The power of citizen advocacy and Oxfam: Senator Markey co-sponsors food aid reform

This post originally appeared on an Oxfam staff bulletin. Written by Brian Rawson and Alexandria McMahon, it is edited slightly for posting here.

Anyone who works in advocacy knows that it’s nearly impossible to claim direct attribution for any good decision a Senator makes. But in the case of Senator Ed Markey’s decision September 10^th to co-sponsor the Food for Peace Reform act on September 10, we think we can at least give ourselves a hefty pat on the back!  The chatter among Oxfam staff is that the volunteer advocates of the Oxfam Action Corps, in particular our Boston group’s visit to his office on August 21, may have tipped the scale on this one.

If you’re not yet familiar with the Oxfam Action Corps, we are dedicated Oxfam supporters from a variety of professional backgrounds – teachers, nurses, naval veterans, scientists and more –  in 14 US cities. We volunteer to build our US constituency and advocate on Oxfam's issues before Congressional and corporate targets. 

On August 21, volunteers Sarah Lucey, Sapana Thomas, Bibhusha Karki, and Oxfam staffer Angela McIntosh pressed Markey’s staffperson to reform US food aid. They explained how the Food for Peace Reform Act, S.525, introduced by Senators Corker and Coons, will eliminate outdated provisions in the US Food for Peace program so that food aid will reach millions more hungry people each year more quickly and without costing an additional taxpayer dime. 

Sarah Lucey (left) and Vivian Daly lobbying at Senator Markey's office in June.

This was our third visit with Markey’s staff in 5 months, having lobbied his office in June on a foreign aid bill (pictured at left), and in Washington DC during the annual Action Corps training in April.
The Markey meeting was held as part of a summertime push for in-district meetings in coordination with Oxfam campaigns and policy staff. Action Corps has so far held or scheduled meetings with 21 offices in IA, IN, IL, MA, MD, NM, NY, VA, and WI (see pictures below) which are additional to meetings held by Oxfam staff in DC and in-district. Leadership and support for the national effort by Action Corps was provided by Ben Wiselogle of Oxfam Action Corps Seattle, a Navy veteran and grad student. (pictured below).

The summer push followed on the ninth annual training and lobby day in Washington, DC this past April, at which Oxfam Action Corps met with 51 Congressional offices on Capitol Hill.

There is a long way to go to convince Congress to pass such reform into law. A handful of Senators have co-sponsored so far, and others have expressed their willingness to vote in favor. (Notably, the previous co-sponsor was Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who did so back in April within 24 hours of the Action Corps lobbying him in his DC office during their annual training). We expect Congress to take its next step this month or in early October when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducts its markup of the legislation.  

We wish to thank Senator Markey and his fellow co-sponsors for the courage to co-sponsor S.525, the Food for Peace Reform Act, and for continuing to advocate for better, quicker food aid to people in the grips of a hunger crisis.

To voice your support for this bill, click Oxfam's e-action here: https://secure3.oxfamamerica.org/page/speakout/food_aid_reform_2015

   

Minnesota Oxfam Action Corps – Outside Senator Klobuchar’s office

New Mexico Oxfam Action Corps – At Senator Udall’s Office

Iowa Oxfam Action Corps – Outside Senator Ernst’s Office

Washington Oxfam Action Corps – At Representative Jim McDermott’s Office

Washington Oxfam Action Corps Ben Wiselogle with Representative DelBene

                                              

Planting seeds in drought-stricken El Salvador

In 1991 Oxfam staffer Brian Rawson first visited El Salvador as a 20-year old college student and accompanied a farmer's rights organization. This month, Brian returned to one of the communities he worked with, San Agustin, Usulutan. 

Note that this blog post is not related to Oxfam America projects, but rather one individual's visit to personal contacts.

On August 17 I threw my bag in a truck and headed east of the capital, past a number of volcanoes, and uphill along the pitted road to the town of San Agustin, Usulutan. Here I reunited with friends I had worked with during my first visit to El Salvador some 24 years ago. 

San Agustin remains a tranquil community despite the national surge in crime, thanks to its people and leadership. But the drought remains an urgent threat, as this season's corn harvest has dried up to nothing. (Pictured below is pasture for livestock.) Here, when people speak of climate change you hear the anger in their voices.

Daily you hear birdsong, the footsteps of cattle passing by, the clucking of hens and crowing of roosters.






The former mayor remains a pillar in the community (and behind him the patron saint)

The current mayor is raising funds for the youth soccer league and education program.

Credited with keeping gangs and crime at bay, the soccer field in the town square is always busy. There are nightly soccer tournaments in the town square. The missed shots hit the fence with a PRAP! and we jump out of our seats.

Such recreation is a distraction from the central worry that grips this town: the long-standing drought that has disrupted their farming cycles and ruined their crops. On a visit to one livestock cooperative, which decades ago was a coffee plantation of a US landowner, a rain-fed cistern was dry (below, left). One associate, Juan, spoke about how his coffee crop in the highland hills had failed to produce any fruit due to the drought and associated brushfires near his crop. (lower right)  Using the land as pasture for livestock presents a more resilient alternative.

On the weekend of my visit, news broke which had all the townspeople talking and stepping up onto pickup trucks bound for the nearby city of Usulutan: the national ministry of agriculture was set to distribute a second round of assistance to each household in the community. 

This second round of government assistance was highly unusual. Three months prior, there had already been distribution of one sack of corn seed and one sack of fertilizer to each household in San Agustin. In a typical year, that would have been the end of the annual assistance to the list of communities designated as being in extreme poverty. But the drought caused the corn plants to wither and stunted their growth and the corn harvest was lost. So the unprecedented news of a second round of fertilizer and seed - either corn or bean - had residents buzzing. Although one sack of seed only amounts to a fraction of what's needed for each family, it nonetheless gives farmers a little push, or "un empujoncito" in the words of a local resident, and could mean the difference between eating or going hungry.

Neighbors and family members checked in with Anita (below) a member of the local community development association, to verify that their household was listed to receive assistance.

So midday on this particular Sunday, truckloads of farmers - women and men - bounded down the hill in a festive mood. Beneath the laughter, though, remained the knowledge that the seeds' promise of food would only be delivered if the drought relented and rain fell. Thus each farmer faced an agonizing choice: to plant the crops now in hopes of rain, or to wait to plant later in anticipation of a wetter tomorrow?  

In this way climate change grips the town of San Agustin, disrupting seasonal patterns and upending the farming customs established over generations. All over the world similar farmers in similar towns are facing the same distressing options. My visit to San Agustin reminded me why our efforts to hold governments accountable are so urgent, and why in the lead-up to the COP21 climate talks we must urge governments to support the Green Climate Fund to build resiliency for the communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.  

You can take action by clicking this link  https://secure3.oxfamamerica.org/page/speakout/green-climate-fund-congress