NETWORKING AND ADVOCACY (NAA) TERM PAPER MAKE TRADE FAIR CAMPAIGN BY OXFAM INTERNATIONAL SUBMITTED TO: Prof. C. Shambu Prasad XIMB SUBMITTED BY: LG – 5 Dhirendra Pratap Singh (13) Ranjan Kumar Mishra (36) Saurabh Pandey (47) Sohil Bhatt (52) Sumit Gupta (54) PGDM – RM – II XAVIER INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, BHUBANESWAR PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com ABSTRACT The present study highlights the various hues of Networking and Advocacy as applied to campaigns which mobilizes people on an international scale. Make Trade Fair Campaign by Oxfam International is an attempt in this direction and has several success stories to its credit. It is commendable and surprising at the same time that small activities like, group emails, signed petitions, objects of daily use containing the messages, etc. can really make a difference in making the rules of the game turn in favour of the needy. When you speak out, people listen !! 1 PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com CONTENTS INRODUCTION……………………………………………………….. 1 MAKE TRADE FAIR CAMPAIGN…………………………………... 4 OXFAM IN INDIA……………………………………………………. 6 SOME ISSUES & PERSPECTIVES………………………………….. 8 BOOK REVIEW: ‘FAIR TRADE FOR ALL’………………………... 18 REFERENCES 2 PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com INTRODUCTION Oxfam International was founded in 1995, formed by the group of like-minded independent non-government organizations, who wanted to work together internationally to achieve greater impact in reducing poverty by their collective efforts. The name “Oxfam” comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain during the Second World War in 1942. The thirteen Oxfam organizations are based in: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Quebec, Spain and the United States. A small Oxfam International secretariat is based in Oxford, UK, and the secretariat runs advocacy offices in Washington DC, New York, Brussels and Geneva. Oxfam undertakes popular campaigning, alliance building and media work designed to raise awareness among the public of solutions to global poverty, to enable and motivate people to play an active part in the movement for change, and to foster a sense of global citizenship. The Global Call to Action against Poverty is a worldwide alliance committed to making world leaders live up to their promises, and to making a breakthrough on poverty. Oxfam's Make Trade Fair Campaign is part of this global movement for change - working with others to demand trade justice so that trade can be part of the solution to poverty - not part of the problem. Oxfam Trust in India is part of Oxfam International. Indian Oxfam was established by Oxfam International as India has the development experience and growing economy to solve its own development problems in India as well as other parts of the world. Oxfam Trust will define and articulate Indian perspectives on poverty and development. Oxfam Trust was set up to support initiatives in advocacy and provide a platform for grassroots Indian NGOs to bring the grassroots issues to the national and international level. This would counterbalance the international development scene, which is currently dominated by Northern NGOs. India has a sophisticated, sensitive and 3 PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com generous middle class with ample resources for development and advocacy work. Oxfam Trust raises funds in India to have greater flexibility in its programs and fulfill its belief that India can resolve its own development problems. MAKE TRADE FAIR CAMPAIGN Trade is one of the most powerful forces linking our lives, and a source of unprecedented wealth. Yet the benefits are not being shared by all: millions of the world's people are being left behind. The Make Trade Fair campaign is a growing international movement, which fights for producers in poor countries to get a fair deal. However, Fair Trade alone cannot address the crisis faced by millions of small-scale farmers and producers whose livelihoods are threatened by low commodity prices and unfair competition from rich countries. This can only be achieved by changing the unfair rules of world trade and certain policy reforms in the domestic level. Campaign Proposition n International trade has the potential to eliminate extreme poverty but rigged rules & double standards of trade is widening the gap between rich & poor. Oxfam wants to make trade fair by calling for an end to unfair trade rules Campaign Objectives n Market access n Subsidies n Patents n Commodity prices n Pro-poor national and regional trade policies n WTO reform n Companies respect the rights of workers 4 PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com HOME WEB PAGE OF WEBSITE: www.maketradefair.com Several issues which goes against the interests of the producers/ stakeholders world wide is addressed and momentum is made to make an impact. One such issue is of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis launched a legal battle to challenge India’s right to produce cheap, generic versions of medicines, half a million people - including 80,000 Oxfam supporters - voiced their opposition. And it has worked! Millions of people living in poverty depend on affordable medicines made in India. In 2006, Novartis launched a court case against India, which could have made this grim prospect a terrible reality for millions of poor people. India is the ‘ pharmacy of the developing world’. Millions of people living in poverty around the world depend on Indian generic medicines for their survival. Novartis’ legal challenge - mounted to limit competition to its own patented medicines - was a threat to people suffering from cancer, HIV and AIDS, diabetes and other diseases who are too poor to pay for them. Half a million people around the world supported India’s right to produce affordable medicines. More than 80,000 Oxfam supporters voiced their opposition by sending emails to the CEO of Novartis. The support and attention raised this from 5 PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com a technical issue, to one of global and moral significance. With this decision to put patients’ rights first, India has set the course for other poor countries to stand firm under pressure from multinational drugs companies. It’s also good news that Novartis has decided not to appeal the case. Copy of Email sent by Oxfam supporters and million others: Dear Dr. Daniel Vasella, Novartis CEO, I am concerned that Novartis’s actions in India contradict its stated commitment to “conscientious global citizenship”. In the interest of public health and in order for medicines to be available and affordable for people in India and worldwide, I urge Novartis to: 1. Withdraw the appeal against the Indian Patent Office on the cancer medicine Glivec®/Gleevec®; 2. Withdraw the legal case it is pursuing seeking changes to the Indian Patent Law; 3. Publicly commit to the right of developing countries to provide cheaper medicines in the interests of public health. I look forward to hearing from you. OXFAM IN INDIA Lucky Ali campaigns for Make Trade Fair A farmer adds her little voice to the Big Noise A farmers’ mission to seek a trade balance Rural protestors adopt a global view Drum and Ravana symbolise evils of Global trade Hundreds of farmers from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra travelled hundreds of kilometres to raise slogans and bear placards. They wanted to convince visiting WTO head Pascal Lamy to put their grievances on 6 PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com farming on the global trade agenda that Mr Lamy was aiming to get India to endorse. Their slogan-raising was accompanied to the tune of the beats of huge drums played by musician and Make Trade Fair envoy Lucky Ali. Together, they made a big noise, which signified the cries of millions of small and marginal producers, left to fend for themselves. The ten-headed puppet of demon king Ravana that they carried with them, symbolised a G-8 nation each. Representing the Make Trade Fair campaign Lucky Ali met Pascal Lamy and urged the WTO to be sensitive towards the plight of the millions of Indian farmers. He said that the "human face" mustn't be lost in these WTO talks and Lamy, as the head of WTO, should take into account the worsening conditions of Indian men and women who have a 7000-year old dependence on agriculture. Responding to Lucky Ali, Lamy said, “Farmers need to negotiate better and strengthen their voices so that trade is fairer. How do you do that? You sit around the table and talk. The WTO is that platform. If you like what you are being offered you take it and if you don't, you reject it." Why, Kishan Bai, a campaigner, wanted to know, was that she and her farmer-friends, were not inside the seminar hall to add their inputs to a topic that so obviously concerns their livelihood. She said, “From the big players, at the nation-to-nation level, to the small, at the level of marginalised farmers, this campaign seeks to bind all farmers in a network where everyone can make their presence felt.” Kishan Bai was happy that Mr Lamy heard her. BABY’S DAY OUT WITH FAIR TRADE On May 12, 2007, Oxfam International’s Make Trade Fair campaign celebrated World Fair Trade Day by engaging in activities focused on promoting the fair trade movement. World Fair Trade Day, which is celebrated on the second Saturday of May, is the world’s annual celebration of fair trade. 7 PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com This year’s theme for WFT Day was Kids Need Fair Trade. The condition of children in developing countries presents a gloomy picture.