal, and are yet to be completed for India. delegation and were informed about the objectives of
SDHSs Pillar 3. In March, the introductory workshops to
Consultation rounds be run in villages were designed at a session in Velingara
As reported for Pillar 1, community and national (Djimini), which involved 30 women, including the project
consultation rounds were completed in Vietnam, Laos and leaders and village-level facilitators. At this session,
Zimbabwe. For Myanmar, an inception meeting with Metta, the participatory tools and methodologies to be used
the national partner of SEARICE, was held in November 2014. for the baseline surveys and the NUS inventory in Year 2
were introduced. The participants decided that, prior to
During the reporting period, national and regional undertaking the surveys, further capacity building in the
consultation rounds were conducted in Mali and Senegal, use of the participatory tools and methodologies in each
but are yet to be organised in India. This was due to of the three regions would be needed.
delays in contracting between Oxfam Novib and CAWR,
which postponed the contracting of CAWRs national As mentioned above, the consultation rounds in India
partner in India, DDS. COFERSA, the national partner have been postponed until Year 2. They will include an
of CAWR in Mali, carried out two regional consultation inception workshop, regional consultation workshops
and meetings of the India programmes National Steering
Committee inviting relevant stakeholders. While the
NOTE consultation rounds were postponed, in Year 1, CAWRs
30
No tools were available to address comprehensively the objectives of national partner in India, DDS, was able to organise mobile
Pillar 3 baseline
biodiversity festivals35 in the Deccan region and the state
31
The HDDS aims to reflect, in a snapshot, the economic ability of a
household to access a variety of foods. Studies show that an increase in
of Orissa.
dietary diversity is associated with socioeconomic status and household
food security.
Development of nutrition baseline survey
33
Fdration des Organisations non Gouvernementales du Sngal, a
member of ASPSP. The objective of identifying an institution with which to
34
Association des Jeunes Agriculteurs de Casamance. collaborate on nutrition was cancelled due to a January
35
The DDS Mobile Biodiversity Festival involves a set of specially 2015 grant from the Dutch National Postcode Lottery
designed bullock carts carrying seeds of local crops that visit villages, (NPL). With this money, a full-time nutritionist can be
accompanied by folk singers, and dancers and other local performers.
Public meetings are held in every each village where the seed caravan recruited.
passes in order to discuss the importance of biodiversity and local seed
varieties, particularly millets.

30 SEEDSGROW
As elaborated in the interim report, the nutrition surveys intake during periods of hunger and relative sufficiency.
common framework and questionnaire were completed The questionnaire also includes questions on coping
with inputs from partners. The common framework strategies during hunger periods, and how these
provides an outline of key research questions and differently affect women and men.
information to be collected during the survey, including
the proposed methodology. The objective of this Alongside the household survey, the NUS resource flow map
common framework is to enable a systematic global (see Box 4) and other PRA methods, are used. The findings
consolidation and comparison of the countries baselines. from the surveys will be triangulated with the resource flow
The questionnaire was adopted from the 24-hour food maps and key informant interviews to identify the role of
recall component of the FAOs HDDS, and tailored to NUS in both hunger and sufficient periods, and the role of
identify whether NUS form part of households food women in collecting NUS plants/fruits.

Box 4. Community NUS resource flow map

The objectives of this tool are:

a. To identify the NUS and their role in the

biodiversity of food sources for IPSHF;
b. To understand peoples local knowledge on the nutritional values of NUS;
c. To understand peoples local knowledge on the management of NUS, including seed systems, access and
sharing, and use;
d. To identify the most important NUS for the food and nutrition security of households from womens
perspectives; and
e. To help identify the problems and
challenges faced by women farmers in managing the seed systems of the identified most important NUS.

The survey questionnaire and PRA tools were pretested be carried out twice, during both hunger and sufficient
and refined by Oxfam Novib and its partners in Myanmar periods; however, at the time of writing, they are yet to be
and Zimbabwe (SEARICE and CTDT, respectively). The conducted during the sufficient period in Zimbabwe and
pretesting exercise provided further improvements to the the hunger period in Myanmar and Vietnam. As CTDT and
questionnaire as well as clarity on how to ask the right SEARICE are currently planning the second surveys and
questions about NUS. The questionnaire and PRA tools the finalisation of country reports. Therefore, the creation
were then used to carry out baseline surveys in Myanmar, of a consolidated briefing report for the Pillar 3 baseline
north Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The survey was planned to survey has shifted to Year 2.

Box 5. Findings and lessons from Pillar 3 survey pre-test in Zimbabwe

Developing a variety of ways of asking about NUS: What were the plants that you used to grow or gather but no
longer do? Why were they lost? What plants do you eat but not cultivate? What are the plants that you forage?
What plants do you eat but have to seek in places that are far from your homestead?
Drawing hard-to-reach areas, such as highlands and forest, is particularly helpful in enabling the communities to
enumerate NUS.
Gender disaggregated data is important; therefore, collecting information on who collects/uses NUS by gender is important.
As folk names of plants can differ between communities, it is important to gather popular names, folk taxonomies
andwhen possibleactual specimens. Enumerators can then compare and provide scientific names.
As the semi-structured interview segment of the NUS flow map is so detailed (including folk taxonomy,
reproduction etc.), it could be useful to conduct this interview with key informants.
Source: Oxfam Novib (2015) Back to office report from Zimbabwe

Initial discussions have taken place with CAWR and province), Goromonzi and UMP (Mashonaland East
ANDES about the Pillar 3 common framework and plans province). The target households are located in different
for the baseline surveys in Mali, Senegal, India and Peru. agro-ecological regions ranging from semi-arid/arid to
It is proposed to use samples of 340, 400, 550 and 200 moderately high rainfall and temperatures. The number of
households, respectively (representing approximately 10 project households across these four districts is 4,000,
percent of the target households). and around 600 participated in the baseline survey (15
percent). In addition, eight focus group discussions were
Nutrition baseline survey: Zimbabwe held. From the 600 households, approximately 478 women
The survey in Zimbabwe was conducted in four districts: (80 percent of total respondents) responded to the survey.
Chiredzi (Masvingo province), Tsholotsho (Matabeleland

SEEDSGROW 31
 Box 6. Initial findings from the Pillar 3 survey in Zimbabwe

Despite high temperatures, low rainfall and low potential for crops, UMP had an average HDDS score of 4.35, while the
other districts scored an average of 3.5 (scores range from 0 to 12, with 12 being the highest). In Chiredzi, Goromonzi and
Tsholotsho, approximately 30 percent of the surveyed households consumed three food groups, while the rest consumed
only two. In UMP, 25 percent of the surveyed households consumed four food groups, while the rest consumed three or
fewer. This could be an indication of a relatively low dietary diversity of the surveyed communities, especially when the
food consumed for a large part was mainly carbohydrate-based and nutrition-deficient.
The main food groups consumed by households in Chiredzi, Goromonzi and Tsholotsho are cereals, roots and tubers;
legumes, nuts and seeds; and other vegetables (e.g. cabbage, okra, onion, tomato, traditional vegetables, green
beans, peas, green pepper, cauliflower, garlic and mushroom). Aside from these three food groups, the additional group
consumed by the UMP communities was vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin A, such as mango, pumpkin, butternut,
carrots and spinach.
In terms of food security, nearly 10 percent of households in all districts reported mild to moderate hunger periods
(of up to 3 months) in a year. The most common short-term coping strategies in such situations were changing the
households diet to cheaper or less-preferred foods and reducing the size or numbers of meals eaten.
These are very important findings and will provide a good basis for comparison with those from the sufficient period
survey. The baseline findings will be further analysed in order to understand why UMP has a higher HDDS score than
Goromonzi, even though the latter is in a more favourable agro-ecological region. Equally, comparison will be done
between the results of the NUS resource flow survey with those from the questionnaire, so that the crops being gathered
or cultivated can be identified.
Source: CTDT (2015) Pillar 3 baseline report (hunger period)

Nutrition baseline survey: north Vietnam communes across three provinces in the mountainous
In Vietnam, pre-tests were conducted jointly by SEARICEs north of the countryHa Giang, Lao Cai and Son Lawere
national partners (SRD and PRC)36 and its provincial selected on the basis of their high child malnutrition
networks in Na Ot commune in Son La province. rates. From each commune, 30 people were solicited
for interview, using random sampling from a list of poor
The two Pillar 3 baseline surveys for the sufficient households. The initial findings suggested that the
period were implemented in Vietnam by PRC. Six target hunger period occurs from March until June, with March

Figure 3. NUS flow map for Masawi Village, Ward 11, Goromonzi district

Photo: CTDT, 2014

32 SEEDSGROW
being the most severe month. It was noted too that the Southern Shan, Kachin State and Ayeyarwaddy/Mekong
communities of Ha Giang province have faced the hunger Delta region. The household survey component has been
periods over the past five years. Gathering wild food shifted to Year 2. As the baseline survey has not been
was listed as one coping strategy, the next being to rely completed, detailed findings have yet to be presented
on less preferred and less expensive food, followed by and results have yet to be processed.
borrowing food or taking credit to buy food.
Analysis and risks management
This is an important initial finding to analyse in the final Due to contractual delays, as well as the novelty and
report. Triangulation with data gathered from the NUS complexity of Pillar 3s topic and tools (especially the
resource flow maps could help us to understand what need for the surveys to be conducted twice, in order
types of plants are actually gathered by the communities, to cover sufficient and hunger periods), some Pillar 3
and hence important during the hunger and sufficient activities intended for Year 1 were postponed until Year
periods. With this information, a community plan could be 2necessitating the carrying over of unspent funds. With
developed focusing on those NUS identified through this regards to the Pillar 3 baseline, initial survey findings from
baseline exercise. partners in Zimbabwe and Vietnam were made available
and discussed at length, including considerations of
Nutrition baseline survey: Myanmar gaps, lessons and possible next steps. At the time of
In Myanmar, pre-testing was carried out by Metta at the writing, the second survey in Zimbabwefor the sufficient
Naung Kham Learning Center in the Taungyi district of periodis underway. After consultation with national
Southern Shan. partners in Vietnam and Myanmar, the hunger period
surveys were scheduled to commence in July/August
The PRA sessions for the sufficient period were conducted 2015. The final version of the three countries Pillar 3
in villages across four provinces/regions: Northern Shan, surveys to be submitted by the end of May 2016.

Box 7. Pillar 3 baseline survey: some initial lessons

The participatory processesincluding the pre-testing and adaptation of the tools to local contextsare very
important in ensuring that the information gathered during the baseline survey is tailored to the needs of the
communities and hence useful to inform community plans.
During pre-testing and survey development, it is important to try triangulation and analysis of data from the two
different tools, as historically they have been independent of each other. Tailoring each to ensure linkages and
that meaningful analysis is possible is therefore necessary.
The NUS resource flow map, especially the in-depth study of the communitys most important NUS (e.g. its local
name, folk taxonomy, growth location, edible parts, other uses, collector, perceived nutritional value, agronomic
traits, seasonality), as well as the semi-structured interview questions on collection management, seed systems
and knowledge systems should not be missing from the survey. The findings from the NUS resource flow map
informs the development of community planning.
The Pillar 3 baseline survey focuses upon plant species rather than varieties (as opposed to the Pillar 1 survey).

NOTE
36
Center for Sustainable Rural Development of the Can Tho University and
the Plant Resources Center, respectively.

SEEDSGROW 33
SDHS PILLAR 4

Objective: To strengthen the capacities and knowledge base of developing countries and their IPSHF to
secure national and global legislation and policies for the full implementation of farmers rights and the
right to food

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Analysis of Oxfam Novib Seeds Laws Oxfam Novib

national policy proposed analysis in three consolidated
reflections (Seeds framework and countries by report
Laws) of Peru, consolidates partners
Vietnam and
Zimbabwe for a
global overview
Advocacy Side event at
strategy and plan CGRFA
Pillar 4 baseline Developed a Partners Consolidated
on seed-related framework for developed draft policy
policies and seed-related key global trend engagement
legislations polices analysis on seed- baseline and
related policies, SDHS global plan
legislation, of action
engagement
policies and issues
for global plan
actions
Partners policy Policy Policy Policy Policy Policy
engagement: engagement engagement engagement engagement engagement
high-level
meetings,
training,
workshops,
publications and
websites

Pillar 4 aims to share experiences and lessons from the (3) partners research into global and national seeds-
SDHS programme that are relevant for policy discussions related policies and trends; and
through research publications and influencing initiatives. (4) partners policy engagement experiences.
The policy engagement work focuses on the impact of
seed-related policies and regulations to define, maintain At the SDHS GPC meeting in Barcelona (1719 September
and extend farmers freedom to save, use, exchange and 2014), it was agreed to postpone the proposed global
sell their seeds (i.e. farmers rights). expert meeting until Year 2, in order to optimise its
strategic value in the development of SDHSs four-year
Baseline study plan. A global policy agenda and action plan will be
In line with the other pillars, Pillar 4 included a baseline drafted in preparation for the global expert meeting,
study to serve as a benchmark on the current status of which will then be tested, improved and finalised after
international agreements and partners corresponding interactions with external stakeholders.
interventions. By considering important trends in food,
nutrition and seed security; the dominant actors in the Oxfam Novib led the design of a questionnaire to collect
global food system; and the current state of national, partners perspectives and SWOT analysis of international
regional and global seeds related policies and laws, the policies and laws on PGRFA, as well as partners own
study will inform our policy engagement agenda for Years performance. In December, Oxfam Novib produced a draft
25. Important elements included: Pillar 4 baseline based on various inputs, particularly the
(1) a questionnaire to collect partners perspectives; questionnaire responses from the eight SDHS partners,
(2) a SWOT (strengths and weaknesses, opportunities along with their research and policy reports. This served
and challenges) analysis of national seed system as a basis for planning the Pillar 4 four-year work plan (in
policies in the eight SDHS countries; January 2015).

34 SEEDSGROW
The long-term success of the work under each of the and private sectors. The first draft of the study will be
four pillars will partly depend on the governance and discussed in national (and regional) validation workshops
legal frameworks in the eight countries. The programme in Year 2, which will result in a final version for publication.
therefore required a comparative analysis of current The validation workshops aim to both enrich the study
policies, laws, regulations and institutions, in order to with direct stakeholder perspectives and experiences, and
comprehend national laws and understand the effect validate the analysis for policy discussions.
of rules and regulations on Pillars 1 to 3 (i.e. scaling-up
models, FSEs and women, seeds and nutrition). The SDHS The initial findings were presented at an SDHS side event
scientific advisor, who is also the director of the Centre held at the 15th Session of the FAOs CGRFA in Rome in
for Genetic Resources (CGN) in the Netherlands,37 was January 2015, supported by country perspectives from the
commissioned to provide an analysis of national seed- directors of CTDT and SEARICE. This event, in combination
system policies in the eight SDHS countries. The advisor, with advocacy efforts by SDHS partners and other CSOs,
who prepared a first draft report in March 2015, is working contributed to a positive influence on the Draft Guide for
in close cooperation with the programme partners, CGN National Seed Policy Formulation, which was an important
research partners and other stakeholders from the public topic on the agenda of the CGRFA (see Box 8).

Box 8. FAO Seed Policy Guide

In August 2014, TWN alerted civil society partners that the draft Guide for national seed policy formulation under
discussion in the FAOs CGRFA was strongly biased in favour of the formal seed sector. The draft guide would have
advised countries to adopt seed-marketing laws that would risk marginalising farmers varieties because they
would have difficulties meeting the requirements. The guide also advised plant variety protection laws that would
potentially undermine farmers rights to save, exchange and sell the seeds of protected varieties. TWNalong with
SEARICE, CTDT, ANDES, Oxfam Novib and Swiss CSO the Berne Declarationsubmitted comments and suggestions
for amendments to the August 2014 draft. Many of the proposals were incorporated in the final draft that was
tabled at the CGRFAs 15th session in January 2015. A strong presence by partners and a well-attended side event
helped to sustain those positive amendments. The outcome is a non-binding voluntary guide. However, as it is
a FAO document, many developing countries would consider using it, as pressure builds for them to formulate
or revise their national seed regimes. Therefore, it is a significant achievement that the guide now has a better
understanding of the informal sector.

Research into global and national seeds-related policies agricultural input sectoras well as in agricultural
and trends commodity trading, processing and retailand has
started exploring a new set of agricultural input
The objective of the trend analysis is to agree on a enterprises that includes farm machinery, fertilisers,
joint global lobbying agenda and work plan to inform weather monitoring and big data management that
SDHS activities on farmers rights in plant breeding and will have an increasing influence over world
PGR in Years 25. In Year 1, consortium partners GRAIN, agriculture.38
ETC Group, South Centre and TWN carried out research ETC Group also produced an extensive analysis of
into global and national trends in seeds-related synthetic biology and radiation breeding, and their
policies, legislation and issues. The resultant research implications for IPSHF. This included fifteen case
papers and policy briefs are intended to strengthen studies of relatively small but valuable commodities
the capacities and knowledge base of developing (such as flavours and fragrances) that are important
countries and their IPSHF, with the aim that they might for millions of smallholders, and may be replaced by
secure national and global legislation and policies fully synthetic products. This research was instrumental
supporting farmers rights and the right to food. in getting this subject on the agenda of the CBD.39

ETC Group undertook research to better understand the

functioning and the political economy of the global seed
sector, including the implications of new technological
developments for seed companies and for farmers:
NOTE
37
Based in the University Research Centre of Wageningen University.
ETC Group continued its important and much-cited 38
ETC Group (2015) op. cit.
work on corporate concentration in the global 39
ETC Group (2014) Synthetic Biology, Biodiversity & Farmers, case
studies, www.bch.cbd.int/database/attachment/?id=1528

SEEDSGROW 35
 TWN published nine new case studies on biopiracy, How seed and land laws are being rewritten in Africa
i.e. the misappropriation of genetic resources and in response to corporate pressure and initiatives,
related traditional knowledge for food or medicinal such as the G8 New Alliance, AGRA, World Bank, trade
uses, thus showing that the CBD system of access agreements and others.41
and benefit sharing is not working in practice yet, The role of the Gates Foundation in influencing policies
and supporting advocacy to strengthen the related and practice, particularly in Africa. One area of focus
text in the Nagoya Protocol.40 was the foundations influence over seed laws and the
ETC Group diagnosed the difficulties of farmers introduction of new seed technology.42
trying to access seeds from national and The state of UPOV membership, national seed laws
international gene banks, and is now preparing a and regulations around the world, and the struggle of
draft protocol intended to facilitate farmer/gene smallholder farmers to keep seed diversity alive and
bank exchanges. under their own control.43

GRAIN undertook research to better understand the Reports and briefings to support developing countries
context in which new seed policies are being created efforts to understand and create strategies for
in developing countries, including pressure exerted on international seeds-related negotiationsand to
governments by development partners and private actors, translate international commitments into national
including: policies to best support farmers rights and the right to
foodhave also been produced:
South Centre published a briefing note to support
developing countries in the process of accession to,
NOTE and ratification of, the Nagoya Protocol, and a review
40
E. Hammond (2015) Sabara: An African anti-cancer medicinal plant of the compatibility of actual or prospective national
claimed by French universities, 17 March, TWN, http://twn.my/title2/
biotk/2015/btk150301.htm access and benefit sharing laws.44
E. Hammond (2014a) Mardi Gras Misappropriation: Sri Lankan Purple Rice South Centre published a paper on trends in seed-
Served up at Louisiana Celebration, 8 October, TWN, http://www.twn.my/
title2/intellectual_property/info.service/2014/ip141005.htm related patents, and the legal options available to
E. Hammond (2014b) Japanese Universities Patent Potent Painkilling
Drugs Based on Southeast Asian Traditional Knowledge and Plants, 24
developing countries.45
September, TWN, http://www.twn.my/title2/intellectual_property/info. TWN was a major contributor to the human rights
service/2014/ip140902.htm
E. Hammond (2014c) African Genes Protect Syngentas Seedless impact assessment of the 1991 revision of UPOV, which
Watermelon Business, 6 July, TWN, http://www.twn.my/title2/ was a joint effort with six other CSOs.46
susagri/2014/sa342/FINAL_Syngenta%20and%20seedless%20
watermelon_6%20July%202014.pdf
E. Hammond (2014d) US company patents Organic Roundup, an extract Policy engagement
of the Asian long pepper plant, 25 February 2014, TWN, http://www.twn.
my/title2/intellectual_property/info.service/2014/ip140216.htm The eventual outcome sought in Pillar 4 is increased
E. Hammond (2014e) US cosmetics firm claims skin cream from China and
Vietnams xianmu tree, 24 February, TWN, http://www.twn.my/title2/
capacity and knowledge among developing countries
intellectual_property/info.service/2014/ip140213.htm and their IPSHF, resulting in new (or revised) national
E. Hammond (2014f) Biopiracy of Turkeys purple carrot, 24 February,
TWN, http://www.twn.my/title2/intellectual_property/info.service/2014/ and international policies and legislation that support
ip140212.htm farmers rights and the right to food. Partners have been
E. Hammond (2014g) Better Beer Biopiracy: Indian Farmers Barley
Patented by Japanese Brewer, TWN briefing paper for WIPO IGC 26th closely involved in building stakeholders capacities
Session, 37 February, http://www.twn.my/title2/intellectual_property/ and influencing national and global policies, specifically
info.service/2014/ip140204/34350738252f0ab2a64de7.pdf
E. Hammond (2014h) The African Cancer Drug Claimed by Bristol Myers, linking local realities to global policy debates through
Novartis, and Bayer, TWN briefing paper for WIPO IGC 26th Session, their own participation or through the facilitation of local
37 February, http://www.twn.my/title2/intellectual_property/info.
service/2014/ip140204/62920801052f0ab7265188.pdf farmers participation in global negotiations.
41
GRAIN and AFSA (2015) Land and seed laws under attack: who is pushing
changes in Africa?, 21 January, https://www.grain.org/e/5121
Supporting farmers movements
42
GRAIN (2014) How does the Gates Foundation spend its money to feed
the world?, 4 November, https://www.grain.org/e/5064
GRAIN supported and provided speakers to regional
43
GRAIN and LVC (2015) Seed laws that criminalise farmers: Resistance
seeds movements in Latin America and Africa, and
and fightback, 7 April, https://www.grain.org/e/5175 worked closely with farmers networks at regional and
44
South Centre (2015) The Nagoya Protocol: Main Characteristics, national levels, particularly through the Alliance for Food
Challenges and Opportunities, policy brief, http://www.southcentre.int/
policy-brief-18-may-2015/ Sovereignty in Africa and the Latin American Coordination
45
South Centre (2014) Patent Protection for Plants: Legal Options for of Farmers Organisations.47
Developing Countries, http://www.southcentre.int/research-paper-55-
november-2014/
46
T. Braunschweig et al (2014) Owning Seeds, Accessing Food: A human
rights impact assessment of UPOV 1991 based on case studies in Kenya,
Peru and the Philippines, The Berne Declaration, https://www.grain.
org/article/entries/5121-land-and-seed-laws-under-attack-who-is-
pushing-changes-in-africa
47
Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo.

36 SEEDSGROW
Efforts to improve the Putting new technological risks on the agenda for the
functioning and relevance of the ITPGRFA CBD
Partners participated in an informal dialogue on the ETC Group was successful at getting synthetic biology
revitalisation of the seed treaty. This enabled an onto the agenda of the CBD at its Conference of the
important exchange with major and smaller seed Parties in October 2014. This Conference adopted a
companies, as well as governments and public sector decision urging member countries to start regulating
scientists. ETC Group helped to ensure the participation synthetic biology, and also established a synthetic
of small-scale farmers organisations and CSO partners, biology monitoring process within the CBD.
including CTDT and Oxfam Novib.
Influencing access and benefit sharing within the Nagoya
TWN and the South Centre participated as observers in Protocol
the Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the TWN participated in the final meeting of the open-ended
Multilateral System of the ITPGRFA, which met in May and Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya
December 2014 in Geneva. This group considered how to Protocol, as well as the first Meeting of the Parties after
generate more income for the Treatys Benefit-Sharing the Protocol entered into effect in October 2014. TWNs
Fund (BSF), which has languished with few contributions focus was on ensuring an effective monitoring and
since the Treaty entered into force in June 2004. SEARICE compliance system. TWN co-published and disseminated
was involved in two related independent studies: one a briefing49 in English, Spanish and Chinese, and co-
commissioned by the Treaty Secretariat analysing the organised side events at both events.
factors influencing the willingness of stakeholders to
contribute to the BSF and to access germplasm from the Supporting civil society to influence regional
multilateral system, and a Swiss government study on negotiations
how the BSF could be best spent in line with the treatys TWN supported African civil society groups in formulating
objectives. their concerns about, and alternatives for, various new
national as well as regional level seed and plant variety
Coherence between ITPGRFA, UPOV and WIPO protection policy initiatives (ARIPO, SADC, COMESA).
The objectives of the ITPGRFAparticularly the realisation
of farmers rightsrisk being undermined by developing TWN also supported CSOs on both sides of the Pacific
countries implementing UPOV-based plant variety Ocean to raise concerns about the Trans-Pacific
protection policies. South Centre, SEARICE and TWN (along Partnership Agreement, which is under negotiation
with the Berne Declaration) submitted formal inputs for between 12 countries. Proposals include a chapter on
important inter-agency discussions on the interrelations intellectual property rights that would bind developing
between ITPGRFA, UPOV and WIPO, calling for a more country partners to stricter plant variety protection
coherent international legal system for Farmers Rights.48 commitments than those already in the World Trade
Organizations Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
South Centre and TWN participated in the Ad Hoc Property Rights (WTO TRIPS) agreement.
Committee on Sustainable Use of the ITPGRFA in December
2014, at which these issues were discussed, as well as
the UPOV Council meeting in March 2015, when the issue
was merely noted. UPOV did not seem eager to engage on
this important issue of coherence between farmers rights
and plant breeders rights. In October 2014, South Centre
successfully applied for observer status to UPOV.

NOTE
48
These analyses have been submitted to the ITPGRFA, and are published
on their website (under Interrelations with UPOV and WIPO): http://www.
planttreaty.org/content/farmers-rights-submissions
49
H. Meyer et al (2013) Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources
and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their
Utilization: Background and Analysis, the Berne Declaration, http://www.
twn.my/title2/books/NagoyaProtocolonABS.htm

SEEDSGROW 37
 Box 9. SDHS Partners meeting with Pope Francis

In October 2014, GRAIN and ETC Group participated in a meeting of

social movements with Pope Francis, members of the Justice and
Peace Council, and the Academy of Sciences of the Vatican. The
three-day event, facilitated by La Via Campesina, aimed to inform
the Pope and some of his top advisors about the main issues,
concerns and aspirations of social movements, including those
dealing with seeds and climate change. The meeting was a
remarkable opportunity to hear from the leadership of the Catholic
Church leadership about what they are doing to develop more open
and progressive positions towards these movements. Over 100
representatives of social movements and around 50 bishops from
Photo: viacampesina.org
around the world took part. The meeting ended with a comprehensive
statement, which may have had some influence on the Popes Encyclical Laudato Si,50 published in June 2015. In
this Encyclical, the Pope criticised corporate concentration in the agricultural input sector, as well as the tendency
to look for technological solutions to complex ecological problems such as climate change and hunger.

Analysis and risk management

The global experts meeting and the drafting of the global
policy agenda have been delayed due to the SDHS GPC
decision to optimise the strategic value of the experts
meeting. The experts meeting will be held in February
2016. The Global policy agenda, which will benefit
from the experts meeting as well as from the national
validation workshops of the eight countries seed laws
study, will be ready in April 2016.

NOTE
50
Pope Francis (2015) Encyclical Lettter Laudato Si of the Holy Father
Francis on Care for Our Common Home, http://w2.vatican.va/content/
francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_
enciclica-laudato-si.html

38 SEEDSGROW
 Photo: Kimlong Meng
Chapter 4

Progress
report on
SidaGROW
October 2013March 2015

SEEDSGROW 39
Theres one issue that will define the contours of this Oxfam uses a multi-strategy approach in its campaigns,
century more dramatically than any other, and that is the combining research, alliance-building, media outreach,
urgent and growing threat of a changing climate. public actions, and direct engagement with stakeholders.
U.S. President Barack Obama, UN Climate Change Moreover, it tries to link local, regional, national
Summit, September 23, 201451 and global issues in order to accomplish coherent
campaigning grounded in the realities of its ultimate
beneficiaries. As a result, activities and financials
Sidas contribution builds upon and strengthens Oxfam reported under the different objectives are linked by
Internationals GROW campaign, which focuses on policies broader and interlinked campaigning trajectories.
at local to global level on climate change, land rights, Below is an overview of the most important campaigning
and biofuels.52 These policies are reflected in each of the trajectories and how they interrelate with the three
SidaGROW objectives: objectives, and their respective outcomes and results.
Specific objective 1: building a multi-stakeholder
movement;
Specific objective 2: improving global policies and
governance; and
Specific Objective 3: improving national policies and
governance, as well as linking these with global level
campaigning

Box 10. Campaigning trajectories and SidaGROW objectives

Campaigning Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3

trajectory Outcome 1.1 Outcome 1.2 Result 2.1 Result 2.2 Result 2.3 Outcome 3.1 Outcome 3.2
Behind the Brands X X X
(BtB)
UNFCCC COP: X X X X

Road to Paris
Global land X X X
advocacy
EU biofuels X X
National X X
campaigns
Multi-country X X X
campaigns
in the South
Private sector X
development
in Asia

NOTE
51
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/23/remarks-
president-un-climate-change-summit
52
Note, that only those activities and accomplishments of the GROW
campaign during the reporting period to which Sida made a direct
contribution are reported here.

40 SEEDSGROW
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: BUILDING A STAKEHOLDER MOVEMENT

To help build an influential, global multi-stakeholder movement focused on addressing and improving
the broken food system.

Outcome 1.1 International stakeholders and consumers

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Leading the Public launch of BtB public Ban Ki-moon World Food Day, BtB Valentines
development, FCJ, 25 March campaign on Summit, 23 16 October Day action, 14
launch and mitigation, 20 September February
implementation May #Makethe
of the Oxfam RightMove, Female Food
global GROW 6 November heroes Interna-
priority plan tional Womens
UNFCCC COP20 Day, 8 March
Lima, 112
December BtB Scorecard
update, 31 March
Regular FCJ Regular FCJ Regular FCJ Regular FCJ Regular FCJ
strategy strategy strategy strategy strategy
meetings meetings meetings meetings meetings

Meeting OI GROW Meeting GROW

management on country teams on
GROW post-2015 (a) country and
regional planning
in 2015/16; (b)
global strategy
on UNFCCC COP20
Develop social Develop digital Develop web Develop web Develop digital Develop digital
media activities communication text and text and communication communication
for the global material (web communication communication materials for materials for
priority plan text, widget, materials for BtB materials for Ban #MaketheRight-
webpage, social campaign on Ki- moon Summit Move and UNFCCC BtB Scorecard
media posts mitigation COP20 work update and
and online International
advertisements) Improve GROW Womens Day
for FCJ Facebook page

Public mobilisation using social media is part of Oxfams comments and retweets), amplifying Oxfams message
broader campaign trajectories, and mostly used in and reaching millions of people around the world. It
support of advocacy with companies, governments and directly contributed to General Mills (29 July) and Kellogg
international agencies. Following the public launch of (12 August) announcing commitments to address climate
Oxfams priority campaign Food and Climate Justice (FCJ) change in their supply chains and operations.53
in March 2014, two important trajectories have stood out:
Behind the Brands (BtB): engaging ten international On 14 February 2014, BtB launched an action to remind
Food and Beverage companies (FBC); and Mondelez, Nestl and Mars of their previous commitments
the Road to Paris: influencing the UNFCCC process during the first spike in March 2013 (on women and cocoa).
that aims to achieve a legally binding and universal All three companies reconfirmed their commitments. On 31
agreement on climate from all the nations of the world. March 2015, Oxfam celebrated BtBs second anniversary
by launching the latest version of the Behind the Brands
Behind the Brands scorecard.54 This involved developing a set of creative
The interim report highlighted the BtB spike (large-
scale public action) in May 2014, focusing on two FBCs
NOTE
(Kellogg and General Mills) in relation to climate change. 53
General Mills (2014) Policy on Climate, https://generalmills.com/News/
The public campaign resulted in over 190,000 website Issues/climate-policy
visitors, over 235,000 signatures for the petition, and over Kellogg Company (2014) Climate Policy, http://www.kelloggcompany.
com/content/dam/kelloggcompanyus/corporate_responsibility/
13,750 interactions on social media (e.g. likes, shares, pdf/2014/ClimatePolicyFINAL73014.pdf

SEEDSGROW 41
materials to make available to all Oxfam affiliates, including resulted in 9,355 unique visitors (82 percent new) to the
a public blog, tweets, shareable graphics for Facebook, website and blog resulting in over 8,000 views of the video
a video and an interactive version of the scorecard. This and over 3,600 views of the interactive scorecard.

Box 11. What do evaluations tell us: Behind the Brands

The BtB campaign, together with the Land campaign (see Box 13), was included in a wider evaluation of lobbying and
advocacy programmes of alliances financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFS co-financing). The findings
reconfirmed the relevance and effectiveness of BtBs accomplishments. It focused on the campaigns two spikes: the
women and cocoa spike targeting Nestl, Mars and Mondelez in FebruaryJune 2013, and the land and sugar spike
targeting Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Associated British Food in October 2013April 2014.
The evaluators noted that the BtB campaign has been commended around the world for its innovative approach to
highlighting the role and responsibilities of FBCs in global supply chains: working with scorecards, followed up with public
campaigns (700,000 people signed petitions endorsing Oxfams demands during the two spikes) and direct engagement
with companies. BtB also marked the first time that land issues have been addressed through a full value chain
accountability approach in this sector.
Four of the 10 FBCs targeted in the BtB campaign have committed to zero tolerance for forced land acquisition and have
consequently changed their policies to take an active stance in addressing this problem in their supply chains. These FBCs
have also begun to influence the governments of developing countries. Four other FBCs and a number of traders have also
changed their policies in order to adhere to the principles of full, prior and informed consent in relation to land deals.
Seven FBCs improved their policies on the integration of gender in their value chains, and three are currently using an
approach developed by the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) to integrate gender issues in the cocoa sectors of Ghana and
Ivory Coast as a consequence of BtB.
According to the evaluators, the most plausible explanation for the successes is that, for most FBCs, Oxfams demands
were feasible and matched their own prioritiesand most FBCs are sensitive to consumer pressure. In addition to having
these conditions in place, Oxfams regular updates to the scorecard; constructive ongoing dialogue with the FBCs; public
campaigning for Nestl, Mars, Mondelez, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo; and global social media coverage created the momentum
necessary for the FBCs to change their policies and practices. Oxfam was praised by the evaluators for using shareholder
resolutions to further push those that were still hesitant.
For both the BtB and land campaigns, the evaluators stressed the importance of Oxfams internal capabilities in:
the setting of sound strategies (power analysis and theory of change, with risk management) complemented by regular
learning at multiple levels within the confederation;
leveraging a wide range of actors to help them achieve outcomes;
their efficient way of pooling resources (e.g. staff splitting their work across both campaigns on a part-time basis),
which ensured that cross-team learning takes place; and
working with mature teams, whose members have years of experience together.

A key factor in the campaigns success is that information 6 November 2014, the GROW Pan-Asia team launched the
is being shared, not only within the core teams, but also #MakeTheRightMove spike, with a webpage and a selfie
across the wider confederation as a means to enable tool. Oxfam in Southern Africa and Latin America supported
other interested Oxfam affiliates to take part in the the spike with a media release, campaign events and
campaigns at their own level. policy papers for each region. In response to the campaign,
more than 700 selfies were posted on social media within
Road to Paris a week, and the #MakeTheRightMove hashtag potentially
In the run up to the UNFCCC COP21 in Paris, Oxfam reached over a million people on Twitter.
launched a series of public events related to key climate
meetings. These included actions around the fifth report With SidaGROW providing technical advice on campaigning
of the International Panel on Climate Change (March 2014) strategy and creative assets, Oxfam undertook some
and the Ban Ki-moon Summit (23 September 2014), both public actions during COP20 in Lima (December 2014).
of which were detailed in the interim report.
In February 2015, Oxfam finalised its update of its
With both financial and staff support from SidaGROW, on international GROW Facebook page to improve its content,
reach and interactivity. This updated page was launched on
International Womens Day8 March 2015. Within a month,
NOTE GROW gained over 2,500 new Facebook likes (from 4,924
54
Oxfam America (2015) Behind the Brands,
http://www.behindthebrands.org/en-us/scorecard
to 7,496), and the reach of and interaction on posts (likes,
55
For the full report, please see:
shares, and comments) have increased significantly. As of
https://partos.nl/content/mfsii-eindversies-evaluatie-rapporten July 2015, the GROW Facebook page has over 23,000 likes.

42 SEEDSGROW
Oxfam also launched a new FCJ video on International This complemented many activities by GROW campaign
Womens Day. To promote it, Oxfam Novib developed a colleagues around the world. One example, Female Food
series of shareable graphics that were used globally. Heroes, is highlighted in Box 12.

Box 12. Female Food Heroes

In Asia, a number of Oxfam affiliates used International

Womens Day as an opportunity to talk about female
food heroes from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal
and Pakistan. These inspirational women come from
different countries, they face different struggles, and
tackle them differently, but they all share the same
issue: climate change is directly affecting them on a
daily basis. Below is an excerpt from the example of
Hakim Mai, a 27-year-old mother of two living in the
Multan District of Punjab Province, Pakistan: Photo credit: Oxfam Pakistan

Repeated floods and disturbed rain patterns were depriving us of food. Even when there were no floods, early or
late rain spells became a permanent threat to our crops, which are the source of our livelihoods. I had not heard
of the climate change phenomenon. I only later found out that this is the result of climate change Our district
is bearing the brunt of the worst impacts of climate change at present I was part of a poor community, facing
persistent threats to our livelihoods from the effects of climate change. But then I decided to make a difference,
and I am happy with the results of my efforts. I can see how it has improved life for my family and my community.

Outcome 1.2: Working with global partners

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Co-developing Establishing CLRA co- CLRA strategic CLRA co- Co-convenors

and Community Land conveners review convenors meeting and ILC
implementing Rights Alliance meeting meeting and RRI Global Assembly
Oxfam allies (CLRA) with the Programme meeting (London)
strategies on ILC and RRI
land
Global allies Euro IFI Network Allies meeting on
meeting with the allies meeting 70th anniversary
Bretton Woods to plan strategy of World Bank56
Project, related for World Bank
to Bretton Woods annual meetings
70th anniversary
Review of joint
Joint strategy strategy with
setting with Southern allies
Southern allies on World Bank
on World Bank investments
investments
Joint advocacy Monthly meeting Monthly meeting Monthly meeting Monthly meeting Monthly meeting
on biofuels with Brussels- with Brussels- with Brussels- with Brussels- with Brussels-
based allies on based allies on based allies on based allies on based allies
biofuels biofuels biofuels biofuels based on
biofuels
Meeting of Meeting of
European NGOs European NGOs Meeting of
on bio fuels on biofuels (67 European NGOs
(3031 Jan) Oct) on biofuels (23
Feb)
Joint advocacy N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
related to FCJ57

NOTE 57
SidaGROW staff were not involved in global alliance work in the FCJ
56
The 70th anniversary of the World Bank was in July 2014, but officially advocacy trajectory in the run-up to COP20 Lima, but did work with and
celebrated at their Annual Meeting of October 2014. within national and regional alliances.

SEEDSGROW 43
Joint advocacy on community land rights
In the interim report to Sida, Oxfam reported the signing of a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International
Land Coalition (ILC) and the Rights and Resources Initiative
(RRI), expressing the intention to develop the Community
Land Rights Alliance (CLRA). One important aim of this
alliance is to advocate for community land rights targets
to be included in the UNs post-2015 development agenda
and the Sustainable Development Goals. With the help of an
ILC-funded campaigner in Oxfam Novib, the alliance came
together in November 2014 and February 2015 to design
a more detailed campaign approachcreating objectives
and vision, a theory of change, baselines, a governance
structure, and a map of relevant allies. In February, a
steering group was finalised. An opportunity was identified
to promote the call to action at the Global Land Forum in
Dakar in May 2015, and suggestions were sought for an
appropriate campaigning approach.
Photo: Cecilia Mrida, a womens activist from Guatemala, addresses
Alliances related to the World Bank Group a protest in front of the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC
Oxfam organised and participated in a number of alliance to call for stronger human rights protections. Credit: Oxfam

meetings during both the Spring and Annual Meetings of the

World Bank in Washington, DC, in April and October 2014, Biofuels advocacy
including: In the interim report, Oxfam described its three-tiered
a strategy meeting to discuss the World Bank Safeguard approach to alliance buildingwithin Oxfam, at the
Policies at the Open Society Institute, which was European level and globallyto build a critical mass
attended by over 30 NGOs from around the world; in favour of changing EU biofuels policy. OIs Brussels
a meeting of allies working on problematic Finance office continues to organise monthly meetings with an
Corporation (IFC) projects at the Compliance Adviser alliance that includes Action Aid, Birdlife, Client Earth, the
Ombudsman (CAO); European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth and
a Land Roundtable eventco-hosted with the Forest Transport & Environment. During the reporting period, three
Peoples Programme, Heinrich Boell and Inclusive meetings were organised in Brussels with the European
Development International on Land and Indigenous affiliates of these organisations. Organisations from 20
Rightsrelated to the context of the Safeguards Review; European member states were present, as well as partner
and organisations from the USA and Indonesia. These meetings
three panels on IFC problem projects co-hosted with the were combined with joint advocacy towards the newly
Bretton Woods Project and Eurodad. elected European Parliament (EP).

Through these meetings, Oxfam helped to develop and Oxfam has also forged a looser and informal alliance
signed two major statements with alliesone with with leading European food companies that are opposed
signatures from over 300 CSOs on the overall Safeguards to biofuel mandates because of their impact on global
Review, and the other on land specifically in the context agricultural commodity markets. Informal meetings were
of the Safeguards Review, which was signed by over 100 held to share information in the run up to important EU
CSOs (see also result 2.2 in this report for more information decisions: the June 2014 Energy Council, the February 2015
on the World Bank meetings) during the World Bank Group EP Environment Committee vote and the final trilogue
events. negotiating sessions between the Parliament, the Council
and the Commission on 9 and 15 March 2015.
Oxfam funded the attendance of several Southern partners
at the World Bank Annual Meeting, ensuring it adequately Analysis and risk management
reflected their needs and views. During side events, their Public campaigns that support direct engagement with
representatives spoke of the impact of World Bank/IFC stakeholders are, at this time, unique to Oxfam. The
projects on indigenous communities in Guatemala, Liberia accomplishments of BtB and #MaketheRightMove among
and Kenya. others, are on par with expectations. More than 240,000
people supported the spikes, as compared to the annual
target of 250,000. The SidaGROW programme framework has
a target of one million actions over four years.

44 SEEDSGROW
During the reporting period, Oxfam continued to make Lessons learned and reflections
substantial investments in strong alliances in an effort to It is important not to define the success of public
increase chances of success with policy reform by regional campaigns in terms of reach only; for example, while
and global actors; having a united voice is more powerful #MaketheRightMove had a sizable reach, the public
and offers the ability to draw on different organisations response to it was modest (see Box 17).
strengths. Bringing Southern partners into international
alliances has provided a great opportunity to represent the Secondly, the assumption that launching spikes automat-
voices of affected communities in global arenas. For both ically results in pressure on key decision makers must be
land and biofuels, the outcomes of this alliance building tested for each campaign. For instance, evaluations show
have been beyond expectations. that spikes launched under the BtB campaign have been
successful in creating a race to the top, by encouraging
During the reporting period, Sida funding contributed competition among competitors in the food and beverage
to a lesser degree to public campaigning and alliance- sector by publicly rewarding them for ambitious com-
building under Oxfams UNFCCC campaigning trajectory. mitments. However, the theory of change is different for
This is because there were sufficient staff and financial campaigns facing governments and multilateral institutions;
resources from other parts of the Oxfam confederation to this still needs to be refined for a possible follow up in the
drive this work. As a result, Sida funds could be invested pan-Africa campaign over the course of 2015.
more strategically in other parts of the GROW campaign.
In addition, Oxfam took less of a leading role in public Similarly, Sidas contribution to the overall GROW campaign
campaigning on COP21 in the reporting period, seeking needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis, so as to
instead to join public actions led by its international determine the optimal use of resources. Oxfam will focus
allies. One example is the Climate Marches held during the on public campaigning and alliance work in support of
Ban Ki-Moon Summit in September 2014, which involved advocacy related to the Road to Paris. Sida funds will be
over 400,000 people. This event was facilitated by 1,574 invested as strategically as possible for this trajectory: one
organisations, including Oxfam. 58 focus will be a pan-Africa spike in autumn 2015.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2: GLOBAL-LEVEL POLICIES AND GOVERNANCE

To effectively steer relevant stakeholders to improve global-level policies and governance regarding
climate change and its impact on food security, the land use rights of local communities, and the
negative impacts of biofuels on food security.

Outcome 2.1 Food and Climate Justice

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Conducting Finalised FCJ Oxfam Meeting on Oxfam Meeting Right to food Oxfam
research for FCJ, strategic plan CCA/DRR in Asia preparing Pan policy paper on Regional meeting
and producing a and operational Asia spike two south Asian on pan-Africa
strategy plan and two Latin campaign
Comparative American
Regular FCJ CCA/DRR countries
strategy research in Asia published
meetings completed
Advocacy with UNFCCC Ban Ki-moon CFS meeting in
regional and intersessional in Summit Rome
global actors Bonn (415 June) (23 September)
UNFCCC COP20 in
EU Energy Council Lima (December)
(2627 June)
Meetings of
ASEAN, SAARC
and SADCC

NOTE
58
See: http://peoplesclimate.org/about-us/
59
The White House (2014) Remarks by the President at U.N. Climate
Change Summit, press release, 23 September, http://www.whitehouse.
gov/the-press-office/2014/09/23/remarks-president-un-climate-
change-summit

SEEDSGROW 45
As mentioned in the interim progress report, Sida support strongly contributed to the pan-Africa campaign, making
for result 2.1 was specifically aimed at: use of the lessons learned from the #MaketheRightMove
1) Supporting six countries in Asia and three in Southern campaign.
Africa to launch FCJ campaigns and link these to
regional/global advocacy. SidaGROW supported the production and use of an OI policy
2) Influencing the global discourse around climate paper on the right to food in support of its advocacy at the
change, especially in the UNFCCC. CFS meeting in Rome in October 2014. This paper discussed
the experiences of implementing the right to food in two
Linking local advocacy to larger campaigns south Asian and two Latin American countries.61 Oxfams
Five national GROW campaigns (Indonesia, Pakistan, global CFS lead and a representative of the Peru country
Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines) and two regional team participated in the event. As a direct result of our CFS
teams (South Asia and East Asia) conducted a collective advocacy, FAO South Asia invited OI to partner on a project
campaign spike on 6 November 2014, the first anniversary linking and sharing experiences on the implementation of
of the Haiyan cyclone. The purpose of this spike, called the right to food by national governments in south Asia. To
#MakeTheRightMove, was to ask national governments this end, Oxfam and the FAO agreed to hold a workshop in
and regional institutions (ASEAN and SAARC) to improve Year 2.
governance across Asia to protect citizens against
climate disasters. The discussions around this topic also Research on resilience planned for the first quarter of 2015
contributed to the consolidation and alignment of policy to inform the 2015 BtB climate spike was delayed until Year 2.
demands for two UN meetings: the COP20 in Lima, and the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 201530, Regional and global FCJ advocacy
where a briefing paper60 served as an input for OI advocacy. In the second half of the reporting year, SidaGROW-
These aligned policy demands were incorporated in reports supported staff were directly involved in the Oxfam
produced by Oxfams southern Africa and Latin American confederations engagement with some EU and UNFCCC
GROW teams. In preparation for the campaign, five national meetings. They participated in the UNFCCC intersessional
research reports, an Asia research report and an Asia in Bonn (June 2014), though not the follow-up sessions
campaign paper were produced. The evaluation (see Box 17) (Bonn, October 2014; Lima, December 2014; Geneva,
was critical of the extent to which the public engagement February 2015). In addition, members of the national GROW
element contributed to regional policy change. The campaigns in Niger and Pakistan (see specific objective 3
research joint papers were used to support national policy for an elaborate report on the two countries concerned)
advocacy in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Notably, formed part of their respective national delegations at the
the prime ministers of Bangladesh and Pakistan included COP20 in Lima.
key messages from Oxfam in their speeches at the 18th
SAARC summit (26 November 2014). In 2014, SidaGROW-supported staff influenced Dutch MPs
to address their governments low ambitions on climate
At the suggestion of the southern Africa GROW regional change. In coordination with Oxfam staff in Brussels and
campaign team in 2014, a number of African teams from their Dutch allies, three letters were sent to MPs ahead of
Oxfam and its partners decided to run a pan-African parliamentarian debates. A number of Oxfam propositions
campaign, called Women.Food.Climate, in 2015, modelled were taken forward by parties in the parliament, including
after the aforementioned pan-Asia campaign spike. A those on fossil fuel investments and renewable energy.
meeting in Johannesburg in March 2015 convened 11
Oxfam country teams and nine African CSOs. Those in In 2015, Oxfam Novib has invested more resources in the
attendance explored the scope, ways of working, output OI GROW advocacy strategy process toward global actors.
and governance of the prospective campaign, and One concrete result was a staff member investigating
determined a rough timeline to fit around several external opportunities around the principles of responsible energy
events. SidaGROW staff facilitated the agenda setting and climate-related investments. GROW management is
and decision-making processes throughout, and thereby currently considering whether there is sufficient capacity in
the confederation to meaningfully participate in, contribute
to, and develop this initiative.
NOTE
60
S. Cousins (2014) Cant Afford to Wait: Why Disaster Risk Reduction
and Climate Change Adaptation plans in Asia are still failing millions of
people, Oxfam International briefing note, https://www.oxfam.org/en/
research/asia-climate-change-cant-afford-wait
61
T. Escueta (2014) The Right to Adequate Food: Progress, Challenges
and Opportunities, Oxfam International discussion paper, https://www.
oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/oxfam-dp-the-
right-to-adequate-food-20141014.pdf. This paper contains case studies
from Bangladesh, Pakistan, El Salvador and Mexico.

46 SEEDSGROW
Result 2.2 Land

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Developing and Oxfam strategy Oxfam strategy

implementing meeting meeting
Oxfams annual
land advocacy
operational plan
Coordinating IMF/World Bank Follow-up on World Bank World Bank Land
policy advocacy Spring Meetings audit of IFC land Safeguards and Poverty
toward World (1113 April) case in Honduras consultation in Conference
Bank board Brussels (2327 March)
and IFC staff, Response to new
focusing on key version of World World Bank
milestones/ Bank Safeguard Annual Meetings
moments Policies
Coordinating Advocacy with CFS meeting UN CFS meeting
policy advocacy CFS key staff Rome Rome
towards CFS in (13-18 October)
alliance with Co-convened Capacity building
members of the workshop on with CSM Continued
CSM land governance members on advocacy around
indicators monitoring Voluntary
Guidelines
Implementing RSPO European RSPO Annual
policy advocacy Roundtable Roundtable
inside the RSPO, (4 June) meeting (1720
participating in November).
strategic stand- Included meeting
ing committees with Human
and working Rights Working
groups, and Group, and follow
influencing the up on Sime Darby
agenda setting land case
at annual global
Appraisal of
RSPO conference.
quality social
issues auditing
ready

Oxfams advocacy on land targets a wide range of national, between the World Bank and CSOs since the release of
regional and global actors, including private sector, the first draft. During this meeting, partners from Kenya,
governments and international institutions. This includes Guatemala, Cambodia and Laos presented real-life cases in
Sida-funded work towards three targetsthe World Bank/ which Bank lending has undermined communities land rights,
IFC, the CFS and the Roundtable for Sustainable Oil (RSPO). and analysed whether the new Safeguards would strengthen
To build on this work, the Oxfam confederation agreed a or weaken those rights. In the months thereafter, Oxfam
common position in January 2015, in the form of the Oxfam facilitated its partners and Oxfam country teams around the
Land Strategic plan for 201619. world to attend formal public consultations held by the World
Bank on its Safeguards review.
Land advocacy with the World Bank Group
The World Banks revision of its Safeguard Policies62 By the final European consultation in London in January
throughout 2014-15 was a key focus of Oxfams advocacy 2015, the head of the World Bank Safeguards team said
towards this institution. that the two biggest influences on his teams revision of
the Land Safeguard were the FAO Voluntary Guidelines and
On 6 October, Oxfam held a roundtable on community land
rights with allies to influence the debate around the World NOTE
Bank Safeguards review, which saw the first public exchange 62
World Bank (n.d.) Protecting the Poor and the Environment in Investment
Projects, http://go.worldbank.org/WTA1ODE7T0

SEEDSGROW 47
Oxfams inputs through its roundtable and submission. OI continued its advocacy during the 41st CFS session
in Rome in October 2014.65 In this session, CFS member
Oxfam has also advocated for the IFCs reform of financial states adopted the Principles for Responsible Investment
intermediary lending. A key strategy is to bring land cases in Agriculture and Food Systems, which were assessed by
in which the IFC is involved to the Compliance Advisor the CSM as weak and incoherent. Oxfam was also critical
Ombudsman (CAO), an independent recourse mechanism of of the principles, and engaged directly with CFS Chair
the IFC. Oxfam Novib has already reported to Sida on the CAOs Gerda Verburg to make its concerns understood. For land,
audit of financial intermediary lending to Honduras in August the principles, though well-intentioned, fail to provide the
2014. In response, Oxfam with allies co-wrote and circulated kind of ambitious action needed to prevent forced land
a press release, which was covered by the New York Times, acquisition. For instance, they do not recognise the need to
Reuters, 100Reporters, Inter Press Service news agency and apply principles of free, prior and informed consent for all
others. A particular success was getting the voice of our affected local communities, despite this being now a widely
partners in Honduras quoted in the press coverage. accepted minimum standard adopted by other entities with
whom Oxfam has engaged (e.g. Coca-Cola and the RSPO).
In addition, Oxfam helped communities affected by an IFC- This could undermine the roll out of VGGTs and the future
supported project in Guatemala to file a complaint with the development of global land targets and indicators, such as
CAO. A related briefing paper on IFC financial intermediary the Global Land Indicator Initiative.66
cases was launched at the World Bank Spring Meetings in
April 2015.63 The interim SidaGROW report contained reflections on
Oxfams land advocacy as part of the BtB campaign. In
The interim report highlighted how OI (with the help of staff February 2015, incorporating Oxfam feedback, Coca-Cola
from SidaGROW) at several meetings in the course 2014 published human rights impact assessments for Colombia
engaged CFS through the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM).64 and Guatemala.67 PepsiCo is yet to publish its assessments
These efforts were aimed at raising awareness and building in Brazil.
support for the use of widely agreed indicators on land
governance for both the Sustainable Development Goals A land research project planned for the first quarter of 2015,
and the CFS monitoring process processthe latter through to support the BtB campaign, was delayed and ultimately
the Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Land Tenure carried out without SidaGROWs financial support.
(VGGTs).

Box 13. What do evaluation tell us: World Bank Group advocacy

Oxfams land campaign, together with BtB (see Box 11), was included in a wider evaluation of lobbying and advocacy
programmes of alliances financed by the Dutch government (MFS co-financing). The evaluators were positive about the
campaigns relevance and its contribution to changes in policies and practices.
Oxfam seized on the endorsement of the progressive VGGTs by the UN CFS as an opportunity to obtain public commitments
from the World Bank Group (WBG) and FBCs to integrate these guidelines into their own policies and practices.
The World Bank has included land and tenure rights in the first draft of its Environmental and Social Safeguards, and the
IFC has introduced new guidelines and practices that enable it to better understand how its investmentsincluding those
conducted through Financial Intermediaries (FIs)that are affecting the livelihoods of local communities, in particular
with regard to large-scale land acquisitions. The efforts of the CAO, and the collaborative advocacy of a number of NGOs
including Oxfam, contributed to the IFCs board of executive directors asking the IFC to review its responses.
Further CAO reports, ongoing dialogue and press coverage organised by the NGOsand the resultant increased attention
on these issues by WBG staff and executive directorsall contributed to further policy and practice changes within the
IFC. Critical elements of such development included:
the land freeze campaign that raised awareness of the WBGs possible involvement in land acquisitions affecting livelihoods;
the work of NGOs researching IFC standards and practices for FIs since 2009; and
the alignment of views within the Board of Executive Directors, in particular when the Bank was being associated with
human rights violations in Honduras.
OI played a key role in these changes. The evaluators stated that, in comparison with the other NGOs, it excelled in direct
engagement with the WBG, in mobilising media coverage when necessary, and in ensuring allies published relevant
statements in a timely fashion.
Lastly, thanks to the work of Oxfam and its allies, a number of land cases were (partially) solved (Uganda, Indonesia,
Honduras, Guatemala, South Sudan), and others were addressed but not yet solved (Brazil, Cambodia). Those cases that
involved the IFC were also fed back to this global institution in support of OIs policy demands.

48 SEEDSGROW
Land advocacy within the Roundtable on Sustainable include the Free and Fair Labour Principles and Guidelines
Palm Oil for Implementation,69 and an Independent Review of
Oxfam Novib is one of the key actors of the RSPO, and aims the RSPO Complaints System.70 A draft of the latter was
to ensure the interests of local people, small-scale farmers accepted at a November meeting of the RSPO Board of
and labourers are addressed in the production of palm oil.68 Governors, which endorsed the recommendations for
Oxfam Novib is represented on the board of governors, implementation by the RSPO Secretariat.
and jointly leads the Human Rights Working Group with
multinational agriculture giant Cargill. Throughout Year 1, the Sime Darby-Sanggau land case,71
which is being mediated by the RSPOs Dispute Settlement
As part of the RSPO annual roundtable conference in Facility, continued. Written minutes have been produced
November 2014, Oxfam organised an interactive World Caf reflecting agreements reached between the company
on Human Rights with four sub groups: social auditing, and communities on the framework for negotiation, which
human rights policies, labour, and free, prior and informed includes six out of the communities 14 demands. It is
consent. This generated buy-in (e.g. for the field testing hoped that a proposed roadmap for negotiation will be
of improvements to social audits), and stakeholders with signed in summer 2015, and finalised through participatory
various perspectives helped to clarify upon which issues mapping and national-level formalisation towards the end
and probable solutions the Human Rights Working Group of 2015 (see Box 14).
should focus. Related outputs delivered subsequently

Box 14. The Sime Darby-Sanggau land case

Land is incredibly important to the communities in Sanggau, a district of Indonesian Borneo. As well as providing their
livelihoods, it serves as collateral for loans, and even serves as way of saving money to pay for school fees or as a pension
reserve.
The decade-long land conflict case between these communities and the plantation subsidiary of Asian multinational
trader Sime Darby had been researched and documented well when Oxfam highlighted it in a report in 2011, in which it
urged the company to resolve the case.72 Oxfam also raised the case with the RSPO when the plantation was recommended
by a third-party auditor to receive RSPO certification even though the conflict was unresolved.
Oxfam has persevered with the case, alongside local partner organisations in Indonesia, Transformation for Justice (TuK)
and Friends of the Earth Indonesia (Walhi). RSPO has acknowledged and addressed weaknesses in its auditing system and
mobilised its Dispute Settlement Facility to mediate a solution for the communities. In addition to pursuing this individual
case, Oxfam is maintaining pressure on the RSPO by providing suggestions for the development of the mediation facility
further and the improvement of social auditors, through its work in the RSPO working group on human rights.
Of the communities 14 demands, 13 are now being addressed by Sime Darby. However, the most crucial question is
pending: will their land be returned to them after 25 years of planting by Sime Darby or will it revert to state ownership?
Discussions are ongoing with the company that might not only result in the return of the land to the communities, but in
the case being brought to the Indonesian government as an exemplary alternative to the current persistent tenure model
of acquiring community land. Alternatively, land ownership might remain with the communities who would leaserather
than selltheir land to the private sector for a set period of one plantation cycle (25 years).
Oxfam, TuK and the communities are awaiting this decision at the time of writing.

68
The RSPO is an international multi-stakeholder organisation and
NOTE certification scheme for sustainable palm oil that aims to transform
63
K. Geary (2015) The Suffering of Others: The human cost of the markets in order to make sustainability the norm.
International Finance Corporations lending through financial 69
intermediaries, Oxfam issue briefing, https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/ Humanity United et al (2015) Free and Fair Labor in Palm Oil Production:
Principles and Implementation Guidance, http://humanityunited.org/
suffering-others
wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PalmOilPrinciples_030315.pdf
64
The CSM is a mechanism to facilitate civil society participation in 70
H.C. Jonas (2014) A Review of Complaints System of the Roundtable on
agriculture, food security and nutrition policy development at national,
Sustainable Palm Oil: Final Report, RSPO, http://www.rspo.org/news-
regional and global levels in the CFS.
and-events/announcements/a-review-of-complaints-system-of-the-
65
Oxfam Novib helped prepare OIs positions, but did not directly participate. rspo-final-report
66 71
The Global Land Indicators Initiative is a collaborative and inclusive Sime Darby, a Malaysian multinational running palm oil plantations,
process for the development of the Global Land Indicators started by received a complaint in 2011 through RSPO from Oxfam for violating
the Millennium Challenge Corporation, UN-Habitat and the World Bank, communities human and land rights. The complaint has been in
facilitated by the Global Land Tool Network. mediation ever since, with Oxfam and two Indonesian partners pleading
67
the case on behalf of the affected communities.
E. Potter (2015) Leading through Change: Child Labor, Forced Labor and
72
Land Rights, Coca-Cola Unbottled blog, 16 March, http://www.coca- B. Zagema (2011) Land and Power: The growing scandal surrounding the
colacompany.com/coca-cola-unbottled/leading-through-change-child- new wave of investments in land, Oxfam briefing paper, https://www.
labor-forced-labor-and-land-rights oxfam.org/en/research/land-and-power

SEEDSGROW 49
 Photo: Musa from Sanggau met RSPO officers in a visit to his hamlet
facilitated by Oxfam Novib and TuK in order that they could hear the
case directly from the community. After these officers were greeted
with a Dayak customary ceremony for resolving disputes in good faith,
14 documented community demands were handed over. When Musa
came to one of the international RSPO conferences earlier to express
his grievance to corporate executives, he said: My family are worried
about me coming here. But if anything bad happened to me, I know
they will be proud of me because I stood up for our rights.

Credit: Oxfam

Result 2.3 Biofuels

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Research and Meeting of ENER ministers EP sessions Meeting of Meeting of

advocacy on EU European Oxfam meeting to (second reading European Oxfam European Oxfam
biofuels policies affiliates on review RED and of RED and FQD) affiliates on affiliates on
biofuels FQD (13 June) biofuels biofuels

Engagement European summit EP sessions Trilogues

with EU policy on 2030 climate (second reading between the
and decision- and energy of RED and FQDa)EP, Council and
makers on package Commission on
climate change, (2627 June) December second reading
food security and European Summit of RED and FQD
biofuels on 2030 climate
Focus on EC
and energy
legislative
package
proposal for 2030
climate and
energy package

Research
completed
on biofuel
supply chain
for European
producers
Leading Dutch Berlin ISO ISO voting pre- Final meeting
delegation in workgroup, enquiry (ISO/DIS on ISO 13065 in
negotiations of 1821 Feb 13065) Berlin
the ISO biofuels 2014
standard, serving
as Working
Group III expert
and supporting
negotiators from
developing
countries

As stated in the interim report, Oxfam and allies are working European biofuels advocacy and research
to influence the European Councils position in its review Through coordinated advocacy, OI also sought to influence
of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and Fuel Quality the EUs 2030 climate and energy policy framework that
Directive (FQD). Oxfams aim is the ending of incentives for was adopted by the European Council on 24 October
biofuel production that competes with food, and reforming 2014. One of its demands to European heads of state and
EU greenhouse gas accountancy to include emissions from governments was that the new framework should not lead
indirect land-use change. to the continuation of biofuel mandates beyond 2020. The
text adopted by the Council does not contain any language
explicitly supporting biofuels, but leaves all options open by

50 SEEDSGROW
giving a mandate to the European Commission to develop Desk research into the supply chain of European biofuel
measures promoting renewable energy for transport. Oxfam producers was commissioned by OI and successfully
has started to engage with the new Juncker Commission completed. Research into the impact of EU biofuels demand
that will draft the legislative proposals to implement the on food security and access to land in developing countries
2030 climate and energy targets. In April 2015, Oxfam and began in Year 1, and is due to be finalised in Year 2. This
allies published a new position paper explaining their will focus on new players and new frontiers in the biofuels
recommendations.73 sector.

Box 15. EU limits use of crop based biofuels in EU transport

On 28 April 2014, the EP voted in favour of limiting the use of

crop-based biofuels in EU transport, sealing a deal with the
Council of Ministers to reform the RED and FQD. This reform of EU
biofuels policy is of global significance. EU demand for biofuels
is a driver of food price volatility and forced land acquisitions
globally, and reforming it will set a precedent for other major
global players, such as the USA and other G20 countries.

Oxfams EU Advocacy Office carefully followed the legislative

process leading to this reform, and suggested amendments to
members of the EP, coordinated Oxfam affiliates advocacy in
eight EU Member States, enlisted the support of the public through
traditional and social media, and formed alliances with other CSOs
and influential people to demand change. On 26 February 2015, the
Environment Committee of the EP adopted an ambitious position
incorporating almost all of the recommendations put forward by
Oxfam and its allies. The EP also approved a mandate to negotiate
a final version of the legislation incorporating major improvements
to the text adopted in June 2014 by the Council of Ministers.
The final text of the legislation adopted following the negotiations between the EP and the Council of Ministers,
although weaker than the EP position, makes important changes towards a more sustainable EU biofuels policy. By
2020:
the cap on food-based biofuels will be brought down to 7 percent from 10 percent (a maximum of 7 percent of
transport fuel may be a first-generation biofuel);
emissions caused by the displacement of agriculture by demand for biofuels onto new land (indirect land-use
change) will be reported; and
enhanced references to social and environmental sustainability safeguards, in particular the need to protect the
land rights of communities affected by biofuel production deals will be enshrined in law.
This success sets the scene for the very important policy decisions that will have to be taken in the next two years
to shape the EUs climate and energy policy for 2030. With the support of Sida, Oxfams EU Advocacy Office and a
broad group of allies will endeavour to ensure that this policy contributes to fighting climate change and does not
threaten the livelihoods of the worlds poorest people.

ISO biofuels standards The final draft of ISO 13065 was discussed in the Berlin
The final draft international standard (ISO) 13065 workgroup meeting of January resulting in adaptation (and
builds upon the consensus within the International weakening) of the norms set forward. The revised document
Standardization Organisation (ISO) to formulate a broad will be appraised by an editing committee in the course of
spectrum of voluntary sustainability criteria for the private 2015, before being made official.
sectorincluding environmental, social and economic
concerns. The criteria include food security and land-use
rights and, in a February 2014 meeting in Berlin, water use
rights were also added. This is important because the use NOTE
of water in the bioenergy sector is, according to Oxfams 73
Actionaid et al (2015) Pitfalls and Potentials: The role of bioenergy in the
EU climate and energy policy post 2020. NGO recommendations, https://
partners, at least as significant as the pressure on land. www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/ngo-
recommendations-biomass-post-2020-280415.pdf

SEEDSGROW 51
Analysis and risk management (see Box 14) seems to be progressing, it must be noted that
it has been pending for over a decade.
Food and Climate Justice
A highlight of OI work on the Road to Paris trajectory EU biofuels policy
during the report periods was research in support the Influencing the review of the current 2020 EU biofuels policy
#MaketheRightMove campaign and related advocacy is essential to achieve a significant reduction in European
towards regional and national institutions. demand for crop-based biofuels, to ensure that emissions
from indirect land-use change will be taken into account
Committee for World Food Security when assessing the merits of biofuels for fighting climate
There were a number of challenges related to the CFS: change, and to set the right foundation for the future 2030
Oxfam observed a weakening of key international norms policy. As the EU is the worlds second largest producer
on land; for example, the CFS agreed weaker Responsible and consumer of biofuels, changes in European policy will
Agricultural Investment Principles than hoped. set a precedent that is likely to have implications on global
In relation to the VGGT guidelines endorsed by CFS in biofuel policies.
2012, Oxfam has attempted to influence the development
of the CFS monitoring frameworkwhich is most likely As reported, Oxfam has not made progress on the develop-
to be approved in October 2016through the CSM. This ment of a position paper on International Sustainability and
framework may set lower ambitions as Oxfam hoped for Carbon Certification,74 as this was reprioritised during the
and is not consistent with other global initiatives such as reporting period.
the Global Land Indicators Initiative (GLII).
Oxfam intends to move on from international norm setting Lessons learned and reflections
through CFS to implementing the VGGTs. The Netherlands Oxfams longer-term engagements on topics such as land
made a good start, as the first country to commence and biofuels are paying off in terms of policy change.
multi-stakeholder dialogues on land governance on the Securing access to critical stakeholders is obviously
basis of the VGGTs. essential for successful advocacy. With Oxfams land
advocacy, examples include World Bank and RSPO; with
World Bank biofuels, it is with members of the EP. However, as Oxfam
The first draft of the World Banks Safeguards was not as was less able to influence the European Council, it proved
progressive in relation to land as advocated for. Similarly, to be more difficult to preserve progressive legislation on
Oxfam faced challenges with private sector actors not the latter at the next stage of development.
following through on their policy commitments on landit
is proving difficult for them to live up to the zero tolerance In order to strengthen Oxfams advocacy on the UNFCCC
for forced land acquisition to which they committed in late climate negotiation process, Sida funds will be used to
2013. Oxfam will have to pay more attention to the practical replace the FCJ project manager with an FCJ climate lead,
challenges faced by private sector and other actors in who will lead Oxfam Internationals advocacy for the Road
meeting the high standards set in practice, and provide to Paris campaigning trajectory.
constructive criticism.
It is clear that Oxfam needs to continue to focus its advo-
RSPO cacy efforts on the World Bank Safeguardsas they are
From its position as the only NGO in the board of the the benchmark for many other donors and investorsto
RSPO, Oxfam Novib has influenced the organisations land make them as strong as possible. A key aspect of this work
agenda on smallholders, human rights and gender. This is mobilising Oxfam teams around the world to hold their
resulted in much stronger RSPO principles and criteria governments and World Bank board members to account.
being adopted in 2013, as well as the establishment of
a human rights working group, a labour task force and a This need to mobilise national organisations also applies
smallholders working group (in all of which Oxfam Novib to ongoing efforts to achieve reforms at the IFC: bringing
is an active participant on behalf of Oxfam). At the same specific country cases to the COA has been demonstrated
time, multi-stakeholder initiatives such as RSPO remain to be an effective form of advocacy. Likewise, this was
difficult settings for concrete substantial policy changes. effective with the RSPO, where the Sime Darby land case was
It is a good investment for the relationships and sharing of brought for mediation under its Dispute Settlement Facility.
experience allowed, but progress can be slow. For instance,
although the case between Sime Darby and communities On biofuels advocacy, it is essential to link the 2020
biofuels policy discussions with the early discussions of
the EUs 2030 climate and energy package. OIs activities
NOTE specifically focusing on the 2030 EU biofuels policy are
74
See ISCC website, http://iscc-system.org/en/ scheduled to begin in autumn 2015.

52 SEEDSGROW
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 3: NATIONAL-LEVEL POLICIES AND GOVERNANCE

To effectively steer relevant stakeholders to improve global level policies and governance regarding
climate change and its impact on food security, land use rights of local communities, and reduction of
negative impacts of biofuels on food security.

Outcome 3.1 Building GROW with local stakeholders in two countries

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Niger
Campaign Strategic review Capacity building Participation in Studies
development of GROW plan, workshop on UNFCCC COP20 in completed on:
201317 research and Lima
advocacy for CSOs - Status report on
MoU signed land ownership
with 28 CSOs on Review of food
involvement with reserve project and - Agro-pastoralist
GROW Economic Partner- processing units (in
ship Agreement75 agro industries)
with members and
allies of GROW
campaign in Niger
Public events Agriculture, National Womens International Rural International
Livestock and Day Womens Day (15 Womens Day (8
Hydraulic Saloon October) March)
(SAHEL) Niger Youth
Parliament World Food Day (16
GROWs one-year October)
anniversary in
Niger76
Pakistan
Campaign Start of National GROW - 24 awareness CFS paper on
development consultation campaign plan building sessions, Pakistans
process on national completed in con- mobilising 4,400 perspective
GROW campaign sultation with allies volunteers at com-
munity level Participation in
Forging Alliances UNFCCC COP20 Lima
for national GROW - District Forums
campaign Established Began process of
defining District
- Two Provincial Local Adaptation
Steering Commit- Plans
tees established
Public events Launch of report Launch of national GROW Festival, World Food Day (16 International Wom-
on climate change GROW campaign in Islamabad October) ens Day (8 March)
in Asia two provinces
Ozon Protection Peoples tribunal on
Pakistan land World Environment Day (18 September) Food Prices
tribunal Day (5 June)
Plantation day

Oxfam GROW campaigns in Pakistan and Niger made Developing national GROW campaigns
substantial progress in building a broad support base Both national campaigns established a common agenda
with communities, CSOs, NGOs, academic institutions and for Years 25, which was submitted with the interim report.
other allies while designing and running national GROW From September 2014 to March 2015, Niger expanded its
campaigns. The team in Pakistan completed its planning partner base from 28 to 45. These groups were attracted
according to schedule; however, the team in Niger had by the various public events and subsequently joined the
to deal with severe delays due to political developments.
The activities as presented above only highlight the main
events; both country campaigns interact frequently with NOTE
75
AEconomic Partnership Agreements are a scheme to create a free trade
communities, allies, media organisations and universities, area between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific
as well as with local and national government officials. Group of States.
76
GROW is known as CULTIVONS in French-speaking countries.

SEEDSGROW 53
Nigerien GROW campaign as allies. This will strengthen The Niger and Pakistan GROW campaigns are increasingly
future advocacy initiatives with the government. The moving beyond the national arena, and taking part in
challenge ahead is to align the campaign with other CSO regional/global advocacy events (e.g. with CFS and UNFCCC).
initiatives in the country, the most important of which is the In Niger, GROW members are part of the Conseil National
G9 Alliance.77 de lEnvironnement pour un Dveloppement Durable81
(CNEDD), a platform through which CSOs and government
Oxfam in Pakistan forged a broad alliance with actors at all representatives meet to discuss climate change. The CNEDD
levels. District-level forums were set up in 12 districts across provided delegates to COP20 in Lima. In Pakistan, Oxfam has
Punjab and Sindh provinces, two NGOs were selected to lead been coordinating the GROW campaign with the Ministry
the GROW campaign in these provinces,78 while four key of Climate Change throughout the reporting period under
CSO networks were selected to coordinate national-level an MoU. A key achievement was the inclusion of an Oxfam
advocacy.79 These alliances will provide the infrastructure for staff member in Pakistans official UNFCCC delegation to
rolling out national campaigns in Years 25. COP20, representing Pakistans civil society in negotiations.
Moreover, Oxfam was also part of three government working
In addition, the Pakistan GROW campaign extended its groups (out of a total of five), which worked on the positions
alliance base by signing MoUs with seven universities and for developing countries in the negotiations.
establishing a forum called Journalists for Food and Climate
Justice. The cooperation with universities is attracting Public events
motivated students to make an active contribution to the In the past year, both national campaigns managed
campaign. The journalist forum aims to bring those from to organise a number of public events in the shape of
national print and electronic media together to draft a festivals, petitions and tribunals.82 Pakistan organised
publication on food security and climate change. 30 public events in total throughout the year, in which
18,000 people took action. Niger organised 12 public
In Niger, the national GROW campaign focuses on three events, reaching thousands of citizens. In the 2015, both
laws: Loi dorientation Agricole (LOA), Loi Cadre sur le droit campaigns celebrated International Womens Day by
lalimentation and Loi sur la protection sociale.80 The posting public messages.
partners of Niger GROW organised several meetings with
parliamentarians to discuss these pending law reforms, Other accomplishments worth noting are the speeches
especially the LOA, which aims to boost agricultural of the prime ministers of Pakistan and Bangladesh at the
production. The governments consultation with civil society 18th SAARC Summit (26 November 2014) in Kathmandu.
is through the G9 Alliance, with which Oxfam is engaged. Most They included a couple of key points from briefing papers
of the draft legislation mentioned is currently still with the developed under Oxfams pan-Asia CCA/DRR Campaign
ministries concerned and is yet to be presented to parliament. initiative (see also the report under result 2.1).

Outcome 3.2 Linking national GROW campaigns with the global GROW campaign

Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Develop links be- Cambodia, Review of GROW Strategies defined Capacity building
tween global GROW Mozambique and strategy in for local to global on public cam-
campaign and na- Vietnam selected Cambodia and events paigning in
tional GROW teams Vietnam Cambodia
in three countries Cambodia selected
for CFS and BtB; Linking trajectory
Vietnam for on private-sector
climate-smart engagement in
agriculture climate change
Sharing lessons Global learning Learning event on
from the 16 coun- event on land regional
tries and regions in campaigning in
which OXFAM NOVIB southern Africa
supports GROW

NOTE
80
77
Cadre de Concertation et de Dialogue G9 Refers to the Agricultural Orientation Law, the Right to Food Legal
78
Framework and the Welfare Act, respectively.
Indus Consortium and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, for Sindh and Punjab,
81
respectively. The National Council for Sustainable Development.
82
79
National Peasant Coalition of Pakistan (NPCP), Alliance Against Hunger Tribunals highlight a case (e.g. flaws in land distribution) for the public
and Malnutrition (AAHM), Peoples Network on Food & Agriculture (PNFA), and media, and allow experts to be consulted for recommendations
and the Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (SAAG). on how to respond. These recommendations are then used by GROW
campaign staff in their engagement, and inform policy makers and media
about important land issues.
54 SEEDSGROW
In the interim report, the selection of three countries agriculture (CSA), GROW Vietnam members helped shape
for supportCambodia, Mozambique and Vietnamwas Oxfams global advocacy with the FAOs Global Alliance
explained, along with the process for defining action for CSA84 at an Asia meeting and a later meeting in The
plans. This included a definition of local to global Netherlands. The team also supported Oxfams advocacy
events,83 such as linking Cambodias GROW campaign in Africa through Oxfam Nigers domestic CSA Alliance.
to CFS work, and involving Vietnams GROW team in the
#MaketheRightMove campaign. It was explained that The Vietnam and Cambodia teams advised OI about the
work would not begin in Mozambique until Year 2. strategic challenges and opportunities posed by an
invitation from the Sustainable Rice Platform, a high-level
Links between country teams and global GROW campaign multi-stakeholder platform. The teams were well placed
Vietnam is already strongly involved in multi-country to do so, as they have for many years both run domestic
advocacy projects in Asialeading the Private Sustainable Rice Initiatives and other smallholder rice
Sector Resilience programme and co-leading the farmer programmes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
#MaketheRightMove campaignin line with predefined and increase incomes. Their advice contributed to
events by Oxfam at local and international levels. In so Oxfams decision to become an observer at the Platform.
doing, a national influencing strategy for regional/global This was a cautious decision as it is not sufficiently clear
linkages was developed as part of the Oxfam Vietnam yet whether the platform will adopt an effective pro-
country strategy paper. Vietnam builds its capacity poor agenda. In the reporting year, Sida funds were used
through long-term investment in its staff, and ensuring to support a local to global advisor in Cambodia, the
campaign work is coherent with, and amplifies, advocacy results of which are described in Box 16.
messages from other programmes. On climate-smart

Box 16. Cambodias GROW campaign

The major focus of the GROW campaign in Cambodia is land governance, specifically supporting vulnerable communities in
Cambodia to raise their voices and claim their rights to land. GROW Cambodia contributed a land case that was highlighted
globally in Oxfams BtBs campaign on land and sugar. Since the unprecedented success of the BtB campaign, which
included, among others, a public commitment by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to zero tolerance on forced land acquisitions, the
GROW campaign has gained momentum in Cambodia.
In 201415, the Asia regional GROW campaign improved its power analysis and strategies by including private companies
as both targets and allies in the campaign. Since the last quarter of 2014, the campaign was able to support Oxfam in
Cambodia engage with companies and form alliances with CSOs involved in CSR issues. Over the next two years, the
Cambodia GROW campaign will work on a specific influencing objective to advocate change of behaviour and attitude in
the private sector towards greater respect for small-scale producers especially the poor. Through this objective, the team
seeks to influence major companies, especially those involved in economic land concessions.85 Oxfam Cambodia believe
that, by encouraging and promoting the best practices of major companies and their positive impacts, they can create
pressure to change attitudes and behaviour of the private sector more widely.
By 2016, the GROW campaignin alliance with partners in the Sida-funded GRAISEA86 programmewill bolster the
influencing work of a national CSR platform in Cambodia, which was launched in March 2015 by 17 companies (mainly
agricultural) and seven CSOs (including Oxfam). The private sector will also be targeted in GROWs first online campaign in
Cambodia, called Voices of Rural Women in Cambodia. This campaign aims to raise awareness of the impacts of climate
change on rural women while showcasing positive stories of womens responses.
Photo: CSR platform meeting in Cambodia.

NOTE
83
i.e. global events to which countries make specific contributions to OI
global advocacy, such as submitting a case study.
84
See the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture website,
http://www.fao.org/gacsa/en/
Credit: Oxfam

85
Economic land concessions are long-term leases that allow the
clearing of land for industrial agriculture. See: Open Development (2014)
Economic Land Concessions (ELCs),
http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/briefing/economic-land-
concessions-elcs/
86
Grow. Sell. Thrive. (2015) GRAISEA Launch, Oxfam blog, 12 March,
http://growsellthrive.org/profiles/blogs/graisea-launch

SEEDSGROW 55
Direct engagement with the private sector in Asia for the Oxfam GROW teams with early engagement with
was identified during the reporting period as another companies.
opportunity to link the Cambodia and Vietnam teams with
the global GROW campaign. Companies need to be involved Learning
in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies As explained in the interim report, SidaGROWs learning
from a business perspectivefor risk management focus has shifted to a learning-by-doing approach.
and/or compliance with legal and social obligations. This resulted in initiating a learning trajectory around
Several global actors in Asia developed intervention the #MaketheRightMove campaign (see this report
strategies to increase effective corporate investments under outcome 1.1 and 2.1 for more information). As a
to address climate changefrom small businesses up significant country team-led initiative within GROW, the
to multinationals, along with governments and regional lessons learned from this campaign could be used in the
(ASEAN) and global (UNFCCC) institutions and CSOs. design and implementation of the prospective pan-Africa
campaign in 2015. The trajectory consisted of a process
However, Oxfam needs more experience of working with evaluation (completed in March 2015, see Box 17) followed
corporations through its sub-national and national climate by a learning event for the GROW Asia teams in Bangkok
resilience programmes and networks. Therefore, in Year 1, (April). The result will be a forward-looking briefing paper
SidaGROW staff provided technical support to initiate the containing concrete suggestions for improving the
Private Sector Resilience Asia Programme, in which seven governance, design and implementation of future Southern
Oxfam teams (country teams from Vietnam, Indonesia, multi-country campaigns within Oxfam.
Philippines, Laos and Cambodia, and affiliate Oxfam India)
started to explore partnerships with companies to develop Multi-country learning sessions on popular campaigning
pro-poor climate resilience. As a result, a programme did not take place as initially planned. The Learning event
development trajectory was started to ensure that the on regional campaigning South Asia was delayed to Year 2
programme combines learning and capacity building (and did take place in April 2015).

Box 17. What do evaluation tell us: #MaketheRightMove

An evaluation of #MaketheRightMove was conducted by external consultants in FebruaryMarch 2015. In their final
report, the evaluators reflected on two outcomes:
Internal: the fact that five country teams together with regional Oxfam GROW staff designed and implemented a multi-
country public campaign was an accomplishment. The technical assistance of Sida supporting staff with campaign
strategy and digital campaigning was acknowledged in the report.
External: the public spike informed one million people, which was a great achievement; however, the number of
actions taken by the public in response (e.g. 700 selfies posted on the blog) was considered to be insufficient.
Moreover, the evaluators wrote that the campaign had no immediate direct influence on national government, or its
representatives in regional bodies such as the SAARC and ASEAN. The latter conclusion is challenged by Oxfam, as the
research reports produced in preparation for the spike were used by some governments prior to SAARC meetings.
The evaluators recommendations are grouped under two headings. One set provided concrete suggestions for the
design of multi-country campaigns; these will be taken into account in the design of the pan-Africa campaign in the
autumn of 2015. The other set suggested how to better embed the interests of Southern GROW campaigns in the overall
Oxfam International governance structure.
Based on the evaluation and recommendations, the regional Asia GROW campaign group conducted a learning event,
and produced a forward-looking briefing paper. The latter will be discussed within the international GROW campaign.

Analysis and risk management legislation to security enforcement, which caused delays
in the legislative process. The displacement of 150,000
The risk of political instability remains a relevant factor in people and the disruption of livestock movements in the
both Niger and Pakistan, and may disturb the movement area resulted in worsening food security. In addition, the
of staff from Oxfam, its partners, and the government. suspension of parliamentary sessions made engagement
The interim report described the public demonstrations in with elected representatives challenging.
Pakistan in September 2014 calling for Prime Minister Sharif
Nawaz to step down, which resulted in political deadlock On 8 January 2015, Pakistans federal government decided
in Islamabad. This affected peoples movements, although to upgrade its climate change division to the status of
did not result in significant delays for campaigning. The a federal ministry with a functional budget, a minister, a
presence of Boko Haram militias in south-east Niger mandate and designated human resources. This shows the
shifted the governments attention away from agricultural commitment of the Pakistani government to take climate

56 SEEDSGROW
change seriously. The Pakistan GROW team met with newly #MaketheRightMove) with the organisation of learning
appointed Federal Minister for Climate Change Mushahid consolidation events, impetus was created for country
Ullah Khan. They explained the priorities of the Oxfam teams to learn from past public activities. In this way, a
campaign and invited the minister to engage regularly with common programme development trajectory for private
civil society on policy proposals, which was met with a sector engagement was identified together with seven
positive response. Oxfam teams.

In Niger, engagement with elected representatives is The GROW campaigns in Niger and Pakistan have
challenging as no parliamentarian sessions have taken commenced operations, but their effectiveness will
place in recent months. depend on the contexts in which they operate. In Pakistan,
there appears to be greater government commitment to
Lessons learned and reflections addressing climate change, which opens up opportunities
In Year 1, Oxfam learned that seeking commonalities for the campaign. In Niger, the same holds true for food
between national campaigns before developing links and security but the legislative process is more challenging,
learning trajectories appeared to be the most practical and which may hamper the effectiveness of the campaign.
effective approach. For example, before the start of the
SidaGROW programme, digital campaigning was assessed In conclusion, Sidas contribution to Objective 3 is important
as a good topic to develop a learning trajectory for national in the context of Oxfams Worldwide Influencing Network
GROW campaigns. However, country teams and potential approach. The latter is reflected in both Oxfams overall
partners are at various different stages of understanding strategy (Oxfam 2020)87 as well as the international GROW
and using digital campaigning, which makes it difficult 201619 plan, prioritising policy change and public
to find a common angle. Instead, by aligning concrete discourse in the South for global pro-poor change.
digital campaigning activities across countries (such as

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING

Activites Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15

Implement MEL plan System for Monitoring report Monitoring report Monitoring report Monitoring report
quarterly and for Q0 for Q1 for Q2 for Q3
annual planning
and monitoring OI GROW monitoring Interim progress Annual plan
finalised report for Oct report for Sida (including success
13Mar 14 benchmarks) for
MEL Advisor OI GROW monitoring 201516 ready
recruited Internal evaluation
of the FCJ report for MEL plans for
campaign launch AprSep 14 Pakistan and Niger

Qualitative impact Evaluation of

study on Cambodia #MaketheRight-
ready Move

Evaluation of BtB
201314 and land
advocacy (MFS)

The monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) framework for During Year 1, SidaGROW staff developed the MEL framework
SidaGROW has three levels: on the first two levels and set related benchmarks. This
1. Balanced scorecard cycle (Sphere of Interest): Focused report benefits from inputs obtained from quarterly
on budget depletion and progress on activities/outputs. SidaGROW internal reports, the various reports/reviews
2. Annual cycle (Sphere of Influence): Focused on progress issued by international GROW staff, as well as a number
towards (interim) outcomes, with ample attention on of external evaluations, such as the Dutch governments
campaign risk management.
3. Programme cycle (Sphere of Influence/Interest): Focused
on gauging progress toward long-term outcomes, with
ample attention on strategic learning. Sustainability is NOTE
an important criterion for success. 87
See Oxfam (2012), op. cit.

SEEDSGROW 57
evaluation of the BtB and land campaigns, and the Therefore, the SidaGROW midterm review (planned for
evaluation of #MaketheRightMove (the latter of which was 2016) and the external evaluation (planned for 2018) were
conducted with technical and financial support from Sida). integrated into the GROW 201619 strategic plan.

Analysis and risk management A learning agenda could not yet be finalised and, for this
reporting period, focus was on drawing lessons from the
Given the links between SidaGROW and the overall GROW #MaketheRightMove spike for the benefit of the planned
campaign, it is essential to harmonise their MEL agendas. pan-Africa spike in 2015.

Box 18. The impact of advocacy on individuals: Cambodia

In May 2015, Oxfam Novib concluded a one-year study on its contribution to changes in peoples lives. One of the
areas researched was the impact of CSOs campaigning work in Cambodia. This study revealed that, over the period,
opportunities for individual citizens to influence the policies and practices of governments and companies had
increased. Of those respondents who reported witnessing a decrease in land concessions granted to investors,
almost 40 percent attributed this to the awareness-raising work of CSOs.
Beneficiaries who were part of advocacy programmes were more aware when their right to land was affected, and
more inclined to file complaints about land taken from them (34 percent as compared to 10 percent of the control
group).
However, despite being aware of their rights and how to take action, the majority had been insufficiently
compensatedif at allfor lost land, mostly due to local contexts. Despite strong community solidarity, networks
and the use of the political momentum (such as elections), barriers to the fulfilment of their rights included
weak protests from the community, the lack of an independent judiciary, the beneficiaries being members of an
opposition party (and therefore neglected by duty bearers from the ruling party), or influential people being involved
in land confiscation.
The recommendations to CSOs as a result of these findings are:
1) Local partners should build strong networks at provincial and national levels, with one organisation taking
the lead for effective coordination. They must engage with and bolster community actions, e.g. by involving
international actors, and collecting and sending proof to national justice ministries.

2) Oxfam needs to engage more with international actors (e.g. International Financial Institutions, multinational
companies) to respond to land violation cases, and also facilitate networking among NGOs and communities at
sub-national levels.

Source: P. Huisman and A. Oudes (2015) Cambodia Impact Report: The World Citizens Panel: Insights in Oxfams contribution to changes in peoples lives,
https://www.worldcitizenspanel.com/assets/WCP-Cambodia-2014-Final-Report.pdf

58 SEEDSGROW
 Photo: Jiska van der Heide
chapter 5

SeedsGROW
programme
management

SEEDSGROW 59
While the SeedsGROW programme is committed to finding is the responsibility of Oxfam Novib, as is coordination with
as much synergy in content as possible (see Chapter 2), it the relevant Oxfam country offices. On the other hand,
is important to note that SDHS and SidaGROW are managed SidaGROW is embedded in the OI GROW campaign, which is
differently at both strategic and operational levels. SDHS managed by the confederation. Given these differences,
is implemented within an international consortium of nine more of the management activities under SeedsGROW are
partners, of which Oxfam Novib is the lead. Within OI, SDHS undertaken as part of the SDHS component.

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING

In this reporting period, a common monitoring, evaluation 2) Outcome monitoring

and learning (MEL) framework for both SDHS and GROW 3) Activity/budget monitoring
was developed. It aligns with both the standards agreed 4) Risk management
by the Oxfam confederation in the Common Approach to 5) Impact tracking
MEL and Social Accountability, as well as Oxfam Novibs 6) Learning agenda
own quality management procedures. The MEL framework 7) Social accountability
for SeedsGROW links effectiveness (data collection and
analysis) with project management practices (activity/ This framework guided the further development of MEL
budget monitoring and risk management). The elements are: plans for the SDHS and GROW components, within which
each sub-component required specific frameworks. Re-
1) Needs/power analysis and theory of change/ sults can be found in the respective chapters to results
logic model were described in the respective chapters of this report.

Activites Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
JanMar 14 AprJun 14 JulSep 14 OctDec 14 JanMar 15
Human resources Recruitment of Recruitment of Recruitment of
SDHS and SidaGROW RPOs senior finance
teams officer and
researcher
Governance Draft SDHS Review with Finalised SDHS
governance partners, finalised governance
structure and ToR governance agreement
structure
Programme Reporting to IFAD Reporting to IFAD Annual report for Reporting to IFAD
reporting GPC, and Oxfam GPC, Sida GPC and IFAD GPC, Sida GPC and
Novib Balanced Oxfam Novib Oxfam Novib
Interim report for
scorecard Balanced scorecard Balanced scorecard
Sida and Oxfam
IFAD midterm Novib Balanced
monitoring in scorecard
Zimbabwe
SDHS and IFAD GPC IFAD GPC meeting SDHS GPC meeting SDHS GPC meeting
Zimbabwe Barcelona Driebergen
External Draft Develop a draft
communications Communication brochure used for
Strategy outlining external
internal (knowledge communication
management)
and external
communications
Partnership Partners inception Six contracts One contract to Partners submit
opportunity and year project CAWR four-year
One partner intake
risk assessments, proposals logframes and
for CAWR
and contracting budgets
Three MoUs
Programme Joint GIZ workshop Liaised with CGRFA Inventory of all
development on scaling up on the State of PGR Oxfam livelihood
biodiversity report9 work in SHDS
management for countries
CCA
Fundraising Submission to NPL Initial discussions on Award of NPL
SDHS funding plan funding

NOTE
88
FAO (n.d.) The State of the Worlds Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, http://www.fao.org/agriculture/
60 SEEDSGROW crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/seeds-pgr/sow/en/
HUMAN RESOURCES missed in the work related to global campaigns related to
the UNFCCC and land, although colleagues did step in to
In the first 18 months of the SeedsGROW programme, a ensure that all essential work continued.
highly qualified team was brought together, and most key
positions were filled with experienced staff. Some of these The Niger team also had to deal with staff turnover, with
positions were a natural extension or expansion of existing the departure of the GROW coordinatorresulting in two
roles, while others were new and required internal and vacancies (out of a team of four) as of the end of March
external recruitment processes. Recruitment was extensively 2015. The programme leader is in close contact with the
discussed between Sida and Oxfam Novib in June 2014, and Niger team management, and staff in The Hague intensified
reported in the interim report submitted on 20 November 2014, their efforts to provide support when required to ensure the
and the Year 2 Annual Plan submitted to Sida on 27 February effective implementation of the GROW campaign.
2015. An update on progress in recruitment and changes in
human resources since the submission of the latter follows.
PROGRAMME REPORTING AND GOVERNANCE
SDHS recruitment
As described in the Year 2 Annual Plan, two RPOs, one Regular programme reporting
research assistant and one senior finance officer were All regular programme reports for Sida, the IFAD GPC and
successfully recruited. In addition, given additional funding the Oxfam Steering Committee have been submitted and
from NPL, recruitment will take place in Q1 of Year 2 for a approved, including the unqualified audit report for the
full-time nutritionist (jointly funded by Sida and NPL), a half- IFAD-funded SDHS work. Monitoring meetings took place
time communications officer, and additional administrative with the grant managers of both Sida and IFAD. Under
capacitythe latter two funded by NPL. SDHS, seven partner opportunity and risk appraisals and
one partner organisation assessment (partner intake)
The recruitment of a seeds specialist was again reviewed. resulted in the contracting of seven consortium partners.
The failed recruitment in the past was due to the lack of Further programme development work continues with SDHS
career prospects for suitable candidates within a non- participation in global forums, as well as the successful
academic, not-for-profit organisation in what is already a submission and award of 1.5m euro from NPL for the Doing
very competitive market. In Year 1, the work of the seeds Good in Zimbabwe project. In the past year, the Oxfam
specialist was shared between the TOA, the scientific Novib GROW team has also successfully mobilised funds for
advisor and the SPM. They were supported by a consultant further campaigning work outside the remit of SidaGROW.
contracted by the scientific advisors research institution
on seed policies and laws. Given that the reason for the SDHS GPC meetings
failed recruitment in Year 1 are believed to persist for Year SDHS GPC meetings took place on 1719 September 2014 in
2, these staff will be further supported by the research Barcelona, and 28 January 2015 in Driebergen. During these
assistant and external consultants as specific needs arise. meetings, agreements were made on the SDHS governance
structure (see Annex 1) and intellectual property rights. In
SidaGROW recruitment addition, a draft communication strategy was presented
SidaGROW contributes to a number of key positions in the OI and discussed. This, along with the finalisation of an
GROW campaign, including the land advocacy coordinator, SDHS brochure, will be taken forward and finalised by the
the FCJ project manager, the OI FCJ sub-leads and the EU programme officer (communications). The SDHS brochure is
biofuels lead in Brussels. These positions have proved a brief document designed to clearly and concisely explain
crucial in coordinating the various campaigns. An evaluation the overall objectives and strategies of SDHS. It is intended
of positions in the FCJ campaign leading up to the COP21 for use in networking events, meetings with global bodies
in Paris resulted in a decision to replace the FCJ project such as the ITPGRFA, research institutions, seed banks,
manager with a thematic policy lead on climate change for private sector, donors and peers.
OI. This should result in the best possible team to inform the
content of pre- and post-COP climate-related advocacy. Further discussions with the SDHS GPC dealt with
programme implementation and development, fundraising,
The GROW team dealt with many temporary staff changes inter-pillar synergies, budget allocation, interpretation
in the second half of 201415. This was mainly the result of and understanding of Sida contract conditions, relations
three staff members taking maternity leave, and two strug- between SDHS and GROW, and a common advocacy agenda.
gling with long-term illness. Replacements were internally
arranged with the teams in The Hague and the countries IFAD GPC meeting
(such as the global campaign advisor in Cambodia), but the The IFAD GPC and midterm monitoring session were held in
impact of these changes can been seen in the progress of Harare, hosted by CTDT, on 914 June 2014. Progress in the
some elements of the programme. Efforts were particularly IFAD programme at outcome level (households reached,

SEEDSGROW 61
seed security, food security and policy engagement) was The national GROW campaigns in Pakistan and Niger are
discussed, along with how far the partners had progressed being implemented alongside two and four partners,
on the remaining activities in the programme, as it is the respectively. Both country teams completed opportunity
final year of implementation with the IFAD grant (which and risk appraisals with these partners before issuing
ends in December 2015). The concepts, tools, approaches contracts.
and lessons from the IFAD-ON Scaling-up programme were
further developed during the SDHS inception phase to be Programme development and fundraising
implemented during the SDHS programme. The 1.5m euro grant from NPL for SDHS in Zimbabwe will
enable the programme to expand its work under Pillar 3,
SeedsGROW Steering Committee engage more stakeholders and, most importantly, serve
The SeedsGROW Steering Committee is made up of two more farmers and communities in chronic poverty. NPLs
directors from Oxfam Novib, Tom van der Lee (Director of communication materials will be of critical importance
Advocacy and Campaigning) and Aletta van der Woude for communicating a technically and politically complex
(Director International Department). Meetings are held story about the importance of seeds to the wider
between the SeedsGROW programme leader and the Dutch public, and we will further adapt these materials
steering committee each quarter. Prior to this meeting, a to suit a global public. The Oxfam Novib GROW team
balanced scorecard and an explanatory memo detailing successfully mobilised fundsfrom US foundations via
key programme activities, finances, HR and process Oxfam Americafor further campaigning work around
successes and concerns are prepared by the SeedsGROW investment in agriculture, climate change and land work.
team and sent to the committee. This is based on inputs
from team members, country offices and partners. The A funding strategy and plan were discussed at the
steering committee works with an eye on the overall September 2014 SDHS GPC, and these will be refined in
management of the programme, on the linkages between Year 2. Fund-raising was not prioritised in Year 1, in order
SDHS and GROW and also on the relationships to broader that priority could be given to commencing the current
Oxfam policy and change processes. programme and to build a solid basis from which to grow.
The exception to this was the NPL funding application,
OI GROW governing structures which was felt to have a high likelihood of success.
The SidaGROW team effectively participated in Concrete agreements on SDHS fund-raising mechanisms
discussions of GROWs OI governance structures on the and plans should be in place by the end of Q3 2015, when
global level (the overall Economic Justice Campaign work will commence on funding proposals and submissions
Management Team) and on the regional level. In addition, beginning with an application for a second grant from IFAD.
team members play key roles in alliances related to FCJ,
land and biofuels. The chair of the SeedsGROW Steering SDHS staff proactively seek to share the objectives and
Committee, as well as the Oxfam Novib GROW campaign methodologies of the programme with a wider audience
manager, take responsibility for aligning high-level including donors, private sector, governments and
decision making in OI GROW and the SidaGROW strategy peers, which has also resulted in potential funding
and interventions. opportunities, such as the Dutch governments interest
in a PPP in Myanmar, possible GIZ funding, and an
invitation to submit a funding application to IFADs
PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION research fund. This included a presentation on the SDHS
AND DEVELOPMENT scaling-up framework in an international conference
on intellectual property regimes and farmers rights
Opportunity and risk appraisals organised by the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy
The opportunity and risk assessments of seven SDHS (in the Chinese Academy of Sciences) in December 2013;
partners and one partner organisational assessment a presentation outlining the SDHS programme at a joint
of CAWR were completed after the SDHS inception and GIZ workshop on Scaling up Biodiversity Management for
methodological meetings in March 2014. The planned Climate Change Adaptation; and presentations and side
opportunity and risk assessment for Years 25 and events held at the fifth meeting of the governing body
approval of the Year 2 contracts with both the SDHS of the ITPGRFA (Oman, September 2013) and the 15th
consortium partners are being finalised. These are Session of the FAOs CGRFA (Rome, January 2015).
mostly expected to be completed by September 2015.
The Oxfam Novib team is in regular contact with partners Such presentations have provided opportunities to
regarding their financial situations, and makes an effort further refine the SDHS programme, as global experts
to schedule such work to fit around their work and other reflect and comment on its framework, methodologies
commitments and to ensure sufficient cash flow for the and tools. In addition, it increases the visibility of the
continuity of activities. programme and its advocacy objectives.

62 SEEDSGROW
 Photo: Shepherd Tozvireva
chapter 6

SeedsGROW
finances

SEEDSGROW 63
In this chapter, information is provided about actual cash SeedsGROW overall and separate detailed analyses for SDHS
expenditures versus budgets in the period 1 October and SidaGROW. In addition, information will be given on the
201331 March 2015. There is a consolidated analysis for cash-flow position and foreign currency gains and losses.

TABLE 1. SEEDSGROW FINANCIAL SUMMARY, OCT 2013MAR 2015

Summary SEEDS GROW From 1 October 2013 until 31 March 2015
Actual ex- Variance % Actuals
(in thousands of Euros) Budget 1) penditure to Budget to Budget

Total Management SEEDS GROW 477 417 60 87%

SDHS Activities & Outcomes

1. Scaling Up Models 478 362 116 76%
2. Farmer Seeds Enterprises 377 313 64 83%
3. Women, Seeds & Nutrition 635 478 158 75%
4. Governance & Knowledge Systems 668 574 94 86%
Total SDHD Pillars 2,158 1,726 432 80%

GROW Activities & Outcomes

1. Building A Stakeholder Movement 382 263 119 69%
2. Improve Global Level Policies and Governance 352 332 21 94%
3. Improve National Level Policies and Governance and
Linking with Global policies 1,145 761 384 66%

Total Programme GROW 1,879 1,356 523 72%

Total SEEDS GROW (Direct) 4,514 3,499 1,015 78%

Indirect: admin fee 7% 316 245 71 78%
Total SEEDS GROW (Direct & Indirect) 4,830 3,744 1,087 78%
1) Revised budget as submitted in interim report per 20 november 2014

Table 1 shows that the total expenditure for SeedsGROW pending activities will be executed in Year 2. In addition, the
was 3,744,000 euro, an absorption of 78 percent. Most of Pillar 3 baseline in Myanmar cost less than predicted, partly
the under-expenditure is explained under SDHS Pillar 1 because the in-country partner contributed funding from
(scaling-up models) and Pillar 3 (women, seeds & nutrition), another donor.
and GROW Objectives 1 (Building a stakeholder movement)
and Objective 3 (national-level policies and governance, SidaGROW absorption was 72 percent. This can mostly
and linking with global policies). be explained by under-expenditure for the Niger GROW
campaign (see Specific Objective 3 page 53), and Sida
SDHS absorption was 80 percent. This under-expenditure funds not being used for public actions during the UNFCCC
reflects a delay in activities in the CAWR-managed process (see Specific Objective 1 page 41). For the latter,
countries of Mali, Senegal, India (as well as in CAWR itself), resources were provided by other affiliates in the Oxfam
and the SEARICE-managed countries of Vietnam, Myanmar confederation.
and Laos. The main reason is that partners commenced
inception year activities later than anticipated, as a result
of delayed contracting of Pillar 1 and Pillar 3 partners. The

64 SEEDSGROW
SDHS FINANCES TABLE 2. SDHS FINANCIAL SUMMARY, OCT 2013MAR 2015 89

From 1 October 2013 until 31 March 2015

Annual Variance % Spent

SDHS Preparation Phase and Year 1 Budget Budget 1) Actuals to Budget to Budget

A1a Staff for 3 months - 29,592 29,592 - 100%

Total Human resources 0 29,592 29,592 - 100%

A2 ON Appraisal (Toolbox) Process in 8 countries 64,800 24,825 24,326 499 98%

A3 SD=HD Core Team meeting Sept 2013 (Intl Back to Back) 41,800 3,176 3,176 - 100%
Dutch private sector 500 1,261 -761 252%
Total Activities, 25% to each Programme 106,600 28,502 28,764 -262 101%

Preparatory phase 106,600 58,094 58,356 -262 100%

A1a ON 1.1 FTEs Contract Management Staff for 12 months 82,247 103,118 107,619 -4,501 104%
A1b ON 2 FTEs admin Staff for 12 months 104,136 146,293 146,751 -458 100%

0.1 ON Programme management staff 186,383 249,411 254,370 -4,959 102%

A1c ON 0.8 SPM, 3 FTEs Thematic exp 4 Pillars + 0.67 MEL &KM Staff for 12 mths 292,971 250,668 259,401 -8,732 103%
A1f ON Country Office Staff 2.3*100% fte Regional and 1.8 fte FO 206,214 142,497 126,566 15,931 89%
0.1 Consultant Wageningen University for Scientific validation of local
A1d1 people research 50,000 27,500 - 27,500 0%

A1d2 1 Seeds Expert Trainer (Techical Operations Advisor) - consultant 100,000 126,470 113,275 13,195 90%

A1g International Travel for 2 Expert FTEs to visit 8 countries 1trip per year 36,000 7,000 4,206 2,794 60%
0.2 Programme Staff ON Implementing 685,185 554,136 503,448 50,687 91%

0 Total Human resources 871,569 803,546 757,818 45,728 94%

1 Methodological Workshop with 13 partners 102,300 73,969 69,508 4,461 94%

2.1 Consultation @ Country level in 8 countries, Prog 1 and 3 339,150 94,297 76,441 17,856 81%

2.2 Consultation @ Community level in 8 countries, Prog 1 and 3 160,000 120,679 32,432 88,247 27%

A1e Grants to Counterpart for 12 months activities in 8 countries, Prog 1,2 and 3 660,000 530,636 392,084 138,553 74%
3.1 Implementation Initial SD=HS Activities Prog 1 & 3 - Baseline, 3 countries (grants) 75,000 148,905 115,234 33,671 77%
Subtotal grants to 4 counterparts Prog. 1,2 and 3 1,234,150 894,517 616,190 278,327 69%
2.3 &
2.4 Consultation @ Global level, Planning Workshop 4yrs , 4 Prog, 13 counterparts 85,000 60,000 63,181 -3,181 105%

3.2 Implementation Initial Progr 2. FSE Activities - FSEs 49,300 13,185 8,627 4,558 65%
3.3.1 Global Policy Engagement - Scoping Work - Prog 4 70,000 50,000 - 50,000 0%

3.3.2 Global Expert meeting - BtB w/ Global Consultation round - Prog 4 19,500 - - -
3.3.3 Grants to 5 Counterparts, GRAIN, ETC, TWN, SC, OSSI - Prog 4 440,000 416,622 394,701 21,920 95%
new Develop ToT and Manual & Refresher Courses FFS, Pillar 1 - 7,250 3,048 4,202 42%

new Identify new partner Nutrition & Develop Framework for NUS, Pillar 3 15,500 3,674 11,826 24%

new Communication - Side Event Rome Jan 2015 - 15,000 5,557 9,443 37%

Total Activities 2,000,250 1,546,043 1,164,487 381,556 75%

Inception Yr1 2,871,819 2,349,589 1,922,305 427,284 82%

TOTAL Prep & Inception Phase 15 months 2,978,419 2,407,683 1,980,661 427,022 82%

Training ON staff, Seeds, Business, Project Management 55,150 19,314 9,344 9,970 48%
Audit for 13 counterparts w/ projects in 8 countries 62,500 62,500 - 62,500 0%

TOTAL Overall Direct 3,096,069 2,489,497 1,990,005 499,492 80%

- -

7% Indirect admin fee 7% 216,725 174,265 139,300 34,964 80%

TOTAL Overall 3,312,793 2,663,762 2,129,306 534,456 80%

1) Revised budget as submitted in interim report per 20 november 2014

NOTE
89
Note: these results are not presented per pillar. The presentation corresponds with the Year 1 inception budget,
as presented in the SeedsGROW programme document (September 2013). For Years 25 a budget versus actual
expenditures will be reported per pillar. SEEDSGROW 65
Programme management spending Other
Absorption for the preparatory phase was 100 percent. The work on the training of trainers manual is well
Human Resources absorption is 94 percent. The under- underway, but the main expenditures will be incurred in
expenditure of 45,728 euro is due to the scientific advisor Year 2, resulting in an absorption rate of just 42 percent.
being paid in Year 2. In addition, three Oxfam Novib Upon securing the NPL funding last February 2015, it
regional staff were employed later than planned. was decided to recruit a full-time nutritionist, instead of
The methodological workshop with 13 partners came in seeking a partnership with a research institute, so the
under budget, with absorption of 94 percent. remaining 76 percent of the Year 1 budget for identifying
a nutrition partner will be used to pay this new staff
Grants to national partners90 member.
Overall absorption for grants to four partners under Pillars The communication budget for the CGRFA side event
1, 2 and 3 was 69 percent. in Rome was used in part to cover accommodation and
The 81 percent absorption for country-level travel expenses. Actual expenses for this side event
consultations is explained by the pending consultations appeared to be significantly less than planned, with
in India. absorption of 37 percent. The remaining budget will be
Community-level consultations will continue in Vietnam, used for developing the communication strategy and
Myanmar and Laos, and will commence in India in Year 2, plan, an activity that is delayed to Year 2.
such that absorption was only 27 percent in Year 1. The audit of Year 1 will be conducted in Year 2, so its
The 74 percent absorption rate for grants to partners 62,500 euro budget will be spent next year, therefore
was caused by some countries starting the programme absorption is zero.
activities later than planned.
As the second nutrition baselines are pending in Pillar 3
countries Zimbabwe, Myanmar and Vietnamand both
baselines are pending for Mali, Senegal and India
absorption in Year 1 for this funding was at 77 percent.

Global-level activities
Global-level consultations came in slightly over-budget,
with absorption of 105 percent.
The overall absorption rate for global-level Pillar 2
activities was 65 percent. Three out of four scoping
studies were completed in Zimbabwe, Myanmar and
Vietnam, while the last one (Peru) will take place in the
first quarter of year 2.
The Pillar 4 global policy engagement meetinginitially
planned for Year 1will take place in Year 2, hence the
null absorption rate.
All four Pillar 4 international partners implemented almost
all activities to plan, with some smaller activities carried
into to Year 2, hence absorption of 95 percent. Agreement
was reached within the SDHS GPC early in the programme
that OSSI would not join the consortium.

NOTE
90
The SDHS budget structure submitted to Sida with the programme
document referred to counterparts. These are more referred to as
partners in text. Future budget submission to Sida will also refer to
counterparts as partners

66 SEEDSGROW
SIDAGROW FINANCES

Table 3 summarises the revised budget, as submitted in the

midterm report in November 2014, and actual expenditures
between 1 January 2014 and 31 March 2015.

TABLE 3. SIDAGROW FINANCIAL SUMMARY, JAN 2014MAR 2015

From 1 January 2014 until 31 March 2015

Programme, outcome & acivity description Actual Variance to % Actuals to

(in Euros) Budget 1) expenditure Budget Budget
0 GROW Contract Management
Human resources for contract management 120,002 146,373 26,372- 122%
Travel including per diems 5,903 6,780 877- 115%
External audit 20,000 - 20,000 0%
Subtotal Project Contract Management 145,905 153,153 7,249- 105%

1 Building A Stakeholder Movement

Human Resources implementing the activities 152,538 146,403 6,135 96%
Travels including per diems 21,132 7,135 13,998 34%
Publications on websites and social media 192,874 100,237 92,637 52%
Engaging with Allies 10,003 7,471 2,532 75%
1/3 of project MEL and Evaluation Expenses 5,000 1,277 3,723 26%
Subtotal Sub-programme 381,547 262,523 119,025 69%

2 Improving Global Level Policies and Governance

Human Resources implementing the activities 193,709 230,578 36,869- 119%
Travels including per diems 19,185 20,979 1,795- 109%
Contribution to local office operating costs 8,429 9,920 1,490- 118%
Publications 6,000 - 6,000 0%
Studies, research 120,103 69,123 50,981 58%
Translation, interpreters (french & Spanish) - - -
1/3 of project MEL and Evaluation Expenses 5,000 1,266 3,734 25%
Subtotal Sub-programme 352,427 331,867 20,560 94%

3 Improving National Level Policies and Interlinking with Global level policies
Human Resources implementing the activities 320,277 299,593 20,684 94%
Travels including per diems 65,106 37,468 27,638 58%
Publications 10,492 4,098 6,394 39%
Studies, research 37,861 38,940 1,078- 103%
Translation, interpreters 1,929 396 1,532 21%
Project activities 239,059 91,317 147,742 38%
Contribution to the Nat Network of alliances 43,332 18,608 24,724 43%
Grant to partners 421,806 261,262 160,544 62%
1/3 of project MEL and Evaluation Expenses 5,000 9,434 4,434- 189%
Subtotal Sub-programme 1,144,861 761,116 383,745 66%

Total Direct Programme Costs 2,024,740 1,508,659 516,081 75%

Indirect administration costs (7%) 141,732 105,606 36,126 75%
TOTAL OVERALL GROW BUDGET 2,166,472 1,614,265 552,207 75%
1) Revised budget as submitted in interim report per 20 november 2014

SEEDSGROW 67
Contract management rate for Objective 3 was 66 percent. The under-expenditure
Contract management had an absorption rate of 105 is mainly due to the GROW country campaign in Niger. After
percent. This over-expenditure was mostly caused by HR, signing MoUs with 28 CSOs, partners started their activities
with more capacity required for the team assistant than (with grants) later than planned. In addition, turnover of key
anticipated. This is offset by the audit costs for Year 1, staff affected the teams timely follow up with partners,
which will take place in Year 2. other alliances and linking this with own campaign actions
(as reflected under the budget line project activities).
Objective 1 The under-expenditure on travel (58 percent absorption)
With a total of 262,523 euro spent, the overall absorption is explained by the lower-than-expected requirement
rate for Objective 1 was 69 percent. This is mostly because for Oxfam Novib staff to travel to Mozambique to provide
the global spikes and campaigning related to the UNFCCC technical assistance to the national campaign.
process were funded by other sources.

Objective 2 CASH FLOW AND FOREIGN

With a total of 331,867 euro spent, the overall absorption EXCHANGE GAINS AND LOSSES
rate for Objective 2 was 94 percent. However, there are
variances between its budget lines. For instance, HR had an The table below shows that all funds expected from Sida
over-expenditure of 36,869 euro (119 percent absorption) by March 2015 were received. For the first transfer in 2013,
caused by the costs of the FCJ policy advisor and global Oxfam Novib benefited from a foreign exchange (FX) gain
land policy lead being higher than anticipated. The 50,981 of 214,755 euro. This was adjusted in the budget and
euro under spend on research (58 percent absorption) is allocated pro rata to partners. Upon receipt of the second
explained by the delay of planned research on BtB and transfer last December 2015, an FX loss of 131,460 euro was
biofuels. These two activities will take place in Year 2. realised. As the indicative budget figures had already been
communicated to partners for the January global meeting
Objective 3 it was agreed to include the loss in an adjusted Year 3
With a total of 761,116 euro spent, the overall absorption budget.

TABLE 4. CASH FLOW FROM DONORS, OCT 2013MAR 2015

Cashflow from donors Grants to receive until 31 march Grants Grants FX gains Balance
2015 received until received until Losses on
31-03-2015 31-03-2015 donor grants
SIDA Euro SEK Euro SEK Euro
2013
SDHS 3,330,396 30,436,486 3,473,871 30,436,486 143,475 -0
GROW 1,921,820 17,563,510 1,993,099 17,563,510 71,280 -
2014
SDHS 2,517,859 23,010,715 2,430,032 23,010,715 -87,827 -0
GROW 983,619 8,989,290 939,985 8,989,290 -43,633 -
Totals 8,753,693 80,000,001 8,836,988 80,000,001 83,295 -0
FX rate 9.14 9.05

Though not visible in this report, our partners also benefited are monitoring FX gains and losses for the consortium,
a slight FX gain in Year 1, as the euro was strong against in order to assess the possible impacts on programme
the dollar. In Year 2, some partners are projected to incur activities and deliverables. If losses for some of the partner
an FX loss, which will mostly be offset by the gain in Year organisations appear to be structural (i.e. appear 2 years in
1. However, in January 2015 the Swiss franc was de-linked a row), Oxfam will with the GPC look into solutions to ensure
from the euro, rising around 17 percent, which could cause that planned interventions are not jeopardised.
a significant long-term FX loss for one of our partners. We

68 SEEDSGROW
BALANCE OF INCOME VERSUS EXPENDITURES

TABLE 5. BALANCE OF INCOME VERSUS EXPENDITURES, OCT 2013MAR 2015

10-2013 -
Balance of income versus expenditures euro 03-2015
Total donor Income received 8,836,988
Interest 18,532

Expected income 8,855,520

Actual expenses 1 October 2013 until 31 March 2015 3,743,571

Balance 5,111,950

The SeedsGROW cash balance is sufficient at the time of

writing, although will decrease considerably after transfers
to partners for Year 2 are completed. The expected
expenditure for Year 2 is 5 million euro.

SEEDSGROW 69
Photo: Jiska van der Heide

Annex 1

Governance
and Management
structure SDHS
This document serves as a guideline to our cooperation and joint decision
making processes within the SDHS Consortium in the context of the wider
SeedsGROW programme which it is a component of.

70 SEEDSGROW
Preamble % women; seed security; food and nutrition security; and
Realizing the long history of partnership and cooperation policy engagement).3
of the 9 SDHS organizations1 in various activities related to
strengthening and mainstreaming the rights and technical 2 Objectives of this governance
capacities of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers, and management structure guideline
AND Clarify issues related to ownership and participation in
Realizing the need to work tirelessly to influence local decision making process of member organisations within
to global policies and institutions on the access to and the consortium
sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and Establish lines of responsibility and accountability4
nutrition security under conditions of changing climate; Ensure(technical) quality
AND Establish general working principles around programme
Realizing the importance of cooperation among consortium development and fundraising, communication,
members based on shared accountability in the representation and any other working principles as may
implementation of SDHS programmes in order to achieve our be necessary from time to time
collective goals, obligations and outcomes Agree on working relations between governance and
AND management bodies
Respecting the principle of equality and autonomy of SDHS
members as well as our collective responsibility to the 3 General principles
overall SDHS programme Ensure quality of the programme through consistency
Now therefore these Guidelines outline the Governance and and coherence on the SDHS goals, programme framework
management structures of the SDHS Consortium members and desired outcomes
in the context of the Seeds Grow programme. Ensure autonomy and equality of the independent
participating organisations
Use and respect each others strengths and recognize
1 Seeds GROW and SDHS Programme Objectives: mutual dependency
Recognize the importance of relating between SDHS
THE SEEDS GROW PROGRAMME IS CURRENT- activities and national level structures and institutions,
LY FUNDED BY SIDA, IFAD AND OXFAM NOVIB 2 strategies and activities of consortium partners

The OVERALL programme goal is: To harvest greater food

security and food justice by supporting the gender-just
transformation of the global governance of food systems
and strengthening affected citizens access to knowledge,
NOTE
livelihood resources and public goods in the context of 1
Searice, Third World Network, GRAIN, ETC Group, The South Centre,
climate change and increased competition over resources. Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT), ANDES, CAWR, Oxfam
Novib
2
SDHS is part of the Sida funded SeedsGROW programme, for which
The overall objective for the Sowing Diversity=Harvesting Oxfam Novib is contract holder. The other component consists of
Security (SDHS) programme is: To uphold, strengthen elements of the Oxfam International GROW campaign. In SeedsGROW
we are encouraged to find the synergies and areas for linkage and
and mainstream the rights and technical capacities of learning between GROW and SDHS. However on the governance level,
indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers, and to both components operate in a different environment: GROW is embedded
within the Oxfam International (OI) confederation and has a set
influence local to global policies and institutions on the management structure in the OI set up (see Annex). SDHS is implemented
access to and sustainable use of plant genetic resources in an international consortium of partners, where within Oxfam SDHS is the
responsibility of Oxfam Novib (ON). On the country level coordination with
for food and nutrition security under conditions of the relevant country structures of the participating consortium members
climate change. SDHS is implemented in a consortium of (within ON this would be the Oxfam Country Offices) needs to be ensured.
The SeedsGROW Steering Committee oversees both SDHS and the Sida
9 international partner organisations who will implement funded elements of GROW, takes financial end responsibility and oversees
contract management. The remainder of this document mainly focuses
activities in at least 8 countries, complemented by on the governance of the SDHS programme. A separate paragraph on
activities on a global level. Overall coordination and relations with GROW could be added if need be.
implementation of the programme lies with Oxfam Novib. 3
The overall objective for the GROW programme is: To contribute to
building a more gender-just, equitable, and sustainable global food
SDHS is envisioned to integrate other projects such as the system by empowering people living in rural poverty, particularly women,
IFAD funded project: Putting Lessons into Practise: Scaling to increase their resilience , and to claim their rights and opportunities
to fairly access food, livelihood resources and public goods. The GROW
up peoples biodiversity management for food security. programme under Seeds GROW is part of the larger GROW campaign of
This includes consistency in concepts (e.g. Scaling up Oxfam International. In this campaign the 17 Oxfam affiliates and over 90
countries cooperate on a global level.
Framework), approaches (e.g. Farmer Field Schools), 4
Accountability also means taking responsibility for social
methods (e.g. Participatory Plant Breeding, Baseline accountability which in this document will not be further detailed as it is
covered in the SDHS programme in 3 mechanisms: 1. Implementation of
surveys) and indicators (number of household reached with FPIC; 2. Baseline survey to be used by communities for participatory PME;
3. Local level steering Communities

SEEDSGROW 71
 Ensure accountability and shared responsibility to National level
agreements within the framework of SDHS National Steering Committee
Meet donor and contractual requirements Local structures
Clear and open communication between consortium part-
ners and transparency on what all consortium partners The structures have a matrix character and respect the line
are doing in the framework of the SDHS programme management arrangements from each of the Consortium
Creating synergy by learning and exchange of know-how members.
Enabling SDHS programme to take risks and innovate
Consensus building among partners for effective Details per body:
programme implementation
Create room for disagreements (agree to disagree) The Seeds GROW Steering Committee (SC).
Collective and participatory conflict resolution The SeedsGROW SC was put in place in ON to create a
governance structure within the organisation that can
4 Governance and Management bodies SeedsGROW: keep the overview of the two elements in the programme;
The following bodies are proposed: being the GROW campaign and the SDHS programme. Within
ON both elements fall under different departments. In
International level addition SIDA as a donor had requested that a programme
Oxfam Novib Steering Committee (with a role towards the of this size should be placed directly under the ON Board of
overall SeedsGROW programme) Directors. These combined reasons fed into the decision
Global Partners Committee SDHS to create a Steering Committee consisting of the directors
Oxfam International Grow Campaign Management of the two involved departments: the Director Campaigns
Team and supporting structures (annexed not under and the Director International Department (the department
discussion in this document) overseeing all the programming work on regional and
Programme Management and Implementation Team (PMIT) country level). The Steering Committee has a role towards
the overall programme (SDHS and GROW).

SeedsGROW Steering Committee

Aim Ensuring strategic coherence on SeedsGROW level, ensuring that implementation remains on course, final
responsibility towards back donors
Composition ONL Director of Campaigns and Advocacy, Chair

ONL Director of the International Department

Tasks Ensure that strategic direction and guidance for GROW and SDHS are complementary and that synergies
are sought

Ensure programmes are aligned with Oxfams organisational strategy and planning

Assist with resolving strategic level issues and risks

Approve or reject changes to the programme with a high impact on timelines and budget (reallocation of
resources or actions)

Review and approve final programme deliverables as consolidated by the programme management and
implementation team based on inputs from SDHS partners and GROW teams, confirming accountability to
donor agency(s)

A final say in cases of security risks to staff members, breaches of the law and breaches of donor
requirements and on overall financial management. Decisions will be well explained and documented.
Is Decision making Consensus
Choice of Chair Director Campaigns
Relation to other Supervise SeedsGROW Programme Management and Implementation Team
governance and
management bodies Consider major changes proposed by GPC (high financial impact or major shifts in focus or geographic
spread)

The programme Leader seeds GROW is the link between the Oxfam Steering Committee and the
programme management team, programme leader is not a member of the steering Committee

Appeal- The GPC may appeal in writing against any decision of the SC and the SC may as a result of
appeal, vary or maintain their decision as final

72 SEEDSGROW
 Meeting frequency Quarterly on basis of Balanced Score Cards (BSC i.e. monitoring based on key performance indicators)
When different from shared donor reports, BSCs will be shared with GPC, taking out the confidential parts
relating to HR etc)
Costs Not budgeted
Considerations

The SDHS Global Programme Committee (GPC) Novibs MFS funds). The core task and responsibility of
The SDHS component of the SeedsGROW programme was the GPC will be to make joint decisions on the content
developed with a group of 9 INGOs led by Oxfam Novib. and strategic direction of the SDHS programme. It will also
This group of partners forms the consortium put together consider and make decisions on growing the programme
by Oxfam Novib, that is responsible for implementing the and further fundraising.
SDHS programme (currently funded by IFAD, Sida and Oxfam

SDHS Global Programme Committee (GPC)

Aim Responsible for strategic programme direction and policy and PME of the SDHS component
Composition The 9 consortium partner organisation(s) (ON represented by Senior Programme Manager as voting
member)
Tasks The main and core task will be the strategic and technical direction of SDHS programme and providing a
space for the consortium partners to reach out to each other on a strategic level.

Safeguard the quality of SDHS interventions (ensure the programme is relevant, feasible, sustainable and
effective and efficient)

Ensure programme is embedded in and supported by the organisations of the consortium partners

Co-read and comment on consolidated programme (narrative and financial) planning documents, reports
and publications

Take go/no go decisions on development, fundraising and implementation moments of new components
to the programme relating to content and budgets of these new components

For ongoing contracted programme elements, if deemed necessary, GPC can propose substantive
changes to programme objectives / budgets to SC

Formulate SDHS strategies for communication / fundraising / representation

Coordination with the campaigns of the permanent organisations (in particular, as a contractual
commitment with Sida, with the OI GROW Campaign) for the moment to be overseen by the ON Senior
Programme Manager

Decide on composition of GPC

Set the agenda of the GPC meetings

Actively seek advice and input from independent outsiders and/or seek extended peer reviews across
knowledge systems by making use of existing mechanisms of the consortium partners
Decision making Consensus based

If consensus cannot be reached, the SC is asked for a deadline for a decision. If by the deadline consensus
is still not possible, majority vote will be used.
Choice of Chair GPC to appoint 2 of its members to be co-facilitators , rotating on annual basis. [Complemented by Senior
Programme Manager ON who will represent ON]

(they will be available as sparring partners for the consortium partners and the ON SeedsGROW
Management and Implementation Team, and play a mediation role in case of conflicts/disagreement
within the consortium)

SEEDSGROW 73
 Relation to other Advises the Steering Committee of high level strategic decisions. The Steering Committee will decide
governance and whether or not these changes have implications for its legal and contractual obligations to the funder.
management bodies
Seeds GROW Programme Management and Implementation Team organises and coordinates agenda and
logistics for meetings, minutes, informs GPC of main developments and shares reports with GPC

Programme Leader will represent the SeedsGROW Programme Management and Implementation Team in
GPC as non-voting participant.

Relevant decisions are shared with all partners who will ensure implementation of decisions in their
organisations

Relevant partners are responsible for setting up National Steering Committees and bring their
experiences back to GPC and Programme Management levels (can be in any chosen form).

Conflict resolution: issues between consortium partners can be raised with the GPC (through its co-
facilitators) and the GPC can mediate. If the outcome is not satisfactory, the GPC may decide to raise the
same issues with the SC
Meeting frequency Twice a year (one face to face, one teleconference per year)
Costs Budget available to allow for at least 1 face to face meeting per year
Considerations GPC will focus on strategy and management of SDHS, ON Steering Committee will focus on overall
SeedsGROW management and the relation to the GROW component and Oxfam policy directions and on
financial and contractual commitments to back donors.

SDHS National Steering Committees actors that the programme needs to relate to, including
The SDHS Partners that implement project components on the national level structures of consortium partners in the
the country level are responsible to set up national level country (e.g. Oxfam country offices). The situation will differ
coordination bodies. These bodies should link the national per country, but based on the principles as listed below.

SDHS National Steering Committee

Aim Advise on programme and policy PME coordination and joint decision making for activities between
actors
Composition Composed of national stakeholders (taking into account pluralism and gender balance). It could include:

Relevant global level partner(s)

Country partner(s)

Consortium partners country team representative(s) on invitation basis

Government representative(s)

Farmers organisation representative(s)

Universities

National gene bank (where possible)

Traditional leadership

Indigenous local communities

Tasks Advice/decide on programme policy and PME - within the frame of agreed upon/contracted project
activities
Coordinate messaging to other stakeholders/lobby targets
Decision making to be decided per situation
Choice of Chair SDHS partner responsible in specific country
Relationship to other The link to the wider SDHS programme (programme team and GPC) to be guaranteed by the SDHS Partner
Governance and responsible in the country
Management bodies The national steering committee will relate to possible local structures that are set up in the country
(differs per situation).
Meeting frequency To be decided on case by case basis
Costs Budget available in budgets per country

74 SEEDSGROW
 Considerations Meetings can range from high level strategic to very operational, the composition will vary accordingly

Ensure contribution to supra-national synergy, cross fertilization and higher level learning

Ensure autonomy of consortium partners while coordinating with consortium national offices

The SDHS Global Programme Committee (GPC) Novibs MFS funds). The core task and responsibility of
The SDHS component of the SeedsGROW programme was the GPC will be to make joint decisions on the content
developed with a group of 9 INGOs led by Oxfam Novib. and strategic direction of the SDHS programme. It will also
This group of partners forms the consortium put together consider and make decisions on growing the programme
by Oxfam Novib, that is responsible for implementing the and further fundraising.
SDHS programme (currently funded by IFAD, Sida and Oxfam

SeedsGROW programme management and implementation team

Aim Day-to-day management and implementation. Ensure planning, progress monitoring, timely reporting
to the donor, flow of information, evaluation and learning between involved stakeholders and auditing
process
Composition GROW: 14 staff (of which 5 part-time) and two country teams

SDHS implementation: 9 staff (2 part-time), including global specialist team and programme management

SeedsGROW overall management: 3 staff

Tasks Coordination

Day-to-day management, coordination and logistics and related management level decision making

Manage donor relationship: preparing consolidated reports, conduct progress meetings, etc

PMEL1 and accountability between consortium members: overall progress monitoring (technical
andfinancial) of the programme and report to Steering Committee on quarterly basis (reports are also
shared with GPC).

Ensure learning within and between project components

Contract management & operational issues: contracting with all implementing bodies in the project
(INGOs and Oxfam affiliates and Oxfam country offices), clear eligibility criteria in procurement and
(financial) management

Documentation: ensure that relevant project files are available at one central point and accessible to
involved stakeholders.

Implementation (SDHS team and GROW team)

Implementation of Sida funded GROW deliverables
Implementation ON part of SDHS programme and lead expert team SDHS working with and supporting the
consortium partners to ensure design, implementation and learning/knowledge management of the
programme and assurance of consistency in concepts, methods and policies and providing technical
inputs on the activities in the four programme pillars
Support and consolidate joint planning, contracting and monitoring SDHS activities of consortium partners
Liaise between the SDHS programme and the relevant Oxfam bodies (GROW Campaign and Oxfam country
offices)
Decision making Programme Leader reports to ON Steering Committee
Choice of Chair N.A.

SEEDSGROW 75
 Relation to Report to SeedsGROW steering committee
governance bodies
Prepare meetings/agendas/minutes with and for GPC and share relevant reports and publications for
consultation.

Liaise with partners on the progress of the National Steering Committees and ensure coordination with
national level Oxfam Offices

In case of disagreements between consortium partners and programme management team, the following
steps will be used: raise the issue with relevant staff member; next step: raise with programme leader;
next step raise with GPC co-facilitators who can mediate or decide to bring to GPC
Meeting frequency N.A.
Costs As in budget
Considerations Relations/contracts between partners

Global partners toolboxed and contracted by Oxfam Novib

Oxfam planning documents, monitoring reports and publications are brought to GPC for co-reading

Overall management and implementation by ON are assessed by Sida, IFAD, and other back donors.

NOTE
5
PMEL among others: ensure availability of formats for planning and
reporting purposes, consolidate planning and reports coming from
partners and Oxfam offices, ceoordinate audit and evaluation processes

76 SEEDSGROW
The SDHS Consortium Partners are: