About Oxfam Canada
We live in a rich world. Yet more than a billion people live in poverty, and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Charity as we’ve known it is not enough.
Oxfam can see a better way. We’re a global movement for change – a network that empowers individuals, communities and organizations to build a future free from the injustice of poverty where the rights of women and girls are promoted and respected.
- We want justice in the world
- We speak out for systemic change
- We make things happen here and now
Our Vision
Oxfam’s vision is a just world without poverty. We envision a world in which people can influence decisions which affect their lives, enjoy their rights, and assume their responsibilities as full citizens of a world in which all human beings are valued and treated equally.
Our Mission
Oxfam Canada’s mission is to build lasting solutions to poverty and injustice with a focus on improving the lives and promoting the rights of women and girls.
Working with Canadians, our partners and allies around the world, we mobilize people and resources to change policies, practices, attitudes and behaviours that create inequality and human suffering.
Oxfam is committed to strengthening a global movement in support of human rights and gender justice on a healthy planet.
Our Reach
In 2012, Oxfam Canada’s work reached more than 6 million people in 22 countries. Our work was made possible through the support of more than 50,000 donors, 33,000 campaigners and over 8,000 members across Canada.
Oxfam Canada’s annual operating budget is sourced from a combination of individual donors and institutional funders including CIDA. Oxfam Canada's annual financial statements, are available here.
Oxfam Canada's 2007-2012 Strategic Plan: "Walking the Talk on Women's Rights"
Oxfam Canada is an affiliate of the international Oxfam Confederation. Together we are 17 organizations networked together in 94 countries, as part of a global movement for change. We work directly with communities, and we seek to influence those in power to ensure that people living in poverty can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them.
We believe that together, people can create a fair world, free of poverty and injustice. A fair world taht respects the basic rights of all human beings to:
- earn a decent living to support themselves and their families
- enjoy basic education and health care
- get help in life-threatening disasters
- speak out for their rights
- be treated as equal
History
The name “Oxfam” comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain in 1942. The group campaigned for food supplies to be sent through an allied naval blockade to starving women and children in enemy-occupied Greece during the Second World War.
Oxfam Canada was independently incorporated in 1966; the first Board of Directors included 21 distinguished Canadians. Oxfam began to provide educational materials to schools and undertake advocacy work in public policy development.
Today, Oxfam Canada works with over 100 partner organizations in developing countries; tackling the root causes of poverty and inequity and helping people to create self-reliant and sustainable communities. In Canada, Oxfam is active in education, policy advocacy and building a constituency of support for our work.
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