Jiselle Steele of the Oxfam Business Advisory Service (OBAS) explains how we are supporting the integration of a “gender transformative approach” into the policies and practices of the coffee industry – and invites you to a webinar next month to learn more
Tesco commitment on living wages for banana producers is a welcome development
Work should lift people out of poverty but far too often wages and incomes are systematically too low for a decent standard of living. Oxfam’s Behind the Barcodes campaign shines a spotlight on the conditions of the women and men who work to produce the food we buy from our supermarkets. These workers who are at the bottom of global …
Shabana’s Garden of Happiness
by Kazi Rabeya Ame and Munir Hossain Shabana Begum, a young woman from Kurigram district located in the northern Bangladesh was married off when she was just 14 years old. Her husband was daily wager and used to work for others’ farm land. Her husband was the only earning member in the family and the money he earned was insufficient …
Will the Generation Equality Forum deliver for women’s Rights?
The global movement for gender equality, also known as the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) is now in full speed. It is structured around six Action Coalitions: innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships involving governments, international organizations, civil society and youth-led organizations, as well as private sector companies and philanthropic foundations. It is the continuation of efforts toward keeping the promises of the Beijing Platform …
How Agribusiness is fueling the climate crisis in the Amazon
Over a year has passed since the world was shocked by the images of the fires blazing across the Amazon. While the world’s attention has moved on, the climate crisis in the Amazon continues – fueled largely by the unchecked expansion of agribusiness. The Amazon, with its millions of acres of tropical rainforests and savannah ecosystem, spans across several countries in South …
Working with companies on women’s economic empowerment in value chains
Salimata Kone (pictured) is a cocoa farmer and lives with her husband and children near Divo, a city in southern Côte d’Ivoire. She took part in a project to improve her family income and financial resilience through crop diversification, producing other crops alongside her cocoa harvest. Through the project, Salimata not only managed to increase her family’s income by harvesting more than 450kg of …
3 ways Coronavirus is having an impact on small producers and how to build back better
The Coronavirus is raging around the world. While many countries have started easing lockdowns, others still have restrictions in place or had to re-introduce measures because of renewed outbreaks. For the foreseeable future, the impacts on economic activity are huge. Oxfam works with women and men small and medium-sized farmers, producers and enterprises in agricultural value chains around the world, …
Podcast: Duoi talks to farmers about Coronavirus in the Philippines
Duoi takes us out to visit farmers on the Midpulo Unified Agriculture Cooperative to explore how the coronavirus pandemic has affected food systems and farming in the Philippines. Power in the Pandemic brings you this week’s featured voice: Duoi Ampilan, from Mindanao island in the Philippines. Duoi has been focusing his efforts on changing up food systems to ensure food …
Coronavirus is jeopardizing the incomes of small-scale farmers
Why now is the time for companies to step up to their commitment to higher farmer incomes. In this unprecedented time full of uncertainty, two things are clear. First, the Coronavirus pandemic is not only a global health but also an economic crisis. Second, the pandemic disproportionately harms the most vulnerable groups. As a result, up to half a billion …
Feminist leadership in action
Tamsin Smith interviews Damaris Ruiz, Yohanka Valdes, and Maritza Gallardo Lopez, from Oxfam’s Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) Regional Women’s Rights and Gender Justice group. They share five ways they are bringing feminist learning into the centre of our organization. Formed five years ago, the LAC Regional Women’s Rights and Gender Justice group comprises Oxfam staff and members of feminist …