What Oxfam is Doing
Oxfam has been working in Darfur for more than twenty years. We first responded to the 1985 drought in the region and have remained ever since, working to assist local communities with livelihood and health projects. The extensive local knowledge, and the strong relationships with local communities and organizations, that we have built up over the last two decades have greatly helped our understanding and response to the current crisis.
Spring 2008
Our current programs are designed not only to keep people healthy and reduce disease, but also to help them maintain their basic human dignity. We are helping about 530,000 people—435,000 in Darfur and 95,000 in Chad. For Darfur alone we have a budget of $12 million for programs in 2007/2008. Here are some of the things we do:
- Provide vital clean water by drilling boreholes and constructing pipes and tap stands
- Improve sanitation to help fight the spread of disease by building latrines and washing facilities, and distributing essential items such as soap, buckets, and jerry cans for carrying water
- Distribute essential items such as plastic sheeting, materials for shelters, and blankets for the cold nights
- Work in close coordination with local people to ensure that our work meets the real needs and priorities of Darfur, involving communities at every step of the decision-making process. In particular, we work with women's groups and other marginalized sectors of society to ensure that everyone benefits from our programs
- Train hundreds of community volunteers to educate others about sanitation and personal hygiene, and recruit attendants from within the camp’s communities to keep toilets and washing facilities clean, and to make sure water sources are protected.
- Work with children using entertaining plays, music, and school activities to pass on hygiene education messages and influence behaviour at a vital early age
Managing Scarce Natural Resources
Over recent decades, Darfur has seen decreasing rainfall, population growth, and increasing desertification. Already scarce natural resources have been further strained by the ongoing conflict. The massive displacement of civilians, with tens of thousands of people now sheltering together in a single camp, has led to rising demand for resources, especially water. Land previously inhabited by a few thousand people now has to support ten times that number.
When people first arrive in camps, the makeshift huts in which many of the families shelter are made of little more than sticks and plastic sheeting. But as the conflict drags on, some camps are taking on an air of permanence as people look to improve their living conditions. Brick-makers have set up work in most camps, providing materials for residents to improve their homes and creating welcome economic opportunities in the camps. But brick-making also uses vast supplies of precious water.
Oxfam is increasingly looking at ways to promote better management of natural resources such as water, both in our own work and within the wider community. We have installed water loggers to track the level of the water table and are encouraging water recycling to meet people’s various needs.
Rebuilding Livelihoods
The current conflict has largely destroyed traditional livelihoods of agriculture and trade. Effectively trapped in camps, people cannot get to their fields and markets without risk of being attacked. Women going out to collect firewood are frequently harassed, assaulted, and abducted.
Oxfam is working to provide people with skills and opportunities to gain an income and reduce the dependency on external aid. For example, we are helping to train people as plumbers, welders, vets, and carpenters. We are also distributing seeds, tools, and ploughs in areas where they can be used. We have also distributed donkeys, which are essential for transporting people and goods.
Where We Work
Oxfam is one of the few aid agencies currently working in all three Darfur states and in Chad. In North Darfur we work in the camps of Abu Shouk and Al Salaam around El Fasher, in Kebkabiya town and the surrounding villages, and in the camps near Shangil Tobai town. In South Darfur we now work in Kalma camp and in Kass town and the surrounding camps. In West Darfur we work in and around Um Dukhun town. Oxfam also works with Darfur refugees in eastern Chad in Djabal and Goz Amer camps.
Oxfam Staffers
To run programs assisting so many people requires a large team. Oxfam currently has around 300 Sudanese staffers and 25 expatriate staffers working in Darfur, plus many more volunteers from within the camps themselves and half a dozen expatriate support staffers based in Khartoum.
Many of our staff members have worked for Oxfam or other humanitarian agencies for many years, and we are represented by nationalities from all over the world, including Australia, France, India, Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Spain, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Zimbabwe.
They include engineers, public health promoters, accountants, logisticians, project managers, protection advisers, well drillers, food security analysts, livelihoods experts, administrators, and the support staff needed to keep a program of this size running.