In Boston women are innovators in building a better food system that provides healthy and sustainable choices. Celebrate women’s achievements here and worldwide in changing the way we grow, eat, and share food so that everyone has enough to eat, always at a panel and dinner event this Saturday, March 10 at 6 PM at Northeastern University. Panelists include Anna Oloshuro Kalaita, Masaai farmer from Tanzania; Ashley Stanley, Founder, Lovin’ Spoonfuls Inc., Boston; Molly Anderson, College of the Atlantic, Partridge Chair in Food & Sustainable Agriculture Systems; Melanie Hardy, Farm Manager, Land’s Sake Farm, Weston; Keely Curliss, Youth Intern, The Food Project, Boston. The panel will be moderated by Jennifer Hashley, Director, New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, Tufts University. To RSVP contact hdasilva@oxfamamerica.org.
“Hunger and poverty affect women and men alike, but because women make up the majority of those living below the poverty line, they carry the heaviest burdens,” said Nancy Delaney, community engagement manager at Oxfam America. “While most of us think of hunger as lack of food, it is actually lack of power. We grow enough food to feed everyone, yet hundreds of millions of women continue to go hungry.”
Women produce a majority of the food in many developing countries, but they are often first to go hungry. Around the world 925 million people do not have enough food to eat, and women and young children are especially vulnerable.
In many poor countries, women are the ones who collect food, water and fuel, maintain the home and look after the children. When food is scarce, women often eat less so other family members can have enough. Most of these rural women rely on farming to earn a living. But although women produce most of the world’s food, they often lack access to vital resources, like a steady source of water or a market where they can sell their crops for a fair price. Climate change poses an added threat, with erratic rainfall and droughts that disrupt the growing season and risk further hunger. Meanwhile, women have fewer opportunities to learn new skills, access credit or find well paying jobs. Sixty six percent of the world’s nearly 800 million illiterate adults are women.
“Human rights are not contingent on gender, ethnicity or money in the bank,” said Delaney. “Human rights are fundamental and non-negotiable. In a world where there is still plenty of food, no one should go hungry no matter who she is and where she lives.”
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Oxfam’s Sisters on the Planet will deliver a letter to Members of Congress signed by more than 80 influential women, advocating for policies that support women farmers around the world, including reform to US food aid programs in the Farm Bill.
“Most people living below the poverty line are women, who face daily discrimination, hunger and inequality,” said Oxfam Ambassador Kristin Davis, who was awarded for her efforts to raise awareness and fight hunger in the developing world. “In my travels with Oxfam it has become clear to me that the best way to forge solutions and tackle hunger is to invest in women farmers who are the key agents of change in their communities,” said Davis.
Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, gave keynote remarks to the gathering and spoke about the importance of poverty fighting programs like President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative. Feed the Future gives women farmers the tools and opportunity to sustainably feed their own communities and escape poverty.
On International Women’s Day, the Sisters on the Planet will lobby Members of Congress to adopt reforms to the US food aid program in the Farm Bill that will end regulations, which prevent food aid from being purchased from women farmers in developing countries. This red tape costs lives and wastes hundreds of millions of dollars a year. They will also urge their leaders to support President Obama’s budget request for poverty fighting programs such as Feed the Future.
“In a time when we have enough food for everyone, it is completely unacceptable that approximately half a billion women still go hungry and lack access to basic resources like clean water, or markets where they can sell their crops at a fair price,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “Proven solutions are at our fingertips, it’s time for our elected officials to put them to work.”
Women farmers usually farm on small plots, are sometimes legally barred from owning land and rarely control the land they work. Many women are excluded from community decisions, only receive a fraction of the farming assistance offered to their male counterparts and often face violence in their daily lives. Investing in women farmers has been shown to be one of the most effective tools to solve these problems and fight poverty.
“Women farmers and pastoralists are forces for change around the world, helping to feed, educate and nurture their communities in the face of grave obstacles,” said Anna Oloshuro Okaro a farmer from Morogoro, Tanzania who also received Oxfam America's Women's Leadership Award. “If we raise the voices of women and ensure they have the resources and rights that they are due, anything is possible.”
\ENDS
Notes To Editors:
For pictures of Kristin Davis in Washington DC for International Women’s Day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfamamerica/sets/72157629534587523/
GETTY IMAGES: http://www.wireimage.com/search/#events?q=kristin%20davis%20oxfam/[140896205]&ep=1/60/1&s=3
http://www.wireimage.com/search/#events?q=kristin%20davis%20oxfam/[140896126]&ep=1/60/1&s=3
Download footage of Kristin Davis in Washington DC for International Women’s Day:
http://shotbyshiloh.com/2012_03_0%26_Kristin_SOP_Summit_.mov.zip
For pictures of Kristin Davis visiting the East African food crisis:
http://wordsandpictures.oxfam.org.uk/?c=9409&k=23836a20fc
For footage of Kristin Davis visiting the East African food crisis:
https://app.aframe.com/links/f50e908e43ad7db3670f0380ef75f0fb
]]>“Today’s Presidential Statement is a major step forward and should galvanize a new phase of consensual, coordinated and unified international efforts to help solve the humanitarian crisis unfolding in South Sudan and Sudan today. Tens of thousands of people have already been displaced into South Sudan and Ethiopia by the violence and many thousands more have been internally displaced within Sudan.
“For the sake of their people, the two countries must urgently resolve the outstanding issues, and commit to a genuine ceasefire. The international community must remind Sudan and South Sudan that despite their separation they will continue to rely on each other. We also need to see immediate freedom of movement for civilians out of conflict areas.” Surendrini Wijeyaratne a Humanitarian Policy Advisor with Oxfam International, said.
“However, while we welcome this important statement, it is regrettable that it took 8 months for the Council to recognize the severity of the situation in the area. When lives are at stake, timely and appropriate action is vital in helping to prevent crises from worsening,” she said.
In the briefing note, "A Shift in Focus – putting the interests of Somali people first", Oxfam said that at times international policies towards Somalia have been inconsistent, with support for state building and military interventions exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the country and undermining the international community’s own relief efforts.
“It is time for a new vision of engagement that meets Somalis’ immediate and future needs, while providing the space for a negotiated peace process that puts Somalia on the road to recovery. Those attending the London Somalia conference must seize this opportunity and help start the process to address the causes of the conflict in Somalia and put the interests and aspirations of the Somali people center stage,” said Oxfam America Senior Fellow Scott Paul.
The agency said the London conference is an opportunity to stake out a new approach to the country by shifting the emphasis away from security concerns and taking practical steps towards an inclusive political solution to the conflict and crisis. Sustained international aid is essential, both to save lives now and to help the Somali people rebuild their future, but to be effective this must be kept clearly separate from any political and security efforts.
Oxfam said that although responsibility for Somalia’s decades long crisis lies first and foremost with factions inside the country, international engagement has at times made matters worse. For many governments involved in Somalia current military action is seen as improving security and stability, both in neighboring countries and in Somalia itself, but reports from inside the country tell a different story.
Population tracking reports show that nearly half of the people displaced in January were fleeing insecurity, largely from areas seeing a return to armed conflict. Camps where civilians have sought refuge have been struck by warring factions on opposing sides, along with hospitals, a feeding center and more than one aid agency compound.
Aid agencies offering life-preserving assistance have also faced obstructions from warring factions on both sides of the conflict in trying to reach those in need.
“The US has a duty to promote adherence to international law by all parties to the war in Somalia – and although the US may not have influence with all armed factions within the country, it does have leverage to ensure that AU and TFG forces in Somalia and their allies comply with their legal obligations to protect civilians." Paul said. “The US must use that leverage.”
Oxfam said that the success of the London Somalia conference will be judged on whether it results in:
“Communities hit by the floods are enduring an exceptionally tough time, and the lukewarm response to the crisis isn’t helping. With funds drying up, millions will find it extremely hard to make it through the next few months. Donors and the government of Pakistan must step up their response immediately,” said Neva Khan, Oxfam’s Country Director in Pakistan.
In a report titled Pakistan floods emergency – Lessons from a continuing disaster, the organizations said that the combined efforts of Pakistani officials, donors, UN agencies, NGOs, Pakistanis citizens, and affected communities themselves had saved thousands of lives and provided vital assistance to millions of people. However, at least 2.5 million people are still living without basics such as food, water, shelter, sanitation, and healthcare, which has put them at serious risk of malnutrition, disease, and deepening poverty.
“The needs of the communities affected by the floods are still enormous with women, children, the elderly and disabled particularly vulnerable. The humanitarian community should continue to provide assistance so that flood-affected families not only meet their basic needs but can rebuild their lives,” said Áine Fay, Country Director for Concern Worldwide and Chair for Pakistan Humanitarian Forum.
The organizations said that long-term support is needed to ensure recovery of the affected communities. “People are still at risk with tens of thousands still displaced in the flood-affected areas while many have returned home to little or nothing. Communities must be strengthened and further funding is needed to assist them to restore their livelihoods and rebuild their lives,” said Lynn Hastings, Head of Office for OCHA Pakistan.
“Six months on, the crisis seems to have been forgotten by the international community,” said Naseer Memon, Chief Executive of Strengthening Participatory Organization. The 2011 Floods Rapid Response Plan launched by the UN on September 18 sought $357 million but remains less than 50 percent funded. A few donors, notably the European Commission and the United States, have responded generously, but the response from many others has been disappointing.
An estimated 43 percent of affected people are severely short of food. The organizations fear that this will increase malnutrition levels, which were already well above the emergency threshold in Sindh and Balochistan before the floods struck.
“Rates of malnutrition among women and children in the flood-affected districts continue to be at alarming levels. The floods have exposed and deepened a food crisis in Sindh that has resulted in malnutrition rates far worse than those in Sub-Saharan Africa," said David Wright, Country Director for Save the Children.
The floods have devastated local agriculture and hundreds of thousands of farmers are struggling to recover. One in four farmers missed the last planting season in November-December, either because their land was still submerged or they did not receive help in time. The April farming season is likely to be missed by many farmers too unless immediate action is taken to rehabilitate the fields and distribute seeds and tools required for farming. The organizations warned that the next disaster may be just a few months away and called on the government to intensify efforts to limit the impact of future disasters.
“Each flood, drought, and earthquake that Pakistan suffers pushes people even deeper into poverty and destitution. Pakistan must immediately strengthen its ability to deal with future disasters or the gains made though developments efforts would be lost year after year,” said Dr Fayaz Ahmad, Country Director for Islamic Relief Pakistan.
]]>Fourteen Members of Congress, including Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. José Serrano, ranking member of the Financial Services Subcommittee of House Appropriations, signed the letter to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro and the other SEC Commissioners.
Known as Section 1504 or the “Cardin-Lugar” provision of Dodd-Frank, the law requires oil, gas and mining companies to disclose the payments they make to host governments around the world for the exploration and extraction of oil and minerals. However, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and its oil company members such as Chevron, Exxon and Shell are fighting implementation of the law, threatening to sue the SEC, the regulatory agency responsible for issuing final rules, unless it withdraws its proposal and starts from scratch.
The letter comes the same week as international humanitarian organization Oxfam America and allies in the Publish What You Pay coalition launched a new campaign urging oil companies to stop lobbying to water down implementation the law that will help stem corruption in resource-rich countries. Oxfam America and other anti-poverty and financial transparency groups are supporting a six-figure advertising campaign calling on the oil industry to stop fighting transparency. The ads are running online in the Washington Post, Politico, Huffington Post and The Hill and in print in the Wall Street Journal.
The House letter follows a similar letter sent two weeks ago by senior Senators, including Senators Kerry, Leahy, Schumer, Cardin and Levin. The rulemaking for the Cardin-Lugar provision is long-delayed and the House letter says “we are also concerned that the Commission is far behind in meeting the statutory deadline of April 17, 2011” and that they are aware of oil industry efforts to press the SEC to “release a watered down rule that does not reflect the statutory language as well as the legislative intent of Section 1504.”
“We are pleased to see prominent Members of Congress stand up to big oil and tell the SEC that it has a strict mandate from the Dodd-Frank Act to follow the letter of the law and that it should not cave in to pressure from industry,” said Ian Gary, senior policy manager of Oxfam America’s oil, gas and mining program. “We urge the SEC to pay close attention to the House and Senate letters and issue a strong final rule quickly. The SEC must be accountable to Congress, investors and citizens who, now more than ever, expect strong financial transparency.”
The House letter highlights three areas where supporters are concerned the SEC might try to water down the tightly-drafted provision. First, the House letter, which includes Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, says that Section 1504 reporting requirements must be applicable to “all companies that raise capital in U.S. markets and report to the SEC, with no exemptions.” Some companies have complained that local secrecy laws would make it difficult to disclose payment information. While companies have not been able to show an example of such a law, the House letter emphasizes that such obstacles, if they exist, should not “be allowed to pre-empt US law.”
Second, the House members also emphasize that the project-level reporting required by Section 1504 should not be defined by the SEC in a way that would violate the statute. For example, an industry suggestion that “project” could be defined as all activities in a country would go against the statute and “therefore, payments should not be allowed to be reported only at an aggregate level.” Finally, the House letter, which includes eight members of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, says that “any inclusion of ‘materiality’ to limit payments or projects to be disclosed would be in violation of the statute.”
“It’s time for supporters of financial transparency, investor rights and good governance in resource-rich countries to make a stand and we are heartened by the House and Senate letters. The oil and gas industry loves to trumpet their support of international transparency initiatives and their tax contributions to the US government, but when a new law requires them to tell investors and the public exactly how much gets paid to whom around the world, they bring out the lobbyists and lawyers,” said Gary.
Investors representing more than $1.2 trillion in assets under management welcomed the law and draft rules the SEC issued in December 2010. The House notes the importance of strong implementation for investors. “We believe extractive industry revenue transparency will be of great value to investors as they assess the commercial, political and reputational risk faced by companies in often volatile locations… transparency of payments made to a government can help mitigate political and reputational risks and also allow shareholders to make better-informed assessments of opportunity costs, threats to corporate reputation, and a company’s dependence on such ventures.”
While the oil industry continues fighting transparency, some companies, such as Talisman Energy, Statoil, AngloGold Ashanti and Newmont Mining, are embracing it. They already disclose payments in every country of operation and in some cases they volunteer this information at a project level.
]]>Known as Section 1504 or the “Cardin-Lugar” provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the law requires oil, gas and mining companies to disclose the payments they make to host governments for the exploration and extraction of oil and minerals. However, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and its oil company members are fighting back, threatening to sue the SEC, the regulatory agency responsible for issuing final rules, unless it withdraws its proposal and starts from scratch.
“The SEC has a strict mandate from Congress to follow the letter of the law and should not cave in to those who don’t want to,” said Ian Gary, senior policy manager of Oxfam America’s oil, gas and mining program. ”Our campaign aims to send a strong message that we’re watching, and ready to fight back if the regulatory agency issues weak final rules.”
The campaign, which includes a number of activities, will kick off on Friday in Washington, DC in front of the SEC, where activists will depict the oil and gas industry’s wooing of the regulatory agency. Representing SEC commissioners and oil company executives, the activists will act out a number of scenes, including pillow fights, champagne toasts and snuggling to convey the message that they may be getting in bed together to undermine the law.
The activists will then head to Houston, Texas on February 16th to gather in front of the Chevron Building downtown. Dressed as the three wise monkeys embodying the principle “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” the action will shine a light on the yawning gap between the transparency rhetoric of the industry and the reality of their actions, which has never been more apparent until now.
“The oil and gas industry loves to trumpet their support of international transparency initiatives and their tax contributions to the US government, but when a new law requires them to tell the public exactly how much gets paid to whom around the world, they bring out the lobbyists and lawyers,” said Gary.
To coincide with these activities, Oxfam America, Global Witness and a number of organizations are supporting a six-figure advertising campaign calling on the oil industry to stop fighting transparency. The ads will begin running February 13th online in the Washington Post, Politico, Huffington Post and The Hill and in print in the Wall Street Journal.
While the oil industry continues fighting transparency, some companies, such as Talisman Energy, Statoil, AngloGold Ashanti and Newmont Mining, are embracing it. They already disclose payments in every country of operation and in some cases they volunteer this information at a project level. Some companies have complained that local laws might prevent them from disclosing this information, but companies have been unable to show the SEC a single example proving their argument.
In fact, investors representing more than $1.2 trillion in assets under management welcomed the law and draft rules the SEC issued in December 2010. Furthermore, outside the United States, the transparency movement continues to grow rapidly with the European Commission introducing a legislative proposal in October 2011. The legislative directive requires similar disclosures by oil, gas and mining companies. The European Parliament and Commission are likely to issue a final law later this year. Oil companies are also actively lobbying in Brussels to weaken the proposed legislation.
“It’s time to blow the whistle on the industry’s transparent hypocrisy,” said Gary. “For more than 1.5 billion people living on less than two dollars a day in resource-rich countries, there’s no time left to wait.”
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“This Valentine’s Day give a life-changing gift through Oxfam America Unwrapped,” said Stephanie Kurzina, vice president for development and communications at Oxfam America. “Favorites such as a dozen chicks or honey bees go a long way in fighting poverty and hunger around the world while giving you a unique way to show a loved one you care.”
Oxfam America’s Unwrapped catalog offers items that symbolically represent the organization’s lifesaving work, and each purchase is a contribution toward Oxfam’s many programs that help people living in poverty throughout the world.
Oxfam America is offering a selection of more than 70 gifts at a range of prices, including Valentine’s Day favorites such as goats, books for kids, or a grove of “miracle trees.” All gift contributions are general donations to support Oxfam America’s mission of fighting poverty, hunger and social injustice in over 90 countries around the world. Gifts are fully tax-deductible. For more information on how to gift better this holiday season, visit OxfamGifts.com.
Camera-ready art and Oxfam America spokespeople are available to the press.
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In a new report, Crises in a New World Order, Oxfam said that while governments’ and agencies’ response to emergencies has greatly improved it still remains ‘too little, too late’ and is often determined by the vagaries of media and political interest rather than level of human need.
“Coping with the expected strains on the humanitarian system will mean a shift from global to local. We are already seeing the center of humanitarian action moving away from the Western world to the local and the national but this move needs to accelerate.
International aid agencies cannot just pitch up, patch up and push-off, they also have to ensure that people and countries are better prepared to withstand future shocks. Having local organisations already on the ground that are primed to go will increase both the speed and the efficiency of the aid effort and ultimately will save more lives,” said Jane Cocking Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director.
This shift is vital as significant demands will be placed on the humanitarian system through the expected rise in the number of people exposed to disasters, the rising number of weather-related disasters and the failure to resolve conflicts adequately and turn round failed states.
Humanitarian work can be effective in an emergency but more emphasis should be placed on preventing crises from escalating. Not only would it save lives, but it would also save money. The UN estimated that in Niger in 2005 it cost $1 to save a malnourished child’s life. Once Niger’s food crisis was in full swing it cost $80.
Too little has been done to prevent and reduce the risk of disaster. Aid to programs that reduce the risk of disaster stood at only 0.5 per cent of total aid spending in 2009. National governments have committed themselves to this work by signing up to the international agreements on disaster risk reduction. While many have developed policies and legislation too little effective action has happened.
Bangladesh is an example of the importance of this work. In 1991 a cyclone struck Bangladesh killing an estimated 140,000 people. A similar sized cyclone hit the country in 2007 killing 3,406 people, still a high death toll but much reduced due in part to the government’s efforts at implementing early warnings and evacuating people to safety.
“Shifting more money to preventing and reducing the risk of disaster makes eminent sense but it does not mean taking it away from urgent humanitarian response. It is not the case of either or. We will still need the funds to immediately respond to dire human crises,” said Cocking.
This vision of a new humanitarian world is fraught with challenges. Ensuring the quality of aid and the principles that guide humanitarian action will not be easy.
Over the last two decades a great deal of effort has been done to lay down minimum standards and quality of humanitarian aid. National governments and local organisations will need a great deal of support, and in some cases encouragement, to adhere to these standards.
The more fundamental challenge will be upholding the principles of impartiality – aid based on need - and independence – aid free of political interest. Many Western donors tend to focus on their spheres of influence and interest which may not coincide always with meeting human need. Non-Western donors are now becoming more important funders of humanitarian operations. But they too have their own particular interests. For example the Arab and Muslim countries in 2011 gave generously to Somalia, Libya and Yemen. These decisions reflect political and cultural affinities but also raise questions of how aid is to be targeted to human need.
New entrants into the operations of humanitarian aid will pose challenges to impartiality and independence. The increased involvement of the private sector in supporting the aid effort is welcome and has many benefits but running aid programmes themselves will challenge humanitarian principles given that commercial interest sits uncomfortably with putting human need first and foremost.
Read the report here.
In the next stage of the CAO process, up to six months will be spent on clarifying the issues and concerns raised by the complainants and gathering information on how others involved see the situation. This will help the CAO and all relevant parties to determine whether and how they might be able to resolve the issues. The CAO will then publish a report containing its assessment of the situation, which will describe the proposed course of action that has been agreed by all.
Notes to editors:
Complaint letters were sent to the CAO from the affected communities in Kiboga and Mubende on December 20, outlining the adverse social impacts related to the NFC operations. Both Oxfam and the Uganda Land Alliance were co-signatories. To view the letters, visit: http://www.cao-ombudsman.org
]]>The report, A Dangerous Delay, says a culture of risk aversion caused a six month delay in the large-scale aid effort because humanitarian agencies and national governments were too slow to scale up their response to the crisis, and many donors wanted proof of a humanitarian catastrophe before acting to prevent one.
Sophisticated early warning systems first forecast a likely emergency as early as August 2010 but the full-scale response was not launched until July 2011 when malnutrition rates in parts of the region had gone far beyond the emergency threshold and there was high profile media coverage of the crisis.
Save the Children and Oxfam says more funding for food emergencies should be sought and released as soon as the crisis signs are clear, rather than the current system which funds large scale emergency work only when hunger levels have reached tipping-point – by this time lives have already been lost and the cost of the response is much greater. The agencies are calling on governments to overhaul their response to food crises, as laid out in the Charter to End Extreme Hunger, a document that has already received backing from key international figures.
"We all bear responsibility for this dangerous delay that cost lives in East Africa and need to learn the lessons of the late response,” said Oxfam’s Chief Executive Barbara Stocking. “It’s shocking that the poorest people are still bearing the brunt of a failure to respond swiftly and decisively. We know that acting early saves lives but collective risk aversion meant aid agencies were reluctant to spend money until they were certain there was a crisis."
"We can no longer allow this grotesque situation to continue; where the world knows an emergency is coming but ignores it until confronted with TV pictures of desperately malnourished children." said Save the Children's Chief Executive Justin Forsyth. “The warning signs were clear and with more money when it really mattered, the suffering of thousands of children would have been avoided. All governments should sign the Charter to End Extreme Hunger to help ensure a crisis like this can never happen again."
While some positive action by governments did take place – such as improved early warning systems and social protection schemes that meant families were given some early support – much more was needed across the region.
Although it is impossible to calculate exactly how many people died as a result of drought, the UK government estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 lives were lost between April and August 2011, more than half of them children under the age of five. Today, Somalia remains the most acute food crisis in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people still at risk.
Some early action did take place. But overall, the scale of crisis outstripped these efforts, and more costly interventions had to be taken at a later stage. Trucking five litres of water per day as a last resort lifesaving intervention to 80,000 people in Ethiopia costs more than $3 million for five months, compared to $900,000 to prepare water sources in the same area for an oncoming drought.
Across East Africa, providing early support to families to keep their animals healthy and markets functioning would have helped prevent soaring malnutrition rates, as hundreds of thousands lost their livelihoods when their livestock was wiped out by drought.
The report, which comes ahead of global meetings at Davos and the African Union, is a timely reminder that the international community must act fast to avert disaster in West Africa, where a looming food crisis threatens to affect millions of people. A recent Save the Children assessment in Niger shows families in the worst hit areas are already struggling with around one third less food, money and fuel than is necessary to survive.
Kofi Annan, Chair of the Africa Progress Panel said: “Achieving global food and nutrition security is the challenge of our time, and our success in alleviating widespread hunger will depend, in large part, on our ability to identify the early warning signs of food crises, and respond immediately and effectively.”
Further reforms to tackle hunger crises like the East Africa emergency are set out in the Charter to End Extreme Hunger, a joint-agency initiative, which urges governments to fulfil their responsibilities and take concrete steps to stop catastrophic food crises from happening again.
To read the report, go here.
In the report, Haiti: The Slow Road to Reconstruction-Two Years after the Earthquake, Oxfam called on the Government of Haiti to implement a comprehensive reconstruction plan to rebuild the country and rehouse the approximately 520,000 people still living under tarpaulins or in tents. It urges donors to disburse the funds they have pledged to the reconstruction effort and calls on the international community to strengthen the government’s capacity to effectively coordinate reconstruction.
Oxfam said that while the emergency relief effort following the earthquake was successful in saving countless lives and providing basic services to over a million people, much more needs to be done to meet Haitians’ long-term needs for housing, jobs, and basic services, such as education, water, and health care.
“With a new government in place and billions of aid dollars pledged, Haitians are left asking why there has not been more progress in rebuilding the country, ” said Oxfam’s country director in Haiti, Cecilia Millan. “The second anniversary of the devastating earthquake must be a call to action. Despite the apparent slowness of reconstruction, this remains an opportunity for Haiti´s political and economic elite to address the chronic poverty and inequality that has plagued the country since independence. Haiti must move forward not backward.”
Two years on, there has been some positive progress made on reconstruction. Nearly half of all earthquake rubble has been removed, accounting for 5 million cubic meters of debris. That is significantly faster than the rate of removal in past humanitarian crises in areas not as complex as urban Port-au-Prince. In a country where only an estimated five percent of roads were covered in hard-top before the earthquake, some 430 kilometers (26 miles) of roads have been constructed or rehabilitated since the earthquake, providing vital infrastructure for economic recovery.
Major problems remain however. More than half a million people are still living under tents and tarpaulins; most Haitians do not have running water, a toilet, or a access to a doctor; cholera has claimed thousands of lives and remains a major threat to public health and more than 70 percent of the workforce is under or unemployed – many of these are problems that existed for years before the earthquake.
The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) has made some progress on coordinating what reconstruction has been done, but little was achieved in bolstering the government’s ability to take critical, long term actions. With the mandate of the IHRC now expired, aid donors should support the creation of a national coordination body to take a strategic and collaborative role in reconstruction.
While Oxfam acknowledges that elections last year, followed by a political stand-off between the new president and parliament, have impeded progress on reconstruction, it calls on the new administration to take a strong leadership role and produce a comprehensive resettlement policy for those displaced by the earthquake with a clear timetable, as well as engaging more with Haitian civil society in the planning and management of reconstruction to ensure their priority needs are met.
Billions of dollars of aid were pledged for Haiti’s reconstruction, but promises of funding haven’t always been translated into money on the ground. According to the UN, as of the end of September 2011, donors had disbursed just 43 percent of the $4.6 billion that they pledged for reconstruction in 2010 and 2011.
With some 70 percent of the Government of Haiti’s budget coming from development assistance, donor support is essential if the new government is to deliver on its promises to tackle some of Haiti’s most pressing issues.
“Donors must honor their promises to Haiti and stay the course. We must not allow impatience with the slow pace of progress to stand in the way of much needed support to those who remain without access to basic services or opportunities for a secure future. We must work together and keep our long-term commitments to the Haitian people,” said Millan.
]]>A local American bank announced last week it will be necessary for it to cease its financial wiring services with “hawala” money transfer companies to Somalia because the risk of violating US counterterrorism financing regulations is too high. The bank is a major lifeline for Somalis and one of very few still offering this service. In the midst of the current famine, where more than 250,000 Somalis are on the brink of starvation, US-based Somali Diaspora face being left without any means to help their families survive through the current crisis.
Oxfam urges the U.S. government, the bank and hawala merchants, whose networks disperse funds from the Diaspora to families in Somalia, to work together to find a cooperative solution that will not disrupt or delay the transfer of assistance from the Diaspora to Somalia.
“It is estimated that $100 million in remittances goes to Somalia from the U.S. every year. This is the worst time for this service to stop. Any gaps with remittance flows in the middle of the famine could be disastrous,” Shannon Scribner, Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Policy Manager, said. “The U.S. government should give assurances to the bank that there will be no legal ramifications of providing this service to Somalis in need.”
“The 2011 famine in Somalia would have been far worse had it not been for the extraordinary mobilization of remittances sent by the Somali Diaspora to both their extended families and to local charities -- and all those remittances were sent through the hawala system,” Ken Menkhaus, Somalia expert and associate professor at Davidson College, said.
Over the long term the US government, US banks and hawalas should establish safe and legal mechanisms to ensure there are no further obstructions, doing due diligence to make sure money is received by families. “Through remittances, American Somalis provide a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people,” said Daniel Wordsworth, President of American Refugee Committee. “With famine and drought already impacting families throughout Somalia, the cessation of bank transfers will be devastating on a national scale.”
Oxfam’s partners providing lifesaving services in Somalia have already expressed concerns about the potential hold-up in US cash remittances into communities they are serving, where many are dependent on this source of money.
"My brother in USA used to send me US$100 at the end of every month. He doubled the cash for us after we got into this harsh drought and food prices started to increase dramatically five months ago. He called me a week ago and said he will be sending the last cash as the hawala might stop working. My family is relying 100 percent on that cash and if it stops, we have no option but to move to Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya", Habiba Abdi Ali, a mother of six children in Badhaadhe, Lower Juba, said.
American Refugee Committee currently provides aid on the ground in Mogadishu and is concerned that further financial pressure may force additional Somalis from their homes in search of assistance.
“Private institutions and actors trying to provide a safe and legal lifeline to help the people in Somalia should not have to forego the only means to do so for fear of prosecution,” Scribner said.
“The United States and the broader international community must prioritize the long term development of Somalia and the humanitarian agenda over the short term political agenda. Direct foreign investment in Somalia is very low and international aid efforts on their own are not enough. At a time when millions are in great need, it is critical that the flow of aid, including from the Diaspora, be protected and increased.” she added.
/ENDS
American Refugee Committee programs are built from the ground up. We work with people at the most vulnerable points in their lives, when they have lost everything to war or disaster. They let us know what they need most, and we work together to develop ways to help them get it. Our programs are as diverse as the people we serve, but they all work together for the same goal: to help people take back control of their lives. We have worked with refugees around the world for more than 30 years, and we help nearly 2.5 million people a year. We are partnering with the Somali Diaspora community to strengthen community in the U.S. while addressing the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. We are based in Minneapolis, MN. To learn more, visit www.ARCrelief.org.
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