Day 36: Oxfam
Day 36: Oxfam
Website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk
Oxfam claim to be one of the most experienced development agencies in the world, working in more than 70 countries. They are clearly very selfaware and I was amused by the aptness of their introductory blurb: "Oxfam. What springs to mind? Charity shops and second-hand clothes? Donkeys from our Oxfam Unwrapped gift catalogue, bought for people in far-flung lands? They're part of the picture. But think bigger. Much bigger...to have the biggest possible impact on the lives of poor people worldwide, Oxfam concentrates on three interlinked areas of work - emergency response, development work and campaigning for change."
I found that overall the Oxfam website was extremely good at telling me about the 8000-odd ways I could generate money for them, but somewhat vague about what exactly it gets spent on (though there was a lot of very excited sounding overview about empowerment of the overseas poor) until quite a lot further in. However, it appears that the issues Oxfam is most concerned with are: climate change, conflict and natural disasters, health education, debt and aid, gender equality, the right to be heard, trade (including patents, duties/subsidies etc), 'private sector' (fair trade and an assortment of other ethical business practices), poverty in the UK and 'global economic crisis'.
The thing which seems to be particular about Oxfam is that there is a recurring and strong desire to appreciate the individuals who are being helped, and to make the point that aid is being given to people rather than to countries. For example, "The best people to help poor communities are community members themselves. That's because no-one understands their problems better than they do...bringing about the changes poor people want also means speaking out for them at the highest levels. The way we work helps us do this with considerable authority, because we're working with their communities all the time." I found that repeated re-explaining of this started to come across as a bit patronising, ironically, and also raise questions like "shouldn't you be empowering them to speak out rather than speaking out for them if you believe this so much", whereas in other charities that didn't make such a point about it statements like "People living with poverty have the ideas and the determination. But they're sometimes short on expert guidance. We've picked up a lot of know-how in 65 years, and our specialists are in constant demand - from advising poor coffee farmers on how to get more for their beans, to training health workers treating the very poorest in their communities." would (and indeed, recently have) seem like a great idea as I scanned through them and not somewhat paternalistic.
In conclusion, Oxfam appear established, global, organised, savvy and actively participating in resolution of huge amounts of the world's poverty-related problems, here and abroad, but their website isn't my cup of tea. :)
Donation Page: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/cashdonation_nav.php
Today my £5 (81p of every pound of which is actually spent on emergencies, development and campaigning) could have "bought some fertiliser" if I had spent it in the Oxfam Unwrapped shop rather than just using the donate button.
Oxfam Unwrapped: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped
Website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk
Oxfam claim to be one of the most experienced development agencies in the world, working in more than 70 countries. They are clearly very selfaware and I was amused by the aptness of their introductory blurb: "Oxfam. What springs to mind? Charity shops and second-hand clothes? Donkeys from our Oxfam Unwrapped gift catalogue, bought for people in far-flung lands? They're part of the picture. But think bigger. Much bigger...to have the biggest possible impact on the lives of poor people worldwide, Oxfam concentrates on three interlinked areas of work - emergency response, development work and campaigning for change."
I found that overall the Oxfam website was extremely good at telling me about the 8000-odd ways I could generate money for them, but somewhat vague about what exactly it gets spent on (though there was a lot of very excited sounding overview about empowerment of the overseas poor) until quite a lot further in. However, it appears that the issues Oxfam is most concerned with are: climate change, conflict and natural disasters, health education, debt and aid, gender equality, the right to be heard, trade (including patents, duties/subsidies etc), 'private sector' (fair trade and an assortment of other ethical business practices), poverty in the UK and 'global economic crisis'.
The thing which seems to be particular about Oxfam is that there is a recurring and strong desire to appreciate the individuals who are being helped, and to make the point that aid is being given to people rather than to countries. For example, "The best people to help poor communities are community members themselves. That's because no-one understands their problems better than they do...bringing about the changes poor people want also means speaking out for them at the highest levels. The way we work helps us do this with considerable authority, because we're working with their communities all the time." I found that repeated re-explaining of this started to come across as a bit patronising, ironically, and also raise questions like "shouldn't you be empowering them to speak out rather than speaking out for them if you believe this so much", whereas in other charities that didn't make such a point about it statements like "People living with poverty have the ideas and the determination. But they're sometimes short on expert guidance. We've picked up a lot of know-how in 65 years, and our specialists are in constant demand - from advising poor coffee farmers on how to get more for their beans, to training health workers treating the very poorest in their communities." would (and indeed, recently have) seem like a great idea as I scanned through them and not somewhat paternalistic.
In conclusion, Oxfam appear established, global, organised, savvy and actively participating in resolution of huge amounts of the world's poverty-related problems, here and abroad, but their website isn't my cup of tea. :)
Donation Page: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/cashdonation_nav.php
Today my £5 (81p of every pound of which is actually spent on emergencies, development and campaigning) could have "bought some fertiliser" if I had spent it in the Oxfam Unwrapped shop rather than just using the donate button.
Oxfam Unwrapped: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped