Increased public participation, expanded civil society space, stronger community capacities, and the consciousness for good governance and human rights, are core pre-requisites for sustained improvement in livelihoods for poor and marginalized individuals and groups.
These are pillars for effective utilization of public resources. Oxfam works with various partners to facilitate engagement between government institutions, civil-society, private sector and citizens – in a way that promotes active citizenship.
In 2018, Oxfam secured a multi-year, multi-country grant from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) to implement a Fiscal Justice project between the period of November 2018 to April 2021. The grant is focused on building coalitions of active citizens to engage government for more fiscally just policies and practices.
The project supported by this grant aims to enable Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), nontraditional stakeholders like religious groups, communities and others affected by the Extractive Industry, to influence governments towards changing policies and practices to better benefit citizens. The project operates in Turkana and Nairobi Counties.
The project specifically aims to;
- Support CSOs to engage with decision-makers (i.e. governments, extractive companies and International Finance Institutions) on public financial management and petroleum revenue governance at national and subnational levels.
- Increase awareness of the public on critical extractive industries and public finance management issues including cost audits, revenue management and budget tracking, and mobilize them to put pressure on companies and governments towards developing and implementing just and equitable policies.
- Empower communities impacted by extractive industry activities to actively engage and meaningfully participate in decision-making processes related to natural resource management
- Develop evidence in support of advocacy asks by communities and CSOs on petroleum revenue and public finance management.