Oxfam and Research
Duncan Green
Head of Research, Oxfam GB
ODI/INASP Symposium, Oxford
November 2006
The rise of research, advocacy and
campaigning among INGOs
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Roots in programmes (islands of success in a
sea of failure)
NGOs saw need to shape/check northern
policies (anti-apartheid, Central America, IFIs,
debt, trade)
And need to change attitudes and beliefs to
build a mass constituency for change
Leading to the rise of global advocacy and
campaigning
But bulk of staff still involved in grassroots
development and emergencies
Sound research provides an INGO
campaign with
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Credibility with decision makers and high
end journalists (e.g. Rigged Rules and
Double Standards)
A coherent campaign narrative and ‘ask’
Confidence!
What do we mean by ‘research’
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Limited primary research (e.g. Water Provision in
Sierra Leone; SCF on User Fees; Programme
examples elsewhere)
But mainly ‘narrative’, bridging the journalistacademic divide, combining
– Literature review
– Case Studies (usually from programme)
– Recommendations for decision makers
– Killer Facts [eg EU cow]
– Executive Summary
– Media Launch (stunts, op-eds, exclusives)
Campaigning
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The best campaigns (and
therefore research) have
– A villain
– A problem
– A solution
– Example: TRIPS/Access to
Medicines
Villains of choice: Northern
Governments, IFIs, WTO, TNCs
But can be an easy ride for:
domestic capital, DC
governments and NGOs
themselves!
Campaign Favourites
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Northern Governments
– Aid; Make Poverty History; Jubilee 2000
IFIs
– Debt; conditionality; megaprojects
UN
– Civilian protection; Arms; humanitarian aid
TNCs
– Extractives; Pharma; Labour standards
Trade
– WTO; Northern agricultural subsidies;
regional trade agreements
How does Oxfam campaign?
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Internationally (via Oxfam International)
Insider
– Lobbying
– Research: combined primary, secondary and
‘killer facts’
Outsider
– ‘Pop Mob’; media; celebrities; branding (white
bands)
Alliances
– Trade Justice Movement, Control Arms, Make
Poverty History, Jubilee 2000
Why do governments listen to NGOs?
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They usually don’t, but when they do, it’s
because NGOs:
– Talk their language/ ‘tell a story’
– Adapt message to legislative/negotiating
timetables (eg Development Box)
– Move the public (eg Church NGOs on debt)
– Are skilled media operators
– Sometimes spot emerging issues before civil
servants (PWYP)
Why don’t governments listen to
(most) academics?
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Academic incentive structure all wrong
– Risk averse (on the one hand, on the other…)
– Impenetrable post modernist or economicist
jargon
– Talk to peers, not politicians
Do not adapt message to decision makers’
realities (e.g. timetables)
Think like lecturers, not lobbyists (e.g.
Cambridge economists and Development White
Paper, 2000)
Result? A very restricted gene pool of insider
academics (including ODI!)
Constraints on NGO Research
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The sensibilist conspiracy – self
censorship and the financial-intellectual
complex
Dominance of mathematical economics
leads to political naivete
(problem/solution/exhortation) and
historical amnesia
Power Analysis (Government is not a
faculty) – policy-based evidence making
is widespread!
What needs to change?
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Increase national research and
advocacy capacity (e.g. Basic Services
and South Asia)
Shift to political economy/how change
happens
Intellectual Pluralism (Rodrik on the
World Bank)