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OXFAM Campaigns
Get stuck in and make a difference.
Oxfam Ireland was set up in 1942 and works with people around the world to try to reduce and ultimately eliminate poverty. It runs a variety of campaigns to raise awareness and make a difference.
What are these campaigns all about?
The GROW campaign
The GROW campaign is for the billions of people who eat food and the people who grow it for us. Oxfam wants to create a world where the people who grow the food are afforded a decent lifestyle and proper pay for their hard work. The campaign focuses on four specific areas:
- Climate change. Climate change has hit the entire world and has had a devastating effect on foods growers in particular, causing crops to fail and thus severe food shortages and famines. It has also had a negative effective on the practicalities of growing –the change in seasons has made it harder for farmers to know when they should sow, cultivate and harvest their crops. Sadly, climate change is likely to get worse, not better. Oxfam wants governments around the world to agree to keep global warming below 2 degrees to avoid catastrophic climate change. They also want to know where the money to fund the 2009 Copenhagen UN climate summit will come from.
- Food Prices. Sadly, the number of people in the world that don’t have enough to eat is actually increasing. In fact, the number is soon set to top one billion. The large increases in food prices have only worsened this problem. Many poor families spend as much as 80% of their income on food, so even small changes in food prices can devastate such families. The rising cost of oil, failed crops and biofuels have all had a terrible impact on food prices. Governments need to get to the root cause of food price hikes by getting back to basics and dealing with global warming and corrupt financial markets, which put profit above basic human needs.
- Land grabs. Many companies are buying up land in poor countries and using this land to grow commercial crops. The issue with this is that often the land they buy is already unofficially in use as a place for poor families to buy crops. These families then get kicked off the land and their major food source is eliminated. Often, the families are told that they will be financially compensated, but in most cases they are not. After all of that, the land is often left idle and not even used to grow anything at all! According to Oxfam, 80% of these land grabs are never actually used. Governments need to work to secure land for poor people so that companies have no legal right to land grabs.
- Investment. Oxfam wants governments around the world to start investing in small scale and local farming. Intensive farming destroys the soil and can eventually result in low or no crop yields, while small farming often results in stronger and more sustainable crops. Governments need to wake up and invest in these small farms. Support for small and local farming is already happening in countries like Vietnam and Brazil.
Climate Change
Oxfam has long campaigned on action for climate change and will continue to do so. Climate change has hit the developing countries the most, yet they are the ones least responsible for it! Oxfam wants governments around the world to take action on climate change.
0.7% by 2015
The Irish government promised to spend 0.7% of their income on overseas aid by 2015. Despite the recession and terrible economic times, Oxfam feels that the Irish government must honour this pledge. Oxfam Ireland is joining with other Irish development organisations to call on the Irish Government to get on track.
How you can help:
Join the GROW campaign.
Splash your cash here and use the tax back scheme to make the cents stretch even more.
Buy cards, birthday gifts and presents here.
Volunteer to do admin work, help out at events or work in an Oxfam shop. Heck, even knitting can raise money for Oxfam!
Take part in Oxfam’s campaigns.
Shop with Oxfam.
Further Information:
www.oxfamireland.org
Oxfam on Facebook
Oxfam
Web: www.oxfamireland.org/
Email: info@oxfamireland.org
Phone: 01 672 7662
Oxfam Ireland is a member of Oxfam International, a confederation of 14 organisations, working together to achieve greater impact. They are an independent, secular, not-for-profit organisation, committed to working with people to overcome poverty and injustice worldwide.
