All Publications

Perceptions of Poverty from the "Poor," Conceptions of Poverty from the "Poor"

mborum — 2009-06-30T21:43:58Z

With support from Oxfam and a number of other organizations, the Afghanistan Pilot Project Poverty Assessment (APPPA) aimed to collect and document the perspectives of the "poor"—in relation to poverty—for the formulation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy. The APPPA also aimed to disseminate and advocate the "voices of the poor" more broadly throughout the development community in Afghanistan.

This executive summary presents the broader lessons from APPPA's findings and documents a sample of the vast selection of personal understandings of poverty from people living in Afghanistan. By providing these first-hand perspectives, the APPPA aims to contribute to increasingly relevant, effective poverty reduction projects.

Adaptation 101

mborum — 2011-06-08T14:59:13Z

Over the course of hundreds of years, poor people have developed ways of coping with changing weather conditions. When torrential rains drench the flood plains surrounding the Mekong River, rice farmers turn to fishing instead. When rainfall levels fall in the Sahel, farmers cultivate drought-resistant crops like millet and black-eyed peas. And where water is always hard to come by in the dry, mountainous areas of the Middle East, local people use traditional, though labor-intensive, techniques to harvest water from the canyons, valleys, and slopes.

Each season is slightly different than the previous one, but having anticipated the changing conditions, generation after generation learns to adapt.

But what happens when the seasons become less predictable and the conditions more difficult to manage? What happens when human activities, like burning coal, oil, and natural gas, change the climate—not just for a season, but for the long-term? Then, lacking the information or resources necessary to understand, prepare for, and respond to increased hazards, many of the world's poorest communities experience unprecedented stress.

Oxfam at a glance: Saving lives

Oxfam America — 2009-10-14T23:19:51Z

In the long term, disasters and the way we respond to them can provide opportunities for social change—chances to create lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.

Oxfam Impact April 2008

mborum — 2009-03-25T20:26:15Z

For poor communities in Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, a severe tropical storm in 2007 brought floods and contaminated drinking water. Now, thanks to disaster risk reduction work by Oxfam America and partner organizations, people in this region are better able to weather the storms.

Golden Rules

mborum — 2009-06-30T21:58:58Z

Around the world, large-scale metals mining takes an enormous toll on the health of the environment and communities. Gold mining, in particular, is one of the dirtiest industries in the world. Massive open-pit mines, some measuring as much as two miles (3.2 kilometers) across, generate staggering quantities of waste—an average of 76 tons for every ounce of gold.

In the US, metals mining is the leading contributor of toxic emissions to the environment. And in countries such as Ghana, Romania, and the Philippines, mining has also been associated with human rights violations, the displacement of people from their homes, and the disruption of traditional livelihoods.

Falling Short

mborum — 2009-06-30T21:44:59Z

The prospects for peace in Afghanistan are being undermined because Western countries are failing to deliver on their promises of aid to the tune of $10 billion and because aid going to the country is used ineffectively, according to this report by ACBAR, an alliance of international aid agencies—including Oxfam—working in Afghanistan.

The international community has pledged $25 billion to Afghanistan since 2001 but has only delivered $15 billion. The US is the biggest donor to Afghanistan but also has one of the biggest shortfalls—according to the Afghan government between 2002 and 2008 the US only delivered half of its $10.4 billion commitment.

The same sources show that over this period the European Community and Germany distributed less than two-thirds of their respective $1.7 and $1.2 billion commitments, and the World Bank has distributed just over half of its $1.6 billion commitment. The UK pledged $1.45 billion and distributed $1.3 billion.

An estimated 40 percent of the money spent has returned to rich donor countries such as the US through corporate profits, consultant salaries and other costs, vastly pushing up expenditure. For example, a road between the center of Kabul and the international airport cost the US over $3.7 million per mile, at least four times the average cost of building a road in Afghanistan.

Around 90 percent of all public spending in Afghanistan comes from international aid, so the massive shortfall hinders efforts to rebuild infrastructure damaged by over two decades of war and to ensure the widespread delivery of essential services such as education and health.

The report says a level of donor under-spending can be expected because of the lack of Afghan government capacity, large-scale corruption and challenging security conditions. But the size of the shortfall highlights the importance of donors making concerted efforts to address these issues.

The report also shows that a disproportionate amount of aid follows the conflict and is being used for political and military objectives rather than reducing poverty.

In Her Own Words

mborum — 2009-05-29T20:37:53Z

The plight of women in Iraq today has gone largely ignored, both within Iraqi society and by the international community. For more than five years, headlines have been dominated by political and social turmoil, the chaos of conflict and widespread violence. This has overshadowed the abysmal state of the civilian population's day-to-day lives, a result of that very turmoil and violence.

The specific hardships that some of Iraq's most vulnerable individuals cope with on a daily basis, as told by them, have overwhelmingly gone unheard.

Oxfam and the Al-Amal Association, the Iraqi partner organization that conducted the survey in the five provinces of Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk, Najaf and Nineveh, do not claim that the information they gathered from 1,700 respondents represents the situation facing all Iraqis, or even all women in Iraq. However, it does provide a disturbing snapshot of many women's lives and those of their children and other family members. The information presented in this paper was collected over a period of several months, starting in the summer of 2008.

Community Peacebuilding in Afghanistan

mborum — 2009-05-28T23:28:12Z

Peace work at a community level strengthens community cohesion, reduces violence, and enhances resistance to militants. It is an essential and complementary part of a wider strategy to secure a lasting national peace, including concerted measures to promote better governance; rural development; and the professionalisation of police and security forces. In Afghanistan, a national strategy for community peacebuilding is already five years too late: with increasing levels of violence, there is no time to lose.

OXFAMExchange Winter 2008

mborum — 2009-04-30T21:39:16Z

2008 marks the launch of Oxfam America's work on climate change. In this issue of OXFAMExchange, learn about the vital role Oxfam has to play in this important area. Amid critical discussions of environmental risks, it is our responsibility to ensure that decision makers recognize that the world's poor people will bear the brunt of climate change—a cruel irony given that they have done comparatively little to contribute to the problem. Whether it is a discussion of strained natural resources in Darfur, the impact of gold mining in Ghana, or flooding in Cambodia, our on-the-ground experience has taught us that economic and environmental injustice go hand in hand.

In addition to details about Oxfam's work on climate change, you will also find deeper perspective on our ongoing work in Ghana focused on mining, an update on life in Darfur as the crisis continues with no end yet in sight, and a success story about a multicultural approach to fighting poverty in the mountains of Peru.

Open publication

Take Action: Fight for Climate Justice

mborum — 2009-06-09T21:10:16Z

Over the past 30 years, the Turkana people of northwest Kenya have experienced a 25 percent average decrease in annual rainfall. In the former Soviet states of central Asia, countries like Tajikistan have experienced extreme drought, paradoxically coupled with floods and landslides. And in Bangladesh, where scientists have warned that a rise in sea level may flood 20 percent of their land, typhoons and floods have already increased in severity.

The outlook is frightening. But maybe that's why climate change is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Oxfam America has a long history of supporting vulnerable communities through our disaster preparedness and livelihoods work. Now, we are joining the worldwide movement to use political action to stabilize our planet's rising temperature. Our contribution? We'll put the needs of poor people first.

Smart Development

mborum — 2011-07-13T17:02:15Z

Forty percent of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day. As poverty and injustice persist, so do the transnational security threats they help to generate. To tackle these threats, the US government seeks to use "smart power" that balances the hard power of the military with the soft power of US diplomatic and development efforts. But Oxfam is concerned that the drive to use smart power is not adequately focused on smart development.

Instead of getting smarter, US foreign aid is increasingly overwhelmed by short-sighted security concerns and a fixation with "results" of the wrong kind. Current US aid policies face two paradoxes:

US foreign aid will not make the world safer for all while it remains overly focused on short-term security;
The more that policy makers aim to control US foreign aid to make it effective, the less effective it becomes.

If the US wants to become a global leader in smart development, it must reform the legislation, organizational structure, strategy, and implementation of its foreign aid to empower effective states and active citizens to lead their own development.

Afghanistan: Development and Humanitarian Priorities

mborum — 2009-04-30T22:04:44Z

This paper outlines urgent action necessary to address immediate challenges in Afghanistan and to avert humanitarian disaster. It does not seek to address all issues of concern but focuses on essential policy change in development and humanitarian spheres.

While aid has contributed to progress in Afghanistan, especially in social and economic infrastructure—and while more aid is needed—the development process has to date been too centralized, top-heavy and insufficient. It is has been prescriptive and supply-driven, rather than indigenous and responding to Afghan needs. As a result millions of Afghans, particularly in rural areas, still face severe hardship comparable with sub-Saharan Africa. Conditions of persistent poverty have been a significant factor in the spread of insecurity.

Donors must improve the impact, efficiency, relevance and sustainability of aid. There needs to be stronger coordination and more even distribution of aid, greater alignment with national and local priorities and increased use of Afghan resources. Indicators of aid effectiveness should be established, and a commission to monitor donor performance. Despite progress in some ministries, government capacity is weak and corruption is widespread, which is hindering service delivery and undermining public confidence in state-building as a whole. Further major reforms are required in public administration, anti-corruption and the rule of law.

Urgent action is required to promote comprehensive rural development, where progress has been slow, through building local government to deliver essential services, reforming subnational governance, and channeling more resources directly to communities.

Oxfam Impact January 2008

mborum — 2009-03-25T20:41:50Z

After centuries of discrimination and a decade of legal work supported by Oxfam, Bolivia's indigenous Chiquitano people have finally won the title to their ancestral land.

Oxfam International Third Year Report on the Tsunami Response

mborum — 2009-06-30T22:01:40Z

A remarkable amount has been achieved in tsunami-hit countries since the wave smashed its way across the Indian Ocean almost three years ago. The vast amount of money donated by ordinary people around the world has made—and continues to make—a huge difference to the lives of affected communities. Most of the people made homeless in the catastrophe now have a home and are back at work. Three quarters of the way through our tsunami response, we are proud of what we have achieved.

Financing Adaptation

mborum — 2009-05-28T21:48:35Z

Oxfam estimates that adapting to climate change in developing countries is likely to cost at least $50 billion each year, and far more if global greenhouse gas emissions are not cut fast enough. Yet international funding efforts to date have been woeful. In the year that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its direst warnings to date of the impacts of climate change on vulnerable developing countries, the rich and high-polluting countries increased their contribution to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) for urgent adaptation needs by a mere $43 million.

It is now time for the dissonance between the science and the policy rhetoric to end. But on the evidence to date, rich countries are very unlikely to provide the scale of adaptation finance needed on a voluntary basis. Outcomes at the Bali UN Climate Conference must, therefore, include a commitment to identify and establish new finance-raising mechanisms, so that vulnerable communities in developing countries will have the resources and support they need to protect themselves from the worst impacts of climate change.