In a country where too many girls still don’t get a basic education, textiles firm Romo has been working with Oxfam to provide support that goes well beyond textbooks or new classrooms. In a blog for International Youth Day, Katie Edmondson looks back on 17 years of an evolving partnership.
How to build community trust to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The world’s second-biggest Ebola outbreak is still raging in DRC, with more than 1,400 cases and 900 deaths. Research has shown that distrust is one of the biggest obstacles in this Ebola fight. Oxfam’s Andrea Vera Nava outlines three ways to work with local communities to build their trust and increase the success of an Ebola response in a conflict …
Oxfam’s humanitarian superwomen in Somaliland,Tanzania and DRC
Three inspiring young local Oxfam humanitarian workers, talk about their lives and their commitment to providing aid to vulnerable communities.
10 tips for working with communities on Ebola response
Following the news of an Ebola outbreak in the DRC, here’s a summary of lessons learned from Oxfam’s community engagement during the 2014–15 Ebola response in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Ebola response in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea demonstrated that community engagement is critical in responding to epidemics. This was not always a guiding principle in an outbreak, which …
Working with men in the most dangerous place to be a woman
The Democratic Republic of Congo has become renowned for incredibly high levels of sexual violence. Oxfam partner CEDIER has been working to engage men in the DRC, to tackle some of the widespread beliefs and practices which contribute to making this such a dangerous place for women. Over the last 20 years, the DRC has been characterized by internal armed …
Local partnerships and protecting human rights in conflict
Phil Vernon from International Alert shares his views on working with partners on conflict contexts, as part of our release of a recent joint report on the subject. A healthy and active civil society is both an essential indicator of a resilient society, and an essential vehicle for achieving one, through activism and service delivery. But civil society is under …
Being a better partner in conflict situations
A new report from Oxfam and International Alert looks at how violent conflict impacts local civil society and how international partners respond. Here Harriet Lamb, CEO of International Alert and Mark Goldring, CEO of Oxfam GB, reflect on the key findings and their implications for future and current partnerships in conflict. Violent conflicts cast a shadow every day over millions …
Looking back on community based protection in the DRC: Oxfam’s legacy
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 …
Matthew Spencer vlogs on his recent trip to the DRC
Our Director of Campaigns, Policy and Influencing, reflects on how Oxfam is working with communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Cholera treatments and civil rights.
Congo is the ultimate test of whether we leave no one behind
Oxfam’s Director of Campaigns, Policy & Influencing, Matthew Spencer, reflects back on his recent visit to Democratic Republic of Congo. hen I was nineteen I spent three months in India and it changed my world view. Faced with the sprawling mass of urban life there was little room left for teenage egotism. No longer a (spotty) planet around which life …