Oxfam works with communities, allies and partner organizations, undertaking long-term development, emergency work, research and campaigning for a fairer world. Oxfam works on a broad range of issues, including trade, conflict, debt and aid, and education.

We deliver immediate life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters or conflict, and help to build their resilience to future disasters.

Conflict in D. R. Congo

An upsurge of fighting in eastern Congo has seen an estimated 250,000 people flee their homes since late January. Oxfam is expanding its emergency response to provide support to an additional 150,000 people.
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Southern Sudan

Although Oxfam Great Britain (GB) had to leave northern Sudan in March 2009 Oxfam GB continues to work in southern Sudan. Oxfam Japan supports Oxfam GB's water and sanitation project in Western Equatoria State, Southern Sudan.
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Check out the Emergency Fact File which explains how Oxfam works to deliver aid as quickly as possible to the people who need it.

Oxfam and its partners are working toward long term development to eradicate poverty and injustice. We work on diverse issues such as gender, HIV/AIDS and human rights both internationally and domestically. In all our actions Oxfam’s goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives. From long term program work and short term emergency relief to immediate campaign action, Oxfam believes in empowering people. Oxfam strives to work with local partners and takes a rights based approach to our development work.

Oxfam Japan's development programs

■Cambodia
■Laos
■Philippines
■India
■Mozambique
■South Africa

Even though enormous wealth is created in the world, millions and millions of people are still without sufficient food or safe water, many people do not have the opportunity to get cured when they are sick and are not able to send their children to school. Oxfam thinks such a situation is unfair and should be changed.

The inequitable situation in the world can not be solved by pity alone. Around the world, in developing as well developed countries, people are standing up sharing the idea that something must be done to tackle poverty. Oxfam not only works in communities that suffer from poverty, but also creates momentum for change by raising awareness all over the globe. Oxfam does this through advocacy and campaigning.

Advocacy

Oxfam has learned from extensive experience that, in order to establish change, it is important to raise voices aimed at all levels of society. Such groups of people vary from grassroots and civil society level, to policy makers and the big multilateral organisations.

In an increasingly globalised society it is important to acknowledge that international treaties and multinational organisations become more and more influential. International and domestic factors get more entangled, which complicates the mechanism creating poverty. Oxfam uses its experience accumulated through the years to practice “advocacy”: to influence policy makers domestically as well as internationally.

Campaigning

Oxfam thinks it's important that people all over the world are aware of unfair situations concerning poverty. If people know what is going on, we can all exert our power by using our vote, changing our consumption pattern, etc. That way we can change the world. “Campaigning” concerns the multitude of activities employed to inform and motivate the general public.

Working with a global team of campaigners and allied organisations, Oxfam is striving for positive change for the poor. Oxfam campaigns for policy and practice change on fair trade, conflict and humanitarian response, climate change, and on issues such as debt relief, the global arms trade, poverty reduction and universal basic education.

Links to some of our campaigns can be found in the section on "Issues".

Oxfam has campaigned all over the world. The power and voice of civil society from developing countries has been increasing recently. Big changes can be made if people all over the world join their forces. Will you participate in one of Oxfam’s campaigns?

Oxfam campaigns for policy and practice change on fair trade, conflict and humanitarian response, climate change, and on issues such as debt relief, the global arms trade, poverty reduction and universal basic education.

Health & Education: Essential Services

Every day 72 million children don't go to school, and most of them are girls. 8000 people die of HIV and AIDS, many because they can't afford the drugs they need. Classrooms with teachers, clinics with nurses, and affordable medicines. For millions of people, these things are still a distant dream.

How can we make this dream a reality? By making sure poor countries have money and power to invest in free health and education – especially for those who need it most. This is the call at the heart of our campaign. Sign the Health and Education For All Pledge now!

The 2015 deadline set for governments to meet their Millennium Development Goals to fight poverty approaches fast. Progress on both the health and the education goals is woefully inadequate. In the next year Oxfam will continue to campaign with others to demand change. We will call for the EU and the G8 to give the long-term funding and support poor countries need, and other organizations to support poor countries to provide Health and Education for All.

Climate Change

Climate change has begun, and its effects are more obvious by the day – ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, and natural disasters are more frequent. This is a serious threat to people in rich countries. But for people in poor countries with limited resources to cope, it’s an utter disaster – and it’s a disaster that’s already beginning to unfold.

Why is Oxfam campaigning on climate change?

As an anti-poverty charity, Oxfam is campaigning on climate change because Oxfam’s work to end poverty is increasingly undermined by changes in the world’s climate – global warming is already hitting millions of vulnerable people in developing countries where drought, flooding, hunger and disease are becoming more common than ever. Poverty will deepen unless we tackle climate change – immediately.

How we're doing it

Oxfam has launched a major campaign calling on world leaders to stop climate change in its tracks. Rich countries accept global warming is driven by pollution from their industries – they must now reduce greenhouse emissions without delay. They should also help poor nations cope with the damaging effects of climate change. And so that things don’t get even worse, rich countries must urgently agree upon policies and targets to stop global warming. It’s not too late – we can contain climate change and prevent catastrophe, if we act together, now.

Oxfam has already undertaken campaigns in several affected countries to fight with the consequences of global climate change. One example is Indonesia where Oxfam provided emergency relief following the 2007 floods, and is currently working with local communities to help alleviate the consequences of future flood disasters.

Oxfam is also assisting countries in their efforts to adapt to global climate change, as it is generally acknowledged that appropriate measures should be taken prior to the outbreak of emergency situations. For example, due to difficulties to predict rainfalls necessary for the growing of crops, farmers in South Africa have adapted to this situation by starting to use fast-growing crops. In Vietnam, some of the efforts to adapt to storms have included constructing mangrove breakwaters.

Make Trade Fair

Did you know that every time you buy something made or grown in a developing country, you take part in a billion dollar scam? As it works today, the global trading system rips off people who are already poor. The Make Trade Fair campaign gives a voice to the farmers, labourers, and factory workers who are being cheated by the blatantly unfair rules of world trade.

At the beginning of 2008, the EU succeeded in pressuring many African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to initial free trade deals, which we fear may have negative implications for development in some of the world's poorest countries.

Trade is one of the most powerful forces linking our lives, and a source of unprecedented wealth. Yet the benefits are not being shared by all: millions of the world's people are being left behind. Join a global movement calling for an end to unfair trade rules – more than 20 million people have signed the petition so far.

Control Arms

The global arms trade is dangerously unregulated, and allows weapons to reach repressive governments, human rights abusers and criminals. Thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, and forced to flee from their homes as a result of the unregulated global arms trade. To address these concerns, three global organizations have joined together to launch an international campaign in over sixty countries, to reduce arms proliferation and misuse, and to introduce an arms trade treaty.

Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) jointly launched the global Control Arms campaign in October 2003. The campaign focuses on promoting an international treaty covering arms transfers – the Arms Trade Treaty – which will stop arms being sold to those likely to misuse them.

Talks started on Feb. 11, 2008 in the UN offer an historic way forward on conventional arms control, say Control Arms campaigners. The 28 delegates from every continent will sit on the “Group of Governmental Experts in New York, where they will start their first discussions on a global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

Read more about the issue by downloading the Shattered Lives Report or visiting the Control Arms homepage. You can support the campaign by adding your face to the Million Faces petition.