Publications & Reports
Oxfam's briefing paper highlights the growing pace of land deals brokered around the world, often to the peril of poor communities who lose their homes and livelihoods – sometimes violently – with no prior consultation, compensation or means of appeal. Many of the deals are in fact 'land grabs' where the rights and needs of the people living on the land are ignored, leaving them homeless and without land to grow enough food to eat and make a living.
Widespread hunger and chronic malnutrition have taken hold in Yemen. A protracted political stalemate over much of the past six months has left the government in paralysis, prompting a fuel crisis that has brought the economy to the verge of collapse.
As the international community mobilizes in response to global climatic changes, climate funds must ensure the equitable and effective allocation of funds for the world’s most vulnerable populations.
International shipping is a major – and rapidly growing – source of greenhouse gas emissions. Agreement to apply a carbon price to shipping can both reduce emissions and raise funds for climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries.
Women are on the frontline of coping with and adapting to the effects of climate change.
In rural and campesino organisations inequalities between men and women are evident in various ways.
This publication aims to support the efforts leading up to Rio+20, as well as the activities, processes, commitments and partnerships that flow from it. By highlighting the nexus among climate change risks and opportunities, sustainable development and climate change adaptation, Adapting for a Green Economy provides useful guidance to business leaders and policymakers alike.
“Growing a Better Future” clearly outlines how the food system is broken. But it also calls for solutions. The food system can and must be transformed.
It should be noted that hunger and malnutrition are due not so much to the unavailability of food as to the inability of the poorest members of society to access it at an affordable price. Feeding the world by 2030 requires on the one hand efforts to increase food production and therefore food availability, and on the other measures to ensure that the poorest and most marginalised sectors of society have the purchasing power to access what food there is available.
Image: Practicing interview techniques to document good practices with beneficiaries and community based care facilitators during the intermediate level training workshop
While it is universally accepted that gender-based violence (GBV) is high but underreported in Southern Africa, it is also acknowledged that there are very few platforms for women to tell their own stories as survivors of violence and advocates for change. Many organizations involved in combating GBV also lack the necessary skills to document women’s experiences so that they can be shared with other women. As a result, many of the stories that could serve to inspire, or to teach other women to recognize when they are in abusive relationships, remain untold. Local civil society organizations (CSOs) rarely document the innovative work that they are doing in the areas of gender and HIV and AIDS; most documentation tends to be done either by a local consultant or by an international organization, reinforcing the notion that documentation is a sphere for experts only. The disadvantage of this is that many CSOs are unable to afford the high costs involved in contracting a consultant to undertake documentation. This leads to massive and recurrent loss of institutional memory when key individuals resign from an organization. In addition, key lessons that are important for promoting learning and sharing are lost in the process.
Over the last four decades Cuba has made important progress in developing policies and practices for emergency preparedness and response,especially for disasters provoked by hurricanes. This effort has been the result of a combination of directives and priorities identified by the central government, along with initiatives from the population itself.
The humanitarian response that has taken place over the past 12 months has saved countless lives by providing water, sanitation, shelter, food aid, and other vital assistance to millions of people. Yet, as Haiti approaches the first anniversary of the earthquake, neither the Haitian state nor the international community is making significant progress in reconstruction.
Oxfam was one of the first agencies to respond to the earthquake in Haiti. So began one of the largest and most complex emergency programs that we have ever been involved in. Even in the developed world, recovery from disasters can take years. In a country already suffering from extreme poverty, political instability, and weak and often corrupt state institutions, the task ahead was even more daunting.
Climate-related shocks are negatively affecting the lives of millions of poor women and men with increasing frequency and severity. There is an urgent need to set up a proper system of finance for adaptation to help developing countries avoid the worst impacts.
The compact between the state and its citizens is weak; corruption, neglect, and favouritism towards the urban elite have left many rural Haitians distrustful of the government. Too often, decision-making forums have excluded the voices of rural poor people. However, since 2006, the government and donors have given greater attention to agriculture and listened more carefully to Haitian citizens’ views.
