Impact Evaluation of Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-CARE) Oxfam 2014-2023

Overview

The Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care: Evidence for Influencing (WE-Care) program, launched by Oxfam in 2014, set out to confront one of the most persistent and invisible barriers to gender equality: Unpaid Care and Domestic Work (UCDW). Over nearly a decade, the program sought to recognize, reduce, and redistribute the burden of care work that disproportionately falls on women and girls—limiting their opportunities, voice, and economic potential.

This impact evaluation, commissioned by Oxfam in Ethiopia, marks the conclusion of the program’s four-phase journey from 2014 to 2023. The primary aim is to assess the policy-level changes that can be attributed to WE-Care. It seeks to identify how the program’s evidence-based advocacy, strategic partnerships, and grassroots engagement contributed to shifts in public discourse, institutional practices, and government policy on unpaid care work.

The evaluation provides a critical reflection on how transformative change can be driven through policy engagement—paving the way for a more equitable future where women and girls have the time, choices, and support they need to thrive.