What Oxfam is doing
As fighting continues to drive people from their homes in Darfur, we are providing aid - clean water, sanitation, small business trainings and loans, and more - to 340,000 civilians caught in the conflict.
“Oxfam America has the know-how and the right programmatic approach...[and] is a moving force of organization and sheer proficiency.”
--Andrew Pendleton, North Darfur Area Coordinator,
United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
last updated December 2011
Protecting health
Oxfam America is working with local Sudanese partners and community members to provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene programs to more than 260,000 people in the camps of Darfur. Our water engineers are helping maintain the wells, pumps, tanks, pipes, and taps that deliver treated water to the settlements, and our sanitation and public health staff are ensuring that camp residents have latrines, bathing areas, soap, water cans, and access to the information they need to stay healthy under challenging camp conditions.
Restoring incomes
Many people affected by the conflict no longer have the means to make a dignified living. Farmers who have been displaced from their land, herders who have lost their animals, and widows who are trying to raise children alone have a range of needs as they try to restore their incomes. Oxfam partners offer grants and small business grants and loans, as well as vocational training and assets like donkeys, donkey carts to many of the most vulnerable residents of the camps. In rural areas affected by the conflict, we are providing seeds, plows, and horse carts, as well as small business loans.
Supporting women
High-efficiency stoves can address an array of problems in Darfur. In a joint program with two partners, Oxfam America has supported local camp residents to assemble and distribute more than 9,000 stoves that are more than twice as efficient as traditional three-stone fireplaces. For the women who purchase their firewood in the market, the stoves reduce the cost of fuel and ease the heavy economic pressure on their families. But for those who must trek into the countryside to gather firewood, facing the risk of assault from armed bandits and militias, fuel-efficient stoves are even more critical.
Protecting the environment
Oxfam America's fuel-efficient stove program is helping protect Darfur’s fragile environment by reducing the need for firewood and charcoal.
Other environmental initiatives include planting and protecting tens of thousands of tree seedlings around camps and schools for displaced people.
Watch a video about Oxfam's work in Darfur.
Please give generously to Oxfam's Sudan Crisis Relief and Rehabilitation Fund.
“Oxfam America has an outstanding record of knowing how to...use their projects to build a platform toward peace and reconciliation.”
-Andrew Pendleton, UNOCHA
