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Article from Oxfam International: http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/who/index.htm
Published: 25 November 2005

Who we are

  
Image: Mathura Ahira, a sex worker in Orissa learns about STD's through an Oxfam funded program. Credit: Crispin Hughes/Oxfam
Mathura Ahira, a sex worker in Orissa learns about STD's through an Oxfam funded program. Credit: Crispin Hughes/Oxfam
Oxfam International is an international confederation, comprised of 13 independent non-government organizations dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world. Our mission is a just world without poverty and our goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives.

History of Oxfam International

Oxfam International was founded in 1995, formed by the group of like-minded independent non-government organizations, who wanted to work together internationally to achieve greater impact in reducing poverty by their collective efforts. The name “Oxfam” comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain during the second world war in 1942. This group of Oxford citizens campaigned for grain ships to be sent through the allied naval blockade to provide relief for women and children in enemy-occupied Greece.

The Oxfams are working to become part of a movement, which is capable of global responses to global issues. We are aiming to create ways of working and structures appropriate to global action in a complex and closely-knit world.

The thirteen Oxfam organizations are based in: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Quebec, Spain and the United States. A small Oxfam International secretariat is based in Oxford, UK, and the secretariat runs advocacy offices in Washington DC, New York, Brussels and Geneva. Find the Oxfam affiliate nearest you.

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