Featured image for “Guest speakers are not enough: this Black History Month, we need to ask where NGOs go from here on racial justice ”

Guest speakers are not enough: this Black History Month, we need to ask where NGOs go from here on racial justice 

October 14, 2024
Oxfam GB racial justice lead Rhaea Russell-Cartwright reflects on how far Oxfam and similar UK-based organisations have come and what they should think about next to deliver on racial justice – including the implications of racist riots in Britain, the need for solidarity across borders and ensuring that celebrations of this month centre the experiences of our Black staff. 
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Featured image for “When inclusion is an illusion: sign language interpreters and the pitfalls for ‘inclusive’ development”

When inclusion is an illusion: sign language interpreters and the pitfalls for ‘inclusive’ development

September 6, 2024
How did a meeting for disabled people in Uganda end up using sign language that local deaf people couldn’t understand? Julia Modern reflects on how that failure is rooted in racialised ideas about who is an expert – and shares six tips for effective deaf inclusion. (And you can also watch a Ugandan Sign Language translation of the blog)
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Featured image for “When should we think of children as young people with agency v potential victims of abuse?”

When should we think of children as young people with agency v potential victims of abuse?

July 11, 2024
Nothing like a slightly drunken dinner table argument for getting the mental juices flowing. Most recently, I had a slight disagreement (memories a little vague) with a medic friend over child rights. I started holding forth about some work I did in the 90s that totally changed my view of children (I was a relatively new father at the time).
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Featured image for “Going legitimate? Tackling migration scams in Bangladesh”

Going legitimate? Tackling migration scams in Bangladesh

May 15, 2024
Millions of Bangladeshis seeking jobs abroad too often have to rely on a network of “dalal” or informal brokers that leaves them vulnerable to scams, dangerous work and exploitation. Nicola Nixon, Mir Junayed Jamal and Samiha Jamil on how a registration system could stop the scammers – with some reform-minded brokers already leading the way.
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Featured image for “Youth Protests: where have they come from? Where are they going?”

Youth Protests: where have they come from? Where are they going?

May 3, 2024
Guest post from Camila Teixeira, Policy Specialist at UNICEF In recent years, more young people have been engaging in collective protest to advocate for causes that matter to them. From fighting racism to defending peace, from climate strikes to demands for better education or employment, these demonstrations are powerful expressions of youth agency over the issues shaping their lives, communities,
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Featured image for “Forgetting Rana Plaza”

Forgetting Rana Plaza

April 24, 2024
Guest post from Naomi Hossain, from SOAS, on the 11th anniversary of the tragedy in Bangladesh Despite heated and even violent contention around monuments and memorials in recent years, the politics of memory are still seen as largely symbolic. Apparel industry workers can tell you that this is wrong: memorials matter materially. For survivors of the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster,
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Featured image for “Could Activists Do Better at Resisting Backlash?”

Could Activists Do Better at Resisting Backlash?

March 15, 2024
Been having a series of conversations on the general theme of ‘backlash’. Some thoughts: Background: a lot of activist thinking is predicated on being on the front foot – this is a law, policy, spending commitment or social norm that we want to change. Lots of case studies, toolkits and experience on how to do that – problem and power
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Featured image for “GELI Stories – Taking Risks as a Leader to protect child rights in Syria”

GELI Stories – Taking Risks as a Leader to protect child rights in Syria

March 13, 2024
In the fifth of this series of podcasts with UN and other aid leaders making change happen on the frontline, I talked to Panos Moumtzis, who now leads the GELI programme, about some top influencing he did in a previous job as UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa · GELI Stories – Panos Moumtzis on how
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Featured image for “How the pregnancy penalty supercharges global inequality”

How the pregnancy penalty supercharges global inequality

March 7, 2024
In a blog for International Women’s Day, new parent Anthony Kamande reflects on the heavy cost his partner and family have paid for the simple act of having a baby. In one of the proudest moments of our lives, my wife and I became parents on Valentine’s Day. But for us, as for millions of others having babies across the
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Featured image for “Mia Mottley on Slavery, Poverty, George Floyd, Climate and the Future of the World”

Mia Mottley on Slavery, Poverty, George Floyd, Climate and the Future of the World

December 14, 2023
I was lucky enough to attend the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley’s extraordinary speech at LSE last week (Video here or audio file here). Props to outgoing Oxfam CEO Danny Sriskandarajah and whoever else from Oxfam was involved in pulling it together, along with the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, who hosted. It was jaw-dropping for both the performance, interweaving
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Featured image for “Voices of Gaza: ‘They destroyed the smell of Jasmine, the memories, the love’”

Voices of Gaza: ‘They destroyed the smell of Jasmine, the memories, the love’

November 15, 2023
Oxfam has been receiving increasingly desperate voicenotes from staff and partners inside the Gaza strip. Here are some edited transcripts and links to give you a sense of the suffering that is unfolding: The Oxfam Partner Eman Shanan founded Aid and Hope in 2009, to support women with cancer in Gaza. Oxfam has been funding Aid and Hope through its
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Featured image for “Why a “humanitarian pause” or “humanitarian corridors” are simply not the answer in Gaza”

Why a “humanitarian pause” or “humanitarian corridors” are simply not the answer in Gaza

November 6, 2023
This post by Oxfam’s Richard Stanforth and Magnus Corfixen went up on Oxfam’s Views and Voices blog on Friday Why are Oxfam and other humanitarian organisations not welcoming calls for corridors, pauses and so-called “safe zones” to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza? Richard Stanforth and Magnus Corfixen explain – and set out why a ceasefire is the only credible
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