What do refugees from across Africa want to tell the global forum?

Abbas Kigozi Events, Participation and Leadership, Refugees and IDPs

Abbas Kigozi, Robert Hakiza and JeanPaul Kasika on priorities of refugees in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Malawi that need to be heard at this week’s gathering in Geneva – including access to basic services, secure legal status and protection against forced returns.

East Africa vs Ukraine: two tragedies, two very different responses

Duncan Green Drought, Food security, Humanitarian

East Africa is facing its second hunger crisis in a decade, yet it barely registers in the news, and the international system is failing… How did the humanitarian system end up in this mess? Duncan Green on the stark messages from the new Oxfam/Save The Children paper, Dangerous Delay 2, a follow-up to the briefing Dangerous Delay, which warned of the need for change back in 2012

Strengthening women’s agency after drought in Ethiopia

Tess Dico-Young Disasters, Gender, General, Humanitarian

People in Ethiopia’s Somali region have had their lives turned upside down by three years of drought. Oxfam’s research has found that there are several ways in which aid agencies can better meet the needs of women and girls and promote gender equality. Over the past three years the rains have been sparse in the Ethiopian Somali region. This year’s …

Critical junctures and the redistribution of care work

Martin Walsh Research, Women's Economic Empowerment

Women’s heavy and unequal contributions to care work are a challenge to their participation in social, economic and political life and overall wellbeing. How can project interventions change this? Senior researcher Martin Walsh reflects on the findings of two in-depth studies in Uganda and Ethiopia. One of the aims of Oxfam’s WE-Care (Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care) initiative is the …

Testing the gender handbook for emergencies

Jack Jennings Gender, Humanitarian

Oxfam is working with UN women and a host of other NGOs on an ECHO funded project to revise the 2006 Gender Handbook for Humanitarian Action. We tested the latest version with frontline staff in Ethiopia and Afghanistan, Jack Jennings explains what they found. The revision of the IASC Gender Handbook is an important and incredibly ambitious project in its …

Setting up ICTs in emergencies

Hilman Agung Emergency, ICT4D, Methodology

Hilman Agung, our dedicated ICT Humanitarian Support Personnel (HSP), shares some insights into this new role and his experiences with this new way of working. ne of the biggest challenges to getting started with information communications technology (ICT) is having the capacity and support on the ground, especially in humanitarian settings where time is of the essence and small mistakes …