How can a community-based organisation with three staff compete with the World Bank or an INGO for resources to address climate damage? Lyndsay Walsh on why this week’s crucial pre-COP meeting on recommendations to establish the loss and damage fund must create more space, money and support for local organisations.
Be humble – and don’t compete: how INGOs can choose solidarity with local organisations
When a well-known INGO establishes a national office it needs to be careful not to poach opportunities and funding from existing local organisations. Carlos Mejía reflects on what he has learned about being a good ally as the first leader of one of Oxfam’s newest affiliates, Oxfam Colombia.
Five ways to tackle discrimination against Roma people displaced by war in Ukraine
Powerful, first-hand accounts and evidence gathered by local NGOs show how Roma fleeing Ukraine’s war have been frozen out of the support offered to many other refugees. Padmini Iyer and Sarah Redd introduce a new report that reveals the scale of discrimination facing Roma seeking refuge – and set out five actions that could transform their lives.
Three ways INGOs can shift power in humanitarian response: lessons from Ukraine
In the run-up to World Humanitarian Day this week, Isabelle Tallec looks at Oxfam’s locally led response to the Ukraine crisis, working with dozens of local and community organisations to support the most marginalised groups of refugees and displaced people.
What worked, what didn’t – and what we need to change: looking back on a decade of Oxfam’s impact
Katrina Barnes introduces a new analysis that brings together over 100 impact evaluations of Oxfam projects between 2011 and 2021 – and sets out how we are reimagining the way we define and measure “impact” to better reflect the priorities of people we work with.
Compliance for INGO partners is riddled with colonial attitudes: here’s how that can change…
As international NGOs, we need to stop assuming partners are risky, respect local standards, accept we should prove ourselves as much as partners do, and slash the form-filling, says Oxfam compliance advisor Dominic Vickers. In fact, how about encouraging partners to apply for funds by video?
How can we prevent future hunger in Somalia? Start by empowering Somalis themselves
The news that over eight million Somalis are set to be in hunger crisis next year must trigger massive prevention efforts, alongside the emergency response, says Abdiaziz Adani of Oxfam in Somalia. And central to effective prevention is unlocking the huge potential of local organisations to build famine resilience.
INGOs must share data and power with local partners – but that doesn’t mean dumping privacy risks onto them
In the future, more smaller, local aid organisations will be involved in collecting data – but their international partners must not forget they still have important ethical and legal duties when it comes to privacy, says Lori Roussey
In so many places, women’s mental health has been neglected for too long. Here’s how we’re working with communities to change that
In a blog for World Mental Health Day, Julian Kosh looks at a pilot project to support survivors of abuse, trauma and cancer in Kenya and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. At its core is a ‘flexible funding’ approach that gives women’s rights organisations the freedom to test new approaches to mental health in the ways they think best
The high price of lowballing local organisations
There’s a glaring missing piece in the funding of humanitarian organisations like ours, says Hero Anwar: the overheads and indirect costs essential to our survival