In honour of International Women’s Day (March 8th) and World Water Day (March 22nd), this episode discusses how water systems and water governance are deeply intertwined with women’s lives in riverine communities in Bangladesh and Nepal. We learn about women’s rarely discussed roles in fisheries and how River Camps in Bangladesh offer supportive environments for women to meet with leaders …
Imagining alternative futures
Programme Researcher, John Magrath, describes the process of applying ‘participatory scenario development’ to explore how Bangladesh might achieve zero hunger and zero carbon emissions by 2041. It is tempting to assume that the future will follow much the same trajectory as the past. Imagining alternative futures can be dismissed as dreaming, or science fiction. And if we do imagine the …
Five things I’ve learned being a humanitarian aid worker
This World Humanitarian Day, Iffat Tahmid Fatema, Oxfam public health worker, shares what it’s like helping people in our Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh.
Lighting up the lives of Rohingya Refugees
Oxfam and partners at Loughborough University are looking at how lighting can be used to reduce the perceived risk of gender based violence around water and sanitation facilities in camps.
The number to focus on this World Refugee Day
This World Refugee Day, Head of Humanitarian Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, Fionna Smyth, reflects on the recent UNHCR refugee figures and reminds us of those who are seeking safety in poorer countries. We’ve learned that more than 68 million people have been forced from their homes worldwide. It is the fifth year in a row that this number has hit …
Reaching refugees and boosting small businesses in Bangladesh
By providing emergency cash or vouchers Oxfam can help people in crisis to get desperately needed food and other items, while boosting local businesses at the same time. Corrie Sissons explains what this looks like in Oxfam’s Rohingya Crisis response. At Oxfam we help those in crisis to meet their emergency needs in a way which does no harm. This …
Speaking out about the Rohingya crisis
Oxfam has interviewed Rohingya refugees about their needs, hopes and fears for the future, and published their responses in a new briefing paper. Here Ed Cairns reflects on the responsibility to speak out. More than 626,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since 25 August, one of the fastest movements of people in history. By November, the world’s interest had largely moved …
A no ‘tick-box’ approach to gender and resilience
A key question for Oxfam and the development sector is how to address the different challenges faced by people living in poverty in a holistic fashion. However, our partners are often already successfully addressing multiple issues at once as Caroline Ashley saw in Bangladesh. I’ve seen gender treated as a ‘tick-box’ exercise – yes women participated. The same goes for …
Help! My toilet is sinking!
Louise Medland, Carol Brady and Jessica Fullwood-Thomas examine the long term effects of annual flooding and waterlogging on people’s lives in Bangladesh. Heavy rainfall during July and August in 2011 caused severe flooding in southern districts of Bangladesh, particularly Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna and Cox’s Bazar. Close to 90% of the population were temporarily displaced from their homes and were forced …
Overcoming social barriers: A journey by women WASH platform
In this latest blog Ashish Barua explains how the all female ‘Women WASH Platform’ has broken down social barriers to encourage better practice in Bangladesh. “We install latrines inside the heads of people” Rina Begum, member of Surjodoy Community Based Organisation (CBO) from Bakshigonj upazilla in the Jamalpur district, almost bombed into the discussion. “You install it inside peoples’ heads?” …