This Peer-to-Peer Learning Session provided a platform for highlighting the key findings of two complimentary papers related to strengthening care systems, published by Oxfam Canada and Oxfam US.  The two papers examine different aspects of a broad care ecosystem, one called Inspiring Governments to be Care Champions: How advocates are Strengthening Care Systems Around the World on policy and advocacy wins at national level across six countries (Canada, Uruguay, Mexico, Philippines, Kenya and Zimbabwe) and the other, Care as Essential Infrastructure exploring on the definitions, debates and components of care infrastructure and the types of investments needed to strengthen it across six countries (Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, the US, and Zimbabwe).  

The event brought together approximately 70 care practitioners and policy makers from around the world to learn about advances and challenges regarding care policy and advocacy as well as about the debates, demands, and investments related to care infrastructure. The discussion featured panelists from Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Kenya and Zimbabwe who were either authors or representatives of Oxfam and partner organizations involved in the research. The rich discussion brought to life the two papers by highlighting the contextual nuances, successes and challenges related to care infrastructure or how advocating for care policy has played out in their respective countries. 

Complementary Experiences

United in their commitment to care, advocates, researchers and policy makers shared their diverse experiences from Kenya, Philippines, Mexico, Peru, and Zimbabwe. Speakers offered an array of perspectives providing insight into youth and community organising, government influencing, alliance building and public policy. The panelists used the opportunity to share successes and challenges related to policy advocacy, infrastructure gaps, plans for leveraging support for more policy and investment in the care economy. 

Blandina Bobson from Oxfam Kenya skillfully moderated the discussion posing questions to Carolina Oviedo from Oxfam in Peru who spoke to the Peruvian context where the Covid 19 Pandemic provided generated the need and motivation to make space for community level care networks to emerge. She discussed how policies were advocated for from the bottom up, where models of community care systems were used to influence the national level. Joshua Bata from the Philippines described how their research on the universal health care initiative found that cash transfer programmes and budget allocations from national to provincial level were considered care policy wins supporting economically vulnerable families trying to access care related services. Joshua also talked about Gender and Development policy achievements as a decentralized approach to expanding access to care. Faith Sharleen Nkala from Bekezela Home-Based Care in Zimbabwe highlighted a policy win where CSO-led conversations with parliament have begun a process to establish a policy on unpaid care work. She also highlighted the importance of local authorities (district level) engaging with communities and prioritising care infrastructure especially in terms of WASH, some have begun to draft an infrastructure development policy with care explicitly integrated.  Mariana Bello from Oxfam Mexico described a very dynamic care policy landscape that has even changed since the publication of the two papers. At a national level and at a municipal level there are newly elected officials who are championing public care policies that include normative frameworks to bolster them. At a municipal level she described a multitude of initiatives that seek to improve physical infrastructure for care work like transforming public spaces to be more accessible for care providers. She mentioned programmes that seek to provide professional development for care workers or a pool of care giver relief workers for example.  Lawrence Gatenjwa, of Youth Alive Kenya described the importance of recognizing care work as work and how in the absence of this we cannot begin to reduce or redistribute it. He provides insight on how policies could be less tokenistic and more inclusive by involving care workers, people with disabilities, and youth in drafting them. Lawrence elaborated on the benefits to women’s economic power, social protections and improving the gendered distribution of care work. He also emphasized the need for data driven investments in care work as critical elements to achieve care policy advocacy and infrastructure goals. 

From the World Bank, Ana Maria Munoz-Boudet, Lead Economist with the Gender Group described the challenges of supporting governments to implement care systems including the high costs and complex multi-dimensional aspects of care policy. She explained that the World Bank’s gender strategy includes women’s economic empowerment and specifically highlights care and care systems as key enabling services. She shared that mobilising multiple drivers for change is important to get governments on board. She noted that collective action from feminists and civil society along with data and examples on how to implement and expand care systems can be key drivers for change.  Geselle Frances P. Zeta, a chief economic development specialist at the Philippines National Economic Development Authority described how the reality of unpaid care work really has profound impacts on women’s economic potential and noted that Filipina women in rural communities are heavily affected. She affirmed that recognizing the value of women’s unpaid care work and elevating them to fully engage in the workforce would have a transformative effect. Geselle described a transformative system as one that prioritizes easily accessible health care, reliable water supply and emergency services stating that it would bolster everyday care needs as well as offer more resilience during climate disasters to fill that gap in care infrastructure and systems. She emphasized the urgent need to redistribute unpaid care across gender lines, this could be done she says by integrating care work in social protection policies including investing in community-based child and elder care, labour-saving technology, flexible work options for example. To do this a narrative shift is critical and we need to have male engagement and look at this as a collective initiative that draws on civil society, government, community, data and investment. 

A Call to Action

The perspectives and experiences shared in this session serve as a call to action for care practitioners, allies and donors around the world to advocate for policy change, data and investment in care as a public good. The session also revealed valuable lessons for care advocates to bring home to their organizations:

• Solidarity is critical – building partnerships with researchers, government agencies, communities, and civil society organizations is essential for care systems transformation.
• Context matters – the diversity of case studies showed us that differences in political climate, availability of data and investments, gender norms, and climate/health crises must be considered when advocating for improvements in care systems.  
• Data-driven advocacy – collecting and analyzing data is crucial for providing evidence-based arguments for policy and systems change.
• Commitment to improve – ongoing advocacy from care workers and allies globally shows us that more funds need to be invested by donors and governments to put forward inclusive care policies. We want to see governments make commitments to establish the #RightToCare.

For more information about this Learning Session, contact the WEEKH Team led by Marylew Echavez at marylew.echavez@oxfam.org.ph. For more insights from the speakers, a documentation report is also available. 

Watch recording here.