Program description:

The Oxfam Québec “Pouvoir Choisir / Power to Choose/ Poder Elegir” programme (2021–2028) works with young people and in 7 countries in Latin America, West Africa and the Middle East to strengthen access to sexual and reproductive health-rights (SRHR) services for adolescent girls and young women. It operates in three interconnected streams: empowering youth and building peer-solidarity; improving the quality and inclusivity of health services; and influencing policy and legal frameworks around SRHR. In Québec, the campaign includes participatory research, youth-led advocacy and public awareness-raising on SRHR issues through a diverse youth committee.

What we did:

Coached the Oxfam Québec Power to Choose team to develop a participatory, feminist-MEAL learning framework, guidance and toolkit to support young women and adolescent girls who live in vulnerable conditions and who experience marginalization to enjoy health-related human rights in 7 countries in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America. Together with the team and another consultancy colleague, co-developed an adaptable, utilization-focused, feminist-MEAL multi-country midterm learning review process that included an approach and methods package and complementary training materials that covered principles and elements of feminist-MEAL, how to increase voice and participation in evaluation, intersectionality in sampling and ethical considerations.

How we shifted practice:

Enhanced the capacity of the Oxfam Québec Power to Choose team to enhance the capacity of their country teams to apply feminist principles to their mid-term learning review process. Guidance included a feminist-MEAL self-reflection tool and other highly participatory tools and processes that could be adapted to each context.

How we shifted power:

Positioned country teams as the main harvesters of evaluation data. Strengthened capacity of country teams to facilitate highly participatory data collection and sensemaking processes.