Latest blog posts

Video: Which is it, transparency or darkness?

By Chris Hufstader from First Person. Published on May 22, 2013.

Big Oil companies say one thing in Sydney, do another in Washington.

Photo of the week: Inspiration for urban gardeners

By Coco McCabe from First Person. Published on May 21, 2013.

It’s planting season where I live north of Boston. I’ve never been very good at getting a garden to grow, which is why I was blown away when I walked through the gate into Harriet Nakabaale’s small city yard in Kampala, Uganda, a few weeks ago. She had planted just about every inch of it—and [...]

Loss of a leader in Ghana

By Chris Hufstader from First Person. Published on May 17, 2013.

Emelia Amoateng led a struggle for justice in a small town near a big gold mine.

With paper and pen, capturing a refugee’s reality

By Guest Blogger from First Person. Published on May 15, 2013.

After a visitor from Oxfam helped her tell her story, Reema, 12, has been writing poetry about her situation and her desire to return to Syria.

How are savings groups changing lives?

By Anna Kramer from First Person. Published on May 13, 2013.

A new study shows how having a safe place to save and borrow money can make a difference in rural Mali.

The girl whose face you’ll never see

By Guest Blogger from First Person. Published on May 09, 2013.

"We left because we were afraid of the bombings in Syria. When we saw the bombing of [our] school we thought they bombed all schools all over the world."

Public radio and Oxfam story shows what’s missing from Syria crisis coverage

By Maura Hart from First Person. Published on May 08, 2013.

We see headlines about the conflict in Syria on a daily basis—but something is missing from those news stories. Most cover the violence… bombings, chemical weapons, civilian deaths. But they rarely mention the families uprooted by the conflict. For more than 1.4 million Syrians, surviving the war has meant fleeing their country. They are now [...]

7 music artists who are taking Oxfam on tour this summer

By Bob Ferguson from First Person. Published on May 01, 2013.

The National, The Breeders, DJ Shadow, Ra Ra Riot, and more are helping to right the wrongs of poverty and injustice.

6.8 million people. Every one of them has a story.

By Elizabeth Stevens from First Person. Published on Apr 30, 2013.

Millions of Syrians urgently need humanitarian assistance. A new report finds that aid is failing to keep pace with the crisis.

Photos of the week: The children of Zaatari camp

By Elizabeth Stevens from First Person. Published on Apr 26, 2013.

2,500 to 3,000 refugees from Syria are now crossing into Jordan each day. Many of them are children.

Why the President should sign the Arms Trade Treaty

By Scott Stedjan from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 23, 2013.

Political will to support the treaty begins on June 3.

No accident: Resilience and the inequality of climate change and disaster risk

By Guest Blogger from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 21, 2013.

New Oxfam report shows how vulnerability is not a random twist of fate.

I went to Haiti too…

By Jennifer Lentfer from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 20, 2013.

Another aid worker’s view on aid effectiveness in Haiti

Simple and Effective: System of Rice Intensification in Vietnam

By Guest Blogger from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 16, 2013.

Local food production is essential to addressing global food challenges.

Salvadoran activist to DC policymakers: “We are on a journey together.”

By Jennifer Lentfer from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 16, 2013.

An interview with Sandra Carolina Ascencio, of the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining (La Mesa) in El Salvador.

Why US Farmers Should Take “Pride” in Reforming Food Aid

By Jim French from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 15, 2013.

A member of the Farm Bureau disagrees with its president.

Zambian Copper and a new “AIDs crisis”?

By Gawain Kripke from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 15, 2013.

New report says resource-rich countries under-performing when it comes to ending poverty.

Have DC changes in US government development aid policies affected practice on the ground?

By Gregory Adams from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 14, 2013.

Greg Adams discusses "A Quiet Renaissance in American Aid" on the Gates Foundation's Impatient Optimists blog.

Global bigwigs push back on big oil

By Ian Gary from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 10, 2013.

The chair of the Africa Progress Panel, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, has pushed back on an oil industry attack against the landmark US Dodd-Frank Act oil and mining payment disclosure provision. In an op-ed in today’s New York Times, Annan said the lawsuit launched by the American Petroleum Institute against the US Securities [...]

Mothers: A great return on investment

By Irit Tamir from The Politics of Poverty. Published on May 10, 2013.

Investing in women is the key to feeding the planet and to economic growth.