Oxfam CloseUp, Spring 2017
CloseUp is returning to print. After careful consideration, Oxfam shifted to publishing our magazine digitally a year ago. We discovered over the course of the year, however, that the majority of you strongly favored a print version.
Because CloseUp is a tool for helping you feel connected to what Oxfam is doing to fight poverty and injustice, getting it to you in the form you want is crucial. You spoke and we listened.
Now, more than ever, it’s essential that each of us finds a way to stay engaged: famine has struck parts of South Sudan, and starvation is threatening tens of millions of people across Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. What’s so disturbing about this crisis is that it’s largely human-made, a consequence of ongoing conflicts, the deadly disruptions they impose on people’s lives, and our collective failure to respond fast enough.
You’ve undoubtedly heard about this unfolding tragedy in the news. In the pages ahead, we’ll give you an overview and provide a link where you can find out more about the critical steps we, together with our local partners, are taking to help people. We know that if we act quickly we can prevent further suffering.
But in this digital age, it’s easy to get distracted. There are so many urgent needs in the world, all demanding our attention, all flooding our inboxes. How do we focus—so we can act? I’m reminded of a message I received from a supporter a short while ago. He said he liked to keep important materials handy so he could read them when he had a chance. For some of us that means bookmarking them electronically; for others it means stashing stapled pages in a briefcase.
In once again bringing this magazine to you in print, our hope is that it will serve as a tangible reminder of the many challenges humanity faces—and of all that you are doing to help people help themselves.
Sincerely, Coco McCabe Editor, Oxfam CloseUp