Carlos Aguilar
Carlos is working with Oxfam on climate justice in Latin America. He considers that collective leadership and sharing experiences are key processes to make changes.
Location Brazil, LAC
Activity
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Work with others is a reponsability to effective participation in the decision making process. Otherwise we can generate frustration and conflicts
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@MichelleTredup Feminist Principles needs to be included in all the process. Agree with you Michelle
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Hello Colleagues, I would like to invite you to actively participate in this week 4 of our journey. We will be attentive to your comments
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Thanks Brandon, you provide an excellent case to illustrate how is important the particular conditions in each situation and how different techniques and perspectives could be useful for our targets
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Esteli Ruiz
Hola Esteli, bienvenida al curso.
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Nathaniel Luke
Thanks Nathaniel, this is the first step in the way...Welcome
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Hi Alexandra, the work with communities is a key element to generate sustainable transformations. I think if you have women's leadership, you have a powerful tool...
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Hi Colleagues, I am from Central America but living in Brazil and working on climate agenda.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Hi Colleagues and welcome to this version of the course. It is a pleasure to be connect in this journey. I am interesting to the nexus climate and inequality and support the networking process for learning and practical actions on this topic.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
During 2019 this issue of skills for change I intend to be a priority of our work in the country team and with our partners and allies. I also intend that as part of the balance we want to favor to avoid overloading equipment, we can introduce a pilot in the country. I am already working on this and I hope we have lessons in the first half of 2019 that we can...
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
excellent summary, I strongly agree with the need to take care of ourselves and others, so my proposal is to work in this line, we need Oxfam a little more measures to transform into a reality the ideal balance between work, commitment and life everyday
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Be open to change within our own ideas and beliefs. This seems fundamental to me not to frustrate ourselves in the face of difficulties.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Does anyone have this or something similar in Spanish, please?
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Helen Suddards
Hi Helen, I think your ambition is good, but some intermediate goals can help us better with the result we want to reach. That will strengthen your strategy but it will also open spaces for you to involve more actors in your actions of change.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Maintaining an attitude of humility is always a good step to be open to learning from our own weaknesses or assumptions.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I believe that the Polochic Campaign in Guatemala is a very good example: https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2013-04-24/government-guatemala-recognizes-three-commitments-communities
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
The actions try to attack an issue that is difficult to change: violence against women, mainly because we are talking about ideas and beliefs. Long-term work is needed Campaigns can be useful to impact on very specific issues but if we want long-term changes we need long-term actions to give sustainability to the changes. In this sense, I agree with those who...
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@UmairAhmad Hello Umair. You know that we have a campaign in Bolivia, and now we are doing a bit of what you say, we arrive at conclusions that ideas and beliefs have to be worked very close to the educational systems.
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It's a good idea, maybe you think of a public information campaign?
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I believe that life stories, emotional and that appeal to the possibility of better the lives of others and to be an active part. Also stories that deal with issues of injustice or violation of rights.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
My biggest learning is about the previous time, during and after the processes to understand the map of power. He is not a static thing and therefore requires more attention and care than we normally take for this. Also, I believe that we should reflect a little more on the question of personal and positional power, since both are closely related.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
One problem that I find in our strategies is that since we are almost always wanting to do several things at Oxfam at the same time. We actually spend very little time on these exercises in power and influence analysis. Many times they are made at the beginning but then there are no conditions to monitor their evolutions.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Sphere of control: My proposals and the spaces in Oxfam in Bolivia
Sphere of influence: Regional level of Oxfam and specific groups in oxfam like LOVE that Culture is discussing right now.
Sphere of concern: Oxfam Global Level -
Carlos Aguilar made a comment
To business sectors and we got it with a good analysis of power (where were the main interests of the group in question) and good information. Contacts were key and the understanding of the correct times to influence. The analysis of power was very important especially to know who we should convince to get to the rest of the people.
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Hi Em Be, patience is aproblem for me too. I think it requires a combination of deep understanding of the times and how they act in the process of change. It helps me to work with others and consider the flexibility for a better adaptation in the processes.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I think that commitment and responsibility are key characteristics. Also the testimony because it generates trust and legitimacy in working with others. Having an adequate knowledge is very important and difficult insofar as you do not always have control of all the elements.Maybe; I am strong, identifying a problem, its blockages and solution routes but I...
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
'Nothing about us without us' is a fantastic way to face the responsibility of our work. We have to be careful that we do not invite others once we believe and have everything organized and thought out. Our challenge in Oxfam is also how to build with others, who do not think the same as us but who could strengthen us in our strategies and who have a lot to...
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I'm thinking about the recent actions of women in Argentina. Although the legal formalization of abortion was not achieved, the movement moved forward in very important changes for the debate in society. I believe that women and particularly the organized movements have given us precious lessons on how to position an urgent debate in society and how to carry...
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Thanks Matt, I think you highlight very important things this week. I would only add the importance to take into account changing situations and complexity. That is, maintain an alert attitude to be able to adapt better to the changes that are happening in the environment.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
These elements are key to the effectiveness of our actions, it is not only trying to produce a change, but driving it to be the most widely beneficial and sustained over time. Good practices can also be key to other unplanned changes. The perspective of the systems also confronts us with the question of complexity and with the challenge that we must have to...
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
This video is a good sample of which concentrating in a situation and in a context is better to produce changes. An additional problem that I think we have in Oxfam is that we try to work in many contexts and many situations without having the control and capacities to take care of the details that are needed when producing the change.
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I believe that personal experiences are key to the reflection. Very good idea to use this video.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Power to is very important for my action , because I need capacities to influence others, to convince others that it is possible to be effective with a more balanced model of time dedicated to us and our families and work.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I think we have a great challenge today around Fake news and how they are used in electoral processes. The power of the big media and networks is significant but it no longer refers only to the facts, but to the creation of false "realities".
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Emma Holt
Thanks Emma, your reflection around the workshop process reminds me that having power also demands responsibility. It is very interesting how the use of power is strongly associated with the fact that we are aware of the implications this has for us and for the other people with whom we interact. Your experience helped me reflect on these facts.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I would like to strengthen my abilities to work the power to. This is key issue in our organization and in my position as country director. It is often perceived that I have a power over, but in my opinion in proactive and collective leadership is how to help distribute power.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I think it would be important to talk about the conscious or unconscious use of power. Even when we ignore the power, it does not disappear.
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Duncan Green
That is why I consider the debate on the use of power and not just its conceptual definition.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I think about the effective capacity to change or modify things, influence ideas or behaviors. I believe that everyone can exercise power in certain spaces and contexts. The discussion about the use of power is very important in my opinion.
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It is very important to be aware of the power that is posed and of what is needed to change something. Confusions in these levels can generate frustration or false expectations of change.
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Bianca Mellor
Hi Bianca. You know that there are already plastic bags that fall apart in contact with water. It is a first step to avoid pollution in rivers and oceans, but of course insufficient. We at Oxfam in Bolivia are promoting the use of cloth bags and reusable cups. In fact, our organization could do this and provide for all employees, what do you think?
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Isabel Marín
Excellent Isabel. Maybe to involve more colleagues in your office is a source of inspiration for your own interests. We are doing it in Oxfam in Bolivia and learning a lot from each other.
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Teresa Ruiz
Hi Teresa, I believe that education is very important, but it would also be worth focusing efforts on the corrupters and in this we have a challenge in the business world. Well, I think you've chosen a very important topic that Oxfam is somehow working on in the state capture topics.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I would like to contribute to a change in Oxfam's work culture. I believe that this is the basis of what we do and how we do it and we need to open ourselves to a more balanced space of time that we dedicate to the work of our organization and to the changes that we wish to provoke in society.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
The framework is useful to understand the part of informal issues but with weight in the process of change. This has been key for us since the process requires understanding very well the context in which social norms are produced and their diffusion among the young. At the same time, it allows us to identify the resources that young people need to face the...
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
In the case of Bolivia, it is a change that is sought in imaginaries, ideas and values. Longer term, as part of an ongoing process, that involved informal cultural norms, attitudes, values and behaviours.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
In fact I think I work in this sector from an experience that I had very young (teenager). When a hurricane threatened the Caribbean coast of my country and we had to mobilize the peasant, indigenous and black population. All in conditions of poverty and extreme vulnerability. I remember that the young people had to organize to face the people who arrived in...
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Carlos Aguilar replied to Carlos Aguilar
Thanks Isabel, I will try.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Many thanks for the sources. I also want to emphasize that Duncan Green's books are already in Spanish.
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Dear Thomas. I think it is a huge challenge that we are currently experiencing worldwide. It does not say as much about the virtues of dictatorships as about the weaknesses of western democracies. From my point of view, the question is: either we deepen democracy or the authoritarian past will continue to seem like an option for many citizens.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I think it is a mixture of individual and collective actions, the product of deliberate movements, with a clear intention to bring about changes at the personal and community levels.
In the case of Metoo there are people clearly harmed by the legal actions that are followed, and this is fine. Now, I would not confuse the actions with the transformations that... -
Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Change is a process and usually expresses social and political forces in dispute. We can promote a change but this only occurs when different actors enter the scene and promote the conditions for a situation to transform into another. Change is part of life in society, but perhaps we need to address more of the conditions by which we can induce positive...
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I believe the perspective of considering that change is not always a desired thing and therefore the role of agents of change is very important and how to influence that the changes benefit those who interest us.
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The change needs to be sustainable and generate guidelines for the next step, it is always a processes.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
Hi colleagues. I can bring my experience working with social movements particularly in Latin America. Working with an NGO is different, but I think it can be something complementary and in that I would like to work together with you.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I completed the survey, the map was not possible for me, Sorry.
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Carlos Aguilar made a comment
I believe that the change must start in each one of us. But only a personal change is not enough, so for me it is key how change occurs working in highly conflictive contexts and where we must incorporate as much as possible of movements and people. How to make a change that incorporates different visions and diverse proposals to improve the lives of people.
