OXFAMExchange Fall 2007

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.