All Publications

Horn of Africa Risk Transfer for Adaptation (HARITA) quarterly report: July 2011–September 2011

aperera — 2012-02-28T15:08:07Z

For the 1.3 billion people living on less than a dollar a day who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, vulnerability to weather-related shocks is a constant threat to security and well-being. As climate change drives an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural hazards, the challenges faced by food-insecure communities struggling to improve their lives and livelihoods will also increase. The question of how to build rural resilience against weather-related risk is critical for addressing global poverty.

In response to this challenge, in 2007, Oxfam America, together with local and international partners,1 launched a pilot program called HARITA, or Horn of Africa Risk Transfer for Adaptation, to work with farmers on building their resilience to climate change. Today, the program has grown to become Oxfam’s Rural Resilience Initiative, or R4 (http://www.oxfamamerica.org/issues/insurance/). Initiated as a result of the partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme announced at the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference, R4 builds upon the highly successful growth of the multiyear HARITA pilot in Ethiopia.

HARITA, in its three years of delivery in Ethiopia’s northernmost state of Tigray, has shown promising results for replication. More than 1,300 households participated in HARITA in 2010, up from 200 in its first year. In the 2011 agricultural season, HARITA expanded its outreach by 10 times with more than 13,000 farmers in 43 villages signing up for insurance.

Oxfam Fact Sheet: Food Crisis in East Africa

akramer — 2011-11-10T21:22:48Z

Parts of East Africa are the driest they have been in 60 years. But punishing weather is not the only challenge families here face: deep poverty and decades of marginalization have left them with few resources on which to fall back as the price of food soars and water shortages persist. In Somalia, the crisis has escalated into famine.

Right now, Oxfam aims to reach three million people with clean water, food, and basic sanitation services. We are already helping more than two million people by drilling deep wells and rehabilitating existing water supplies, vaccinating animals to ensure their strength during this time of great stress, providing people with cash to buy food, and offering sanitation and public health promotion to stem the spread of waterborne diseases.

Oxfam America's Saving for Change program in West Africa

aperera — 2011-10-31T19:27:50Z

Saving for Change is Oxfam America’s signature savings-led microfinance program. Members—primarily women living in rural communities—form a group that saves, lends, and pays dividends to its members. Group members elect their own leadership, set their bylaws, and decide collectively how to achieve their goals.

Oxfam America’s Saving for Change program in Central America

aperera — 2011-10-31T19:24:38Z

Oxfam at a glance: On campus

akramer — 2011-10-24T19:01:25Z

In 1974, Oxfam America launched its first grassroots anti-hunger campaign. Among those who joined the effort were high school and university students, whose dedication and optimism attracted others to the cause.

Nearly four decades later, students still number among Oxfam’s most committed supporters, organizing events and building networks on campus and beyond. Today’s student volunteers usually work with Oxfam in one of two ways: as participants in our national leadership program, the CHANGE Initiative, or as members of Oxfam Clubs on campuses around the country.

Recommendations to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force

aperera — 2011-10-20T20:27:08Z

Restoration of America’s Gulf Coast, damaged not just by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike and the BP oil spill, but also by decades of degradation from human impacts and natural disasters, is essential for protection of the region’s communities and cultures. Protection of these resources is critical at the national level as well, playing vital roles in our nation’s waterways, commerce, and economy. As the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force (“Task Force”), created by an executive order of President Barack Obama, develops its comprehensive restoration strategy, Oxfam and its partners Bayou Grace Community Services, Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing (BISCO), Coastal Women for Change, STEPS Coalition, Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition
(TRAC), and Zion Travelers Cooperative Center—grassroots groups representing coastal communities in the lower Mississippi River Delta—offer the following recommendations to ensure that the region’s most vulnerable residents are active participants in revitalizing our coastal resources and beneficiaries of the new restoration economy. These recommendations represent a call to action for a bold, innovative, and integrated solution involving federal, state, and local governments and industry and community stakeholders.

OXFAMExchange, Fall 2011

Oxfam America — 2012-02-13T17:20:33Z

This season the rains have failed throughout much of East Africa—in some areas, triggering the worst drought in 60 years. More than 13 million people are now at risk, 1.8 million Somalis alone have been displaced, and 750,000 people are facing starvation. The chronic cycle of drought and suffering prompts us to ask: What would it take to make this Africa's last famine?

Oxfam's work—whether helping Guatemalan women organize to fight gender violence, funding irrigation projects in Ethiopia, or standing with people in Darfur—is about building the resilience of local communities over the long haul. We cannot prevent shocks, but we can help our sisters and brothers access some of the same resources we have to cushion us when times are lean.

We cannot rush from crisis to crisis with short-term fixes. What more evidence do we need than what is happening in East Africa now? This is not the region's first famine, but imagine the headline: Africa's last famine.

Economists letter on excessive speculation

bgrossmancohen — 2012-02-28T16:38:44Z

461 Economists call for urgent action against excessive speculation on food commodities

Beyond Viktor Bout

jlee — 2011-10-06T18:12:53Z

With the trial of Viktor Bout nearly underway and the UN negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) starting in the summer of 2012, this briefing paper seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the challenges the US government faces in tackling unscrupulous arms brokers abroad and to show how the adoption of a strong and comprehensive ATT could help the United States and other governments in such efforts.

A place at the table

mhart — 2011-09-29T13:32:49Z

Women in Afghanistan have achieved real progress in areas such as political participation, the rule of law, and education since 2001, but these hard-won gains remain fragile. With the imminent withdrawal of international forces, there is a risk that the government may sacrifice women’s rights in order to secure a political deal with the Taliban and other armed opposition groups. The government and its international partners must do much more to support Women in Afghanistan have achieved real progress in areas such as political participation, the rule of law, and education since 2001, but these hard-won gains remain fragile. With the imminent withdrawal of international forces, there is a risk that the government may sacrifice women’s rights in order to secure a political deal with the Taliban and other armed opposition groups. The government and its international partners must do much more to support Afghan women’s efforts and uphold their rights while ensuring that women have a strong voice in any future negotiations and political settlements.

Talking the walk

aperera — 2011-09-29T15:39:09Z

Aligning business lobbying with corporate social responsibility

Watching the watchdogs

aperera — 2011-09-29T15:16:16Z

With the expansion of the global search for oil, gas, and other natural resources in recent decades, extractive industry companies increasingly have extended their reach to remote and sensitive areas, as well as to more politically risky environments. Within this context, project-affected communities and civil society organizations increasingly demand public accountability of the corporations that implement large-scale projects with the potential to generate serious social and environmental impacts and of the public international financial institutions (IFIs) that sometimes participate in financing these projects. Expert panels bring together experienced independent experts to identify risks and opportunities and prepare recommendations to address social and environmental issues, and generally report directly to company or IFI management. The panels have emerged as a way for project sponsors and lenders to provide an external and ostensibly impartial check on project implementation.

Promoting the accountability of the Afghan National Security Forces

mhart — 2011-09-29T14:17:50Z

In May this year, Oxfam and partners released a report titled No Time to Lose: Promoting the Accountability of the Afghan National Security Forces. We argued in that report that as greater responsibility was handed over to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), there was a serious risk that unless adequate accountability mechanisms were put in place, violations of international human rights and humanitarian law would escalate, and Afghan civilians would pay the price. We argued that troop-contributing states had been slow to honour their moral and legal obligations to ensure the accountability of the national security forces, and that time to do so was running out.

This paper provides an update on the conduct and accountability of the ANSF, with a focus on the police, and reflects on progress made in recent months. We focus in particular on four issues we believe to be of critical importance in the lead up to transition: police training and professional development; the establishment of a gender-sensitive police force; accountability for police misconduct; and accountability for civilian casualties.

The New Forests Company and its Uganda plantations

aperera — 2011-09-21T18:30:16Z

London-based New Forests Company (NFC) would seem to be the design blueprint of how a young modern company should conduct a major land investment in Africa in a responsible way. Oxfam’s investigations reveal that serious allegations by people who were evicted from land to make way for NFC’s operations remain unresolved. How will the company respond?

Land and Power

bgrossmancohen — 2011-11-30T15:52:54Z

The new wave of land deals is not the new investment in agriculture that millions had been waiting for. The poorest people are being hardest hit as competition for land intensifies. Oxfam’s research has revealed that residents regularly lose out to local elites and domestic or foreign investors because they lack the power to claim their rights effectively and to defend and advance their interests. Companies and governments must take urgent steps to improve land rights outcomes for people living in poverty.Power relations between investors and local communities must also change if investment is to contribute to rather than undermine the food security and livelihoods of local communities.