Oxfam
Oxfam International, founded in 1995, is a confederation of 12 independent,
non-profit,
secular, community-based aid and development organizations who work with local partners in over 100 countries worldwide to reduce poverty, suffering, and injustice. It is a member of the OneWorld Network, which seeks to "to promote sustainable development, social justice, and human rights."
The twelve Oxfam organizations are based in:
Australia,
Belgium,
Canada,
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, D.C,
New York,
Brussels and
Geneva.
Oxfam Great Britain is based in
Oxford,
UK. It was founded in
England in
1942 as the
Oxford Committee for Famine Relief by
Canon Theodore Richard Milford (
1896–
1987) and the Oxford Meeting of the
Quakers (which included
Edith Pye and the
Gilletts), with a mission to send food through the
Allied blockade to the citizens of Nazi-occupied
Greece. The first overseas branch of Oxfam was founded in
Canada in
1963. The committee changed its name to its
telegraph address,
OXFAM, in
1965.
Oxfam opened the first
charity shop in Britain in Broad Street,
Oxford in
1948. Today it operates approximately 750 shops through Britain as well as a number in other countries. Over 70 of the organization's shops in the UK are specialist
Oxfam Bookshops, making them the largest retailer of second-hand books in the United Kingdom.
Oxfam shops also sell
fair trade products from developing communities around the world.
Oxfam has received funding from the Ford Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. It has an annual operating budget of over $300 million USD.
Oxfam has a number of successful fundraising channels in addition to its shops. Over half a million people in the UK make a regular financial contribution towards its work, and vital funds are received from gifts left to the organization in people's wills. Many
London Marathon competitors run to raise money for Oxfam, and Oxfam also receives funds in return for providing and organizing volunteer stewards at festivals such as
Glastonbury. In conjunction with the
Gurkha Welfare Trust, Oxfam also runs several
Trailwalker events in
Hong Kong,
Australia and the
United Kingdom.
|
Oxfam clothing and shoe bank |
Though Oxfam's initial concern was the provision of food to relieve famine the charity has, over the years, developed strategies against the
causes of famine. In addition to food and medicine Oxfam also provides tools to enable people to become self-supporting and opens markets of international trade where crafts and produce from poorer regions of the world can be sold at a fair price to benefit the producer.
Oxfam's programme has three main points of focus: development work, which tries to lift communities out of poverty with long-term, sustainable solutions; Humanitarian work, assisting those immediately affected by conflict and natural disasters (which often leads in to longer-term development work), especially in the field of
water and
sanitation; and
lobbying,
advocacy and popular campaigning, trying to affect policy decisions on the causes of conflict at local, national, and international levels.
Oxfam today works on these issues:
*
International trade *
Education*
Debt and
aid *
Livelihoods
*
Health*
HIV/
AIDS * Gender
equality *
Conflict and
natural disasters
*
Democracy and
human rights*
Climate change*
Make Trade FairOxfam Branches
*
Oxfam International*
Oxfam Great Britain*
Oxfam Ireland*
Oxfam-Solidarity (Belgium - in Dutch)*
Oxfam-Solidarity (Belgium - in French)*
Oxfam shops (Belgium, Flemish branch)*
Oxfam shops (Belgium, French language branch)*
Oxfam Novib (Oxfam Netherlands)*
Oxfam Germany*
Intermón Oxfam (Oxfam Spain)*
Oxfam Canada*
Oxfam Québec*
Oxfam America*
Oxfam Hong Kong*
Oxfam Japan*
Oxfam Australia*
Oxfam New ZealandCampaigns
*
Oxfam UK "I'm in" Petition*
Oxfam Fair Trade*
Oxfam Make Trade Fair campaign*
Generation Why: Oxfam for students & young people*
OXJAM - UK's Biggest FestivalResources and Materials
*
Cool Planet: Oxfam's website for teachers and children * Yellowikis lists Oxfam's
Contact details*
Discover the Network's Entry on Oxfam International, adopted from NGO Monitor
