Ruth Mhlanga from Oxfam presented for the Master's students
At Sustainability Day: Global Transitions, Ruth Mhlanga, Head of Private Sector Team at Oxfam, highlighted the urgent need for future business leaders to integrate sustainability and human rights across all operations. With global frameworks like the UNGPs and SDGs as a foundation, the session emphasized leadership, complexity, and the power of human-centered approaches to drive meaningful change.
What did you talk about during Sustainability Day: Global Transitions?r
- The importance of future business leaders who understand that sustainability needs to be integrated into business practice across the organization. That human rights are an obligation and not an option.
- The Importance of holistic understanding of business and human rights. The challenges are interconnected and indivisible.
- The importance of Business and Human Rights frameworks and global frameworks such as UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence. (MHREDD)
- Status report on development and on sustainability
- The complexity of the challenges ahead of us require policy and regulatory responses that are multi-level, multi-domain, multi-jurisdiction.
What do you hope the students will take away from the session?
- Human rights are not optional!
- Sustainability requires leadership that embraces complexity and policy and regulatory responses that are multi-level, multi-domain, multi-jurisdiction and highly technical
- The complexity does not mean impossible if you remember to be human (human rights first) the path forward is clear.
Tell us about your role at Oxfam!
My career choices have been driven by social impact. From working with an implementing partner of UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), Greenpeace to Oxfam. Even when I worked as Climate change campaigner, I very rarely talked about climate change instead of focused on impacts on people. Energy access, access to clean water, clean air, green decent jobs a just transition. This is largely because the bigger the problem the more abstract it may appear but day to day whether its climate change, gender equality or human rights more broadly it makes a difference to someone – this is what is important to remember.
I have spent 15 years working across, local, national, and international levels. My work has focused on the intersection of policy, corporate reform, and social justice. Essentially attempting to close the gap between the ambition of human rights frameworks like UNGPs, OECD Guidelines, ILO Conventions, Sustainable Development Goals,), corporate strategies and what this means for people living in poverty. I have led transformative campaigns like Behind the Barcodes Campaign advised CEOs, and built strategic alliances that push for gender equality, racial justice, decent work, and climate resilience.
My work has encompassed a range of activities like designing programmes, mentoring teams, or facilitating stakeholder dialogues. Working for international organisations has meant working with people from all around world I have had speaking opportunities from Tokyo , Nairobi , Brussels to Sao Paolo. The thread running through my work is a commitment to feminist principles, tackling structural injustices, advocating for human rights for all and working collaboratively to create a world where all people can thrive.