As part of its commitments to promoting gender justice, Oxfam invests in an approach called ‘Transformative Leadership for Women’s Rights’ (TLWR), a form of leadership which promotes gender justice by advancing women’s participation and leadership. This guidebook has been produced to demonstrate how Oxfam applies TLWR in its programmes and organisation, to explore what distinguishes transformative leadership and why it is important, and to inspire staff members, partners, and external readers and organisations to better understand TLWR as an approach and strategy for social justice.
The first section begins by clarifying what gender justice and women’s rights means, in terms of definition and practice, and then bringing all the key terms together to provide a definition and explanation for what is meant by TLWR. Section two looks at the ‘theory of change’ that underlines TLWR, while section three delves a bit deeper into one aspect of program design by looking closely at how Oxfam applies gender and power analysis within their TLWR programmes.
In the fourth section, the TLWR is examined from the perspective of Oxfam’s own organisation, focusing on specific tools and exercises to support the application of a TLWR approach. The next section of the report focuses on the monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning of TLWR, which is followed by the final section containing conclusions and a summary of key points.
Adopting a TLWR approach within programmes and policies requires the integration of findings from gender and power analysis into all stages of programme or policy strategy design, and monitoring and evaluation. In order to do this, it is necessary to develop the following elements:
- Context-specific gender power analysis in the initial stages of program design that examines aspects of identity, marginalisation, and gender relations with regard to leadership.
- A theory of change that provides a clear shared understanding of what we want to change and how, which addresses power, leadership, values, and principles.
- Strategies and activities that reflect an understanding of the existing gender power dynamics, and how these influence the practice of leadership; and which provide compelling proposals for transforming them.
- Programmes or policies that encourage people to reflect on the self (and their own ways of exerting power or reflecting their principles), their leadership styles, and the organisational culture in which they work.
- A monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) strategy that monitors shifts in various forms of power and leadership; measures how lasting change happens; and is based on principles that value and protect the work of our partners.
[adapted from source]