Make Tax Fair: Strengthening Civil Society
The CRAFT project aims to make tax fair by strengthening civil society. Hereby achieving fair and pro-poor tax systems in the targeted countries.
The targeted countries are: Uganda, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana and Bangladesh.
The project will also support emerging CSO networks in Asia and the Middle East with training and research on fair taxation. Furthermore, CRAFT aims to facilitate mutual linking and learning between lead organizations based in the participating countries.
The CRAFT project has five intervention strategies to strengthen civil society:
1. Research
Building research capacity is vital to gain good insights in the tax justice dynamics. The project will research the existing taxation policy and practice, detect the underlying trends and formulate a vision on what pro-poor and fairer taxation should look like in each specific country. Although the common traits are very marked, the tax situation, the specific issues to address and the best strategy to address them do vary greatly between the participating countries. Thus a tailor-making approach is needed to set up a valid political and policy agenda on fair taxation.
2. Training
A diverse training program is developed to enhance subject-matter competence and to create a critical mass of activists with proper knowledge on tax revenue and strategic advocacy. The project will enhance the capacity within civil society organizations as well as in grassroots leadership and in media to profoundly understand what tax justice is all about and how civic awareness and advocacy can strategically be undertaken. It is based on a modular approach, for subject-matter specialists (tied to the research), trainers-of-trainers, campaign implementers and civic leaders.
3. Civic Education
Popular mobilization by means of targeted civic awareness campaigns. The aim of these campaigns is to provoke social pressure to change tax policies and practices wherever these are ineffective or unjust. The project influences public opinion through widespread awareness raising and mobilization.
4. Policy Advocacy
Engage in targeted advocacy campaigns, to change tax policies and practices. The project engages in political lobby with the state and builds national and international partnerships by participating in (global) networks and joint campaigns. The project also includes international actions and Oxfam campaigning on fiscal justice and progressive taxation. It liaises with international initiatives working on issues such as tax avoidance and tax competition and bi- and multilateral aid agencies targeting governments to build capacity in the tax authorities and judiciary.
5. Alliance Building
Alliance and coalition building to gain strength and synergy within civil society as agents of change, both within countries and linking up regionally and globally, and gain in learning capacity. Partners and allies will share lessons learned to act as policy partners of governments, using both insider (research based policy advocacy) and outsider (media, popular mobilization, and international pressure) strategies.