Are you on a repetitive hamster wheel in your work or are you powering a fly wheel, providing stability and increasing momentum and power to bring about change? James Whitehead, Global Innovation Adviser, reflects on the qualities and circumstances that allow innovation to flourish in development programmes. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can unlock innovation …
How radio helped Kenyan communities engage with oil and gas developments
World Radio Day on 13 February celebrates radio’s role in empowering people as a source of information and dialogue. All too often we assume people around the world have mobile phones or internet access and overlook the most widely available mass communication medium in the world: the humble radio. In Kenya, Oxfam has been using radio to engage with communities …
El Salvador: the struggle to survive El Niño
The global El Niño weather phenomenon is being exacerbated by climate change. The UN’s humanitarian agency predicts that in 2016 over 60 million people around the world will be affected by El Niño with impacts including extreme patterns of rain, drought, and cyclones. Here Humanitarian Communications Officer Elizabeth Stevens reports on the difficulties small-scale farming communities Oxfam supports in El …
Result oriented reflection: Notes on the recent Stories of Change workshop for the Inclusion Project
Oxfam Novib’s World Citizens Panel team recently held a workshop to analyze Stories of Change, a qualitative research method which aims to help practitioners understand how a particular change happens. Ruben De Winne, a Qualitative Researcher at Oxfam Novib, talks us through how they organised the workshop and the outcomes the participants walked away with. ast April, the World Citizens Panel …
A new shared approach to resilience in Asia
Development and humanitarian programmes are increasingly being understood holistically as different elements for building resilience. In response to this Oxfam in Asia has produced a new companion with practical advice for anyone working to increase the resilience of people living in poverty, as Janice Ian Manlutac, Asia Resilience Change lead explains. The year 2015 closed with three global development frameworks that …
Supplier treatment: why Tesco and other supermarkets should integrate business and ethics
The actions that large companies take to source their products have direct implications for workers in their supply chains. In the wake of a critical report about Tesco’s treatment of its suppliers, Rachel Wilshaw, Oxfam’s Ethical Trade Manager, explains why more needs to be done to protect suppliers and the rights of their workers. Twelve years ago I was at …
For richer or poorer: from Brazil to Indonesia
In the emerging economies the fruits of growth are too often not being shared with the majority of the population. Thomas Dunmore Rodriguez, National Influencing Adviser for Latin America, reveals a growing trend of wealth and power being captured by the elite. It is scandalous that in 2015, just 62 individuals had the same wealth as 3.6 billion people. A …
Good morning Sindhulpalchok! Connecting Nepal’s disaster affected communities with radio
Following the two devastating earthquakes that hit Nepal in April and May 2015, Oxfam quickly responded, ensuring safe and equal access to water and sanitation facilities, and provision of basic needs such as food, cash and hygiene materials. However, it soon became apparent that there was more we could do to help connect communities with information as Simone Carter, Oxfam …
Displacement in eastern DRC: a never ending story
The number of refugees around the world is increasingly making headlines, but what of the plight of the 38 million displaced people who have fled to another part of their own country? Jose Barahona, Oxfam’s Country Director for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), describes the suffering of displaced communities Oxfam works with in eastern DRC where conflict has been …
Women, peace and security in the Middle East and North Africa
Women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face many difficulties and inequalities in their daily lives, and conflict in the region only exacerbates the situation. Julie Diallo and Sariah Ghazzaoui introduce the first in a series of new webinars on gender justice hosted by Oxfam’s Regional Gender Justice Programme, exploring peace and security for women. “(…) now, people …