Message
MR. FRANK ELVEY
Programme Manager for Archipelagic Southeast Asia
Oxfam Hong Kong
Oxfam Hong Kong is happy to be able to support this subregional workshop of Homenet Southeast Asia. We regret that due to prior commitments we have been unable to send a representative to the workshop, but we are very pleased that some of our key local partner organizations have members attending.
Supporting home-based workers is an integral part of Oxfam Hong Kong’s efforts to reduce poverty, particularly in the area of Archipelagic Southeast Asia, covering the Philippines, Indonesia and Timor-Leste. It links with our priority support for livelihoods and security, which includes a focus on small producers, attention to issues of fair trade, lessening vulnerabilities so that people will be more resilient to crises, and concern for gender equity.
Oxfam Hong Kong recognizes homebased worker issues such as the need for legal recognition and some form of social security, the importance of promoting occupational health and safety, and the continued work needed to promote fair trade standards. We see organizing and networking among homebased workers as effective strategies for making progress on such issues. Organising and networking help ground advocacy and campaign work in the lives of those most affected, so that positions taken on policy matters are responsive to the changing contexts in which homebased workers have to struggle to support themselves and their families.
In view of the issues facing homebased workers, the focus of the workshop on fair trade standards and occupational safety and health to strengthen orgainising among homebased workers is appropriate. Oxfam Hong Kong hopes that the workshop will foster learning and exchange, especially on fair trade standards and occupational health and safety, and also increase solidarity and networking among the various organizations of homebased workers in the region. We encourage all participants in the workshop to share what they have experienced and learnt in their own countries for the benefit of all.
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