Policy Papers

As drought devastates the Horn of Africa yet again, the following analysis comparing 2019 to earlier droughts paints a bleak picture and indictment on the humanitarian community. The urgency to better respond is exacerbated by people’s lack of recovery from the 2017 drought and a further deterioration predicted in coming months.

The food price crisis of 2007–08 had devastating impacts for the world’s poorest people, especially for smallholder farmers and in particular for women. Ten years on, new policies are needed to rebalance the system to meet the needs of smallholder communities, with a renewed focus on meeting the needs and aspirations of women.

After the double tragedy of Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Kenneth, the people of Mozambique now face yet another crisis: a food security crisis. This joint agency briefing calls for urgent funding for emergency food assistance and longer term support to help affected women, men and children to rebuild their lives.

Oxfam’s Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index shows that governments in West Africa are the least committed to reducing inequality of any on the continent. If they do not radically increase their commitment to reducing inequality, the crisis is likely to worsen.

Despite its development potential, the Sahel faces an unprecedented crisis. Today, there is a multifaceted predicament on top of the pre-existing development challenges that the region has been tackling. The governments of the Sahelian countries and the international community must respond to these urgent problems, making the fight against inequality a top priority.

This paper outlines Oxfam’s position on the 19th Replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA19), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries. It calls on donors for a strong replenishment, and with that financial commitment, to agree on a strong programmatic and policy agenda for IDA19 across the agreed upon special and cross-cutting themes.

In an increasingly unequal world, advancing gender equality is fundamental to tackling inequality and poverty. Feminist aid has the potential to challenge us to rethink how aid is delivered and to truly transform systems of unequal power.

Governments need more domestic revenue to fund their own development goals, but it won’t come from squeezing the poor. It’s not only about collecting more. It’s about how that revenue is collected.

This paper argues that private finance blending should be used with caution in rural development until donors can demonstrate the merits of blending using evidence-based results, in particular the added value of blending for development impact.

A growing body of evidence shows that education public-private partnerships (PPPs) which support private schooling are too often failing the most vulnerable children and risk deepening inequality. Despite this, the World Bank has been increasingly promoting education PPPs in poor countries through its lending and advice.