Water

Take action
Press
Publications
Research
Tools
Multimedia

Support effective, efficient aid programs – they save lives.: Right now, forty percent of the world’s population – more than 2.5 billion people – live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 per day. The persistence of global poverty poses a challenge to the security, prosperity and values of the United States. Cuts to the world's most vulnerable communities have real impacts. Tell Congress we won't stand by while they make cuts that will cost lives.
Host an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet® event: Raise awareness and help fund Oxfam's work by hosting a Hunger Banquet® in your community! Few experiences bring to life the inequalities in our world more powerfully than an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet® event. Organizers and participants alike can experience firsthand how our decisions affect others in the world.

More actions

G20 must put fight against poverty at the center of global economic reforms Nov 13, 2008 Global leaders must not squander historic opportunity for reform.
Bold leadership is needed to turn the tide of poverty Sep 22, 2008

More press

Oxfam Fact Sheet: Food Crisis in East Africa: Across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, a severe drought and food crisis have ensnared more than 13 million people. Get the facts and find out what you can do to help.
Pakistan Floods Fact Sheet: In the aftermath of the devastating floods, Oxfam and our partners have launched a rapid-relief effort to reach more than one million people with essential aid.
Haiti Progress Report 2010: Summary: Oxfam's relief operation in Haiti following the January 2010 quake has been one of the organization's largest and most complex efforts. This report summarizes our progress.
Earthquake in Haiti Fact Sheet: In the months following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Oxfam's urgent mission has been to help the people of Port-au-Prince, and beyond, meet their basic needs—not only to ensure their survival but to uphold their dignity.

More publications

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): The Road Forward for the U.S.: This paper outlines key recommendations on each of the eight MDGs that we strongly believe the U.S. Government should include in its promised plan.
People-centered resilience: Working with vulnerable farmers towards climate change adaptation and food security
Band aids and beyond: Oxfam calls for a shake-up in the way the world deals with food crises in Ethiopia and beyond.
The new adaptation marketplace: Climate change and opportunities for green economic growth
Why should water, sanitation, and hygiene advocates lead on aid reform?: AidNow series
Oxfam Impact April 2008: Where the ground remembers the rain
The World is Still Waiting: Broken G8 promises are costing millions of lives
Oxfam Impact June 2006: More than Water: Hope for the Future
Oxfam Impact Special Report: Oxfam in East Africa

More research

Oxfam Fact Sheet: Food Crisis in East Africa: Across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, a severe drought and food crisis have ensnared more than 13 million people. Get the facts and find out what you can do to help.
Fund-raising for Oxfam: Frequently asked questions: Your community-led efforts can provide essential support as Oxfam fights poverty and responds to disasters.
Menu of event ideas: Want to raise awareness about poverty and hunger? Find ideas for events you can host at your school, on campus, in your community, or or in the workplace.
Oxfam America organizing guide: From reaching out to your legislator to making your voice heard in the media, follow these tips to take action on the issues that move you.
Oxfam America House Party guide: Tools for hosting a high-impact event
Haiti Progress Report 2010: Summary: Oxfam's relief operation in Haiti following the January 2010 quake has been one of the organization's largest and most complex efforts. This report summarizes our progress.
Earthquake in Haiti Fact Sheet: In the months following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Oxfam's urgent mission has been to help the people of Port-au-Prince, and beyond, meet their basic needs—not only to ensure their survival but to uphold their dignity.
Pakistan Floods Fact Sheet: In the aftermath of the devastating floods, Oxfam and our partners have launched a rapid-relief effort to reach more than one million people with essential aid.

More tools for activists

A new way of life on the Dawa: Drought is making it difficult for herding families in southern Ethiopia to earn a living from their livestock. Some people have decided to try a new approach: irrigated farming. And they are tapping the Dawa river for water.
R4: The Rural Resilience Initiative: Oxfam America and the UN World Food Programme launched the R4 Rural Resilience Initiative to empower rural households with integrated risk management tools.
Bringing water to Dadaab: In the world's largest refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya, Oxfam is providing clean water to people displaced by drought and crisis.
Water in Tigray: A dam shortens the walk: In northern Ethiopia, women and children used to walk for hours to fetch water during the dry season. Now a new dam and lake near their homes has changed their lives.
Burkitu: a spring of life: In southern Ethiopia, a simple water delivery system has changed the lives of farmers and herders.
After the quake: Preventing disease: Oxfam has built latrines and bathing stalls, and provided basic necessities, such as soap and toothbrushes to thousands of people living temporarily in camps, and is extending these services to hundreds of thousands more at risk of cholera.
The New Pornographers for Oxfam's Gulf Coast Program: The New Pornographers and Oxfam collaborate to bring you their new video for the song "Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk," featuring local residents still reeling from the BP oil spill.
Oxfam Haiti cholera response: An inside look: Julie Schindall, media officer in Haiti, discusses Oxfam's public health work in response to the cholera outbreak in Haiti.
Hardest hit: Vietnam: In response to drought, communities grow drought-resistant crops, raise alternative livestock breeds, and use water from a new reservoir.
Hardest hit: Ethiopia: A women-led early warning system helps herding families in the southern part of the country find ways to cope with drought.

More multimedia

Features Subscribe | View All

As food crisis looms, the lean season hits early in northern Senegal

An Oxfam team assesses the conditions around a group of small villages where many of the food reserves are now exhausted.

Counting on the rain to continue--or weather insurance to help cover losses

For Ethiopian farmer Gidey Mehari, when the opportunity to buy weather insurance for his crops arose, he jumped at the chance.

Haiti: Reducing the risk of flooding in Artibonite

A local mayor enlists support from Oxfam to address major flooding in his community in rural Haiti.

Rain in drought-hit East Africa brings changing humanitarian needs

Despite the rain, and the relief it brings, emergency conditions will likely last well into 2012.

In the midst of famine, children survive with the help of Oxfam partner SAACID

Community therapeutic care centers across Somalia's capital are admitting more than 3,000 malnourished children every week.

Giving their lives to stop a gold mine in El Salvador

Award-winning environmental leader Francisco Pineda on the fight to protect his country's land and water--and the high price of victory.

Nine hectares of hope: an irrigation project promises better harvests for Ethiopian farmers

With the help of an Oxfam partner, local farmers have tapped well water to nourish their fields in the Central Rift Valley.

Where there's water, there's hope: Tapping the potential of a river in West Arsi

For more than 400 farmers along the Gurracho River, water now flows in abundance to their fields through a new irrigation system.

With insurance, loans, and confidence, this Ethiopian farmer builds her resilience

Selas Samson Biru is using her entrepreneurial spirit--and the security she has from her insurance--to build a more secure future for her family.

With irrigation, herders in southern Ethiopia turn to farming

A small-scale irrigation project along the banks of the Dawa River is helping some herders grow enough food to feed their families--even as drought ravages much of the southern Ethiopia region.

New life in the midst of Kenya's drought

An emergency cash transfer program helps more than 5,500 hard-hit families take control of their futures.

A feeding program in Somalia has helped more than 136,000 children and mothers

Supported by Oxfam, the center aims to treat acutely malnourished children and ensure they don't slip back into nutritional crisis.

East Africa drought and food crisis Q and A

The following is an interview with Michael Delaney, director of humanitarian response for Oxfam America.

In Hindeysa, Ethiopia, a well becomes a lifeline

In May 2011, Oxfam teamed up with local people to build a new water source for communities already feeling the effects of drought.

Oxfam's cash-for-work projects help rural Ethiopians get through drought

By constructing fences, trenches, and dams that protect pasture and farmland, some Ethiopians have been able to earn a steady income for weeks at a time.