South Asia

Example of Oxfam programs

Image: Tukya Naik (54) has returned to organic farming. With higher profit margins, he now has money to send his children to school. Credit: Rajendra Shaw/ Oxfam

India: Organic farming turns a profit – In India we work with cotton farmers to find alternatives to using chemical pesticides. Not only can the pesticides be physically harmful to the men and women farmers who are constantly in contact with them, but this often expensive and ineffective form of agricultural practice can also get farmers into deep and inescapable debt.

Image: Selvakani has been trained by a local development agency as a printer. Oxfam research is looking at how to help disaster affected women to improve their income and social status. Credit: Marie Banu Jawahar/ Oxfam

Moving toward gender equity in India – Oxfam and its partners have undertaken research in areas of South India affected by the tsunami, in order to build gender equality into both Oxfam programs and to share learning and best practices with other humanitarian agencies.

Image: Oxfam field studies are looking at how the livelihoods of tsunami survivors, such as coir workers in Sri Lanka, can be improved. Credit: Russell Miles/ Oxfam

Charting a path out of poverty for Sri Lanka’s coir workers – In an effort to help tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka restore their incomes, Oxfam helped to get the coir industry, a key element of the local economy, back on its feet. As the emergency phase of the tsunami response drew to a close at the end of 2005, Oxfam turned its attention to helping coir workers in southern Sri Lanka raise their incomes above pre-tsunami levels.

Image: Jayani, aged 16, during class at Shariputra School, one of eight schools severely damaged by the Tsunami and which Oxfam is helping rebuild in Sri Lanka. Credit: Howard Davies/ Oxfam

Back to school in Sri Lanka – Through our partner Educational International, Oxfam is funding the rebuilding of Shariputra school in Ahangama near Galle, which was severely damaged by the Tsunami. The school has 1340 students aged 5-18 who are being taught in temporary (UNICEF) shelters until the school reconstruction is completed in December 2006. It is one of eight schools Oxfam is repairing and rebuilding in Sri Lanka.

Which Oxfams work in:

South Asia	AUS	BEL	CAN	DEU	ESP	GBR	HKG	IRL	NLD	NZL	QC	USA
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka

This information covers the financial year 2005-2006 and refers to areas where Oxfam is involved in one or more of the following: operational programs (development or emergency), working through partners and/or working through another Oxfam affiliate.