Vetoing humanity: How a few powerful nations hijacked global peace

Marc CohenConflict, Governance, Research

Marc J. Cohen, Amy Croome and Elise Nalbandian introduce a new Oxfam report that sets out how the veto power of a few countries at the UN Security Council has been catastrophic for humanity. Ahead of next week’s landmark Summit of the Future, they demand four changes to reform a UN system that is simply no longer up to the challenge of maintaining international peace and security.

‘Be more Norway’: a model policy report on the UK’s international future

Duncan GreenGovernance, Influencing, Research

It’s time for the country to accept it is now an ‘offshore mid-sized power’, say the experienced ‘insider’ authors of radical proposals to reset the UK’s approach to international affairs. Duncan Green on key insights from The World in 2040: Renewing the UK’s Approach to International Affairs.

Want to decolonise your INGO? Get used to taking a back seat…

Adama CoulibalyGovernance, Innovation, Power Shifts

‘Dinosaurs’ must become ‘chameleons’ and ‘ostriches’ change into ‘eagles’ as international NGOs fundamentally rethink their role so they can work in true partnership with local actors, says Oxfam’s Adama Coulibaly.

Water that works: how an alternative management model for rural water supply is proving its worth in Nepal

Anjil AdhikariGovernance, Innovation, Water

Traditional models of managing drinking water have delivered progress – but where these are failing, we now need to look at alternatives, says Oxfam’s Anjil Adhikari. In a blog for World Water Day, he shares a new model that could deliver a significant boost to water system performance and governance in rural Nepal and beyond.

Compliance for INGO partners is riddled with colonial attitudes: here’s how that can change…

Dominic VickersGovernance, Innovation, Power Shifts

As international NGOs, we need to stop assuming partners are risky, respect local standards, accept we should prove ourselves as much as partners do, and slash the form-filling, says Oxfam compliance advisor Dominic Vickers. In fact, how about encouraging partners to apply for funds by video?

INGOs must share data and power with local partners – but that doesn’t mean dumping privacy risks onto them

Lori RousseyGovernance, Power Shifts

In the future, more smaller, local aid organisations will be involved in collecting data – but their international partners must not forget they still have important ethical and legal duties when it comes to privacy, says Lori Roussey

The messy realities of governance in conflict-affected areas: six dilemmas for development practice

Katrina BarnesConflict, Governance, Research

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