As part of the Global Development Institute Lecture Series Dr Irene Guijt, Head of Research at Oxfam GB, delivered a lecture entitled: Evidence for Influencing: Balancing research integrity and campaign strategy in Oxfam When using evidence to influence, what compromises have to be made in different contexts due to practical, political and strategic reasons? Dr Guijt presents on challenges and successes, using examples of Oxfam research and campaign strategies from across the world.

1. The Global Development Institute
Lecture Series
#GDILecture
@GlobalDevInst
@Guijti @OxfamGB

2. Evidence for Influencing
Balancing research integrity and
campaign strategy in Oxfam
Dr. Irene Guijt
Head of Research and Publishing
Oxfam Great Britain
GDI Lecture, Manchester
December 13, 2017

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For people who want the truth
evidence is adequate
but for those who don’t want the truth
overwhelming evidence is inadequate.
Adv Thuli Madonsela (former public protector)

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1. Why does evidence matter to us?
2. How do we go about it?
3. What are the challenges?

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1. Why does evidence matter to us?
Essential to know what to do with
who and how… but never enough

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What is influencing?
‘systematic efforts to change power relations,
attitudes and beliefs, the formulation and
implementation of official
policies, laws/regulations, budgets, and company
policies and practices, in ways that promote more
just and sustainable societies without poverty’
Oxfam International's National Influencing Guidelines

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What is evidence?
Evidence
Data, information
presented in support of
an assertion.
Evidence-informed
The purposeful and
systematic use of the
best available
evidence to inform,
e.g. the various
options for influencing
strategies and policy-
making.

8. Evidence generation in OGB
Research Team in Campaign,
Policy, Influencing Team
Programme impact
evaluators
Action research in
programmes
Policy advisors
Private sector
policy advisors
Market insightsTechnical
specialists
Monitoring

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Credible
Relevant
Impactful
Relevant
campaigns &
programmes
High quality
campaigns &
programmes
Partnerofchoice
Leverage
Access
Risk management Thought
leadership

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KeyResearchTeamFunctions
1. Undertake forward looking trend and context
analyses
2. Influence and support planned campaigns,
programmes and media
3. Strengthen research quality, incl data
assurance
4. Engage externally to inform & be informed

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Oxfam is huge so this stuff happens
in lots of places and ways
• Around 9,300 staff
• 20 affiliates
• 90+ countries
• Global, regional and national programmes and policy
work on:
• Economic justice
• Gender justice
• Climate justice
• Right to be heard
• Humanitarian response
• Refugee and migration policy
• Natural resources and livelihoods
• ….

12. 23-24 October 2017, Soesterberg, the Netherlands
EVIDENCE FOR INFLUENCING
CONFERENCE
#OxfamEvidence

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2. How do we go about it?
Doing, brokering, checking

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Evidence has its limits
 Decision-makers are influenced by many individual,
institutional and societal factors and actors
• So evidence is vital but (rarely) sufficient on its own to achieve
change
• Effective research needs to be:
• Credible
• Well-timed - to take advantage of (existing or created) windows of
opportunities
• Carefully framed and communicated
• Propositional - with policy solutions packaged up & hooked to
recognised problems & policy maker’s value
• Supported - by other campaigning or wider influencing strategies

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The Influencing Journey
• What needs to change?
• Who has power to make the change, and who
and what influences them?
• How to achieve change
• Context in which we try to achieve change

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ResearchPriorities

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Nexus
Synthesis Trends
Propositional
Voice

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Diverse types of evidence and
knowledge product

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And many knowledge products
Inequality: statistical input to Davos 2018; National inequality reports;
Strong input on constructing/correcting CRI Index; Fiscal sector and
inequality; perceptions research
Gender justice; Gender –equitable fiscal policies; Unpaid care
economic narratives; How to diagnose and shift social norms; Women’s
collective action and transformative leadership
Influencing; Evidence for Influencing Conference; Meta-review of what
works for policy change; Behavioural change paper (gender, WASH);
Blog series; populism paper
Human Economy: joint framing paper; WeAll governance paper and
foundation member; Arrival book (forthcoming)
People’s voice work: Displaced people’s agency (CAR case study, 2
more in MENA); M&S study on impact of commercial decisions on
workers’ rights; SenseMaker manual
And more … (lots and lots of sign-off, data checking)

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Case 1. Unpaid Care and
Economic Narratives
work by
Anam Parvez and Martin Walsh

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Why they matter
Narratives can express values
and worldviews, including
true and false beliefs
Narratives can be very
persuasive and spread
rapidly and widely
Can be equally difficult to
counter, change or replace
e.g. right-wing populist narratives
Campaigning organisations
use research and classic
influencing strategies, e.g. by
generating new and
persuasive evidence and
zooming in on key audiences
to change the terms of debate

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1. Understanding our change audiences better
2. Understanding what kind of arguments would be most
effective and what evidence is needed
3. Identifying potential partners
4. Capacity building
5. Questioning our own narratives
Examples of influencing outcomes
informed by economic narratives
research:
• Policy briefing for national
governments/economic policy-makers
• International Development Forums-
Skoll World Forum
• Capacity building for influencing: Pan
Africa Dialogue
Using research on narratives for
influencing

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1. Identify problematic narratives
on UCW and its link to
economic development that
need to be shifted
- UCW is not relevant/only has a negative
influence on economic development;
addressing UCW is not central to achieving
health, education and economic policy
objectives
- Evidence type: statistical
Unpaid care: an ignored economic
policy concern

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2. Identify potential
opportunities within existing
narratives
- Recognition of the importance of investing
in health, education in existing economic
narratives - showing links with unpaid care
work
- SDGs
- Women’s participation in paid work

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3. What are persuasive
transformative narratives?
- Unpaid care work has a crucial economic
value and is a significant component of
local, national and global economies and
economic wellbeing ($10 trillion of output
per year)
- Inadequate provision of care results in costs
to the society, economy, companies and the
government (20% higher prevalence of
mental health for carers, $17.1 billion a year
cost to employers)
- Potential partners: gender departments at
IFIs, feminist economists

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Case 2: Oxfam
research for Patents
and Access to
Medicines campaign
work by Ruth Mayne

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1. What needs to change?
Solutions (Oxfam campaign)
• greater flexibility of WTO patent rules for developing countries
• an end to rich and corporate bullying of poor countries
• systematic price reductions by pharmaceuticals in LICs
• increased funding for LICs to purchase essential medicines & R&D
Evidence to investigate & address counter arguments
• companies say poor health systems are the main cause of lack of
access to medicine not patents, patents are needed to reward
innovation, etc.
Problem & Causes
• millions of people in poor countries die &suffer due to lack of
access to life saving HIV/AIDs and other medicines
• high prices due to unfair WTO patent rules & company pricing
policies/business models, lack of R & D into neglected
disease, weak health systems, poverty

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2. Who needs to take action
Power analysis & research to identify who has the power and
capabilities to achieve change and who and what influences them
• Formal duty bearers : WTO member governments
• Key influencers:
• Opponents:
• Big pharmaceutical companies : GSK as possible positive
industry leader; Pfizer as ‘bad guy’
• Rich country governments - UK, US
• Supporters: people suffering from HIV/AIDS, investors, many
developing country governments, scientists
• Opponents: swingers – EC

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3. How to achieve change
Power & systems analysis, plus additional research to
understand & identify:
• Wider system influences and contextual opportunities
• Decision-making processes of duty bearers and key influencers
• Mix and sequencing of research and complementary influencing
strategies/tactics - informed by above & power analysis

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What went into the evidence mix?
 Secondary data from existing credible sources and data
bases e.g. UNAIDs, WHO
• Qualitative/case study research from:
• Primary data e.g. Oxfam case study in Uganda
• Secondary data e.g. from Oxfam country programmes & credible partner
organisations – MSF, Jamie Love, Treatment Action Aid in South Africa,
partners in Brazil and Thailand
• Stakeholder workshops, consultations, horizon scanning
• Oxfam campaign & influencing guides
• Research, evaluations, theories of change
• Peer review & research by academics

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Multiple knowledge products
Foundational research for campaign launch Feb 2001
• Overarching public facing campaign report: Patent Injustice: How
World Trade Rules Threaten the Health of the Poor, Feb 2001
• Technical briefing: Fatal Side Effect: Medicine patents under the
Microscope, Feb 2001
• Company briefing paper: GlaxoSmithKline: Dare to Lead – public
health and company wealth, Feb 2001
• Country case studies e.g. Make vital medicines available for poor
people: Bangladesh, Feb 2001

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Follow up briefings
Related to new contextual developments & openings
• South Africa vs the Drug Giants – Feb 2001 (plus update April 2001)
• Drug companies vs. Brazil: The threat to public health, May 2001
• WTO Patent Rules and Access to Medicines : The Pressure Mounts,
June 2001
• US Bullying on Drug Patents: one Year after Doha – Nov 2002
• TRIPs and Public Health: The next Battle – March 2002
• Public Health at Risk: How a US bilateral free trade agreement
could threaten access to medicines in Thailand – 2006

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How evidence
helped influencing
• Provided high quality of research to:
• Undermine intellectual foundations of company’s influence over
government policy
• Strengthened hand of developing country governments &
emboldened them to take action at the WTO
• Demonstrated viable alternatives
• Used powerful human framings that helped humanize & popularize
the issue contributing to a huge public outcry and media coverage
around the world

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3. And what about the challenges?
Plenty of them, internal and external

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Evidence and data alone
won’t change hearts and minds
• Alliance building
• Advocacy
• Media pressure
• Public campaigning
• Taking strategic advantage of windows of
opportunity

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Challenges galore

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Many Demands
• Ensuring focus around long term questions vs agility to
respond to emerging needs
• OGB needs vs needs of OI/country offices/other affiliates
• Campaigns (in all their diversity) vs programmes
• Globally focused pieces of work vs nationally focused efforts

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Foundations for a solid and
persuasive evidence base
• Capacity
• Training on research quality pitfalls
• Expanding our capacity
• Standard raising and sharing
• ToRs sign-off
• quality check and peer review
• research guidelines and case studies
• Formats beyond publications
• Confederation wide

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Now over to you - question time!