Civilians are not a target

Rachel HastieHumanitarian, Protection

For World Humanitarian Day Rachel Hastie, Oxfam’s Global Protection Adviser, reflects on our common humanity and what it means. Some years back I was walking my children to school before catching a flight to Darfur. I was going to meet people – ordinary civilians – who had fled attacks on their villages and were still facing dangers and a very uncertain …

Protection of women and girls: a bright idea

Kerry AkersConflict, Humanitarian, Protection, Refugees and IDPs, Violence Against Women and Girls, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

How can humanitarians help to protect women and girls from sexual violence in conflict situations? First we must ensure that our interventions don’t inadvertently place them in greater danger. For World Humanitarian Day, Kerry Akers explains why Oxfam is conducting research into the use of lighting around latrines in emergencies. Sometimes we harm the people we try to help. As …

How programme learning in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) led to piloting a new approach to governance and protection

Annabel MorrisseyGovernance, Humanitarian, Protection

As we publish a new research report, Protection and Governance: Linking good practice in protection and governance programmes in the DRC, Annabel Morrissey reflects on what Oxfam has learnt about the cross over between governance and protection and how this learning is being used. hen, for the first time ever in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), people refused to …

Looking back on community based protection in the DRC: Oxfam’s legacy

Helen Lindley-JonesHumanitarian, Protection

Five years after Oxfam’s funding and support for community protection work in one part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had stopped, we wanted to find out if the work was still having an impact, and if so, how. Helen Lindley-Jones (former Oxfam National Protection Coordinator in the DRC) summarises Oxfam’s learning published in the evaluation report If we …

The value of vouchers: Innovation and empowerment in Iraq

Corrie SissonsICT4D, Protection

Corrie Sissons introduces a new e-voucher technology helping to meet the unique needs of households living through the Iraq crisis. The changing nature of humanitarian crises in a modern world means that agencies like Oxfam need to adapt to ensure we meet needs in an effective way. Oxfam in Iraq has been piloting a new approach that does just that; …

The ladies’ room

Kerry AkersConflict, Gender, Humanitarian, Protection

Kerry Akers talks about the careful considerations and interdisciplinary collaboration needed to ensure that protection work is not based on harmful assumptions. umanitarian camps are dark at night. The curfew is sunset and the camp is heaving. Spilling out of their crowded tents onto the streets, people sit around dim cooking stoves talking and waving the mosquitoes away. The streets …

From the ground up: How Yemen’s women and girls survive

Soman MoodleyConflict, Gender, Humanitarian, Protection, Women's Economic Empowerment

This blog introduces a study carried out by Oxfam, CARE and GenCap, to better understand how women, men, girls and boys survive in Yemen, a country torn apart by conflict. s Dubai and Saudi Arabia vie with each other to build the world’s tallest tower at an estimated cost of over $1 billion, Yemeni women and girls struggle to survive amidst …