Blogs

It is the time of the year again, where festive decorations are filling the streets of the Netherlands. The joy of end of year celebrations can also be felt in Dutch supermarkets. Coming into December, all snacks, candies and chocolates are wrapped and shaped in colorful festive packaging. Since I moved to the Netherlands, I always followed the Dutch Sinterklaas culture of buying chocolate shaped letters to celebrate. But this year, I feel differently about the chocolates in front of me. This now reminds me of my trip to Ghana, back in September. Chocolate has a bitter aftertaste, somethings which leaves me very uncomfortable.

In past years, Oxfam was able to provide Dignity Kits to women refugees. These include soap and other hygiene items, as well as underwear and menstrual pads. Row notes that refugees are missing this support, discontinued due to budget cuts. “We have no money to buy this in the market,” Row says. “And, as we are women, we need Dignity Kits."

The European Union has adopted a new approach to foreign policy dubbed the “Global Gateway,” supported by a new European Financial Architecture for Development (EFAD). These policies are a direct response to the state of permacrises that the world finds itself in. It seeks to inject 180-300 billion euros over a period of six years into the EU’s partner countries in the form of infrastructure projects, a green transition and digitalisation. 

Women are at the heart of the food production systems. Yet, women food producers are held back by barriers that prevent them from feeding their families and reinvesting in their livelihoods. Oxfam together with indigenous women, farmers and women food producers convened and create a space to exchange knowledge, wisdom and a vision for a better, just and feminist food system. We demand a fair #feministfoodsystem that empower women food producers, indigenous people and small-scale farmers! #FeministPower  

This Pride Month we partnered with artists and activists from different corners of the world, who speak about gender justice and inclusion, to share our take on queer joy. Queer Joy Manifesto represents a vision of a world where LGBTQIA+ people are seen and treated as equals, queer leadership is recognized and queer community is celebrated. In this blog we explore what it means in more detail, and invite you to share this vision with others.

As a global movement fighting for an equal and just world for everyone, we at Oxfam are celebrating Pride month as a way to express gratitude to our LGBTQIA+ partner organizations and activists for their contribution to social progress, human rights and equality. Here’s our take on what queer joy is and why we need more of it.

In the months after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, Oxfam warned that huge and dangerous increases in inequality across the MENA region were likely. Almost two years on, the wealth of elites has only climbed, lining their pockets at the expense of everybody else. Inequality will continue to kill until we switch the game.

Why is it taken for granted that a person is “successful” because they are a self-made millionaire? Who decides what is a success, and what is a failure? These questions help us understand what dominant narratives are, how they are shaped, and how they affect our lives. It’s time for them to be contested. With the right tools, change movements can start to tell a new story.

As the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence begins, Oxfam gender justice lead for Central America and LGBTQIA+ activist, Natalia Marsicovetere, spells out the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on LGBTQIA+ people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that governments can take extraordinary measures to protect their citizens when spurred to action. We need to see more of this to address gender-based violence. We need to make the world safer for women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people. Here are five brilliant questions you asked about Oxfam’s recent report and our work on gender justice.

Frank Lopeyok Mosky is a young Karimojong climate change activist in north-eastern Uganda. For 3 years, he has witnessed droughts hitting his community, leading to the loss of livestock and affecting small-scale food production. This has escalated poverty in the region and driven youth, women, and children to resort to desperate means to survive.

Covid-19 has supercharged inequalities: while billionaire´s wealth rises dramatically, austerity is imposed on health, education, and social protection systems across the world. The Festival to Fight Inequality, a space for the growing inequality movement to reconnect and recharge around these struggles and solutions, has never been more crucial.

While Europe’s biofuels policies have figured prominently as a means to secure a more sustainable energy supply for the continent, they have created perverse incentives in developing countries such as Peru. The Chira Valley is a clear example of how this quest for greener alternatives to fossil fuels has prompted the development of large-scale bioethanol projects in the Global South, which have high social and environmental costs for local communities.

Rebecca Shadwick, Oxfam global campaigner, spoke with Rosebell Kagumire, editor at African Feminism, about the pandemic’s impact on women, freedom from physical and structural violence, and women's leadership in the recovery. They talk economic violence, social norms and shifting power for real inclusion.

Malnutrition is the leading cause of death and ill health worldwide, and the Covid-19 crisis has made food and nutrition insecurity even worse. In this article you will read how family farmers from China, Nepal, Uganda, Zambia and Guatemala have increased their self-sufficiency by using edible plants growing in their surroundings.

A year after WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, the virus has laid bare the stark gender inequality that continues to shape our world. Despite being at the forefront of the response, women have borne the brunt of this crisis. On International Women's Day, we must reflect on why this happened and why it is absolutely critical for women and girls to have an equal voice and co-lead in rebuilding after COVID-19.

In Colombia, local politics is about more than planning decisions and wastewater – it is literally a matter of life or death. Tania Hernandez Téllez, 41, is willing to sacrifice everything to play her part

The Covid-19 pandemic has been called “the great equalizer”. However, the past twelve months made it clear that the most excluded, oppressed, and vulnerable groups, such as girls and women in all their diversity, have been disproportionately affected by its impact. How can we build a more equal and resilient world?

People around the world have been adapting to change since time immemorial, but there is a cost attached to it. While people living in poverty deploy the resources, traditional knowledge and skills that they have, much more is needed. Adaptation finance is needed to support vulnerable countries and poor communities to adapt to the climate crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic saw people in Europe band together, regardless of where they were born, to pull through this difficult time. From the healthcare professionals saving lives in hospitals, to agricultural workers putting food on our tables, and researchers finding a vaccine so we can go back to our normal lives.