Don't cut aid. It's working.

Cutting aid won't solve our budget problems--but it will close the door on a safer world and a better future.

American poverty-fighting assistance saves lives and helps millions of people create a sound future for their nations and their neighborhoods.

And all for less than 1% of the federal budget.

 

- Martha Kwataine is leveraging a tiny investment of US foreign aid to protect the health of people in rural communities across Malawi. Click here to read more or download briefing note. Also see Martha Kwataine on The Hill's Congress Blog: Foreign Aid: A Beltway Outsider Perspective.

- Alexis Nkurunziza is leveraging a tiny investment of US foreign aid to open up budgets in Rwanda. Click here to read more or download briefing note.

Aid Heroes Combined 2

- Majeda Begum Shiru is leveraging a tiny investment of US foreign aid to enable women to speak powerfully to improve health and education in Bangladesh. Click here to read more or download briefing note.

- Tanzanian farmer Emiliana Aligaesha is leveraging a tiny investment of US foreign aid to ensure the success of an early-stage, high-potential start-up. Click here to read more or download briefing note.

- Village Chief Kojo Kondua IV is leveraging a tiny investment of US foreign aid to train fishermen and protect jobs and the environment in Abuesi, Ghana. Click here to read more or download briefing note.

- Mayor Manuel Dominguez is leveraging a tiny investment of US foreign aid to budget for a sound future for his community in the Peruvian Amazon. Click here to read more or download briefing note.

...and many more stories to come!

Take action.

Oxfam America is working to deepen the US government's commitment to making poverty-reducing foreign aid more effective. We can't afford to let Congress duck their responsibilities and that's why we need your voice right now.

» » » Click here to tell Congress: Don't cut effective, poverty-reducing foreign aid.

Join us in person.

Interested in hearing these stories in person? Oxfam America is partnering with Dining for Women to spread the word on effective aid. Dining for Women chapters across the country are discussing Martha, Emiliana, and Majeda's stories at their chapter meetings. To join, find a Dining for Women chapter near you. Look out for events in New York, and Texas in May by following the Dining for Women and Oxfam America event calendars. We hope you can join us!

Learn more about making foreign aid more effective.

What others are saying about Oxfam's campaign for effective aid

Note: Oxfam America does not take US federal funds, but we do support effective development programs.

Document Actions
New report: A quiet renaissance in US aid
Current US reform efforts intend to allow countries to lead in their own development. Oxfam’s inquiry shows that local development leaders are noticing—and valuing the change. However, the US government must accelerate and deepen these reforms if it hopes to meet the expectations of people in developing countries.
Click here to read.
Get the facts about aid

Americans repeatedly overestimate how much money the US government spends on foreign aid.

In fact, the entire international affairs budget—which includes diplomacy and development—is only about 1% of the federal budget.

Learn more in Oxfam's quick and easy guide to understanding US foreign aid by clicking below.

Foreign Aid 101
Slideshow: People are the solution to poverty
Effective foreign aid is an investment in change leaders like Nana Kojo Kondua IV, Emiliana Aligaesha, Manuel Dominguez, and Martha Kwataine.
Learn more about their work.
What are people saying?
Some reactions to Oxfam America's new campaign via Twitter.
What's the buzz?
Countries, Schmuntries
America’s most powerful allies are real people.
Read this Politics of Poverty blog post.
Coming to a billboard near you: A very different portrayal of aid
Few Americans would disagree that our aim in foreign assistance must be to help people help themselves. The four people in Oxfam’s ads demonstrate that this can work.
Read this First Person blog post.
Press Release: Novel ad campaign urges no cuts to poverty-fighting foreign assistance
Jan 15 - Aggressive ad buy in Washington reveals a different take on Beltway Buzzwords
Read more.