Partnership and WASH
Oxfam has a long history of working with government, non-government and community-based partners to ensure humanitarian WASH needs are addressed. Oxfam believes working with partners is more likely to ensure lasting, relevant and accountable humanitarian interventions. As an organisation we aim to establish diverse partnerships from local communities to private sector and government. Participation of crisis affected people is a core component in local humanitarian leadership. The distinct nature of humanitarian contexts influences how we work with others. Whatever can be done with sufficient quality, effectiveness and efficiency by local organisations should be done by them. Together we can make more of a difference[1]
Partnership within humanitarian WASH comes in many different forms.
There is a commonly held perception that partnership and local humanitarian leadership = international NGOs working with or through local NGOs. Whilst one key indicator of Oxfam’s commitment to decolonisation and local humanitarian leadership (LHL) is ensuring at least 25% of humanitarian funding is channelled to national and local NGOs, it is not always appropriate.
In most countries, there are state-mandated (or de-facto) authorities, such as utilities and government technical departments, responsible for the provision of WASH and health services. Especially in urban and peri-urban areas, these technical departments, and their related public or private service providers, are the natural partners for humanitarian WASH NGOs in enabling local leadership in humanitarian action for WASH outcomes, as they are the long-term service providers and authorities. When these actors are supported technically by Oxfam, they are more resilient and better equipped to respond quickly to disruptions in WASH and public health services during crises. Effective LHL in the WASH sector means strengthening these actors.
In many crises, these institutions are either not present, weak or overwhelmed, or don’t have the mandate, resources and/or desire to provide services, e.g. in refugee and IDP camps. In these contexts, gaps may be filled by civil society groups, faith based and non-government organisations and private sector, or not at all. All of these are potential local partners for Oxfam; however, knowledge, experience, professionalism, motives and capacity vary greatly, and it takes time to understand this. For an effective first phase WASH response in a rapid onset crisis planning with partners needs to start pre crisis.
The range of local partners is summarised in the table below:
| Government/State | Utilities | NGO/Civil Society/ Independent | Private Sector | Crisis Affected Population |
| Line ministries (Water, Health, Education). Local district/ County Gov’t, health centres, schools | Water & sanitation companies (mainly urban areas) | Local and national NGOs, faith-based organisations, Red Cross/Red Crescent, universities | Water vendors, sanitation providers, entrepreneurs | Water management committees, community health volunteers |
Protracted crises and longer-term WASH programmes enable partnerships to develop and present opportunities for innovation and research with local organisations including academic institutes. In Bangladesh, Oxfam partnered with University of Dhaka in its social architecture project to ensure user centred design for sanitation facilities and to model groundwater to quantify the sustainable resources in Cox’s Bazar region, which were being heavily exploited due the influx of refugees.
Crises Affected People at the Centre of Local Humanitarian Leadership
Across all Oxfam WASH programmes globally we work with affected populations and individuals and groups representing them, including but not limited to water management/WASH committees, community health volunteers (CHVs), schools, health centres, youth and women’s groups. These are grassroots representatives and organisations – some with legal recognition and registration and others more informal. Unlike local NGOs which typically require external donor funding and grants to sustain them, these groups often don’t, or they have other revenue streams independent of the aid sector. Although often not considered to be “partnerships”, these relationships if well managed and based on consultation and engagement, empower local people and are arguably the truest form of local humanitarian leadership. The “cash for water” (Somalia) and community grants (Ukraine) are examples of this.
The Mechanics of Partnership and the Most Appropriate Response
It takes time to develop partnerships both in terms of formal processes and developing a relationship of trust, respect, clarity of expectation, roles, responsibilities and ways of working. All Oxfam affiliates have their own formal mandatory processes, systems and procedures before a partnership can commence, or to activate an existing partnership. Undoubtedly some of these processes could be streamlined and Oxfam needs to adapt to fully embrace equitable partnerships, but for the foreseeable future, the procedural mechanics of partnership will continue to be a constraint to the timeliness of an Oxfam humanitarian response.
For protracted and recurrent crises there is time to develop and nurture partnerships during non-crisis periods. For example, in Kenya, Palestine, Indonesia and Philippines – Oxfam has established networks of local (NGO) partners experienced in humanitarian WASH programming that can swiftly respond to a crisis; but this is often not the case in other country programmes.
In several recent large scale humanitarian crises, e.g. Morocco, Turkiye, Mozambique, Oxfam had local partners, but neither Oxfam staff in country nor its partners had humanitarian or programmatic WASH experience. Similarly for Ukraine and associated response in Poland, without any prior Oxfam presence, to address short term humanitarian needs it was necessary for an international Oxfam surge team to initiate a response and manage activities directly and through contractual agreements with specialist private sector service providers.
An Oxfam response team needs to consider the uniqueness of each context and decide the most appropriate way of working and modality of response delivery which harnesses Oxfam’s technical in-house competence in humanitarian WASH and supports our partnership principles, without compromising the humanitarian imperative to deliver quality and timely access to WASH services, which can be lifesaving.
Often the scale of WASH needs and required response resulting from conflict or natural disaster is beyond what an Oxfam Country team and local organisations have previously ever experienced. This is why Oxfam’s Global Humanitarian WASH team exists. With 28 staff, 17 nationalities, each with 10-20 years or more experience in responding to humanitarian crises across the world, this diverse team can fill technical gaps and support or lead local teams to develop and implement an appropriate response. This might result in seconding and embedding experienced Oxfam staff into partner organisation to support and mentor during a transition and scale up involving new approaches, activities and increase in workload.
A Note of Caution
Partnering is an important approach for Oxfam, but not an end in itself. We will partner whenever possible and implement where necessary.[2] Designing and implementing high quality WASH responses requires qualified, specialised staff with proven experience in engineering, public health and community engagement. Not all organisations (some Oxfam teams included) possess, these skills. In some countries, the shift to working with partners has been accompanied by a reduction and downgrading of Oxfam WASH Staff, leading to situations where Oxfam has less WASH knowledge than the partner, begging the question besides funding what is the added value of Oxfam? Working in partnership, may result in Oxfam having a smaller team, but if anything requires higher calibre staff, especially if we wish to retain our reputation as a thought leader in humanitarian WASH. Teams lacking experience will deliver water and sanitation facilities that do not meet required standards, are based on previous responses or expediency[3], rather than critically analysing actual needs.
Humanitarian WASH needs are increasing at a time when the scale, scope and ambition of Oxfam’s own WASH programmes are reducing. Embracing partnership and LHL does not mean Oxfam shouldn’t be present and directly providing services to crisis affected populations. In contexts where local partners with a required level of WASH experience and capacity are not present or don’t have the ability to scale and reach needs, but Oxfam does, then Oxfam should directly deliver humanitarian assistance. This is fully in line with our organisation commitments. Equally in some crises, although humanitarian needs may be significant, it might be the case that other organisations are better placed to respond and there is limited added value in an Oxfam WASH response, once all the external factors have been considered.
The Future: Stronger Partnership and Local Humanitarian Leadership
Oxfam embraces partnership and local humanitarian leadership but is still learning how to optimise all the opportunities it presents and develop ways of working that both harness the global expertise and reputation Oxfam has developed over the past 50 years with the expertise, and knowledge of local organisations. Regardless of who Oxfam works with, the modality of implementation, and whether leading or supporting, to be part of high-quality humanitarian WASH interventions, Oxfam must retain qualified and experienced staff.
To ensure Oxfam has credible WASH partners in all active humanitarian countries requires resourcing and prioritising for preparedness and institutional strengthening. Regional WASH advisors and technical advisors and HSPs within the GHT are available to support efforts to strengthen local humanitarian leadership, but this must be led by Oxfam Country staff before and between, crises, by engaging with and providing appropriate technical support and institutional strengthening to enable local organisations and/or state-mandated authorities to provide resilient services, in the contexts where this is possible.
[1] Extracts from Oxfam Partnership Policies (OGB and OUS)
[2] Oxfam Humanitarian Dossier 2024
[3] NFI distributions, water trucking, hygiene promotion sessions can be essential interventions but where not well targeted and planned, they can equally have minimal impact in improving access to WASH and public health outcomes.