Research & reports

Making Investments in Poor Farmers Pay

mborum — 2011-06-08T14:57:38Z

This research paper is one of several prepared as background to an Oxfam International briefing paper on public investments in agriculture, written to support the agricultural campaign of Oxfam International and affiliates. The paper is motivated by the concern that despite growth in agricultural productivity over the past century, many of the developing world’s farmers continue to live in poverty, particularly in areas that are marginal in terms of either agricultural potential, access to markets, or both.

For decades, economists have debated whether or not more should be invested in agricultural research and development in marginal areas. The paper begins by summarizing this debate, concluding that it is narrow and off-center of Oxfam’s campaign. Rates of return to investments in agricultural research are good enough in marginal areas, although they may be higher in other sectors such as infrastructure, and they are lower than in more favored areas.

The economic reason for investing in agricultural research and development for marginal areas is that doing so reduces poverty, contributes to sustaining the environment, and benefits not only these farmers but the rest of the world—in a number of ways. There are also moral arguments, well-known to Oxfam.

The Cost of War

mhart — 2010-02-22T18:01:39Z

Afghan experiences of conflict, 1978-2009

Exposed: Social vulnerability and climate change in the US Southeast

mborum — 2011-06-09T18:34:10Z

The effects of natural disasters and climate change vary widely by state, county, and community. Although social variables such as income and age do not determine who will be hit by a natural disaster, they do determine a population's ability to prepare, respond, and recover when disaster does strike.

Historically, studies about climate hazards and social vulnerability have been conducted in separate silos. The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) is the first study of its kind to examine both the potential impact of natural hazards and which populations are most likely to be negatively affected. The SoVI statistically examines the underlying social and demographic characteristics of the population and how they impact certain segments of the population in disabling ways when it comes to climate change-related hazards.

This research, commissioned by Oxfam America, includes a series of layered maps that depict social and climate change-related hazard vulnerability. The maps assist in identifying hotspots in the US Southeast, which are at significant risk in the face of four particular climate change-related hazards: drought, flooding, hurricane force winds, and sea-level rise.

The specific region of focus is the 13-state region of the US Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Roughly 80 percent of all US counties that experience persistent poverty (defined as a county in which at least 20 percent of the population experiences poverty for three decades or more) lie in this region.

For more details and to view interactive maps, visit oxfamamerica.org/adapt.

Adapting to climate change

akramer — 2009-09-30T21:35:57Z

In both the US and developing countries, poor communities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Investments that reduce the climate vulnerability of these communities can help reduce the adverse consequences of climate change for people while at the same time lowering avoidable expenditures on crisis management, enhancing national security, and creating job opportunities both here and abroad. Making such investments is in our best interest even during a time of economic hardship.

Ownership in practice: The key to smart development

chufstader — 2011-07-13T16:54:43Z

Aid cannot generate enough market access or sufficient growth to tackle a country’s poverty on its own. Nor can it forge a compact between a citizen and her state. But the way that countries deliver foreign aid can strengthen or weaken that compact. At its best, aid strengthens public accountability, complements government revenues in providing public goods, and supports citizen efforts to hold governments accountable.

A Portrait of Louisiana

mborum — 2009-09-21T15:50:58Z

Louisiana has great success stories to tell—from its maturing status as the most prepared region in the country, to the burgeoning class of solution-minded innovators and social entrepreneurs, to the renaissance of civic participation that promises to stoke long-term improvements. The state has below-average unemployment rates, in part due to significant stimulus and recovery dollars winding their way through the state, and has been recognized as Co-State of the Year by a business development group for its "vibrant economy." We must build on these successes.

However, we must also soberly assess the challenges yet before Louisiana. This report paints an often troubling picture of long-standing human disparities, some of which have been exacerbated by natural/man-allowed disaster and the global economic crisis. The report's Human Development (HD) Index is a user-friendly method of comparing the condition of communities. This analysis has great potential to guide policy-making processes and to support data-driven thinking that moves beyond the assumptions of historical parochialism.

This report was developed by the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF) in partnership with Oxfam America and other organizations committed to fully recovering the lives of Gulf Coast citizens.

Field report from Cambodia

mborum — 2009-06-24T19:35:11Z

Oxfam America went to Cambodia to meet those working with US development dollars to understand the impact of those dollars on the ground. In this report, we present reflections from 40 interviews in October 2008 with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) country mission, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), multilateral and bilateral donors, international and Cambodian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), contractors, research institutions, and various community members.

Building Common Ground

mborum — 2009-06-16T21:00:58Z

Key findings from Dr. Silas Lee & Associates' survey of African-American and Latino residents in New Orleans, commissioned by Oxfam America, September 2008.

Much has been written about the relationship between African-Americans and Latinos and the tensions that arose when they were forced to compete for the same limited resources in a post-Katrina New Orleans. But little is known about what the two groups have in common—and how those shared experiences, attitudes, and goals could bring them together to help rebuild their community.

In late 2008, Oxfam America commissioned Bright Moments, who subcontracted with Dr. Silas Lee & Associates, to conduct a survey of the racial attitudes of African-Americans and Latinos living in New Orleans. "Building Common Ground" is a summary of those findings. The purpose of the survey was to measure how African-Americans and Latinos rated the quality of their lives, race relations with each other, experiences with discrimination, perceptions of each other, support for an African-American and Latino alliance, and effective strategies for such alliances.

The results reveal that the majority of African-Americans and Latinos agreed that they face similar issues of discrimination3 and agreed that it's important for their two groups to put aside their differences and work on overcoming those issues. It is on this common ground that we seek to build.

This publication is available in English and Spanish.

One Year On

mborum — 2009-05-13T18:10:32Z

On May 12, 2008, the worst earthquake to hit China in 50 years destroyed lives and livelihoods in western China. Centered on Wenchuan in Sichuan Province, it also seriously affected people in the neighboring provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi.

Oxfam Hong Kong responded with relief work in the first few months following the disaster, bringing relief supplies to 125 impoverished communities and getting children back into safe, temporary schools. As of March 31, 2009, we have worked alongside 20 organizations in 3 provinces, supporting about 700,000 people as they rebuild their communities; allocation for these 37 relief and reconstruction projects total over HK$33 million.

One year on from that terrible morning, the relief phase is over. As a poverty-relief agency, Oxfam's task is not only to help lives return to normal, but to improve economic well-being and permanently reduce people's vulnerability to future natural disasters. In this task, Oxfam's priority is to assist the poorest and most marginalized survivors of the disaster: women, children, the elderly and ethnic minorities.

The White Oak Recommendations on Effective Global Development in the US National Interest

mborum — 2009-06-30T22:22:01Z

On March 20-22nd, 2009, more than 40 senior professionals from the US development, defense, and diplomatic communities gathered at the Howard Gilman foundation's White Oak Conference Center in Florida to discuss how to make US global development efforts more effective, both as an independent goal of US foreign policy and as a means of achieving other defense and diplomatic goals. Following are the broad points of consensus.

The Right to Survive

mborum — 2011-06-09T20:00:59Z

UPDATE: April 2011

This note is to briefly explain why Oxfam has revised its view of its 2009 forecast of a likely rise in the number of people affected by climate-related disasters.

Two years ago Oxfam did an analysis of the number of people affected by past climate-related events. From this analysis we made a forecast that by 2015 it was likely that the average annual number of people affected by climate-related disasters would be 375 million and this represented an increase of 54 per cent compared with the average figure of the decade 1998-2007.

Having reviewed the data and the method we used to analyse the data we are no longer confident in the specific approach we used, given the nature of the data, as described below, and so we are no longer confident of this specific forecast.

Our concerns are essentially two-fold: the limitations of the data and the limitations of the way we analysed the data.

The limitations of the data: The data we used was from EM-DAT, the international disaster database managed by CRED, the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. This is a respected set of data which captures, amongst other things, the number of disasters that has happened and the number of people affected.

Like most sets of data it has its limitations. In EM-DAT’s case one of the key limitations is that the more recent data is more reliable. This was well known to us and we dealt with this in our analysis by using double exponential smoothing on the data (see the explanation of how we carried out the analysis and catered for the data’s limitation).

However one limitation we did not know at the time and have only recently discovered is that the number of people affected by climate-related disasters in China is unusually low in first half of the 1980s when compared with subsequent years. It is highly likely that this is the result of under reporting from China. Given the size of China’s population its disaster figures are significant when considering the global picture. The likely impact of this on our forecast may mean that we started our analysis with data from 1980 that was likely to be unreasonably low and therefore made our projected increase in the number of people affected artificially high.

We now know that there has been a significant increase in reporting from many other countries over the same period due to better information and communication.

Limitations of our analysis: Though we were clear in our explanation of the way we came to our conclusion that “different forecasting models could lead to different results,” what we should have done, particularly given the high volatility of the data especially in 2002, was run these different models to help determine the degree of confidence in the conclusion we came to.

It does not mean though that there will not be an increase in the numbers of people affected by disasters in the future. There is evidence to point to this likelihood.

According to EM-DAT the number of climate-related disasters has increased by 35 per cent from the 1990s to the 2000s. Floods have increased by 50 per cent over the same period. Munich Re’s database of global disasters also shows an increasing trend in climate-related events. It is not possible to know how much of this is an increase in events or better reporting of events and neither can we assume that an increase in events will lead to an equal increase in numbers affected.

Population growth means that there is a likelihood of more people being affected by climate-related events.

The number of people exposed to some climate-related events is also on the increase. According to the forthcoming United Nations Global Assessment Report 2011 the number of people exposed to floods and cyclones has doubled between 1970 and 2010. It is likely that many people who are ‘exposed’ to hazards are not affected due to measures that protect them, such as flood defences for example. However in many vulnerable countries investment and efforts to reduce significantly the risk of disasters is sorely lacking leaving millions exposed and likely to be affected by disasters.

Finally as the effects of climate change become more apparent there are more frequent and more intense climate-related events according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report.

Oxfam is in the process of further research into the number of people affected by climate-related events and will be publishing the results of this research in due course.

Failing the Cardozo test

mborum — 2010-01-21T16:24:25Z

If the US wants to modernize its efforts to foster a more stable, prosperous, and democratic world, it needs new foreign assistance legislation designed to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.

This brief looks at how current laws undermine US foreign aid as a strategic tool for fighting poverty today. Drawing from original legal analysis, it argues that foreign aid legislation:

Is too large to be used effectively;
Is broken into too many laws;
Has no clear priorities to guide decision-making;
Is often out of date;
Authorizes different actors to fulfill the same purposes;
Puts the budget process in charge of setting strategic priorities, rather than setting strategic priorities to drive resource decisions.

Oxfam America is calling for ambitious reforms to US foreign assistance—from aid's legislation, strategy, organizational structure, and implementation, to a substantive rethink of development in the field. Our foreign aid should lead global development efforts, it should put developing states and their citizens in the driver’s seat, and it should strive to get as much value as possible for poor people out of every aid dollar.

Caught in the Conflict

mborum — 2010-02-22T16:32:28Z

This paper makes recommendations on how the security strategy of the international community should be changed in order to minimize the harm caused to Afghan civilians and reduce the disruption to development and humanitarian activities in the current environment in Afghanistan.

Field report from Afghanistan

mborum — 2010-02-22T16:30:57Z

This report aims to convey the views of people who have extensive experience with US development aid to Afghanistan. For that purpose, 40 people were interviewed in Kabul in November and December 2008. They included employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), other foreign donors, contractors, consulting companies, and Afghan and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), many of whom have several years of experience working in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan government officials. We would like to extend our thanks to all those who gave up their time for this research.

Field Report from Southern Sudan

mborum — 2011-06-29T13:44:59Z

To hear field perspectives on US foreign aid, Oxfam America went to southern Sudan. We present here representative perspectives—common themes we heard across interviews. This brief report cannot begin to do justice to the complexities of southern Sudan; it is meant simply to convey views of people working to ensure that US foreign aid does the best possible job of supporting the southern Sudanese.