About Oxfam

About Oxfam Canada

Oxfam Canada is part of a global movement for change made up of 20 Oxfam affiliate organizations working in more than 90 countries to mobilize the power of people against poverty. 

Saving lives: When emergencies happen, Oxfam is among the first on the scene. With your help, we provide clean water, sanitation, and health care. We deliver aid, support,and protection to people who’ve lost everything, particularly women who are often the most at risk in emergencies and conflicts. And when the urgent, life-saving work is over, we stay to help communities rebuild their livelihoods while working to ensure that women’s rights are taken into account.  Training people in skills like first aid, search and rescue, and evacuation techniques. We make sure that when disaster strikes, poor communities are ready. We put women at the centre of reconstruction, and in efforts to build resilience to future disasters.

Long-term development: Oxfam believes that the best people to help communities living in poverty are community members themselves. We work with local partners to come up with long-lasting, far-reaching solutions that enable people in poverty to provide for their families and communities in a sustainable way - because food security, safety, education and earning a decent living, are rights not privileges.

Campaigning for social justice: We live in a world where the gap between the rich and the rest continues to widen, and women bear the brunt - but we know that inequality is not inevitable. With your support, we press governments at home and around the world, to build an economy that works for all, not just the wealthy few. We hold them accountable for providing essential services like health care, and passing laws that ensure women are paid equally.

A NEw kind of fish tale Imagine a woman is hungry. We give her a fish. This is our humanitarian or emergency work: we save lives. We offer immediate access to lifesaving resources like water, shelter, and food. After the crisis passes, we can teach the woman to fish. Now the woman can feed her family and teach others. This is how we develop our programs to help people overcome poverty. But we haven’t addressed the root cause of why that woman didn’t know how to fish in the first place. So we start to look for answers. Maybe women aren’t taught to fish in her community? Maybe the lake is polluted by a nearby factory? We know people have the power to change their lives, and the lives of those around them. All they need is a little help.

THIS IS HOW OXFAM WORKS.