‘It feels like a more innocent time for Oxfam and for our belief in progress’: looking back on Make Poverty History 

Dominic VickersAid, Debt, Influencing

Twenty years after he watched Nelson Mandela’s rousing launch speech in Trafalgar Square, Dominic Vickers reflects on the impact of the landmark Make Poverty History campaign for trade justice, debt relief and better aid – and wonders if a new generation can take up the cause again. 

Guest speakers are not enough: this Black History Month, we need to ask where NGOs go from here on racial justice 

Rhaea Russell-CartwrightPower Shifts, Racial justice, Rights

Oxfam GB racial justice lead Rhaea Russell-Cartwright reflects on how far Oxfam and similar UK-based organisations have come and what they should think about next to deliver on racial justice – including the implications of racist riots in Britain, the need for solidarity across borders and ensuring that celebrations of this month centre the experiences of our Black staff.  It’s …

How Oxfam has influenced for change over the last 75 years

Ruth MayneActive citizenship, General, Influencing

In advance of the Oxfam Research Network’s Evidence for Influencing conference (Soesterberg, Netherlands, 23-24 October), Ruth Mayne, Chris Stalker and Andrew Wells-Dang look back over Oxfam’s history of influencing and future challenges.  Influencing policymakers is in Oxfam’s genes. Right from its inception in 1942, Oxfam called on Prime Minister Winston Churchill to lift the Allied blockade of Nazi-occupied countries to …