As East Africa faces drought and famine, Jessica Fullwood-Thomas talks to Oxfam in Somalia’s Muktar Hassen about a crucial lesson from the 2017 food crisis: that the region needs a “triple nexus” approach across humanitarian response, development and peace work to deliver sustained change
The messy realities of governance in conflict-affected areas: six dilemmas for development practice
Development projects too often assume there is a simple structure of local governance. But innovative research based on people in Mozambique, Myanmar, and Pakistan writing diaries reveals how in fact their lives are governed by many competing informal and formal actors. Katrina Barnes of Oxfam and Colin Anderson of the Institute of Development Studies on key dilemmas this complexity raises for practitioners
I’m proud to be a Yemeni tackling our water crisis – but we need the world to do much more, especially for women
Over seven years of conflict, Yemen’s water and sanitation infrastructure has been destroyed. Oxfam’s Fayad Al-Derwish sets out the impact on women and girls – and what he and his team are doing to help rebuild
The UK is fuelling the war in Yemen, this can’t go on
In July, the UK Government announced the resumption of new arms licences to Saudi Arabia for weapons to be used in the Yemen war. This is despite Oxfam colleagues in Yemen reporting an increasing number of civilians, including women and children, being killed in the conflict. We are asking the British public to call on the UK government to respect the International Humanitarian Law …
What does the UN Security Council Resolution on COVID-19 mean?
On July 1st, the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously backed U.N. chief Antonio Guterres’ March 23rd call for a global ceasefire amid the coronavirus pandemic. Resolution 2532 (2020) was finally adopted after more than three months of deadlock. Oxfam and our partners have campaigned for this resolution as a first step towards silencing the guns. The resolution drafted by France …
With coronavirus spreading, time to repurpose the arms industry to meet human need
All over the world we have radically changed our ways of life as the devastating spread of coronavirus transforms our communities. Governments’ priorities have changed overnight, things that seemed impossible only weeks ago are now seeing urgent action. Homeless people have been rehoused quickly. Passenger planes whose flights could not possibly be reduced in the face of climate breakdown are suddenly grounded. …
Why there’s still hope for peace for Palestinians and Israelis
A quarter of a century since the signing of the first of the Oslo Accords, and as violence flares again in Gaza, it has never been more urgent to progress peace for Palestinians and Israelis. The distressing escalation of violence in and near Gaza serves as a warning to all of us. Palestinians and Israelis can’t wait any longer for peace. …
Three reasons why an intersectional approach to women’s peace and security agenda is important
October 31st marks 19 years since the historical recognition of the unique gendered impact of violence on the well-being of women and girls. The adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was the first time where women rights and leadership were acknowledged as vital components in peace building and post-conflict reconstruction. It changed the way the international community …
Feminism under siege
Maria Al Abdeh on the work of Women Now for Development in Syria, and the impact of Jo Cox. This is the first post of a new mini series on ‘Being a feminist in difficult places’.
How to build community trust to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The world’s second-biggest Ebola outbreak is still raging in DRC, with more than 1,400 cases and 900 deaths. Research has shown that distrust is one of the biggest obstacles in this Ebola fight. Oxfam’s Andrea Vera Nava outlines three ways to work with local communities to build their trust and increase the success of an Ebola response in a conflict …