Featured image for “Austerity is creating fertile ground for the far-right: instead the UK must invest to fix its social infrastructure”

Austerity is creating fertile ground for the far-right: instead the UK must invest to fix its social infrastructure

March 25, 2025
The UK government needs to listen to Iceland’s progressive prime minister when she says robust welfare policies are the antidote to far-right extremism. And what’s more, investing in social infrastructure – in care, in health, in schools – is essential to driving the growth the government wants, says Amy Brooker of the Women’s Budget Group.
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Featured image for “Why the UK must take a bold stance against global attacks on women’s rights”

Why the UK must take a bold stance against global attacks on women’s rights

March 19, 2025
Amid a worldwide backlash against women’s rights, and after its own aid cuts that further threaten those rights, it has never been more urgent for the UK government to speak up loudly for global gender equality, says the Gender and Development Network.
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Anatomy of a fall: what the rise and fall of the UK aid budget tells us about making change happen

March 13, 2025
What are the lessons for activists from the cut in the UK development budget? Did big agencies get their messaging all wrong? How much damage did the closure of DFID do? Or the departure of David Cameron as PM? Katy Chakrabortty unpacks the implosion of UK aid…
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The future of aid and what next-gen aid jobs might look like

March 12, 2025
Thinking about a career in international development? Duncan Green explores the future of the aid sector and the prospects for those who want to work in it…  This post is adapted from his shiny new blog about activism, influencing and change, hosted by the LSE.
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No one should be left behind in the shift to a greener future

March 10, 2025
After decades of delay, the move from burning fossil fuels to renewables is firmly underway – but the fairness of this unfolding transition is not inevitable. In fact, there is a real danger the world will simply swap one exploitative and unjust system for another. Natalie Shortall introduces a new Oxfam paper that calls on the UK to get wholeheartedly behind a “just transition”.
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Featured image for “Leadership in a global aid meltdown – top tips from 25 people who know”

Leadership in a global aid meltdown – top tips from 25 people who know

March 6, 2025
FP2P’s Duncan Green has a shiny new blog about activism, influencing and change, hosted by the LSE, which we’ll be sharing highlights from here. You can also subscribe here. In this post from the new blog, he shares some advice from humanitarian leaders in this bleak time for the sector – including talk more often to staff and partners, “watch the fog closely” and “don’t blabber” – and offers a couple of thoughts of his own.
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Featured image for “Aid is often given for all the wrong reasons: but Trump’s aid cuts won’t solve the problem.”

Aid is often given for all the wrong reasons: but Trump’s aid cuts won’t solve the problem.

February 13, 2025
If you want to be rid of aid that advances US interests, don’t celebrate now: that aid isn’t going anywhere, says Terence Wood.
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Featured image for “‘It feels like a more innocent time for Oxfam and for our belief in progress’: looking back on Make Poverty History ”

‘It feels like a more innocent time for Oxfam and for our belief in progress’: looking back on Make Poverty History 

February 3, 2025
Twenty years after he watched Nelson Mandela’s rousing launch speech in Trafalgar Square, Dominic Vickers reflects on the impact of the landmark Make Poverty History campaign for trade justice, debt relief and better aid – and wonders if a new generation can take up the cause again. 
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Where is UK development policy headed under the new government?

November 18, 2024
The recent £1.5 billion cut in the aid budget heralds an era of “less money, more policy”, with any return to spending 0.7% of GDP a long way away, says Andy Sumner of King’s College London. As we await three reviews of development policy, early signs suggest climate change and diplomatic interests will drive priorities – and there is little chance DFID will be reborn.
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Featured image for “Money, ministries and meh: how might the election change UK development policy?”

Money, ministries and meh: how might the election change UK development policy?

June 27, 2024
Will DFID be reborn? When will the UK restore the commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on aid? Andy Sumner of King’s College London casts an eye over the manifestos of the main parties…
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Why a new report on UK aid reform is contradictory, evidence free and full of holes

February 18, 2019
Since the UK’s commitment to the international aid budget was set in law at 0.7% of Gross National Income, debates have shifted from ‘how much?’  to ‘how should we spend it?’ A new report calls for a seemingly radical shake up of how UK aid should be spent. Oxfam’s Gideon Rabinowitz explains what’s at stake, and why simplistic solutions are
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What does the rapidly changing face of UK and global aid look like, and what is at stake? 

November 29, 2017
Oxfam aid wonk Gideon Rabinowitz reads the tea leaves of the latest UK aid stats Anyone following aid discussions in recent years will have sensed the mood music changing. They have been increasingly dominated by an emphasis on economic development, the role of the private sector, securing results (including for taxpayers) and addressing donor strategic interests (e.g. in relation to
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