Oxfam’s Savings for Change (SfC) work in Cambodia has demonstrated that women face two critical barriers in reaching their economic empowerment goals: 1) social norms, including time poverty and heavy unpaid care burdens, and 2) illiteracy, which hampers women’s abilities to engage in income generating activities and capacity building. 

To address the first barrier, Oxfam is piloting the use of the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) with SfC groups. GALS is a community-led empowerment methodology that is used for individual life and livelihood planning; collective action and gender advocacy for change; and institutional awareness raising and changing power relationships with service providers, private sector stakeholders and government bodies. Oxfam is also considering interventions to address the second barrier, given that lack of basic literacy poses significant challenges to women’s engagement. 

Oxfam and its partners continue to test and innovate, calibrating SfC to best address the needs of its members and reach women’s economic empowerment (WEE) outcomes. The Notre Dame team examined the ongoing pilot in Cambodia. Before and after fieldwork, the team participated in preparations for two learning events – one targeting Southeast Asia and the socialization of Oxfam’s WEE Conceptual Framework (as Oxfam in Cambodia positions itself to serve as a WEE regional hub).

Oxfam has requested a comprehensive report:

• Evaluating Oxfam’s Gender Action Learning System (GALS), its impact on levels of intimate partner violence, and its scalability to the national level

• Assessing the viability of a multi-country program that would connect Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste under the WEE framework and guidelines