Publishing Institution: Oxfam Publishing

1. Human Rights Impact Assessment of Bolton Food’s Canned Tuna Operations in Morocco

Author:: Giorgia Ceccarelli and Ana Pérez Adroher
Publication Date:: 06-2025
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This paper reports on the second human rights impact assessment (HRIA) carried out by Oxfam at Nouvelle Cosarno, Bolton Food’s tuna cannery in the coastal city of Agadir, Morocco. The factory employs more than 400 workers, 90% of whom are performing manual tasks (blue-collar workers). Women make up the majority of the manual workers (71%). The main objectives of the assessment are: to identify the company’s actual and potential human rights risks and impacts at the production stages of its Moroccan factory; to identify the root causes of these risks and impacts; and to make recommendations to Bolton Food and key stakeholders on how to address, mitigate or remediate the actual and potential impacts identified. One main group of rights-holders was identified for the purposes of this assessment: male and female workers employed in canned fish processing plants (including canned sardine, tuna and shrimp) in Agadir.
Topic:: Human Rights, Labor Issues, Supply Chains, Wages, and Tuna
Political Geography:: North Africa and Morocco

2. Human Rights Impact Assessment of Bolton Food’s Canned Tuna Supply Chain in Ecuador

Author:: Giorgia Ceccarelli
Publication Date:: 06-2025
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This paper presents the first of three Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs) conducted by Oxfam on behalf of Bolton Food, focusing on its tuna supply chain in Ecuador between 2021 and 2022. The assessment evaluates both actual and potential human rights impacts at the production stage of the value chain. It seeks to identify the root causes of these risks and impacts and to provide actionable recommendations to Bolton Food and relevant stakeholders on how to address, mitigate, or remediate them. For the purposes of this assessment, the primary group of rights-holders identified includes male and female workers employed in canned tuna processing plants in Manta, as well as male workers aboard tuna fishing vessels operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Topic:: Supply Chains, Tuna, Due Diligence, and Living Wage
Political Geography:: Latin America, Central America, and Ecuador

3. A (More) Feminist Approach to Principled Humanitarian Aid

Author:: Rachel Hastie
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Historically there has been very little discussion of feminism within the international humanitarian system. In recent years, some donor governments – including Canada, Mexico, and Germany – have adopted overtly feminist foreign policies and applied these to their strategies and guidance for humanitarian assistance. At the same time, aid actors have started to reconfigure their ways of working, vision, goals, and conceptualisation of humanitarianism in the light of decolonisation, anti-racism, local humanitarian leadership, and gender justice in the aid system. This discussion paper intends to prompt discussion and debate, by exploring what a feminist approach to principled humanitarian aid might look like practically, and what aid actors and the humanitarian system can to do to make it more of a reality.
Topic:: Feminism, Neutrality, Humanitarian Assistance, and Impartiality
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4. Takers Not Makers: The unjust poverty and unearned wealth of colonialism

Author:: Anjela Taneja, Anthony Kamande, Chandreyi Gunaray Gomez, Dana Abed, Max Lawson, and Neelanjana Mukhia
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Billionaire wealth has risen three times faster in 2024 than in 2023. Five trillionaires are now expected within a decade. Meanwhile, crises of economy, climate and conflict mean the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990. Most billionaire wealth is taken, not earned- 60% comes from either inheritance, cronyism, corruption or monopoly power. Our deeply unequal world has a long history of colonial domination which has largely benefited the richest people. The poorest, racialized people, women and marginalized groups have been and continue to be systematically exploited at huge human costs. Today’s world remains colonial in many ways. This must be reversed. Reparations must be made to those who were brutally enslaved and colonised. Our modern-day colonial economic system must be made radically more equal to end poverty. The cost should be borne by the richest people who benefit the most.
Topic:: Inequality, Colonialism, Cronyism, Monopoly, Justice, Reparations, and Gender
Political Geography:: Global Focus

5. Innovative Pathways: When and how to use alternative approaches to Human Rights Impact Assessments

Author:: Caroline Brodeur and Eline Achterberg
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Human rights violations are widespread across global supply chains, with companies increasingly exposed to risks like forced labor and environmental degradation. While audits and certifications have proven insufficient in preventing such abuses, a more robust approach is necessary. A Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) is an essential tool that helps businesses identify and assess human rights risks by engaging directly with affected rightsholders. This process is becoming more critical, especially with new regulations like the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which mandates comprehensive human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) for large companies starting in 2027. To make the HRIA process more efficient, some companies are exploring alternatives like joint HRIAs, sector-wide impact assessments, and rapid assessments. Joint HRIAs allow companies to share resources and expertise, especially when they source from the same suppliers or regions, while sector-wide assessments provide a broader view of industry-wide impacts. Rapid assessments are a faster alternative, focused on urgent or well-documented issues. Regardless of the approach, companies must adhere to key criteria to ensure effectiveness: selecting appropriate targets, engaging rightsholders meaningfully, addressing root causes, ensuring transparency, and committing to action. These principles ensure that the assessment process is thorough and leads to real, lasting improvements in human rights practices. Cutting corners in the due diligence process is not an option.
Topic:: Human Rights, Business, Impact Evaluation, and Due Diligence
Political Geography:: Global Focus

6. Personal to Powerful: Holding the line for gender justice in the face of growing anti-rights movements

Author:: Lata Narayanaswamy and Amina Hersi
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Thirty years on from the commitments enshrined in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) this briefing reveals a picture of broken promises and unfulfilled ambition by States. This failure is not just due to a lack of political will, but also an economic system that is unequal by design. As world leaders prepare to review their commitments to the BPfA, they must reject the mainstreaming of anti-rights actors and their co-optation of human rights language as this risks violating universal human rights and eroding the hard-won gains of feminist and LGBTQIA+ activists and movements, ultimately breaking the social contract between the state and people.
Topic:: Women, Feminism, Decolonization, Care work, Gender Justice, and Bodily Autonomy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

7. Fast, Fair, Funded and Feminist: A pathway to a just and transformative climate transition within and beyond the UK

Author:: Natalie Shortall, Chiara Ligouri, and Ruth Mayne
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The world is in the grip of a climate emergency. Urgent and equitable action is essential to prevent yet further escalating climate impacts that are devastating communities worldwide and to safeguard a liveable planet for future generations. For governments everywhere, including the UK Government, this is a defining test of leadership. But it is also a moment of opportunity—an opportunity to build economies and societies that are not only decarbonised and climate resilient, but that actively reduce inequalities, are more inclusive, and prioritise the wellbeing of people and the planet over short-term profit. In this report, we outline key steps the UK Government can take to lead the way toward a just and transformative transition—one that not only stabilises the climate but also delivers fairness and justice for all.
Topic:: Climate Change, Government, Transition, Climate Justice, and Net Zero
Political Geography:: United Kingdom and Europe

8. Beyond the Targets: An ambitious agenda to put aid back on track

Author:: Salvatore Nocerino
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Aid can make a huge contribution to significantly reducing inequality. Given the widespread agreement that bringing down inequality is necessary to underpin efforts to end poverty, achieve gender justice and successfully fight climate change, there is an urgent need for donors to make this a priority in their aid policies. For this virtuous cycle to be effective, there is also an imperative to rebalance decision-making on aid, ensuring it is done in an inclusive way that centres Global South governments and civil society. Building on the findings of the 2019 Oxfam report 'Hitting the Target: An agenda for aid in times of extreme inequality', this paper presents a new and updated agenda to put aid back on track given recent changes in the development landscape and the multiple crises facing our world. It makes 10 concrete recommendations on how to ensure development finance effectively contributes to building a more equal and sustainable world.
Topic:: Development, International Cooperation, Poverty, and Inequality
Political Geography:: Global Focus

9. Raising the Bar: Supermarkets must urgently address structural exploitation of cocoa farmers

Author:: Jesse Arnon and Anouk Franck
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Most cocoa farmers in main cocoa producing countries Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are poor, even though they are at the heart of the supply chain for a luxury good: chocolate. For decades they have been receiving low farm gate prices, which don’t allow them to earn a living income for their families. At the same time, companies in the cocoa and chocolate supply chains have been making huge profits. Supermarkets in the Netherlands and Germany have taken first steps by making long-term commitments to ensuring cocoa farmers are paid a living income reference price, but the share of honest chocolate they have on offer only reaches 5%. It’s time that they radically change the way they do business, by committing to long-term fair prices for farmers, sharing the risk with cocoa farmers and being accountable for all the chocolate products they sell. This paper focuses on supermarkets, which are powerful actors in the cocoa and chocolate supply chain. As primary retailers, supermarkets have a direct link with consumers and have power across the supply chain so they can drive real change. Dutch and German supermarkets have made living income commitments, and they have started implementing them.
Topic:: Human Rights, Business, Cocoa, Farming, Living Income, and Supermarkets
Political Geography:: Europe, Germany, Netherlands, and Global Focus

10. Water-Driven Hunger: How the Climate Crisis Fuels Africa’s Food Emergency

Author:: Giuseppe Selvaggi and Elise Nalbandian
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This paper calls for an integrated water and food security management in eight Eastern and Southern African countries—Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These countries, identified as Hunger Hotspots for 2025 and among the 30 most water insecure globally, are also experiencing the severe impacts of climate variability. The paper strongly recommends that multilateral bodies, governments, donors, and the private sector implement sustainable adaptation and mitigation measures—such as strengthening national hydro-meteorological forecasting systems, increasing investment in anticipatory action, ensuring access to climate finance etc. to tackle the root causes of these crises. Furthermore, it also provides insights into effective water management practices that can help national governments and policymakers adopt comprehensive policies, ultimately improving governance to tackle the triple crises of water, food and climate.
Topic:: Climate Change, Water, Hunger, and Water Insecurity
Political Geography:: Africa

11. Land, Peace and Security: Secure access to land as a vital guarantee for the protection of communities in the Sahel

Author:: Mohamadou Fadel Diop
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The lack of secure access to land is a major driver of physical and food insecurity, violence, and violations of the fundamental rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their host communities. This briefing paper outlines the causes and consequences of restricted land access and explores its links with protection risks in the context of violent conflict and climate change in the Sahel. It highlights the essential role of secure land access and land rights in economic empowerment and protection policies for IDPs and host communities in the Central Sahel, in line with the “Triple Nexus” approach connecting humanitarian action, development and peace.
Topic:: Humanitarian Aid, Displacement, Land Rights, and Protection
Political Geography:: North Africa and Sahel

12. The Private Sphere Trap: Women and the climate crisis in Iraq

Author:: Laila Barhoum
Publication Date:: 06-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This Oxfam briefing paper examines the intersection of gender inequality and climate change in Iraq, focusing on the agricultural sector. Women in Iraq face systemic barriers that confine them to the "private sphere," limiting their participation in decision-making processes critical to climate adaptation and mitigation. Through qualitative research, including focus group discussions and key informant interviews, the paper highlights how social norms, economic dependency, and lack of access to resources exacerbate women’s vulnerability to climate impacts. It provides actionable recommendations to foster inclusive climate action, such as raising awareness, leveraging respected female leaders, and improving technical support for farmers. The report underscores the urgent need to dismantle male-dominated structures to build a resilient and equitable future for Iraq.
Topic:: Agriculture, Climate Change, Inequality, Rural, Decision-Making, Adaptation, Livelihoods, Gender, and Social Norms
Political Geography:: Iraq and Middle East

13. From Pledges to Progress: Tracking climate finance flows and accountability in Nigeria and Uganda

Author:: Tallulah Cherry-Virdee
Publication Date:: 06-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Oxfam’s Climate Finance Shadow reports have shown that high-income countries have failed to deliver on their commitment to mobilize climate finance for low- and middle-income countries. In 2024, two country reports, on Uganda and Nigeria, were published that analyzed how the insufficient international climate finance that is reaching their governments is being spent at national and subnational level. The two reports also lay out ways for how civil society can track these flows, ensure meaningful community participation, and hold their governments accountable. This paper analyses the findings and commonalities from the reports on Uganda and Nigeria, and includes recommendations for climate finance providers, national and subnational governments, and civil society on how climate finance can be spent fair, transparent, accountable and in an inclusive manner.
Topic:: Budget, Climate Finance, Citizenship, Accountability, and Participation
Political Geography:: Uganda, Africa, and Nigeria

14. No Women, No Peace – A Snapshot of Oxfam’s Engagement with the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Lessons and Opportunities

Author:: Marie Sophie Petersson, Lydia Ayikoru, Souhadou Diasso, Fatma Jaffer, and Moath Jamal
Publication Date:: 06-2025
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This briefing paper summarizes the important lessons learned since 2018 by Oxfam Denmark and the wider Oxfam confederation while promoting the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda and supporting WPS programming in Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, South Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine and Yemen, including under the Danish International Development Agency (Danida) strategic partnerships. It contains practical and policy-level recommendations for international actors working on the WPS agenda in various crisis and conflict contexts globally. The briefing paper shows that supporting and amplifying locally led feminist action by diverse women-led, women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights organizations, networks and groups is a central foundation for peace and justice.
Topic:: Leadership, Crisis Management, Gender, Protection, Localization, Women, Peace, and and Security (WPS)
Political Geography:: Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Global Focus

15. Grounding Women’s Land Rights: Towards equity and climate justice

Author:: Naomi Shadrack and Trimita Chakma
Publication Date:: 09-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This policy paper provides a critical examination of international commitments on women's land rights, evaluating progress and persistent challenges. It scrutinizes commitments made through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Generation Equality Forum (GEF) Action Coalitions, revealing a substantial disconnect between ambitions and implementation.
Topic:: Climate Change, Land Rights, Equity, Climate Justice, and Gender Justice
Political Geography:: Global Focus

16. Leaving No One Behind: A green bargain for people and planet

Author:: Mathew Truscott and Erica Mason
Publication Date:: 09-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: With the increasing frequency of fires, floods, droughts and other extreme weather events, countries across the world are facing a new era of climate-linked crises. The international climate finance system – through mitigation, adaptation and potentially now through loss and damage – is seeking to reduce and address these impacts. In parallel, the humanitarian system is increasingly having to respond to climate-linked crisis, or the impacts of climate change on already fragile or conflict-affected states. Both systems are chronically underfunded and increasingly overstretched and must now make difficult choices regarding the way in which funding is raised, distributed and used. As the climate crisis intensifies, climate and humanitarian finance must find ways to plan and programme together more effectively. While many important debates over principles and mechanisms continue, this paper seeks to provide a broad guide for those engaging at the intersection of climate and humanitarian finance to understand both systems and generate discussion on how both sectors can better coordinate for a more effective response to the climate crisis.
Topic:: Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Climate Finance, Weather, and Climate Justice
Political Geography:: Global Focus

17. Towards Meaningful Human Rights Impact Assessments: From supermarket commitments to best practice action

Author:: Eline Achterberg
Publication Date:: 01-2024
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This discussion paper focuses on the commitments that Dutch, German and UK supermarkets made as part of the Behind the Barcodes campaign to conduct human rights impact assessments (HRIAs). To understand whether supermarkets are meaningfully implementing those commitments and to support learning, this paper analyses the HRIAs that supermarkets have published in the past four years and identifies best practice efforts and points of improvement. Oxfam also outlines key recommendations for supermarkets and other food companies to improve HRIA processes to ensure that the rights of people making our food are better protected and respected.
Topic:: Human Rights, Food, Labor Rights, and Supply Chains
Political Geography:: Europe

18. Turn on the Light: Why tackling energy-related challenges in the nexus of water and food in Syria cannot wait

Author:: Anna Cervi
Publication Date:: 01-2024
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This discussion paper contributes to the broader discourse on the nexus between Water, Energy and Food (WEF) in parts of Syria where Oxfam works. It explores the main causes behind the deterioration of the WEF sectors and the impact they have on households across Syria. The paper also focuses on aspects that directly impact and limit Oxfam’s work inside Syria, in the delivery and implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Livelihoods; Food Security and Protection interventions. Addressing the WEF Nexus in Syria is key in delivering more effective and sustainable interventions; and helping Syrians restore their lives.
Topic:: Water, Conflict, Syrian War, Energy, and Humanitarian Response
Political Geography:: Middle East and Syria

19. Two Years at the Forefront: Exploring the needs and experiences of women-led, women’s rights and LGBTQIA+ led organizations two years into the Ukraine humanitarian response

Author:: Charlotte Greener
Publication Date:: 02-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Two years on from the escalation of the war in Ukraine, Oxfam spoke with a number of people leading the work of local and national women-led organisations (WLOs), women’s rights organisations (WROs), LGBTQIA+ led organizations, and other local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) addressing the needs of women, girls and gender minorities in Poland and Ukraine. We wanted to understand how the humanitarian crisis has impacted them, personally and as organizations, and their needs and priorities for the future. At the beginning of the humanitarian crisis following the escalation of the war in Ukraine, local WLOs, WROs and LGBTQIA+ led organizations were some of the first on the ground responding to their communities’ needs, both within Ukraine and in neighboring countries, and two years on, they are still at the forefront of providing assistance. The conversations that we had with these organisations highlighted that they are facing key challenges in continuing to sustain their vital role in responding to humanitarian needs; the need for greater investment in their voice and agency as decision-makers in the humanitarian response; and the need for flexible support to these organisations that allows them to carry out their important work across all stages of the response to the humanitarian crisis.
Topic:: Human Rights, Women, Refugees, LGBT+, Humanitarian Crisis, Civil Society Organizations, Gender, and Humanitarian Response
Political Geography:: Europe, Ukraine, and Poland

20. Inflicting Unprecedented Suffering and Destruction: Seven ways the government of Israel is deliberately blocking and/or undermining the international humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip

Author:: Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:: 03-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Over five months into the Israeli mass atrocities on the Gaza Strip, in response to the horrific 7 October 2023 attacks by Palestinian armed groups, a meaningful and safe humanitarian response is made impossible by the government of Israel. In this briefing we outline seven fundamental humanitarian access constraints.
Topic:: War Crimes, Atrocities, Palestinian Authority, Humanitarian Response, Blockade, 2023 Gaza War, and Forced Displacement
Political Geography:: Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

21. Climate Plans for the People: Civil society and community participation in national action plans on climate change

Author:: Duncan Pruett and Christina Hill
Publication Date:: 03-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In 2024, all countries will be updating and submitting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). These national climate plans outline commitments towards tackling climate change. These plans impact all walks of life and must therefore be inclusive of the whole of society. By examining recent practices across 11 countries, Oxfam found that NDCs were not sufficiently inclusive, often failing to involve civil society and communities who bear the burden of climate change and the impact of climate transition plans. This paper explores who the main actors are in NDCs, which stakeholders have not been included, and why. In order to foster a sustainable, equitable, and inclusive social, economic, and political environment for climate action, the paper makes recommendations for the UN, governments, donors, international agencies and civil society.
Topic:: Civil Society, Climate Change, Participation, Adaptation, and Mitigation
Political Geography:: Global Focus

22. The perception of climate change in Senegal coastal areas

Author:: Serigne Momar Sarr, Adama Faye, Dibor Sarr Faye, and Thierno Sarr
Publication Date:: 04-2024
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The cognitive dimension of climate change is a subject that is rarely analysed. However, communities’ endogenous adaptation strategies are heavily dependent on their perception of the risks linked to climate change. An analysis of individuals’ representations and perceptions of climate change makes it possible to improve the ability to adapt of territories confronted by it. In this analysis, the relations of interdependence between perception, knowledge and adaptation strategies show how communities living in the coastal area of Senegal interpret climate change, in particular in the fields of agriculture, water resources and coastal areas. Considering these representations favours the co-construction and acceptability of the adaptation strategies. It enables state and non state actors to better understand the communities’ needs as regards public climate policies, whereas the media can identify levers they can use to devise effective public information campaigns on the climate, in order to reduce the vulnerability of communities that face climate hazards.
Topic:: Climate Change, Risk, Adaptation, and Perception
Political Geography:: Africa and Senegal

23. Increasing Civil Society Ownership of National Climate Plans: Lessons drawn from Senegal’s NDC experience

Author:: Estelle Briot
Publication Date:: 04-2024
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The issue of civil society participation in the processes of developing, implementing, and monitoring national climate plans is crucial to ensuring that these ambitions are both acceptable to the populations and, beyond that, that they align with a trajectory of sustainable development beneficial to all actors in Senegalese society. This case study aims to analyze the degree of involvement through consultations with a variety of civil society actors, as well as members of the administration and international partners active in the fight against climate change. While some believe that civil society participation has progressed significantly in recent years, the vast majority feel that the level reached is still insufficient. Barriers to civil society’s appropriation of climate issues include, among others, the lack of representativeness of grassroots organizations and vulnerable groups, as well as the unfamiliarity of civil society organizations (CSOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) with the processes, objectives, and stakeholders of the National Climate Plan (NCP), meaning that many civil society actors are rarely aware of their contribution to its implementation even though they are involved. The study also shows how limited human and financial resources reduce the possibility of broad participation by civil society organizations, especially outside the capital. This raises the question of a fair, adequate, and targeted allocation of climate financing to meet the ambitions of climate policies in Senegal. This report presents recommendations to overcome barriers that may explain low ownership of national climate plans by communities, in order to propose ways for populations to be key actors in an ambitious ecological transition in Senegal.
Topic:: Civil Society, Climate Change, Participation, and Ambition
Political Geography:: Global Focus

24. Unaccountable Adaptation: The Asian Development Bank’s overstated claims on climate adaptation finance

Author:: Sunil Acharya, Rasmus Bo Sørensen, and Hans Peter Dejgaard
Publication Date:: 05-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Despite positioning itself as the ‘climate bank of Asia and the Pacific’, it is difficult to ascertain the Asian Development Bank’s claims of climate adaptation finance. Oxfam analysed the bank’s 2019–2023 climate finance portfolio and conducted a detailed assessment of 15 climate adaptation projects, comprising 43% of reported adaptation finance for FY 2021 and 2022. Oxfam found that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) hugely overstates the reported amounts with potential over-reporting of 44% in average for the assessed projects. This briefing paper calls for a transformative shift in the ADB’s adaptation finance strategies. The ADB must improve the accuracy and transparency of climate finance reporting and realign financial flows with the needs of the region's most vulnerable communities.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Finance, Accountability, Transparency, Adaptation, and Development Finance
Political Geography:: Asia

25. Essential but Invisible and Exploited: A literature review of migrant workers’ experiences in European agriculture

Author:: Carlos Ruiz-Ramírez, Juan Castillo-Rojas-Marcos, and Yoan Molinero-Gerbeau
Publication Date:: 06-2024
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This report – derived from work implemented by Oxfam Intermón and the University Institute for Studies on Migration (IUEM) of Comillas University in the EU SafeHabitus project – is based on a review of academic and non-academic literature from the past five years. It assesses research on working, living, health and transport conditions for migrants working in the agri-food sector in Europe, and cross-cutting gender issues.
Topic:: Agriculture, Food, European Union, Migrant Workers, Supply Chains, Equity, Production, and Gender
Political Geography:: Europe

26. Beyond Crises: The future of Special Drawing Rights as a source of development and climate finance

Author:: Didier Jacobs
Publication Date:: 06-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) during the COVID-19 pandemic has generated considerable interest in using SDRs as a tool for development and climate finance. This policy brief argues that the monetary logic that underpins SDRs justifies regular allocations of at least $200 billion a year, and more than doubling the share of low-and middle-income countries. Once allocated, governments can use SDRs in multiple ways, including to fund some development or climate projects. The brief also discusses reforms to deepen the SDR system in the interest of all countries.
Topic:: Development, Climate Finance, Sustainable Development Goals, Economic Policy, and IMF
Political Geography:: Global Focus

27. The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2024

Author:: Anthony Kamande, Jo Walker, Martin Matthew, and Max Lawson
Publication Date:: 10-2024
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Now in its fifth edition, the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI) assesses the commitment of 164 countries and regions to fighting inequality. The CRI 2024 offers powerful new evidence on whether governments are acting to reduce inequality through policies on public services, fair taxation and labour rights. It reveals negative trends in the vast majority of countries since 2022. Four in five have cut the share of their budgets going to education, health and/or social protection; four in five have backtracked on progressive taxation; and nine in ten have regressed on labour rights and minimum wages. Nine out of ten countries have backtracked in one or more area, meaning without urgent policy actions to reverse this worrying trend, economic inequality will almost certainly continue to rise in 90% of countries. Despite some progress, the IMF and the World Bank could do far more to prioritize the fight to reduce inequality. This report assesses their actions across the three CRI pillars of public services, taxation and labour rights. It makes recommendations for how the IMF and World Bank should stop promoting policies that increase inequality and instead support those policies that reduce it, as a matter of urgency.
Topic:: Inequality, Tax Systems, Public Service, Wages, Jobs, and Social Protection
Political Geography:: Global Focus

28. Understanding electricity utilities in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of civil society in improving performance, governance, and accountability

Author:: Peter Twesigye
Publication Date:: 08-2024
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This report provides a primer on the performance of electricity utilities in sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting on the current landscape of power sector and utility challenges, the reforms undertaken to address performance failures, opportunities for a “utility of the future” amid the global energy transition, governance frameworks available to assess performance (like the infrastructure regulatory system and World Bank’s Utility Performance and Behavior Today [UPBEAT] platform), and the prospects for changing the political economy of state-owned utilities to significantly improve transparency, accountability, and performance. It provides foundational knowledge on how to use financial statements and economic tools so that nonexperts can assess the financial health of a utility for the purposes of demanding greater accountability. It also provides insights on why energy sector power purchase agreements (PPAs) should be made more transparent for greater public accountability. Further, the primer lays out the need for an enhanced role of civil society in advocating for improved transparency and greater civil participation in the governance of state-owned utilities and how regulation can be of further help. The key takeaway is that state-owned enterprises should be subject to commercial governance arrangements, including mandatory and stringent contracts and exposure to some private capital as well as stakeholder annual general meetings, open to the public, similar to those that occur in the private sector. This report complements three other reports published for Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Each of those reports focuses on understanding the specific governance conditions surrounding their respective national electricity utilities. All these reports together are intended to build the programmatic and campaigning capacity among civil society actors to enable them to engage in improving the governance of electricity utilities. As such, the intended audience for this report is, first, members of civil society, and then policymakers and energy sector practitioners who are concerned about the operations of their national electricity utilities and who are contemplating advocacy and programming to improve their performance.
Topic:: Civil Society, Climate Change, Governance, Electricity, Utilities, and Energy
Political Geography:: Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

29. Rights and Responsibilities: Understanding the impact of the tech industry on economic inequality

Author:: Meg Roggensack, Gawain Kripke, Michael Borum, and Hana Ivanhoe
Publication Date:: 10-2024
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Digital technologies have the potential to either ameliorate or worsen the dynamics underlying poverty and inequality, depending on how those technologies are designed, developed, deployed, and used, as well as on the degree to which the businesses, and business models behind them, respect the rights of users and workers. This paper recommends changes in corporate and government policies and practices to ensure that the information and communication technology (ICT) industry respects human rights and does not exacerbate poverty and economic inequality across five pillars: access and equity, digital civic space, data use and privacy, automation and the future of work, and governance.
Topic:: Human Rights, Poverty, Science and Technology, Governance, and Economic Inequality
Political Geography:: Global Focus

30. Beyond GDP: A compendium of regional feminist perspectives

Author:: Jennifer Lipenga, Lumonya Faith, Samia al-Botmeh, Nalini Rathnarajah, and Natalia Quiroga Diaz
Publication Date:: 12-2024
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In this publication, leading feminist thinkers from Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, share perspectives on why we must move beyond gross domestic product (GDP) as the primary measure of societal progress. Drawing on regional examples, they demonstrate how the GDP-growth obsession is skewing policy-making towards measures that drive austerity, debt, corporate power, and exploitative labour practices, whilst invisibilising unpaid care and domestic work. In a call to action, the authors highlight Indigenous and feminist alternatives that need to be pursued to catalyse a shift towards economies that centre care of people and the planet.
Topic:: GDP, Feminism, Decolonization, and Systems Change
Political Geography:: Africa, South Asia, Middle East, Latin America, North Africa, and Caribbean

31. Defining and Assessing Transformational Climate Change Adaptation: A framework for application to agri-food projects

Author:: Richard Kohl
Publication Date:: 12-2024
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This discussion paper proposes a framework of four indicators of transformational adaptation – the breadth and depth of change, the intention to achieve transformation, scale and sustainability – and provides a framework to apply these indicators to four types of interventions in agri-food systems.
Topic:: Agriculture, Climate Change, Food Security, Sustainability, Adaptation, and Food Systems
Political Geography:: Global Focus

32. Better Safe Than Sorry: Four fundamentals for scaling up anticipatory action

Author:: Lawrence Robinson
Publication Date:: 11-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In the context of ever-increasing humanitarian needs worldwide, anticipatory action is being recognised as one of main the ways in which predictable shocks can be prevented from turning into crises, reducing both the impacts and the costs. Anticipatory action is a critical approach, bridging the work of disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response, and showing great promise as a modality for nexus programming (for example, linking humanitarian to development). While a scale-up of anticipatory action is much needed, it also requires a truly decolonial and feminist approach that supports communities to uphold their rights. To meet this vision, Oxfam has laid out four interconnected fundamental principles for all partners and stakeholders involved in scaling up anticipatory action to use: Feminist and intersectional anticipatory action that is systematic in recognising the strengths and vulnerabilities of people in at-risk communities. It integrates vulnerability indicators to build anticipatory action systems which include at a minimum gender-sensitive, gender-inclusive, and gender-transformative approaches. Decolonial and locally led anticipatory action that challenges global-local power dynamics, recognises and places local leadership as the primary holder of knowledge and decision-making, and ensures funding is accessible for the local and national civil society organisations and communities at the frontlines of disasters. Holistic anticipatory action that does not operate in isolation, that recognises the holistic nature of the system, and responds to the complexity of risks and hazards and the interconnectedness of anticipatory action across disaster management cycles. Collaborative anticipatory action that prioritises common objectives, optimises resources, ensures alignment between efforts, and provides complementarity across the humanitarian, climate, and development sectors. Adopting these principles in the scale-up of anticipatory action will unlock some of the key challenges of the approach. The principles acknowledge the sectoral trends that call for sector-wide transformation in line with key principles, but overall, they are designed to ensure that anticipatory action is effective and fit for purpose. This paper calls for governments, communities, humanitarian, climate, peace and development practitioners, and the private sector to adopt the proposed four interconnected fundamentals in the scale-up of anticipatory action and support at-risk communities to uphold their rights. This principled approach to embedding anticipatory action into policy, practice, and legal frameworks is required to maximise the potential of anticipatory action and prevent predictable shocks from becoming crises.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, Disaster Management, and Humanitarian Assistance
Political Geography:: Global Focus

33. Food Wars: Conflict, Hunger, and Globalization, 2023

Author:: Marc Cohen and Ellen Messer
Publication Date:: 10-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Most wars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have been “food wars”: food and hunger were used as weapons, food and food-related water and energy infrastructure were damaged intentionally or incidentally, and food insecurity persisted as a legacy of conflict destructiveness. Frequently, food insecurity, in turn, is a trigger or underlying cause of conflict. This paper analyzes 54 active conflict, refugee-hosting, and conflict legacy countries with populations in 2023 facing “crisis-level” acute food insecurity, i.e., at Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 3 or higher. In total, nearly 278 million people in these countries faced crisis-level hunger in 2023, accounting for 99% of the global population at IPC 3+ (281.6 million people). Analysis indicates that war-displacement-hunger crises occur in countries that continue to rely heavily on primary product exports. Paradoxically, peacebuilding efforts have often assumed that economic liberalization offers the best or only pathway to sustainable peace. Yet struggle for control over fungible primary commodities can fund more violence, increased inequality, continued instability, and the risk of renewed conflict. Agricultural export commodities are important sources of revenue for smallholder farmers and governments in conflict-affected, food-insecure countries. The conflict implications of export- and food-crop value chains are therefore crucial for future food-wars policy discussions and actions. Some efforts seek to link export crops to efforts to achieve peace, sustainable livelihoods, and environmental restoration. Other proposed solutions focus on adopting more holistic national development strategies, including food-systems approaches that protect and promote the right to food and livelihood security, as well as policy approaches and frameworks that might more effectively consider conflict, globalization, and climate change in food and nutrition policy.
Topic:: Climate Change, Food Security, Hunger, Displacement, and Conflict
Political Geography:: Global Focus

34. Climate Finance Unchecked: How much does the World Bank know about the climate actions it claims?

Author:: Christian Donaldson, James Morrissey, and Jason Farr
Publication Date:: 10-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Oxfam finds that for World Bank projects, many things can change during implementation. On average, actual expenditures on the Bank’s projects differ from budgeted amounts by 26–43% above or below the claimed climate finance. Across the entire climate finance portfolio, between 2017 and 2023, this difference amounts to US$24.28–US$41.32 billion. No information is available about what new climate actions were supported and which planned actions were cut. Now that the Bank has touted its focus on understanding and reporting on the impacts of its climate finance, it is critical to stress that without a full understanding of how much of what the Bank claims as climate finance at the project approval stage becomes actual expenditure, it is impossible to track and measure the impacts of the Bank's climate co-benefits in practice. The Bank should improve its reporting practices, undertake a climate finance assessment on closed projects, standardize how it reports on climate finance in projects and create a public climate finance database.
Topic:: Development, Climate Finance, Accountability, Transparency, and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)
Political Geography:: Global Focus

35. Carbon Inequality Kills: Why curbing the excessive emissions of an elite few can create a sustainable planet for all

Author:: Mira Alestig, Dabi Nafkote, Abha Jeurkar, Alex Maitland, Max Lawson, Daniel Horen Greenford, Corey Lesk, and Ashfaq Khalfan
Publication Date:: 10-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The only way to beat climate breakdown and deliver social justice is to radically reduce inequality. This briefing paper reveals the catastrophic climate impacts of the richest individuals in the world, and proposes taking urgent action to protect people and the planet. What little carbon dioxide we can still safely emit is being burned indiscriminately by the super-rich. We share new evidence of how the yachts, jets and polluting investments of the 50 richest billionaires are accelerating the climate crisis. Oxfam’s research shows that the emissions of the world’s super-rich 1% are causing economic losses of trillions of dollars; contributing to huge crop losses; and leading to millions of excess deaths. As global temperatures continue to rise, risking the lives and livelihoods of people living in poverty and precarity, we must act now to curb the emissions of the super-rich and make rich polluters pay.
Topic:: Climate Finance, Investment, Loss and Damage (L&D), Conference of the Parties (COP), and Billionaires
Political Geography:: Global Focus

36. Neither Enough, Nor Adequate: A participatory assessment of the barriers to local access for climate finance in the Sahel

Author:: Norman Martin Casas, Ali Compaoré, and Ximena Michemberg
Publication Date:: 11-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Access to climate finance is a prominent feature of the debate for the upcoming COP29 decision to set a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance. Countries, communities and groups representing marginalised collectives who are most impacted by the climate crisis are in urgent need of scaled-up, accessible and adequate climate finance. Findings from participatory research conducted with more than 100 organisations in the Sahel show that there are still numerous challenges to address in terms of how climate finance mechanisms are designed, how capacities need to be supported, how decision-making spaces affecting climate finance need to be more inclusive, and how gender, intersectional and geographical fragility factors shape unequal access to climate finance. In order to effectively bridge the climate finance access gap, rich countries need to make an urgent commitment to undertake concrete and bold actions to address climate finance access barriers for local actors in climate-vulnerable contexts.
Topic:: Climate Finance, Marginalization, Fragility, and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:: North Africa and Sahel

37. The Triple Nexus in Somaliland: Lessons from integrated humanitarian-development-peacebuilding work in El-Afweyn district

Author:: Ahmed Nur Musa
Publication Date:: 11-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Oxfam is committed to working with communities before, during and after crises. In Somaliland, we have been piloting approaches that aim to achieve greater synergy between our humanitarian, development and peacebuilding programming and influencing. This innovative ‘triple nexus’ work recognises that communities' needs and ambitions are not met along the false silos created by aid agencies. It asks the international development and humanitarian sector to walk the talk on locally led programming to better meet the holistic needs and aspirations of communities. This case study clearly shows the impact of programming which simultaneously meets immediate needs and development gaps while also addressing the drivers of crisis (such as conflict and climate change) to achieve durable solutions in protracted crises.
Topic:: Agriculture, Humanitarian Aid, Water, Peacebuilding, Microfinance, and Triple Nexus
Political Geography:: Africa and Somaliland

38. Putting An End To World Hunger – The European Union’s role in transforming the global food system

Author:: Hanna Saarinen, Rebecca Varghese Buchholz, Bertram Zagema, and Chris Joseph
Publication Date:: 12-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Farmers around the world produce more than enough to feed everyone on the planet, yet since 2017 hunger has increased sharply. Promoting food production and distribution that are socially equitable and environmentally sustainable is a necessity, in Europe and globally. This paper highlights the European Union’s role in addressing global hunger and supporting a sustainable and equitable global food system transformation. A new direction is needed and the EU can make a positive change. Smallholder farmers in the Global South offer enormous untapped potential for fighting global hunger but they must be better supported. The EU must also stand for climate justice by taking the climate change threat to food security seriously, limit the EU’s global land use footprint by stopping unsustainable and irresponsible land use that drives hunger and inequality, and balance the power in food systems by breaking corporate domination and enhancing equitable global food governance.
Topic:: Agriculture, Climate Change, European Union, Hunger, Land, and Farmers
Political Geography:: Europe and Global South

39. Unheard Water Stories from Asia, Africa and MENA: Elevating local voices for water security in a climate insecure world

Author:: Nuzhat Nueary
Publication Date:: 11-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This paper shares stories from six countries—Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Somalia, Syria, and Iraq—highlighting the challenges communities face in accessing water. It seeks to bring forward the unique perspectives of communities from diverse backgrounds, each experiencing water crises in distinct ways. While climate change intensifies their crises, many communities also face marginalization due to exclusionary water governance. The impacts are further compounded by factors such as gender, poverty, ethnicity, and race. However, the voices and perspectives of these communities are often overlooked in global climate discussions.The paper aims to highlight these diverse community experiences and advocate for the inclusion of local voices and leadership in climate actions and interventions to ensure fairer access to water. As global climate events like COP-29 unfold, it calls on governments to create inclusive climate policies, integrate water issues into loss and damage discussions, actively involve women and local voices, and urge rich, polluting nations to compensate those most affected by historic and ongoing carbon emissions.
Topic:: Climate Change, Migration, Water, Governance, Climate Finance, Land Rights, Drought, Loss and Damage (L&D), Gender Equality, Water Insecurity, and Salinity
Political Geography:: Bangladesh, Kenya, Africa, Iraq, South Asia, Middle East, Nepal, Syria, and Somalia

40. Price Interventions as a Part of Living Income Strategies: Lessons learned from piloting a price premium mechanism for basmati rice farmers in Pakistan

Author:: Mira Alestig
Publication Date:: 03-2023
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Small-scale farmers produce many globally important products such as rice, cocoa, cotton and vanilla. Poverty is widespread among these farmers, and there is an urgent need to increase their incomes. A living income – what a household needs to afford a decent standard of living for all its members – is a human right. It is increasingly recognized that paying a living income is the responsibility of businesses. Pricing is a vital part part of this, but raising the prices paid to farmers can be complicated, and many companies still treat it with scepticism. This paper presents lessons learned from the piloting of a novel price premium mechanism in Pakistan. The goal of the price intervention, which targeted basmati rice farmers in Punjab province, was to make a meaningful contribution to the incomes of the most vulnerable small-scale farmers, while at the same time identifying appropriate mechanisms to minimize costs to retailers and/or consumers. The pilot indicates that price, in combination with other complementary measures, can effectively contribute to closing the income gap for even the most vulnerable small-scale farmers, but that any mechanism to raise prices must be designed carefully. The intervention was part of the wider GRAISEA programme, which supports farmers and food producers in South-East Asia.
Topic:: Agriculture, Supply Chains, Income, Rice, and Cost of Living
Political Geography:: Pakistan and South Asia

41. Speaking Up: The role of women in building peace in Yemen

Author:: Fatma Jaffar
Publication Date:: 03-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This paper brings the voices of Yemeni women forward. Women were active in the 2011 protests, influencing political developments at key junctures. However, subsequent armed conflicts militarized the political environment and pushed forward a more limited religious agenda that saw more and more women systematically marginalized in the process. This paper outlines these major trends and offers some key recommendations to the government and wider international community to better support women’s participation in peace negotiations and involvement in the Yemeni political arena.
Topic:: Women, Leadership, Peacebuilding, and Gender Justice
Political Geography:: Middle East and Yemen

42. Does Aid to Domestic Revenue Mobilization Support Tax Fairness? A synthesis of Oxfam research

Author:: Marc J. Cohen, Nathan Coplin, and Marc James-Finel
Publication Date:: 03-2023
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Between 2017 and 2022, Oxfam examined aid to DRM from multiple donors provided to multiple low- and middle-income countries. This synthesis report seeks to draw lessons across these studies. The key issues examined include tradeoffs between efficiency and effectiveness in generating revenues on the one hand, and equity on the other; whether donors support direct or indirect taxation; the progressivity of instruments supported; whether aid to DRM explicitly links revenues to poverty reduction (health, education, social protection); whether aid supports country ownership; and whether aid explicitly seeks to advance gender equality.
Topic:: Finance, Tax Systems, Donors, and Revenue
Political Geography:: Global Focus

43. IMF Social Spending Floors: A fig leaf for austerity?

Author:: Alexandros Kentikelenis and Thomas Stubbs
Publication Date:: 04-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The International Monetary Fund has said that it protects spending on education, health and social protection from cuts in its loan programmes through social spending floors. These measures are a welcome step forward, but are they effective? Analysis of all 17 IMF loan programmes (Extended Credit Facilities, or ECFs, and Extended Fund Facilities, or EFFs) for low- and middle-income countries during the first two years of the pandemic shows that these floors are deeply inadequate, inconsistent, opaque and failing. They are little more than a fig leaf for harmful austerity, which is driving inequality, poverty and suffering.
Topic:: Finance, Austerity, IMF, and Social Spending
Political Geography:: Global Focus

44. Pandemic Responses in the MENA Region: Lessons learned for an inclusive economic recovery

Author:: Salma Jrad, Amine Bouzaine, Nadine Mezher, and Anna Chernova
Publication Date:: 05-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities and poor governance practices in the MENA region and had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable people. These persistent and structural issues also threaten a post-COVID inclusive recovery process. Austerity steers from institutions like the IMF risk further inequality and social exclusion, as evidenced by diverse and gendered impacts on the most vulnerable, including through low public spending on health and social protection. Economic and fiscal justice through progressive taxation and inclusive, crisis-resilient public spending are two key policy solutions to prevent future crises impoverishing the most vulnerable in the region. As the world recovers from the pandemic, now is the time for national and global policymakers – including international financial institutions – to take stock and seek policy alternatives that take a rights-based, inclusive, holistic and resilience-focused approach to recovery efforts, resourced through progressive taxation.
Topic:: Governance, Inequality, Finance, COVID-19, Inclusion, and Economic Recovery
Political Geography:: Middle East and North Africa

45. Sick Development: How rich-country government and World Bank funding to for-profit private hospitals causes harm and should be stopped

Author:: Anna Marriott
Publication Date:: 06-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Development finance institutions owned by European governments and the World Bank Group are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive for-profit hospitals in the Global South that block patients from getting care, or bankrupt them, with some even imprisoning patients who cannot afford their bills. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these same hospitals denied entry to patients suffering from the virus or sold intensive care beds at eyewatering prices to the highest bidder. These development institutions have woefully inadequate safeguards, invest via a complex web of tax-avoiding financial intermediaries, and offer little to zero evidence on the impacts their investments are having. Oxfam is calling on rich European governments and the World Bank Group to immediately halt their spending on for-profit private healthcare, and for an urgent independent investigation to be conducted into all active and historic investments.
Topic:: Development, World Bank, Economic Development, COVID-19, Private Equity, Universal Healthcare, and Profiteering
Political Geography:: Europe and Global South

46. Water Dilemmas: The cascading impacts of water insecurity in a heating world

Author:: Padmini Iyer
Publication Date:: 09-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This briefing paper presents findings from Oxfam’s recently commissioned research on climate predictions for 2040 and 2050 in the Middle East, the Horn, East and Central Africa (HECA), West Africa and Asia regions. Analyses show how temperature increases will influence water insecurity in these regions and the potential impacts on food security, the spread of diseases, and other factors. This briefing paper also reveals severe under-investment by national governments and donors in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems, with critical implications not only for water security but also for poverty and inequality. Oxfam is calling for urgent action to increase investments in sustainable, climate-adapted water management for the people who are most at risk from the worsening climate crisis.
Topic:: Climate Change, Natural Resources, Water, and Sustainable Development Goals
Political Geography:: Africa, Middle East, and Asia

47. The Middle East and North Africa Gap: Prosperity for the rich, austerity for the rest

Author:: Alexandros Kentikelenis, Sahar Mechmech, Amine Bouzaiene, Rowaida Moshrif, and Nabil Abdo
Publication Date:: 10-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This briefing paper examines growing inequality in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, focusing on Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis. It examines the lack of adequate and just taxation systems across the region, particularly wealth taxes. This limits governments’ fiscal space and their spending on public services, resulting in gender discrimination and the widening of the MENA inequality gap to a chasm. The rich must pay their fair share. Austerity in the MENA region cannot become the norm. Taxing the profits of the region’s richest people will provide critical recourses that are currently lacking but would begin to close the chasm between the rich and the rest.
Topic:: Tax Systems, Economic Inequality, Austerity, and Prosperity
Political Geography:: Middle East and North Africa

48. Climate Justice: Loss and damage action research: Case studies of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

Author:: Sandra Bhatasara, Helen Jeans, Juliet Suliwa Kasito, Lesley Macheka, and Rosa Mate
Publication Date:: 11-2023
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This study was undertaken to support and empower Southern African leaders, activists, civil society organizations (CSOs) and policymakers, in the lead up to COP 27 and beyond, in the debate on the losses and damages caused by climate impacts. The study used an ‘action research’ approach by supporting the collective and inclusive documentation and sense-making of the lived experiences of loss and damage, and the co-production of a loss and damage narrative, through case studies and participatory workshops with Southern African survivors, communities, activists, civil society and decision-makers.
Topic:: Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Decolonization, Flood, Drought, and Loss and Damage (L&D)
Political Geography:: Africa, Mozambique, and Malawi

49. Gendered Dimensions of Loss and Damage in Asia

Author:: Nidhi Tewari, Alex Bush, Myrah Butt, Elizabeth Stevens, and Sarah Zafar
Publication Date:: 12-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Setting up a fund for loss and damage is one of the achievements of COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference. However, ambiguity remains regarding its functions and set-up. This briefing paper emphasizes the importance of understanding the gendered dimensions of both economic and non-economic losses and damages in Asia. It draws from case studies in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines and Timor-Leste to advocate for an intersectional feminist approach to be embedded in the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund.
Topic:: Climate Change, Feminism, Intersectionality, Flood, Loss and Damage (L&D), Conference of the Parties (COP), and Care work
Political Geography:: Asia

50. Oxfam’s Engagement with Refugee-led Organisations in West Nile (Uganda): Lessons on opportunities and challenges

Author:: Yotam Gidron, Lydia Ayikoru, Geoffrey Owino, Katja Kjar-Levin, and Marie Sophie Petersson
Publication Date:: 12-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Since 2018, Oxfam in Uganda has been supporting South Sudanese refugee-led organizations (RLOs) with funding for a range of peacebuilding, COVID-19 and livelihood activities. Drawing on this experience, this briefing note summarizes some of the most important lessons learned in the working relationship of Oxfam and Uganda-based RLOs. Practical recommendations are also drawn that may be useful for international actors working with RLOs in various contexts, focusing on how to nurture meaningful partnerships, including with regards to funding, capacity building, representation of women and youth, advocacy, knowledge sharing and visibility.
Topic:: Civil Society, Partnerships, Refugees, and Localization
Political Geography:: Uganda, Africa, and South Sudan

51. Emergent Agency in a Time of COVID-19: Research report

Author:: Flippo Artuso, Katrina Barnes, Duncan Green, and Irene Guijt
Publication Date:: 02-2023
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event in the modern era. Earlier studies demonstrated how ‘critical junctures’, which comprise major historical events and emergencies, often play an essential role in social change. This paper seeks to explore whether the COVID-19 pandemic would prove to be a similar pivotal moment, and what lessons and insights we could gather for positive social change. The research set out to find key insights on how individuals, communities, and organizations in civil society were responding to the pandemic in low-income populations at the intersection of multiple inequalities. These lessons could inform how donors, governments and NGOs might reshape their efforts to reduce emerging or deepening inequalities, and how civil society organisations and community-based organisations could amplify their positive impacts. Over 18 months, from September 2020 to March 2022, the ‘Emergent Agency’ research convened a global conversation between activists, development practitioners, researchers, and academics to better understand the phenomena that were taking place in response to the pandemic. The research collected more than 200 case studies and held a series of webinars and conversations in thematic clusters to uncover what these responses could teach us. The research project was enabled with funding from The Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme (AFSEE) of the London School of Economics.
Topic:: Civil Society, Governance, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Global Focus

52. From Stunt to Substance: An assessment of IMF engagement with civil society

Author:: Nabil Abdo, Nadia Daar, and Alex Ray
Publication Date:: 01-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is doling out billions of dollars, influencing economies around the world through its finance, and through the policies it expects governments to implement in return for the funds. But who has a say in those decisions? This paper presents case study research from Pakistan, Tunisia, Egypt, Ecuador, Argentina, Zambia and Ghana to assess the extent and meaningfulness of IMF engagement with civil society. With findings on power, motivations, impact and the importance of civic space considerations, the paper makes the case for significantly improved engagement, and recommends how to do so systematically, meaningfully and safely.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, International Cooperation, and IMF
Political Geography:: Global Focus

53. TOSSD Data for 2020: An overview of key trends in the data in support of sustainable development

Author:: Brian Tomlinson
Publication Date:: 06-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Data on total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) take a recipient perspective, in contrast to official development assistance (ODA) data, which take a donor perspective. The TOSSD metric captures development resource flows that are not included in donors’ reports to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee, and are intended to link resource flows to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For 2020, 98 donors reported TOSSD data, an increase of six donors from 2019. Reported net disbursements totaled $291 billion, including $62 billion reported only to TOSSD. The top five sectors in TOSSD reporting, accounting for 65% of net disbursements, were energy, donor administrative costs, in-donor refugee costs, health, and government and civil society. For those disbursements linked to one or more of the SDGs, 61% went to the Health, Poverty Eradication, Climate Change, support for Decent Work and Sustainable Economic Growth, Ending Hunger, and Partnerships SDGs. The gender equality SDG was allocated just 4.5% of total net disbursements. TOSSD data provided a foundation of activity level detail to enable further research on allocations to SDGs. The picture that TOSSD data provide could be more complete if additional donors submitted reports to TOSSD, and if all donors reported on links to SDGs.
Topic:: Development, Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability, and Gender
Political Geography:: Global Focus

54. The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2022

Author:: Jo Walker, Matthew Martin, Emma Seery, Nabil Abdo, Anthony Kamande, and Max Lawson
Publication Date:: 10-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index is the first detailed analysis published looking at governments’ policies and actions to fight inequality during the first two years of the pandemic. This fourth edition of the CRI Index reviews the spending, tax and labour policies and actions of 161 governments during 2020–2022. COVID-19 has increased inequality worldwide, as the poorest people were hit hardest by both the disease and its profound economic impacts. Yet the CRI 2022 Index shows clearly that most of the world’s governments failed to mitigate this dangerous rise in inequality. Despite the biggest global health emergency in a century, half of low-and lower-middle-income countries saw the share of health spending fall during the pandemic, half of the countries tracked by the CRI Index cut the share of social protection spending, 70% cut the share of education spending, while two-thirds of countries failed to increase their minimum wage in line with gross domestic product (GDP). Ninety-five percent of countries failed to increase taxation of the richest people and corporations. At the same time, a small group of governments from across the world bucked this trend, taking clear actions to combat inequality, putting the rest of the world to shame.
Topic:: GDP, Inequality, Tax Systems, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Global Focus

55. Lives at Risk: A study of girls dropping out of school in Juba, Rumbek and Pibor Counties, South Sudan

Author:: Lillian Rutandaro, Christine Lundambuyu Minalula, Rogers Otuta, and Manenji Mangundu
Publication Date:: 11-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This study was undertaken by Oxfam in three South Sudanese counties as part of the SIDA-funded project 'Building Resilience through Gender and Conflict-Sensitive Approaches to Education, Skills Development, and Sustainable Livelihoods'. Its purpose was to shed light on why so many girls drop out of school. The research revealed that women and girls often lack decision-making power over their lives. Early or forced marriage, the abduction of girls, perceptions that education delays marriage – and that educated girls risk not finding husbands – all contribute to dropout rates. Additional challenges include a lack of adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools, the distances learners need to travel, insecurity caused by communal violence, floods, food insecurity, and a heavy household work burden. The Government of South Sudan has in place laws and policies to address these issues, but they remain largely on paper and enforcement mechanisms are weak. The report analyses each of these factors in turn and presents recommendations for how the SIDA project can begin to address them in its future programming.
Topic:: Development, Education, Food, Conflict, Resilience, and Gender
Political Geography:: Africa and South Sudan

56. Decolonize! What does it mean?

Author:: Sara Duvisac
Publication Date:: 12-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This document introduces the key concepts of decolonial theory that inform many current calls to decolonize. It provides examples from Latin America, Africa, and North America of how activists have envisioned or realized decolonial futures. These movements led by Indigenous Peoples, people of color, women, and queer people articulate and define the possibilities of decolonial futures. Since decolonial theory suggests multiple futures and not one single solution, this document does not address what decolonizing particular systems, such as international development, should look like. Rather, the document aims to introduce the reader to the tools of analysis that decolonial theory offers, give examples of decolonial theory in practice, and discuss some potential shortfalls of the decolonial framework.
Topic:: Political Theory, Colonialism, Decolonization, and Diversity
Political Geography:: Africa, Latin America, and North America

57. Footing the Bill: Fair finance for loss and damage in an era of escalating climate impacts

Author:: Tracy Carty and Lyndsay Walsh
Publication Date:: 06-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The world has entered a new and dangerous era of climate change impacts, causing huge loss and damage and driving up inequality in the world’s poorest countries and communities that have contributed least to the climate crisis. New research by Oxfam estimates that funding requirements for UN humanitarian appeals linked to extreme weather are eight times higher than they were 20 years ago, and over the past five years nearly half of appeal requirements have gone unmet. Funding for emergency humanitarian response is piecemeal and painfully inadequate, as is broader support to address loss and damage such as rebuilding homes and vital infrastructure. Scaled-up financial support from governments, corporations and individuals most responsible for causing the climate crisis, and most able to pay, is an immediate necessity. A new finance facility must be created to help ensure that finance to address loss and damage is accessible and sustained, is additional to adaptation, mitigation and ODA commitments, and is delivered in accordance with the principles of climate justice.
Topic:: Climate Change, Environment, Infrastructure, and Finance
Political Geography:: Global Focus

58. Asia’s Extreme Inequality Crisis: Building back fairer after COVID-19

Author:: Matthew Martin
Publication Date:: 09-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: COVID-19 has exacerbated Asia’s crisis of extreme inequality. This is undermining growth and preventing poverty eradication. Asian governments have done almost nothing to combat this rise in inequality and are constrained in their policy choices as debt burdens grow and post-COVID austerity begins. A few Asian governments have done a lot to fight inequality during COVID-19 through equitable public services, progressive taxation and enhanced labour rights, especially for women, but most have not. This paper lays out a comprehensive set of measures that Asian governments, the Asian Development Bank and the international community could use to significantly reduce inequality, eradicate poverty and accelerate growth in Asia.
Topic:: Poverty, Governance, Pandemic, COVID-19, Banking, and Equality
Political Geography:: Asia

59. Climate Finance in West Africa: Assessing the state of climate finance in one of the world’s regions worst hit by the climate crisis

Author:: Norman Martin Casas and Azara Remalia Sanogo
Publication Date:: 09-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In West Africa/Sahel, countries and their communities are experiencing the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Elsewhere, Paris Agreement climate finance commitments are set to prioritise the countries that are most impacted by climate change. However, new research by Oxfam shows that, despite West Africa/Sahel being one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, the international climate finance received falls far short of meeting national climate finance needs and is being significantly over-reported in favour of debt instruments. Adaptation finance is also insufficient. Reported climate finance does not place gender equality at the centre, and only a small part directly reaches local actors. In light of this, developed countries and other donors should scale up grant-based adaptation finance that reaches the local level and responds to the real needs of particularly hard-hit regions such as West Africa/Sahel.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Environment, and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa, West Africa, and Sahel

60. Unaccountable Accounting: The World Bank’s unreliable climate finance reporting

Author:: Jason Farr, James Morrissey, and Christian Donaldson
Publication Date:: 10-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Despite being the largest multilateral provider of climate finance, the World Bank supplies very little evidence to support its claims about the amount of climate finance it provides. Oxfam has attempted to recreate the Bank’s reported climate finance figures using public information for projects in the Bank’s FY2020. Oxfam found that the Bank’s current climate finance reporting processes are such that its claimed levels of climate finance cannot be independently verified and could be off by as much as $7bn, or 40%. Without better disclosure practices, the World Bank is asking us to take much on faith. Climate finance funding is too important for us to do that. The World Bank must be more transparent in its reporting so that it can be held to account.
Topic:: Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, World Bank, Climate Finance, and Banking
Political Geography:: Global Focus

61. Seeking Safety: Roma Refugees in Moldova – Challenges and humanitarian needs

Author:: Charlotte Greener and Emly de Andrade Costa
Publication Date:: 10-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The war in Ukraine has displaced millions of people to neighbouring countries – but some groups who already face poverty and discrimination in society, including Roma people, are facing particular challenges accessing the safety they need. This paper outlines the results of Oxfam’s rapid assessment of Roma refugees in Moldova in July 2022, highlighting the challenges that Roma refugees face when trying to access assistance, and some key humanitarian needs of these refugees. It aims to help amplify the voice of Roma refugees and to inform a humanitarian response – from the Moldovan government, United Nations (UN) agencies, and non-government organizations (NGOs) – that is more inclusive of Roma refugees, and more responsive to their particular needs.
Topic:: International Cooperation, United Nations, Refugees, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:: Europe and Moldova

62. Climate finance in Asia: Assessing the state of climate finance in one of the world’s most climate vulnerable regions

Author:: Christopher Roy
Publication Date:: 11-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate hazards including extreme temperatures, flooding, droughts, cyclones, and sea level rise. The most vulnerable communities need financial support to help adapt to the climate crisis – they cannot do so alone. Developed countries have promised $100 bn in climate finance to developing countries every year until 2025. This promise has not been met. Asian countries have outlined the support they require and delivering on these needs is integral to bringing climate justice to those most vulnerable to – yet least responsible for – the climate crisis. We find that the climate finance provided to Asia is woefully inadequate to support the necessary adaptation actions and vulnerable communities are suffering as a result.
Topic:: Climate Change, Environment, Finance, and Climate Finance
Political Geography:: Asia

63. The Assault of Austerity: How prevailing economic policy choices are a form of gender-based violence

Author:: Dana Abed and Fatimah Kelleher
Publication Date:: 11-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This briefing paper argues that austerity measures are a form of gender-based violence against women, girls and non-binary people, and lays out clear examples of how fiscal consolidation affects them. Its core argument is that ending austerity must be a priority. The policies that deliver austerity’s deadly consequences can no longer be marketed as the ‘logical’ and ‘inevitable’ economic options that they have been for decades, and certainly not by any government that claims a commitment to gender equality or ending gender-based violence. Austerity takes away from those who need it most, while ignoring common-sense ways to improve both revenue and prosperity. The paper goes on to share feminist economic alternatives offer pathways that can protect the Majority World from completely avoidable suffering.
Topic:: Economics, Gender Based Violence, Identity, and Gender
Political Geography:: Global Focus

64. Access to Housing: A Right Not an Investment

Author:: Nizar Aouad
Publication Date:: 06-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Over the past two years, the housing situation in Lebanon has deteriorated so drastically that it has been nearly impossible for many population groups to secure adequate and sustainable housing options, given the sharp increase in rental prices, weak tenure rights, and rising socio-economic inequalities. This policy brief looks into the housing situation in Lebanon and its impact on members of the LGBTQIA+ community. It highlights that the LGBTQIA+ community is among the most affected by Lebanon’s housing crisis due to their historic exclusion by the government and society; the lack of protective policies affecting access to housing rights and alienating LGBTQIA+ individuals and their needs; arbitrary eviction threats, discrimination based on physical appearance, and physical and emotional violence; and no recourse to justice in cases of violations due to state-sponsored violence against queer bodies. The paper makes recommendations on how the Government of Lebanon, donors and the international community, and civil society organizations can help ensure that members of the LGBTQIA+ community are able to live without fear of violence and exercise their right to housing in an equitable way.
Topic:: Governance, Discrimination, Violence, LGBT+, and Housing
Political Geography:: Middle East and Lebanon

65. Dangerous Delay 2: The cost of inaction

Author:: Emily Farr, Leah Finnegan, Joanna Grace, and Mathew Truscott
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In 2011, Somalia experienced a devastating famine that killed over a quarter of a million people. Afterwards, leaders in the region made a commitment to end drought emergencies by 2022. The international community sought to ensure that there would be no repeat of the failures that led to famine. Next time, the world would heed the warnings and act early to avoid the crisis. But despite various warnings and alarms over the past two years, the commitment to anticipatory action has proven half-hearted. We are once again responding too late and with too little to avert the crisis. In this follow-up to their 2012 briefing A Dangerous Delay, Oxfam and Save the Children, supported by the Jameel Observatory, examine what has changed and what has not in the humanitarian system since 2011. They explain how it must evolve in order to enable and fully fund anticipatory action. With the climate crisis set to deepen, the current system must change quickly in order to meet the challenges we face in the years ahead.
Topic:: Security, Famine, Governance, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:: Africa and Somalia

66. Access to Healthcare: A right not a luxury

Author:: Sasha Hilani
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The past couple of years have been detrimental to Lebanon and to all those who reside there, particularly the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2021, the national suicide prevention hotline received approximately 1,100 calls per month, twice the amount in 2020. The deep crises Lebanon is going through have led to increased cases of mental health issues, especially among marginalized and vulnerable groups, particularly the LGBTQIA+ community. This policy brief examines the challenges that LGBTQIA+ individuals face when accessing mental health services and recommends approaches to ensure more equitable and facilitated access.
Topic:: Health, Health Care Policy, Discrimination, and LGBT+
Political Geography:: Middle East and Lebanon

67. Turning Point: A three year update on US supermarkets’ progress and pitfalls

Author:: Hana Ivanhoe and Art Prapha
Publication Date:: 04-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the global landscape of the food retail industry has dramatically shifted. There is now greater awareness of how wealth and gender inequalities have been exacerbated; the power of workers in the United States (US) has been awakened; the vulnerability of global supply chains has been exposed; big retailers are competing in technology adoption; investors are demanding environmental, social and governance (ESG) information; and there has been legislative advancement towards mandatory human rights due diligence (HRDD) law. Amidst these increasing pressures, major US supermarkets have continued to delay urgent actions needed to end exploitation of workers, women and farmers in their supply chains and retail operations. Key gaps include the lack of commitment to adopt a robust HRDD approach, lack of policies on workers’ rights at home and abroad, and the non-existence of gender policy in their business model. Failure to act now will result in irreversible impacts on workers, farmers and women – impacts that pose major risks to business continuity and supply chain resilience.
Topic:: Labor Issues, Governance, Business, Private Sector, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

68. Unfarmed Now, Uninhabited When? Agriculture and climate change in Iraq

Author:: Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:: 03-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Small-scale farmers in Iraq are among the most affected groups in Iraq by climate change and water scarcity. With the reduction of rainfall and soaring temperature, agricultural production is dropping, and farmers’ ability to cope is hindered. Affected farmers are exhausted and feel that they are left alone in the face of crisis. Many farmers are leaving their lands and looking for better opportunities away from their land and the urban areas. Duty bearers need to mobilize resources and political well to support farmers and the agricultural sector through a national strategy with clear vision on the current needs and comprehensive forecast of the impacts of climate change. While agriculture is at the heart of Iraq’s past and present, its position in the country’s future is at risk.
Topic:: Security, Agriculture, Climate Change, Food, and Farming
Political Geography:: Iraq and Middle East

69. Inequality Kills: The unparalleled action needed to combat unprecedented inequality in the wake of COVID-19

Author:: Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:: 01-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The wealth of the world’s 10 richest men has doubled since the pandemic began. The incomes of 99% of humanity are worse off because of COVID-19. Widening economic, gender, and racial inequalities—as well as the inequality that exists between countries—are tearing our world apart. This is not by chance, but choice: “economic violence” is perpetrated when structural policy choices are made for the richest and most powerful people. This causes direct harm to us all, and to the poorest people, women and girls, and racialized groups most. Inequality contributes to the death of at least one person every four seconds. But we can radically redesign our economies to be centered on equality. We can claw back extreme wealth through progressive taxation; invest in powerful, proven inequality-busting public measures; and boldly shift power in the economy and society. If we are courageous, and listen to the movements demanding change, we can create an economy in which nobody lives in poverty, nor with unimaginable billionaire wealth—in which inequality no longer kills.
Topic:: Health, Inequality, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Global Focus

70. Rising to the Challenge: The case for permanent progressive policies to tackle Asia’s coronavirus and inequality crisis

Author:: Emma Seery
Publication Date:: 01-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Asia remains in the grip of a coronavirus crisis that is supercharging already high levels of inequality. While the richest and most privileged can protect their health and increase their wealth further, the pandemic is putting the lives and livelihoods of the region's poorest and most vulnerable people at risk. Women, poor and low-skilled workers, migrants and other marginalized groups are being hit hardest. But it is not too late to turn the tide. Governments must make this the moment to implement permanent progressive policies that put the needs of the many before the profit and extreme wealth of the few.
Topic:: Labor Issues, Governance, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Asia

71. Designing Sustainable Water Supply Systems in Tajikistan: A step-by-step guide to design, construction and ownership

Author:: Orkhan Ali
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Tajikistan is often described as the poorest country in Central Asia, with GDP per capita consistently lower than any of its regional neighbours. Its water and sanitation infrastructure is severely dilapidated, suffering from decades of underinvestment and the failure to address widespread damage suffered during the country’s civil war (1992–1997). Efforts to ensure everyone has improved access to adequate water and sanitation services are characterised by contradictory legislation and blurred responsibilities between state agencies. Reform of the sector and roll-out of improved infrastructure have been slow, requiring strong accountability mechanisms to ensure that the rights of the most vulnerable people are adequately protected. Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme s therefore based on a theory of change that aims to improve the health status of Tajikistan’s population through the delivery of long-lasting WASH services, while addressing market systems and strengthening institutions.
Topic:: Development, Water, Infrastructure, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Asia, and Tajikistan

72. Sanitation Marketing in Tajikistan: Business model for sustainable WASH market development

Author:: Orkhan Ali
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) remains a critical problem in Tajikistan, particularly for its rural areas. In terms of sanitation and the market within which it operates locally, there have been no sectoral tools on market-based WASH programming in Tajikistan, and therefore little available guidance around the facilitation of better interactions between the demand and supply of sanitation products. And while specified state departments are responsible for applying and upholding sanitation standards, in practice they continue to rely on guidelines from Soviet times, and rarely carry out household-level inspections – hence the legal frameworks governing sanitation should be revised accordingly. To fill this gap, Oxfam launched its first sanitation marketing programme in 2018 (as part of its wider Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation (TajWSS) Project funded by the Swiss Government) and played a market broker role that transformed the relationship between buyers and sellers of sanitation products. The project approached the process by influencing both supply and demand sides, and by designing affordable and desirable trading processes for rural households to meet their sanitation needs.
Topic:: Development, Infrastructure, Sanitation, Public Health, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Asia, and Tajikistan

73. Decentralised Sanitation Solutions in Tajikistan: Decentralised wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS) in peri-urban and urban areas in Tajikistan

Author:: Orkhan Ali
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: An important milestone for the sanitation sector was the adoption by the UN of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets 6.2 (safely managed sanitation and hygiene services) and 6.3 (reducing the portion of untreated wastewater), which focus on managing the entire sanitation service chain. Tajikistan has been at the forefront of promoting these at global level. Meanwhile, the fourth initiative of the President of Tajikistan on the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development, 2018–20281 is being implemented at national level. Over the past decade, sanitation has been given low priority within the focus areas of water sector reform. For example, not all aspects of regulations have been duly revised to adopt new technologies. In addition, many regulations for wastewater treatment remain outdated and pose legal constraints for testing new approaches in the country. The Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation (TajWSS) (Phase III) project piloted a decentralised wastewater treatment system (DEWATS) in the peri-urban Rudaki district in Tajikistan with two hospitals with the aim of scaling up to national level. This learning paper showcases the project findings, assessments and lessons learned in application of the DEWATS.
Topic:: Development, Infrastructure, Sanitation, Public Health, and Hygiene
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Asia, and Tajikistan

74. Water Governance and Sustainable Service Delivery in Rural Tajikistan: How regulations and accountability measures improve water supply service deliver

Author:: Orkhan Ali
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Ensuring equitable and sustainable access to safe water continues to be one of the most pressing issues in Tajikistan, despite the country having abundant water resources. The still low coverage of the population with access to drinking water has been attributed to cross-cutting governance problems such as the relationship between the state and other social actors, poor water management and coordination, and systemic challenges such as low capacity. In the past decade, a demand-driven approach has become a widespread policy trend in Tajikistan and community-led management is seen as the main attribute for achieving effective water governance. The transfer of responsibility to local government and users is intended to promote local governance as a means of ensuring equitable access and sustainable use of water through users’ participation in water-related decision making and service delivery. Under a demand-driven model applied by the TajWSS project, users take more responsibility before, during and after WS system installation. The model assumes that water users have the necessary information and capacity to carry out the delegated duties and obligations and this automatically translates into equitable access and sustainable use of safe water. Yet despite improvements in access to safe water in rural Tajikistan, O&M and lack of governmental support are still great challenges.
Topic:: Water, Infrastructure, Governance, and Accountability
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Asia, and Tajikistan

75. The State of Local Humanitarian Leadership: A learning report on a series of LHL online convenings held in Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa, the Pacific, and West Africa

Author:: Janice Ian Manlutac
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: From May 2021 to January 2022, Oxfam, in partnership with Sejajar Indonesia, the Tamdeen Youth Foundation in Yemen, and the Palestinian Agricultural Development Association (PARC) in Palestine, convened a total of 10 learning series through online convenings on local humanitarian leadership (LHL). Approximately 450 people participated, of whom 60% were from local and national NGOs representing approximately 30 countries. This document offers a snapshot report on the state of LHL across the four regions based on discussions, insights, and materials shared by the resource persons and audience members who participated in the series.
Topic:: Leadership, Humanitarian Intervention, Decolonization, and Local
Political Geography:: Global Focus

76. The Value-Added Tax (VAT) Improvement Program: Raising the operational efficacy of the VAT administration in Bangladesh

Author:: Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Bangladesh has a weak and inequitable tax system. Over the past 15 years, the government of Bangladesh (GoB) has relied on the regressive value-added tax (VAT) for more than a third of all revenues, with little progress towards strengthening direct taxation of high net-worth individuals and large corporations. From 2015–2021, the World Bank’s VAT Improvement Program (VIP) assisted the Bangladesh National Board of Revenue in improving VAT administration. VIP helped speed up automation and increase revenues. But the program did not include any objectives to improve VAT equity and fairness, and it also fell short on improving transparency and taxpayer satisfaction. To address VAT’s regressive nature and its impact on low income households, the GoB needs to improve coverage of social protection programmes. Bangladesh and its external partners should focus on strengthening progressive direct taxation. Meanwhile, the government must end gender-blind VAT administration and recognize that VAT negatively affects low income female entrepreneurs and consumers.
Topic:: Inequality, Tax Systems, Social Order, and Gender
Political Geography:: Bangladesh and Asia

77. The Crisis of Extreme Inequality in SADC: Fighting austerity and the pandemic

Author:: Matthew Martin
Publication Date:: 05-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the extreme inequality in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, and pushed millions into poverty. The economic crisis continues due to the obscene global vaccine inequality. As of end March 2022, a dismal 14% of SADC citizens had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 65.5% in the United States and 73% in the European Union. In 2021, with infections rising in SADC, the critical health, social protection and economic programmes put in place by most governments in 2020 were rolled back and replaced with austerity, in the context of growing debt burdens and lack of external support for country budgets. Such austerity has been built into IMF programmes in the region. Recovering from the pandemic, however, offers SADC governments a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do what their citizens want: increase taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, boost public spending (especially on healthcare, education and social protection), and increase workers’ rights as well as tackling joblessness and precarious work. With external support, including through debt relief and aid, they could reduce inequality drastically and eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.
Topic:: Governance, Inequality, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Africa and Southern Africa

78. Uncovering the Potential: The role of informal actors in solid waste management in Jordan

Author:: Farah Abu Safe, Hannah Patchett, and Raya Taher
Publication Date:: 04-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Salvaging resources from waste containers and landfills, waste pickers are the main suppliers to the recycling sector in Jordan, yet they often live in poverty and are exposed to multiple risks. The Jordanian government seeks to integrate waste pickers into formal waste management processes, but progress has been slow. Based on interviews with formal and informal actors in the waste sector, this study provides an overview of waste pickers’ socioeconomic conditions and operations and explores pathways for their integration that could support the recycling sector’s potential to create jobs, alleviate poverty and protect the environment.
Topic:: Infrastructure, Governance, Waste, and Resource Management
Political Geography:: Middle East and Jordan

79. Analyzing Voter Turnout in Lebanon: Political Change in Times of Crisis

Author:: Dana Abed, Rihab Sawaya, and Nadim Tabbal
Publication Date:: 04-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In May 2022, Lebanon is hosting its first parliamentary elections since the popular uprising of October 2019, when massive protests took place to denounce the current ruling elites. This research looks at voter turnout and behavior on the eve of the elections and examines the will for political change. It argues that in the current Lebanese context, there needs to be further political awareness-raising, and campaigns should be more inclusive of women and the queer community. Independent campaigns should focus on developing strong governing capacities that voters can trust, and create further space for civic and political engagement on the local and national levels.
Topic:: Elections, Democracy, Voting, and Participation
Political Geography:: Middle East and Lebanon

80. The Workers Behind the Citrus Fruits: A focused Human Rights Impact Assessment of Coop Sweden’s Moroccan citrus fruit supply chains

Author:: Mira Alestig and Sabita Banerji
Publication Date:: 04-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This paper reports on a focused human rights impact assessment (HRIA) of Coop Sweden’s Moroccan citrus supply chains. The HRIA aimed to assess the actual and potential human rights impacts at the production stage of the value chain in Morocco, to identify their root causes, and to provide recommendations to relevant stakeholders concerning their mitigation and/or remediation.
Topic:: Agriculture, Human Rights, Labor Issues, and Supply Chains
Political Geography:: Africa and Morocco

81. Beyond Consultation: Unpacking the most essential components of meaningful participation by refugee leaders

Author:: Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:: 03-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Research on forced displacement reveals a wide gap between policy processes and the people that such processes seek to assist. This paper proposes actionable recommendations on how to operationalize the concept of ‘meaningful refugee participation’ in decision-making processes that affect the lives of refugees. There is a need to go beyond tokenistic participation and to genuinely empower refugees to have influence over the design, implementation and evaluation of refugee-focused programmes. The contributions of refugees themselves must also be enhanced in ways that can help contribute to a paradigmatic shift in the global infrastructure of refugee governance.
Topic:: Migration, Governance, Refugees, and Displacement
Political Geography:: Global Focus

82. Adoption Rate and Trends in Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Ethiopia

Author:: Zaide Hailu and Kinde Teshome
Publication Date:: 03-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Since 2019 the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture has offered extension advice on conservation agriculture (CA). However, agricultural policy focuses mainly on intensive tillage whereas CA calls for zero or minimum tillage. Policy seems to favour productivity over sustainability, with CA adoption remaining low. Supply-side constraints include lack of access to high-quality inputs, credit, and machinery. Demand-side constraints include risk aversion and competition for crop residues needed for mulching from requirements for fuel and feed. Women farmers like CA because it does not require draft animals. However, some women in male-headed households report a shift of labour responsibilities to women.
Topic:: Agriculture, Labor Issues, Conservation, and Farming
Political Geography:: Africa and Ethiopia

83. Caring in a changing climate: Centering care work in climate action

Author:: Seema Arora-Johnson, Maeve Cohen, and Sherilyn MacGregor
Publication Date:: 02-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The global care crisis is being exacerbated by the global climate emergency, with interlocking impacts that threaten lives and livelihoods in all parts of the world. These impacts are particularly severe among rural livelihoods in low-income countries. Climate change intensifies the work involved in caring for people, animals, plants, and places. It reduces the availability and quality of public services in marginalized communities and directly compounds the unfair distribution of unpaid care work that sustains gender inequality. Yet the intersections of climate change and care work have been overlooked in the development literature. Strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation have paid relatively little attention to how care work is affected by climate impacts, nor have they considered whether interventions improve or intensify the situation of carers. Instead, when designing “gender-sensitive” climate actions, the focus has been largely on women’s economic empowerment as opposed to alleviating or transforming existing distributions of care work. The aim of this report is to fill a knowledge gap by examining the points of interaction between climate change impacts and the amount, distribution, and conditions of unpaid care work. We focus on care workers rather than those who are cared for, while stressing the relational nature of care and acknowledging that carers too require care.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Environment, and Migration
Political Geography:: Global Focus

84. Analyzing European Union Institutions’ Flows for Total Official Support for Sustainable Development

Author:: Brian Tomlinson
Publication Date:: 02-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This report analyses the first round of Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) data from European Union (EU) Institutions. The EU is a key stakeholder in the development of TOSSD, as Co-Chair of the International TOSSD Task Force, and in the promotion of this as an essential metric in the implementation of Agenda 2030. It is our hope that this paper’s detailed examination of the scope of what has been reported by the EU Institutions identifies trends and issues arising from the first reporting round for TOSSD, which can be addressed going forward. It is timely to acknowledge the level of transparency in the proceedings of the TOSSD Task Force, which has been open to comments and suggestions since its inception, and has recently seated CSO representatives as observers. This transparency has put into practical effect the notion that data validation can, to some extent, be entrusted to third parties provided that the relevant information is available to all interested stakeholders on a timely basis. Good norms, such as good reporting instructions, can help steer the development agenda in the right direction for the benefit of the communities of the Global South.
Topic:: Development, Regional Cooperation, European Union, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: Europe

85. Tackling Gender Inequality in the Cocoa Supply Chain: Are big chocolate companies delivering on their global commitments in Ghana?

Author:: Albert A. Ahrin
Publication Date:: 02-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In 2013, leading chocolate companies Mars, Mondelēz, and Nestlé made global commitments to reduce gender inequalities across their cocoa supply chain. This report follows up on these commitments and presents findings on the gender equality programs Mars, Mondelēz, and Nestlé – and their agribusiness suppliers – are implementing in the cocoa supply chain of Ghana, a key sourcing country. Specifically, the report examines the extent to which each of the companies has (1) conducted and published impact assessments on women in their cocoa supply chains in order to understand and show how this population is faring in Ghana; (2) developed a specific action plan to address issues raised by the assessments that could lead to improved conditions for women; (3) signed on to the United Nations’ Women’s Empowerment Principles, a set of seven principles for businesses offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace, and community; and (4) engaged with other powerful actors
Topic:: Gender Issues, Inequality, Supply Chains, and Chocolate
Political Geography:: Africa and Ghana

86. The Inequality Crisis in East Africa: Fighting austerity and the pandemic

Author:: Anthony Kamande and Matthew Martin
Publication Date:: 02-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed millions into poverty in East Africa, and worsened inequality. The economic crisis continues, due to the obscene global vaccine inequality, which means that only 4% of East African citizens had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 71% in high-income countries by mid-January2022. Many East African governments were already hamstrung by high debt and budget deficits before the pandemic, preventing them from responding with large recovery programmes. Other governments did increase spending, but five are now forecasting major budget cuts for 2022–26. These cuts will stop them combating the increases in poverty and inequality that have resulted from COVID-19. However, building back during and after the pandemic offers East African governments a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do what their citizens want: make their economic systems fairer by increasing taxes on wealthy and large corporations, boost public spending (especially on healthcare, education and social protection), and improving workers’ rights. With external support, including through comprehensive debt relief and more aid, they can reduce inequality drastically and eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.
Topic:: Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Labor Rights
Political Geography:: Africa and East Africa

87. Carbon Pricing: A primer for Oxfam

Author:: James Morrissey
Publication Date:: 02-2022
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Carbon pricing is not a new phenomenon. Backed by widespread consensus in the economic literature that it is the single most effective policy for addressing climate change, it has been the staple policy priority of many environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Yet carbon pricing has seen limited uptake. Efforts to price carbon have failed in a multitude of contexts. Where they have passed, in most cases, prices have been set too low or covered too little of the economy to effectively address the challenge posed by climate change. As a result, climate advocates have come to question carbon pricing as a primary policy approach. In this context, this paper is not intended to provide novel insights into carbon pricing, nor is it intended to motivate for or against an immediate campaign priority at Oxfam. Rather, this review of carbon pricing is intended to provide a technical background on the topic, considering the concerns that are of greatest salience to Oxfam. The specific aims of the paper are to support Oxfam staff in their deliberation on whether, when, and how to engage on carbon pricing initiatives, as questions around this policy approach shift over the next 20 years. It is anticipated that such reflection would also be useful to a number of organizations whose concerns are similar to Oxfam’s.
Topic:: Climate Change, Environment, NGOs, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:: Global Focus

88. Women, Voice and Power: How transformative feminist leadership is challenging inequalities and the root causes of extreme vulnerability

Author:: Emily Brown
Publication Date:: 10-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The evidence can no longer be ignored: when women and feminist activists are able to use their collective power to challenge inequalities, they are having a transformational impact. From women’s rights organizations and movements breaking down harmful social norms, to political leaders advancing highly progressive policies, there is a growing body of evidence from feminist organizing across the world that when decisions are made more equally and inclusively, and are rooted in locally-owned, intersectional feminist movements and political agendas, they have immediate and long-term human development benefits for all.
Topic:: Gender Issues, Women, Leadership, Feminism, and Civil Rights
Political Geography:: Global Focus

89. Centring Gender and Power in Evaluation and Research: Sharing experiences from Oxfam GB’s quantitative impact evaluations

Author:: Sarah Barakat, Alexia Pretari, and Jaynie Vonk
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Bringing a feminist intent to research, monitoring and evaluation practices leads to defining these as tools to contribute to transforming the lives of women, girls and non-binary people, and to bringing about social justice. This has meant putting gender and power at the centre of our practice, which has in turn shaped the technical choices made specifically in quantitative impact evaluations. This paper focuses on describing how these technical choices, as well as ethical considerations, are changed by this feminist intent. The paper also presents the lessons learned and questions raised along the way, which may be useful for MEAL and research practitioners, as well as programme managers. How can we bring intersectionality to the fore? What does it mean to go beyond the gender binary? How can this work be transformative?
Topic:: Women, Feminism, LGBT+, and Gender
Political Geography:: Global Focus

90. Funding the ERP: Analysis of funding for the implementation of the Education Response Plan (ERP) for refugees and host communities

Author:: Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:: 12-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This paper is an analytical review of the financial performance of the Education Response Plan for refugees by the end of June 2020. This analysis gives an in-depth review of the education financing for Government of Uganda supported schools in refugee settlements in Lamwo District Local Government. The total contribution of the Government of Uganda to the actual ERP spend was USD 11.86 million (9.38%). The multilateral donors contributed most to the ERP between year 0 and year 1, with a total contribution of USD 38.69 million (31%). This paper was written by The Centre for Budget and Tax Policy.
Topic:: Education, Refugees, Public Spending, and Schools
Political Geography:: Uganda and Africa

91. Negotiating Consent: Lessons in defending the right to decide

Author:: Scott A. Sellwood
Publication Date:: 12-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Indigenous peoples have long asserted and defended their rights and customary land tenures against the unlawful enclosure of their territories. Yet, despite normative recognition of the right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC)—and public commitments by major multinational companies, international financial institutions, and global banks to apply the standard of consent—power imbalances continue to undermine the quality of agreements being reached. Negotiating Consent distills lessons from Oxfam’s work defending community consent in Peru. Drawing on research published by Oxfam partners in Peru—Cooperacción, Organización Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas (ONAMIAP) and Pueblos Indígenas Amazónicas Unidas en Defensa de Sus Territorios (PUINAMUDT), which have published research examining the politics and practices of the implementation of this law—it seeks to contribute to collective thinking around ways to improve the implementation of FPIC processes, processes that are manifestly political. With land inequality worsening, land grabbing continuing unabated, and basic environmental and social protections being rolled back, upholding the standard of consent is more important than ever. It is time companies, investors, and others look beyond paper commitments and take the steps necessary to ensure quality agreements are reached with Indigenous peoples and are maintained across the life of projects.
Topic:: Security, Land Rights, Indigenous, and Land
Political Geography:: Global Focus

92. More Local is Possible: Recommendations for enhancing local humanitarian leadership and refugee participation in the Gambella refugee response

Author:: Freddie Carver, Elizabeth Deng, and Yotam Gidron
Publication Date:: 12-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The Gambella region of western Ethiopia hosts over 300,000 South Sudanese refugees in seven camps. The refugee response is dominated by UN agencies and international NGOs and staffed mostly by Ethiopians from outside of Gambella, creating a gap between humanitarian actors and the people they seek to assist. In order to realize commitments to localization and refugee participation made in the Charter for Change, the Grand Bargain and the Global Compact for Refugees, it is critical for refugees and local populations to be more involved in shaping and leading the delivery of aid. This could be achieved through increasing the role played by Gambella-based NGOs, engaging with faith-based actors, facilitating diaspora initiatives and supporting the development of refugee-led organizations.
Topic:: Refugees, Leadership, Humanitarian Intervention, and Local
Political Geography:: Africa and Ethiopia

93. A People’s Vaccine For Refugees: Ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines for refugees and other displaced people

Author:: Charlotte Greener
Publication Date:: 11-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: As we continue to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital that no one is excluded from vaccine coverage. This briefing note addresses some of the challenges faced by displaced people – including refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, stateless people, and others in displacement contexts – in accessing COVID-19 vaccinations. It identifies a range of administrative and logistical barriers, the issue of lack of information and vaccine hesitancy, and gender-specific barriers to access for these populations. The briefing note provides recommendations to governments, UN agencies, and other actors to help address these challenges and ensure vaccine access for all displaced people.
Topic:: Refugees, Displacement, Humanitarian Intervention, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Global Focus

94. The Ignored Pandemic: The Dual Crises of Gender-Based Violence and COVID-19

Author:: Rowan Harvey
Publication Date:: 11-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Gender Based Violence (GBV) is a global pandemic existing in all social groups across the globe, yet it has largely been ignored in the COVID-19 response and recovery plans. It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified GBV, including domestic violence and intimate partner violence amongst other forms of violations, but the investments in GBV prevention and response are dramatically inadequate, with just 0.0002% of the overall COVID-19 response funding opportunities going into it. Barriers to achieving gender justice, such as harmful social norms, continue to exist, but progress made since the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign show that there are solutions, and feminist activism has been a driving force for progress on eliminating gender-based violence.
Topic:: Gender Based Violence, Violence, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Gender
Political Geography:: Global Focus

95. Detention as the Default: How Greece, with the support of the EU, is generalizing administrative detention of migrants

Author:: Vasilis Papastergiou
Publication Date:: 11-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Putting migrants and asylum seekers into detention for administrative reasons is a common practice in Greece, despite this policy contravening human rights. Greek authorities are using detention and the new EU-funded closed compounds as a way to discourage people from seeking asylum in Europe. Detention, as outlined in Greek law, should only be used as a final resort and only then in specific instances. Detention carries with it not only a financial cost, but also a considerable moral cost. Detention without just cause violates basic human rights, such as freedom of movement, the right to health and the right to family life. Alternatives to detention exist and must be prioritized.
Topic:: Human Rights, Humanitarian Crisis, Detention, and Migrants
Political Geography:: Europe and Greece

96. Food for Thought: Investing in a sustainable food system

Author:: Marta Piazza
Publication Date:: 09-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The focus on profit maximization at the expense of workers, farmers, and women have helped companies reap huge profit margins in the short-term, but as COVID-19 has revealed, it has come at the cost of rights violations. Such costs are no longer considered an acceptable business risk. As human rights gains prominence in investor-company engagement, this briefing note provides information to investors about the risks of ignoring human rights impacts, evidence about the rights violations that persist in the food sector despite company action and charts a way for investors to build a resilient food system given their outsized influence.
Topic:: Economics, Business, Profit, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Global Focus

97. Precarity and the Pandemic: A survey of wage issues and Covid-19 impacts amongst migrant seafood workers in Thailand

Author:: Josh Stride
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: This report presents findings from an extensive survey of migrant workers in the Thai seafood industry conducted by the CSO Coalition. The report focuses on the issue of low wages, the gender pay gap and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on these issues and the workers who experience them. It also aims to develop a national discussion around the issues of a living wage and a decent living for the hardworking migrant workers who generate wealth and produce food for wealthy companies and consumers around the world.
Topic:: Labor Issues, Labor Policies, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Asia and Thailand

98. Transforming the Systems that Contribute to Fragility and Humanitarian Crises: Programming across the triple nexus

Author:: Vittorio Infante
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Conflicts and shocks linked to climate change are more frequent and intense, leading to poverty and inequality, exacerbating these phenomena and people’s vulnerability. In this context, humanitarian relief, development programmes and peacebuilding are not serial processes; they are all needed at the same time to tackle the systemic inequalities that trap people in poverty and expose them to risk. The triple nexus, or programming across humanitarian-development-peace pillars, thus means creating synergies and common goals across short-term emergency response programmes and longer-term social change processes in development, as well as enhancing opportunities for peace so that individuals can enjoy the full spectrum of human rights. This briefing paper aims to identify the tensions and dilemmas that Oxfam faces when programming across the nexus and sets out new policy to address these dilemmas, building upon Oxfam’s 2019 discussion paper on the triple nexus.
Topic:: Development, Inequality, Humanitarian Intervention, Conflict, and Peace
Political Geography:: Global Focus

99. Not in This Together: How supermarkets became pandemic winners while women workers are losing out

Author:: Anouk Franck and Art Prapha
Publication Date:: 06-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Inequality is worsening and exploitation of women is endemic across the global economy. While inequality of power and value was already deeply unfair before the pandemic, it has now reached shocking proportions. COVID-19 has cost global workers $3.7 trillion in lost income, and women and young workers have been hardest hit, as they are often found in the most insecure and lowest-paid jobs. Few places reveal this trend more clearly than supermarket supply chains. In stark contrast to the escalating human misery brought by the pandemic, the supermarket sector has largely been the standout winner of the crisis. Senior executives, the largest institutional investors, and mostly wealthy shareholders of global supermarkets continue to be rewarded with business-as-usual high compensation and dividends. In fact, during the pandemic, publicly listed supermarkets distributed 98% of net profits to their shareholders via dividends and share buybacks. Meanwhile, workers and producers, especially women, across the globe – the people we call ‘essential’ or ‘frontline’ workers – have seen their incomes stagnate or even fall, while their rights continue to be violated.
Topic:: Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, Labor Rights, and Gender
Political Geography:: Global Focus

100. An African Response to COVID-19: From principled first response to just recovery

Author:: Ray Deepayan Basu
Publication Date:: 04-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In November 2020 Oxfam and SOAS facilitated an online high-level event to bring together African and international policy and public-health professionals to discuss their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and offer insights into strategies and policies they have enacted in their respective contexts. Speakers tackled a wide range of issues, including government strategies and policies implemented, public health messaging and community engagement, varying threads of intersectionality and an honest discussion about gaps and additional support. This ‘outcomes’ paper draws out the key themes, trends and recommendations emerging from the discussions to inform a people-not-profit-centric Covid response.
Topic:: Public Health, Pandemic, Community, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: Africa

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS