OXFAM CASE STUDY SEPTEMBER 2016

Colonel Samsoor is the commander of Police District 9 and has been a police officer for 31 years. Freba works in the police station in
District 9 in Kabul. Photo: Ellie Kealey/Oxfam

WOMEN AND PEACE BUILDING IN

AFGHANISTAN
Building local and national-level peace with the meaningful
participation of women
Conflict has destroyed countless lives in Afghanistan. Searching for an
elusive peace is a focus for many; but women have often been left with no
voice, with the result that a fair and equitable end to conflict remains out of
reach. Within and Without the State is working with women to support their
meaningful participation in local and national-level peace building.

www.oxfam.org
CONTEXT
Afghanistan has suffered decades of violent conflict. Despite billions of dollars in
development aid since the US-led intervention started in 2001, Afghanistans
institutions remain fragile, governance and the rule of law are weak, basic
services are lacking for the majority of the population, and the countrys future
remains uncertain.

At least a part of the problem has been that many development interventions
have not understood the deeply rooted local power dynamics. Models of
governance and theories of change exported from international experience have
had little traction because they have not reflected the reality or complexity of the
Afghan context.

Starting in 2011, Oxfams Within and Without the State (WWS) project has
explored an approach to governance work in Afghanistan that is more firmly
rooted in local power dynamics and cultural norms.

Womens rights and peace building in Afghanistan

Since 2001, the government and the international community have been actively
engaged in promoting womens rights in Afghanistan. To date, the national peace
council has only nine female members (out of 70). Oxfams research has
demonstrated that women play only a small role in peace building and
reconciliation in the public sphere and, and at a community level, women are
usually only involved in settling disputes in the private sphere.1

Women often lack access to legal recourse because of prejudice, weak law
enforcement, and corruption. The use of unofficial, traditional, religious, and tribal
justice systems to settle disputes involving women is common. In some
instances, a rape victim may find herself in court accused and condemned to
death by stoning for immoral behaviour, and girls are sometimes given away in
marriage in a practice known as Baad to settle disputes between communities.

Attempts to negotiate a peace agreement between the government and

opposition groups, and involving regional and international stakeholders, are
ongoing. The peace process involves both formal and informal political
mechanisms and structures such as the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration
Programme (APRP), the High Peace Council (HPC), and local-level initiatives
that are tackling grievances affecting peace and stability at the community level.

However, women, youth, and other marginalized groups find themselves

excluded from peace processes at all levels, not just national, which means that
their interests are not being adequately represented, which undermines the
chances of the process being successful. WWS in Afghanistan has been seeking
to address this.

WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE STATE

Within and Without the State (WWS) is a five-year global initiative (20112016)
funded by DfID's Conflict, Humanitarian and Security programme. It has enabled
Oxfam to pilot a variety of approaches to working with civil society to promote
more accountable governance in conflict-affected and fragile contexts.

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PHASE I
Phase I of WWS in Afghanistan recognized peace processes as a unique
opportunity to strengthen the voice and rights of poor and marginalized groups in
society. For this to happen, such groups need representation and effective
organizations able to engage with those in power.

Phase I focused on:

Building the capacity of civil society actors and organizations to work together
to engage positively with power-holders at different levels of governance;
Building the capacity and confidence of individual women and youth;
Facilitating opportunities at national, provincial, and community levels for
civil society, particularly marginalized groups such as women and youth, to
engage with power-holders involved in the formal peace process and in
conflict mediation at community level.

It did this primarily through supporting community-level women peace promoters

(WPP) to participate in local conflict resolution mechanisms; and providing
strategic and financial support to the Afghan Civil Society Organisation Network
for Peace (ACSONP) at the national level.

PHASE II
After the end of phase I, a macro-level conflict analysis workshop was held in
Kabul in November 2014 with civil society organizations, research institutes and
Oxfam staff. This was held at an interesting time in the countrys history as the
National Unity Government (NUG) had recently been sworn in, representing a
somewhat fragile alliance of the two main Presidential candidates who had been
in opposition, bringing an end to the long drawn out and highly contested election
process of 2014.

The conflict analysis noted that work on gender seems to have been
misrepresented/misinterpreted as a conflict between men and women; that civil
society in Afghanistan lacks many channels of influence with the people and
groups identified as having real power and influence (especially at local level);
and that traditional or non-constituted civil society is often squeezed out by a
focus on more formally recognized civil society organizations, despite having
unique reserves of legitimacy and local influence.

Given all the insights from phase I, WWS phase II at the local level broadened
the concept of women peace promoters at the local level to community peace
promoters (CPPs) to better encapsulate the reality of needing to work with a
cross-section of community members and engage in much more thorough power
analysis as part of programme activities.

At the national level, the project was reshaped in the light of the new NUG and
sought to support better power analysis of the new stakeholders engaged in the
national-level peace process and to explore entry points for civil society influence.

Phase II focussed on three main objectives:

Women and youth at the local level in Kunduz are empowered and equipped
with knowledge, capacity and confidence to engage effectively with a range of
local power holders including those who may otherwise block their

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 participation and linked constructively with provincial peace committees and
any provincial and national peace processes;
The Afghan Civil Society Network for Peace (ACSONP) members at the
national level are able to effectively engage with formal and informal
institutions and positively influence and support peace building efforts and
Community Peace Promoters;
Learning and insights from WWS are captured and actively disseminated for
use by other Oxfam projects and external agencies.

BUILDING LOCAL-LEVEL PEACE WITH THE

ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT OF WOMEN
During the first phase of WWS, there was an emphasis on working through the
ulema (religious leaders) in order to engage in community-level peace building.
WWS established contact between ulema and women peace activists, opening
an enabling environment for women to interact with ulema who have legitimacy to
shape public opinions and change the attitudes and perceptions of community
elders to accept womens social participation. The violation of womens rights,
community conflicts and retributive justice were all highlighted as issues the
programme needed to focus on. The second phase of WWS began in 2014, this
time focusing solely on Kunduz province.

The Empowerment Centre for Women (ECW)

The Empowerment Centre for Women is a grassroots organization in

Afghanistan, established with the aim of supporting and providing resources to
Afghan women and girls to help them to become empowered, economically
independent and socially active.

The ECW vision is to empower Afghan women, with a mission to support the
expansion of assets and capabilities of Afghan women to participate in, negotiate
with, influence, control and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives

Gender and Conflict Sensitive Power Analysis

Before the second phase of community-level work began, ECW conducted a

Gender and Conflict Sensitive Power Analysis to measure womens participation
and role in the power and conflict dynamics of Kunduz province. The analysis
mapped actors perception of gender issues, their understanding of womens role
in peace building and the conflict resolution process at different levels (e.g.
family, village, society, district and provincial). They also analyzed the gender role
within the traditional conflict resolution mechanisms in the nine communities of
Kunduz.

This showed that existing tribal, cultural and ethnic enmities are compounded by
discrimination against women. On reflection of the phase of WWS, it was decided
by the project team that a more gender-sensitive lens had to be employed when
viewing local conflicts. As a result, ECW has focused on training and coordination
meetings with CPPs to support them in engaging with local power holders.

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Training mixed groups of community peace promoters

ECW established nine groups of CPPs comprised of women, elders, youth,

ulema, teachers and local officials. Each group of about 20 (roughly half of them
women) is divided into four focus groups themed on health, education, security
and the resolution of conflicts. They work in different areas of Kunduz city with
the aim of supporting the participation of women in local peace-building efforts.
People were selected to ensure a good spread of both elders and youth leaders,
housewives and doctors in addition to Provincial Peace Council members and
government officials to improve dialogue between state power and local
communities. After establishing the CPP circles, ECW provided trainings on
conflict analysis, conflict mediation, communication, networking, leadership,
advocacy, ending violence against women, law and the UN Security Council
1325 Resolution, peace building skills and womens rights from the perspective of
Islam. They also covered marriage rights, inheritance rights, Mahr rights
(payments by the grooms family to the bride), husbands and wifes joint rights
and education rights.

As a result of the project, interviews with CPPs have demonstrated that women
can play a greater role than men in mediating family disputes, especially disputes
between women. Examples were provided where female CPPs were able to
mediate in marital disputes; one of these involved mediation between two wives
in a polygamous family unit.

Fatima, a participant in the ECW training: This programme had a very big effect
on us. In the past, I couldnt discuss community issues with men or talk and stand
in front of them, but now I can discuss and talk with them and ask for our rights.

Inclusion of key stakeholders

Having identified the key stakeholders, monthly coordination meetings were held
at the provincial level by ECW between CPPs, local police, local power holders,
Provincial Peace Council members and the relevant governmental authorities.
These occurred in addition to quarterly peace hearings and the provincial peace
campaign conducted by ECW.

Before, I didnt feel a sense of responsibility and didnt dare to get involved in
dispute resolution but now my level of awareness has increased and I consider it
my job to get involved in resolving disputes.
Female CPP, Kunduz
At first there were prohibitions from my family...from [working with] this group
because of the insecurity and because of the lack of trust between the people
and the governmentbut now I am encouraged by my family and my friends.
Female CPP, Kunduz

Women can be successful in some small family and social disputes but if there
are disputes between powerful men or tribal elders then the women cannot
interfere
Female CPP, Kunduz

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 One example of a successful outcome was when ECW complained that a male
police officer was representing the police at meetings of the Elimination of Violence
Against Women (EVAW) Commission at the Womens Affairs Department. The
protest was successful and an agreement was reached where it was understood the
police at such sensitive meetings should be represented by a women police officer.

No one had
anticipated the fall of
Kunduz to the
Taliban in 2015.
Through its
longstanding
presence in the area,
ECW was able to
restart activities and
adapted the projects
approach to work
with the government
and communities
asking the key
question of why the
Taliban had been
able to get such a
strong foothold in
Kunduz city and use
this as an opportunity
to demand for more
sustained and
Women police officers in weapons training, Afghanistan. Photo:Ellie Kealy/Oxfam inclusive peace.

Sodaba Khairkhowa WWS

Afghanistan Project
Local-level post-conflict peace hearing Coordinator

In September 2015, the Taliban captured and held large areas of the city of
Kunduz. This was publicized widely in the international news due to the attack on
an MSF hospital in the city.

On November 24, 2015, a peace hearing conducted in Kunduz province was

attended by 70 and included delegations from the Governorate of Kunduz,
Provincial Council, Court, Justice Department, Information and Culture, Haj and
Endowment, Provincial Peace Council. The municipality, media and civil society
were also present in this peace hearing. The purpose was to highlight the social,
political, security and economic issues of Kunduz after its collapse and to know
relevant administrations priorities for the future. This peace hearing also paved
the way for CPPs to access the authorities after the collapse of Kunduz.

It helped governmental authorities understand that there is a strong desire from

civil society for better follow-up regarding government work for the improvement
of security, social and economic issues. CPPs questioned those in authority
about how the situation in Kunduz was allowed to deteriorate so rapidly.

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Broadcast at a national-level conference
On 24 December 2015, ECW conducted a debate called National Level
Interaction. The debate was conducted in a studio of the Saba TV network and
70 people attended, including Community Peace Promoters along with
representatives of political parties, university students, religious leaders, civil
society activists, relevant ministries and journalists. The purpose of this debate
was to provide Afghans with a clearer picture of the reasons behind the collapse
of Kunduz and to bring the attention of the government and others to Kunduz
province, both at a national and an international level, through engagement with
high-ranking authorities in this open debate.

The panel, which included state and security personnel, publicly committed to
work on more inclusive security planning for Kunduz province. This was the first
debate at national level which focused on Kunduz. The programme was
broadcast nationally by Saba Radio and Saba TV, as well as by Roshani TV
broadcasting only in Kunduz province.

Case study

A woman had a dispute with her husband due to lack of payment of life subsistence
for her and her four children. The woman with her maternal uncle and her husband
along with his father came to the coordination meeting of the established circle in
Kunduz. A representative of the education department and the provincial
Independent Human Rights Commission were present. The woman told her story
and complained to the audience about not receiving support from her husband who
married a second wife and now lives with her. His first wife and her four children are
living in one of his friends houses, where she does not want to live any more. Her
husband was convinced that he made a mistake and he promised to support his wife
and his children. Their case was resolved peacefully.

Participant during a coordination meeting of CPPs

BUILDING NATIONAL-LEVEL PEACE

As well as working in Kunduz and using this as a pilot province to test the
effectiveness of working with mixed groups of peace promoters and
working with religious leaders to promote womens involvement, WWS has
been working with a national coalition to promote peace.

ACSONP

The Afghanistan Civil Society Organisations Network for Peace (ACSONP) is a

network of around 140 civil society organizations and has been involved with the
WWS project in lobbying and policy work with national-level peace actors since
2011. Its aim is for members to be able to effectively engage with formal and
informal institutions and positively influence and support peace building efforts
and Community Peace Promoters. ACSONP is engaged in lobbying and
advocacy work with peace actors such as members of the High Peace Council
(HPC) and Members of Parliament.

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Routes to peace with policy and power mapping

Phase II of WWS in Afghanistan was designed to adapt effectively to the changes We knew that the
in power following the recent formation of the National Unity Government. whole architecture
Although the recent alliance between the two main presidential candidates Ashraf of the government
Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah put an end to the election stalemate that brought had changed
significantly as a
the country to a standstill for most of 2014, the alliance was fragile, bringing
result of formation
together such opposing sides as a result of protracted election process and
of the National
deeper ethnic and political fault-lines in the country. This posed both challenges Unity Government.
for reaching a sustainable peace process at the national level in Afghanistan, but We had a unique
also allowed civil society to gain more entry points for influence if they could window of
effectively and legitimately represent the views of the population and crucially opportunity to exert
womens rights organizations to ensure their voices were heard during any influence of civil
future peace negotiations. society on the
peace process and
In order to engage more effectively with power holders following the formation of to demand an
the National Unity Government, Oxfam worked alongside ACSONP to organize a inclusive,
policy and power mapping workshop in August 2015 to bring together a diverse sustained and
consultative peace,
range of actors, and to discuss the challenges Afghanistan faces in building peace.
so we took it. We
The conference was designed to explore where various actors stood on the subject had to think
of peace building and to learn what they perceived as impediments to peace. politically and
These actors included the High Peace Council (HPC), representatives of the NUG, engage with, at
independent civil society and human rights activists, womens rights (WROs) and times,
civil society organizations (CSOs), as well as several anti-government elements, uncomfortable
which was in itself a major breakthrough as these groups have not traditionally power holders.
been involved in such face-to-face discussions, previously reverting to Annabel Morrissey WWS
Global Programme
confrontational means to voice their opposition. Coordinator

Due to the diverse nature of attendees, they were divided into their respective
groups, where they shared their views and inputs on questions developed prior to
the conference. The questions were broad, ranging from Have women been
involved in peace talks and in designing the process? If yes, what were their
roles? If not, why not? How can we best involve women? to Considering the
current situation, what would be the top issues actors involved should consider?
How to consolidate and integrate the priorities that meet multiple actors interests,
positions and needs?

This process showed ACSONP project staff that there is a lack of consensus and
political will for an Afghan-led peace process within the Afghan government.
Another learning outcome was that the roles of local-level political leaders and
parties have been ignored in peace negotiations to date. Oxfam staff have also
come to understand that Afghan intellectuals and key stakeholders have been
marginalized in the peace talks and process. It was felt that the peace talks have
been co-opted and monopolized by a limited group of elite elements in
Afghanistans various regional power constellations and have been harnessed for
their own political leverage. Another sector-specific learning was that women and
civil society organizations have been sidelined.

Out of this process, the actors involved recommended that:

ACSONP should create a volunteer team of advocates consisting of civil
society and human rights activists, politicians, as well as journalists, to
advocate for developing an inclusive Peace Process Strategy, Action Plan and
Logical Framework Approach. ACSONP should launch advocacy meetings to

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 put these into practice;
The role of women in peace building was also noted, with it being suggested
that there is a need to push for the implementation of the National Action Plan
for UNSCR 1325, which would provide a stronger and more formal foundation
from which to advocate increased womens participation in the peace talks;
WROs and CSOs need to utilize international aid to create advocacy tools and
mechanisms, alongside a greater focus on their advocacy messaging, in order
to influence womens social and political inclusion at the level of peace
negotiations, as well as in other initiatives on gender.

When we decided to do the policy and power mapping, it was very challenging to
work out how to bring such different stakeholders with such competing interests
together, such as political parties, conservative members in the high peace council,
and women's groups. In the past, they have often felt themselves to be in opposition
to each other, so bringing them to sit at one table was a daunting prospect. Through
our work alongside ACSONP we managed to navigate how to do this, and by
bringing them together for a collective aim how to bring sustainable peace we
rallied them around an agenda beyond their own immediate interests. Now although
the formal peace process is slow, we do have a civil society and a women's rights
organization representative in the quadrilateral peace talks, which is what we had
been pushing for.

Sodaba Khairkhowa WWS Afghanistan Project Coordinator

National-level lobbying meetings

Following the policy and power mapping, ACSNOP held meetings between high-
level presidency representatives, high peace council members, media, civil society
organizations, women-led organizations and activists as well as social activists.
These were to highlight and discuss womens and youth problems (at the
grassroots and local levels) in the peace process, to advocate for its solution at the
national level, to advocate for the role of women and civil society participation in the
peace process, and to identify influential people in peace building at both local and
national levels. As a result, a volunteer Advocacy Group was set up, positive
suggestions and recommendations for changes in the peace strategy and policy of
the High Peace Council and government were put forward.

At the end of the project, ACSONP signed an MoU between the High Peace
Council and the Administrative Affairs of the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan aimed at establishing a long-term collaboration between the three
sides. As a result of this, the Director of Political, Social and Cultural Affairs
agreed to share the concerns of participants (the lack of women and CSOs
membership in the negotiation team of the High Peace Council) with the
President.

The peace process today

At the beginning of 2016, Afghanistan launched an official quadrilateral peace

process with China, Pakistan and the US. A key victory was the agreement and
nomination of a civil society representative and a womens rights organization
representative. Civil society organizations were also gathered to start inputting in
a second track of peace process negotiations. The Taliban have not engaged in

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these four nation talks and so the process has currently stalled. However, it is
clear that initial foundations have been laid for the importance of civil society and
womens rights organizations voices to be included in any future peace
negotiations.

LESSONS LEARNED
Adapt the programme to make the most of key moments in time

WWS phase II was very much built on lessons learned from phase I, especially in
terms of how best to engage women in local-level dispute resolution and the role
of a CSO network in shaping the peace process. However, WWS in phase II had
to consistently adapt and readapt to changes in the political and security outlook
at the national and local levels in Afghanistan throughout 2014 and 2015.

The national-level component was designed to respond to a change in power at

the national level and to urge that a new government put women and civil
societys role in any peace process at the forefront. At the local level, while the
fall of Kunduz to the Taliban impacted the project significantly and somewhat
restricted the space and scope of work in Kunduz, especially around the link
between formal and informal dispute resolution structures, ECW was also able to
use this incident to advocate more widely for the government to be held to
account for the causes behind the fall of Kunduz and to make commitments for a
more inclusive planning for peace and stability in the future.

Work with men to support womens involvement

The Gender Conflict Sensitive Power Analysis carried out in 2015 revealed actors
perception of gender issues, their understanding of womens role in peace building
and the conflict resolution process at different levels (e.g. family, village, society,
district and provincial). Womens greater involvement in family-level dispute
resolution was seen to be a building block for involvement at other levels. The
programme switched from just training women to training men and women so that
men were supportive of womens involvement. Women were empowered to speak
out in mixed groups as a result of the work ECW was able to do. This in part arose
from their participation in jirgas or community council meetings when they were
empowered by ECW trainings to have confidence to speak out.

Use detailed power analysis to shape activities

The second phase of WWS was itself designed in the light of a recently
conducted macro-level conflict analysis. This highlighted the influence and power
of different stakeholders in Afghanistan and helped the team to map out the
different potential scenarios for peace. It encouraged us to think politically and to
work with outside-of-the-box allies in order to leverage influence.

At the national level, WWS partners carried out detailed power mapping of the
key players in the peace process to thoroughly inform them who needed to be
invited to key meetings. They then used this information to determine a strategy
which ensured key local and national figures were included in their plans.

At the local level, a gender- and conflict-sensitive power analysis which formed
the baseline for the project was essential to identify the blockers of womens

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involvement in dispute resolution and identify the key stakeholders to engage
throughout the project.

Work with unusual suspects in order to influence change

At both the national and local levels, WWS engaged with influential, but
sometimes outside-of-the-box allies in order to exert influence on womens role in
peace building. At the national level, this involved engaging anti-government
elements in policy and power mapping, bringing them to the table with
mainstream politicians and other stakeholders.

At the local level, initially the ulema were suspicious of women being empowered,
but came to see they were enhancing their own role as change agents in their
communities if they supported women. The ulema were powerful advocates to
community leaders of the role of women in local-level peace mediation. As a
result, women took a more active role in shuras or local-level justice processes.
Training was run which included womens rights from an Islamic perspective. (For
more information on this, see WWS case study Working with Religious Leaders
in Afghanistan: The process of working with the ulema to support womens
representation).2

Work with the media to leverage wider influence

Throughout the time of WWS in Afghanistan, working with the media has been
included as a vital part of our work. Linking up with local and national
broadcasters has enabled programmes to achieve two goals. The first is raising
awareness of womens involvement in the search for peace. The second is as
leverage to engage powerful local and national actors in supporting womens role
the peace process. ECW organized a series of local and national TV and radio
debates with panels of civil society representatives, academics, Islamic scholars
and prominent womens rights activists. There is some evidence that these
activities helped to increase government commitment and responsiveness
towards womens issues.

Develop more stringent MEAL systems for remote management

The fall of Kunduz as well as the security restrictions before and subsequently
meant it was extremely difficult to access reliable data on the project. WWS
chose to run an Iterative real-time evaluation by external consultants to evaluate
programme activities on the ground and support management to bring remedial
actions. However, at the time the project started, it was not anticipated that
Oxfam would not be able to visit Kunduz throughout the duration of the project,
so one weakness is that better remote management and monitoring systems
were not developed at the beginning of the project.

Linking local and national-level peace processes

WWS has found that linking peace processes at the grassroots level in Kunduz
with key stakeholders at both the local and national levels is an effective way of
highlighting the importance of womens participation. Linking the work of
ACSONP and ECW has enabled the two organizations to have more impact than
if they were just working alone.

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NOTES

1 E. Cameron and J. Kamminga. 2014. Behind Closed Doors: The risk of denying women
a voice in determining Afghanistans future. Oxfam. http://policy-
practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/behind-closed-doors-the-risk-of-denying-women-a-
voice-in-determining-afghanista-335875
2 T. Donnelly and B. Osman. 2016. Working With Religious Leaders in Afghanistan: The
process of working with the ulema to support womens representation. Oxfam.
http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/working-with-religious-leaders-in-
afghanistan-the-process-of-working-with-the-u-593378

Oxfam International September 2016

This case study was written by Richard Chilvers, Sodaba Khairkhowa and
Annabel Morrissey. Oxfam acknowledges the assistance of ACSONP, Babrak
Osman and ECW in its production. It is part of a series of papers and reports
written to inform public debate on development and humanitarian policy issues.

For further information on the issues raised in this paper please email Dr Jo
Rowlands at [email protected]

This publication is copyright but the text may be used free of charge for the
purposes of advocacy, campaigning, education, and research, provided that the
source is acknowledged in full. The copyright holder requests that all such use
be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any
other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or
adaptation, permission must be secured and a fee may be charged. Email
[email protected].

The information in this publication is correct at the time of going to press.

Published by Oxfam GB for Oxfam International under ISBN 978-0-85598-780-0

Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK.

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