What Oxfam is Doing
- Increasing Political Participation
- Protecting Indigenous Territories
- Improving Emergency Response
IMPROVING EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Oxfam helps indigenous groups in the Amazon lowlands and Andean highlands improve their organizations, manage their natural resources, preserve their culture, and defend their rights.
Natural disasters and local conflicts impose the greatest burden on poor people, who are the most vulnerable and the least prepared. In South America, people are particularly at risk from earthquakes and the unpredictable coastal rains and highland droughts related to the El Niño weather pattern.
In 2003, the South America regional office established the Risk Management and Humanitarian Response program in order to reduce the vulnerability of those threatened by natural disasters. This component of Oxfam's program:
- Offers humanitarian aid to reduce suffering when local and national organizations are unable to meet the needs generated by a disaster.
- Helps organizations recognize and anticipate risks in their on-going development work.