Sexual harassment and victimization of women on public transport

james Gender, Governance, New Urbanism, Violence Against Women and Girls

It is estimated 35% of women globally have experience sexual violence, with many more reporting sexual harassment. In the rise of urban living, how does this affect gender equality in today’s world? Yasemin Irvin-Erickson and Annie Gurvis from the Justice Policy Center examine how this can be tackled.  The past 40 years have seen dramatic changes in the policy, practice, and research on …

Nothing for us without us: Participatory processes and the New Urban Agenda

Rhonda Douglas Governance, New Urbanism

Half the world’s population live in cities, and urban informal workers make important economic, social, and environmental contributions to city life. Rhonda  Douglas from WIEGO argues that the New Urban Agenda must include all urban stakeholders, including the working poor, to ensure it doesn’t leave anyone behind.  More than 50% of the non-agricultural work force in most developing countries is …

The new urban agenda: Rights and transformative change

Richard Friend Governance, New Urbanism

Richard Friend explores The New Urban Agenda in the SDGs and assesses issues around governance in the context of urban development. The New Urban Agenda with its call for “a shared vision of cities for all” appears to offer much in setting development objectives for the coming decades, but it is undermined by a combination of its inability to draw on history …

New series launch on urban development

Hashim Zaidi Governance, New Urbanism

Hashim Zaidi, Global Urban Work Lead, introduces a new blog series on urban development and why it is important to Oxfam. Cities today are home to 3.9 billion people accounting for 54% of the total world’s population. UN-Habitat estimates that an additional 2.5 billion people will live in cities by 2050 with almost 90% of this increase happening in Asia and Africa. …

Renewed violence around Las Bambas mining project: Will we learn from past mistakes?

Miguel Levano Governance, Land rights

Copper mining in Las Bambas, Peru has sparked new violence as the communities surrounding the mine are bypassed again by the Peruvian government and mining company, MMG, on decisions that greatly affect their lives. n October 14, 42 year old Quintino Cereceda was killed during a police operation near the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru. This tragic event follows …

Women leading in the peace

Caroline Sweetman Fragile contexts, Gender, Gender & Development Journal, Governance

According to World Bank estimates of September 2016, two billion people live in countries where development outcomes are affected by fragility, conflict, and violence. By 2030, the share of global poor living in fragile and conflict-affected situations is projected to reach 46 per cent. Caroline Sweetman, Editor of Gender & Development, introduces us to the theme of gender in fragile …

Words and actions: lessons from Unilever’s supply chain

Oxfam Governance, Private sector, Rights

OPINION: Five years ago, Oxfam and Unilever agreed to an unusual collaboration. Oxfam conducted a study on labour rights in Unilever’s Vietnam supply chain and operations. Liesbeth Unger founder of Human Rights@Work, and adviser and co-writer of Oxfam’s previous Unilever report asks, why did Unilever do it? How did they perform? And what can other companies seeking to improve their …

European governments’ treatment of refugees is doing long term damage to international law

Maya Mailer Conflict, Disasters, Governance, Humanitarian, In the news, Rights

OPINION: The EU’s stance towards migration sets a dangerous precedent argues Maya Mailer, Head of Humanitarian Policy & Campaigns. Today, as Oxfam launches a new campaign calling on world leaders to stand as one with refugees, the right to seek protection in another country is under threat. I visited some of Europe’s refugee camps recently. Oxfam was founded in 1942 …

Building bridges between communities and local government in the DRC

Annabel Morrissey Governance, Methodology

LEARNING: Annabel Morrissey recently returned from a visit to Equateur in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where she visited Oxfam’s Within and Without the State programme which aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of civil society programming in fragile states. This is no small feat in a country where there has been ongoing instability and conflict for the …