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42. Six months into the floods: Resetting Pakistan's priorities through reconstruction
- Author:
- Shaheen Chughtai and Helen McElhinney
- Publication Date:
- 01-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Six months after the flood disaster began, this briefing paper evaluates the humanitarian response so far, the continuing crisis, and the challenges that lie ahead. It looks at the immediate reconstruction task, as well as the underlying socio-economic and political issues that need to be tackled by the Government of Pakistan, backed by the international aid community, in order to help vulnerable Pakistanis rebuild stronger, safer communities and a more equitable and self-reliant country.
- Topic:
- Development, Poverty, and Natural Disasters
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, South Asia, and Asia
43. From Relief to Recovery: Supporting good governance in post-earthquake Haiti
- Publication Date:
- 01-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 had a devastating impact on the already vulnerable island nation, leaving more than 200,000 people dead and over one million homeless. In October 2010, Haiti was struck by a second disaster: as of mid December 2010, a cholera outbreak has affected more than 122,000 people, leaving at least 2,600 dead.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, and Natural Disasters
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
44. Halving Hunger: Still Possible? Building a rescue package to set the MDGs back on track
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Ten years after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by world leaders became the greatest-ever commitment for a 'more peaceful, prosperous and just future', progress is slow and many hard-won achievements have been undone after the global food, fuel and economic crises. Unless an urgent rescue package is developed to accelerate fulfillment of all the MDGs, we are likely to witness the greatest collective failure in history.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
45. The Making of a Seoul Development: Consensus The essential development agenda for the G20
- Author:
- Jasmine Burnley and Elizabeth Stuart
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- When the G20 meets in Seoul in November 2010, it has a big choice to make. It can either retreat into a narrow focus on its own interests, or it can prove it is capable of genuine global leadership in the face of the interlinked economic, food, and climate change crises. The G20 must adopt a Seoul 'development consensus' that confronts the challenges of the 21st century: reducing inequality and tackling global poverty through sustainable, equitable growth that gives poor women and men, and their governments, the tools they need to overcome poverty.
- Topic:
- Development, Poverty, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Israel, Asia, and South Korea
46. Righting Two Wrongs: Making a new Global Climate Fund work for poor people
- Author:
- Tracy Carty
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Climate-related shocks are negatively affecting the lives of millions of poor women and men with increasing frequency and severity. The non- binding pledges made in Copenhagen put the world on track for a catastrophic temperature rise of 3-4°C. If developed countries fail to set much more ambitious emissions targets, the cost of damages will increase dramatically. There is an urgent need to set up a proper system of finance for adaptation to help developing countries avoid the worst impacts.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Climate Change, and Development
47. Agricultural challenges and opportunities for Haiti's reconstruction
- Author:
- Marc Cohen
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The massive earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 devastated rural areas as well as urban, destroying crops, farm buildings, equipment, and infrastructure. Indirect effects touched almost every corner of the nation, as 600,000 people migrated to the countryside, increasing pressure on already stretched food and fuel resources. Internal displacement worsened food insecurity, which affected six out of ten people even before the disaster.
- Topic:
- Development, Disaster Relief, Poverty, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Caribbean
48. Reconstructing Haiti
- Author:
- Aimee Ansari
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- All actors should ensure that the people of Haiti have a central role in the process of reconstruction and that reconstruction is equitable. Those delivering assistance on the ground should immediately work to coordinate within the UN established system and with the Haitian government The UN and the US government are trying to ensure that there is adequate fuel to support the relief effort. Fuel supply will remain a concern for humanitarian agencies in the near term. In consultation with NGOs, the UN should establish a system to determine who receives fuel, for what purposes and in what priority. The Haitian government, UN and international military actors must work together to improve the security situation, pre-empting a potential deterioration of the situation, with increased patrols, transparency in operations and clear conjoined rules of engagement and chain of command. Protection, particularly for women and children, should be mainstreamed into the design of all programmes, including any camps for affected people or expansion of patrols, in consultation with affected people and local civil society. The government, UN, donors and other actors must ensure that efforts to restore and improve public services, infrastructure and economic activity prioritise poorer communities. In a socially divided society such as Haiti, there is a real danger that the better off and politically influential will secure their needs first. It is not too early to lay a new foundation for Haiti's reconstruction and development with complete debt forgiveness, aid in the form of grants not loans and a “pro-poor” approach that prioritises livelihoods and sustainable development led by Haitians from the start.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Development, and Disaster Relief
- Political Geography:
- United States and United Nations
49. Rescuing Education for All: How reform of the Fast Track Initiative should lead to a Global Fund for Education
- Author:
- Katie Malouf Bous
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The first decade of our new millennium was poised to go down in history as a hopeful turning point for the world's children. Remarkable progress was being forged across the developing world, spurred by a new global commitment to the Education For All (EFA) goals. These goals were answered by substantial increases in aid during the first half of the decade, extensive debt relief, and a growing political commitment to education in developing countries. The EFA Fast Track Initiative was also establ ished in 2002 as a global partnership to support national efforts to reach universal primary education.
- Topic:
- Development, Education, Globalization, and Financial Crisis
50. Better Jobs in Better Supply Chains
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- This paper is intended for senior managers in all companies that source goods from developing countries. Examples are drawn mainly from the garment and agriculture industries but the learning is transferable to other industries, including electronics, construction, and services.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Poverty, and Labor Issues
51. Haiti: A Once-in-a-Century Chance for Change
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- No disaster is completely natural. The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 was no exception. Haiti's extreme levels of poverty and inequality exacerbated the devastation and determined who was vulnerable.
- Topic:
- Development, Poverty, Foreign Aid, and Reconstruction
- Political Geography:
- Caribbean and Haiti
52. Think big. Go small. Adapting business models to incorporate smallholders into supply chains
- Author:
- David Bright, Don Seville, and Lea BorkenHagen
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Incorporating smallholders into the supply chain allows a company to tell consumers how their purchasing choices can improve the lives of men and women farmers. Companies that incorporate smallholders equitably into their supply chains – and communicate their action through their brands – can capture new customers and gain greater loyalty from existing ones.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Third World, and Food
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom
53. Promises, Promises: A briefing paper for the Kabul Conference on Afghanistan
- Author:
- Ashley Jackson
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The Kabul Conference marks the ninth international conference on Afghanistan in nearly as many years. The conference aims to present a new set of development programs and shore up international support for civilian efforts. It will also follow up on commitments made on anticorruption and reconciliation during the London Conference in January 2010. Yet much of the hope and optimism that marked the earlier conferences such as the Bonn Conference in 2001, which set out the parameters for the interim government, and the Paris Conference in 2006, which outlined a strategy for reconstruction and development, is now gone.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, War, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Asia
54. How reform of the Fast Track Initiative should lead to a Global Fund for Education
- Author:
- Katie Malouf Bous
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Remarkable progress has been made in the last ten years toward achieving the education-related Millennium Development Goals. Many more girls are in school and enrolment rates are on the rise, due to higher-quality aid and to political commitment in developing countries. However, these achievements could be derailed by the global economic crisis, newly falling aid levels, and educational challenges. With 72 million children still out of school, the world's poorest countries urgently need a global financing initiative that can deliver the resources to scale up to Education For All.
- Topic:
- Development, Education, and Gender Issues
- Political Geography:
- Africa
55. A Business Case for Fighting Poverty
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Even in hard times, it can make commercial sense for companies to develop markets that include poor people, and business models that address poverty. Businesses that create decent jobs, access to markets or goods and services that benefit low-income groups in emerging economies help to build healthier, wealthier, and more highly skilled communities. Those communities will provide the customers, suppliers, and employees that companies need for sustainable growth.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Markets, Poverty, and Non State Actors
56. Making Pooled Funding Work for People in Crisis
- Author:
- Tanja Schuemer-Cross
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- International humanitarian aid provides relief to tens of millions of people each year: in 2007 to more than 43 million people through UN humanitarian appeals alone. However, it is also often too little, too late, and unpredictable, or inappropriate to the needs of communities, including specific groups such as women and girls. The UN-led reforms since 2005 to improve humanitarian aid have begun - but only begun - to make a difference to this variable performance.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, Third World, and Foreign Aid
57. Trading Away Access to Medicines: How the European Union's trade agenda has taken a wrong turn
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Access to medicines poses a critical challenge in developing countries, largely because prices are high, and new or adapted medicines and vaccines to address diseases of the developing world are lacking. More than 5 million people in low and middle income countries still lack access to the anti-retroviral medicines needed to treat HIV and AIDS. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have unleashed a new epidemic of suffering across the developing world. Pandemics are a serious threat in rich and poor countries alike, but while rich countries can stockpile medicines, these are often unaffordable for poor countries. Most people in developing countries pay for medicines out-of-pocket, so even a slight price increase can mean that life-saving medicines are unaffordable.
- Topic:
- Development, Health, and Third World
- Political Geography:
- Europe
58. Civil Society and UNITAID: An introduction
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- An international financing mechanism, intervening for market impact to scale up access to treatment of HIV and AIDS, TB, and malaria in developing countries.
- Topic:
- Development, Health, and Poverty
59. What Happened to the Seasons? Changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change
- Author:
- Steve Jennings and John Magrath
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The timing of rain, and intra-seasonal rainfall patterns are critical to smallholder farmers in developing countries. Seasonality influences farmers' decisions about when to cultivate and sow and harvest. It ultimately contributes to the success or failure of their crops. Worryingly, therefore, farmers are reporting that both the timing of rainy seasons and the pattern of rains within seasons are changing. These perceptions of change are striking in that they are geographically widespread and because the changes are described in remarkably consistent terms. In this paper, we relate the perceptions of farmers from several regions(East Asia, South Asia, Southern and East Africa, and Latin America) of how seasons are changing, and in some cases, how once distinct seasons appear to be disappearing altogether, and the impacts that these changes are having. We then go on to ask two critical questions. Firstly, do meteorological observations support farmers' perceptions of changing seasonality? Secondly, to what extent are these changes consistent with predictions from climate models? We conclude that changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change faced by smallholder farmers in developing countries over the next few decades. Indeed, this may already be the case. Yet it is relatively unexplored in the literature. We also suggest some of the key adaptation responses that might help farmers cope with these changes.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, East Asia, and Latin America
60. Harnessing Agriculture for Development
- Author:
- Arabella Fraser
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Harnessing Agriculture for Development is the result of a process of research and consultation conducted within Oxfam International from the end of 2007 to mid 2008, before the full impact of the current financial crisis was felt across the developing world. It is being published at a time when we face a particularly uncertain and unstable future, with heightened perceptions of risk, but when we also have a unique opportunity to generate the kinds of policy change required to achieve a new global balance.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, and Food