Maria Al Abdeh on the work of Women Now for Development in Syria, and the impact of Jo Cox. This is the first post of a new mini series on ‘Being a feminist in difficult places’.
Can Twitter help drive policy change?
Oxfam Intermón has supported allies using digital actions to put issues on the political agenda. Rodrigo Barahona, Virginia Vaquera and Patricia Corcuera share seven critical success factors. In recent years Spain has seen the devastating impact of economic crisis, austerity measures, and a rolling back of human rights – including the controversial Citizens Security Law, which has curbed freedom of …
Why care is a political act
Facilitators Shawna Wakefield and Heather Cole outline why self and collective care is fundamental to social justice, and how individuals and organizations can lead by example. There are many ways to understand what care means. Here, we define it as looking after the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental wellbeing, safety and dignity of ourselves and others. Too often, the focus …
How to build community trust to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The world’s second-biggest Ebola outbreak is still raging in DRC, with more than 1,400 cases and 900 deaths. Research has shown that distrust is one of the biggest obstacles in this Ebola fight. Oxfam’s Andrea Vera Nava outlines three ways to work with local communities to build their trust and increase the success of an Ebola response in a conflict …
Law as a tool to empower and achieve change
Noélie Coudurier, Sreetama Gupta Bhaya and Laura Gyte share a wealth of examples demonstrating how law can help drive positive change. As campaigners, we can feel ambivalent about law. As a product of society, it’s often structured to protect the privileged. Even the most progressive constitutions in the world, forged in times of political transformation and hope, are not yet …
Tax Havens Free Zones. Where think global, act local is more than just a slogan.
Rodrigo Barahona and Susana Ruiz describe how the Tax Havens Free Zones initiative is gathering momentum in the fight against inequality and poverty. When large companies and wealthy individuals divert part of their income to tax havens, this leaves governments without the resources they need to address poverty and invest in healthcare, education and jobs. Oxfam analyzed 200 of the …
New voices tearing up outdated economic norms and practices
Young women in Ghana are calling out the double standards that put them at an economic disadvantage. Kwesi W Obeng draws parallels with Oxfam’s work on tax and gender. Some of Ghana’s brightest and most educated young women are openly criticising deeply entrenched cultural, social and religious norms that restrict women, dim aspirations and undermine their contribution to society. Under …
Are supermarket canned tomatoes now free from labour exploitation?
Tim Gore shares three key findings from Oxfam’s human rights impact assessment of the Italian processed tomato sector. There have been a range of media and NGO reports in recent years about endemic labour exploitation in the Italian tomato sector. But as Oxfam’s The People Behind the Prices, shows, while some progress has been made, many of the root causes …
Using elections to amplify people’s voices
Elections can be an important influencing opportunity for people living in poverty. Rodrigo Barahona and Isabel Crabtree-Condor share what Oxfam has learned from our work in four countries. Elections are a defining feature of democracies. They are a formal moment when the average person on the street can exercise power by voting for the public policies they want to see. Issues …
