Fall 2007
Published: October 2007
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Publication Summary
Lasting solutions take time, and part of our challenge is to help find answers that anticipate future hardships--a broken pump, a refugee crisis--and allow people to prepare for them. Showing up with water or food addresses immediate problems but does nothing to improve things long-term. A water pump that can easily be repaired or a cereal bank that holds grain against future shortages is a different approach to meeting needs. It's an Oxfam approach--one that empowers local people by giving them control. In this issue of Exchange, we present two such success stories alongside two recent major campaign victories: the groundbreaking Starbucks case and a landmark win for indigenous Bolivians. All of these stories fulfill our desire for change and, in reality, all were or were part of long-term efforts.