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61. Paying the Price for the Economic Crisis

Author:
Bethan Emmett
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
New research by Oxfam International uncovers a hidden aspect of the global economic crisis – its impact on women workers in developing countries. Preliminary findings from Oxfam's research with women in global supply chains shows that the crisis is having a devastating impact on their livelihoods, their rights, and their families. Women are often first to be laid off, with employers leaving pay outstanding and evading legal obligations to give notice and pay compensation, and governments turning a blind eye, with devastating knock-on effects. Last year, women's wages were putting food on the table and children through school in millions of families. Now, the lives of women who were already suffering from poor labour conditions have become even more precarious.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, Globalization, Political Economy, and Labor Issues

62. What Happened at the G20? Initial Analysis of the London Summit

Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
G20 leaders met for the second time in London on 2 April, as the global economic crisis began to crash across the borders of poor countries with ever-greater severity. Oxfam's research shows rising human impacts in the shape of job losses, falling remittances to the families of migrant workers and a particularly severe impact on women workers in global supply chains. Based on the latest forecasts, published on the eve of the summit, Oxfam estimates that the crisis could push 100 million people into poverty in 2009 alone.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, Globalization, International Organization, Poverty, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
London

63. Close to Home: UK poverty and the economic downturn

Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The major social policy challenge of the current economic recession is how to prevent a precipitous rise in poverty in the UK. In addition to limiting the numbers of people plunged into poverty because of the recession, government must also mitigate the impact on people already living below the poverty line. But, this paper will argue, response s to the recession present an opportunity to make a step-change, ensuring that actions taken also help build a fairer, more sustainable society in which poverty is ended in the long-term.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, Poverty, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Europe

64. The Right to Survive in a Changing Climate

Author:
Robert Bailey
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Driven by upward trends in the number of climate - related disasters and human vulnerability to them, by 2015 the average number of people affected each year by climate-related disasters could increase by over 50 percent to 375 million. This figure will continue to rise as climate change gathers pace – increasing the frequency and/or severity of such events – and poverty and inequality force ever more people to live in high -risk places, such as flood plains, steep hillsides and urban slums, while depriving them of the means to cope with disaster.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Environment, Globalization, and Poverty

65. 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

66. Towards a Sustainable Cocoa Chain: Power and possibilities within the cocoa and chocolate sector

Author:
Jan Cappelle
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The cocoa tree is an important source of income for millions of farming families in equatorial regions. Cocoa originates in the river valleys of the Amazon and the Orinoco in South America. Its discoverers, the Maya people, gave it the name 'cocoa' (or 'God's food'). Cocoa was introduced to Europe in the fifteenth century. Cocoa imports were heavily taxed, and as a result it was consumed as a drink only by the wealthy. Investment from Great Britain and The Netherlands, combined with the launch of the chocolate bar in 1842 by Cadbury, resulted in a greater demand for chocolate. This led to the gradual expansion of cocoa production, spreading to Africa in 1870.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Britain, Africa, Europe, South America, Netherlands, and Amazon Basin

67. A Copper-Bottomed Crisis? The Impact of the Global Economic Meltdown on Zambia

Author:
Duncan Green
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
At the time of independence in 1964 Zambia was a middle-income country and appeared set to develop into a prosperous nation. However, the combination of a tumultuous world economy and fiscal mismanagement led to rapid economic decline, which continued unabated into the 1980s and 1990s. Average economic growth from 1990–1999 was the lowest in the region, and unemployment and inflation soared resulting in per capita incomes 50% less in 1999 than they had been 25 years earlier.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa

68. Getting Women into Local Strategic Partnerships: Knowing your community, improving public services

Author:
Sue Smith, Antonia Bance, and Louie Fooks
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This paper, based on two pilot projects conducted by Oxfam with LSPs in Sunderland and Thurrock in 2008-9, looks at how local authorities can increase the representation and participation of women in LSPs, and how needs differ by gender. The evidence from the pilot projects clearly shows that LSPs can, and must, take concrete steps to involve women more effectively in local decision-making – and take their particular needs into consideration in setting targets for services such as transport, unemployment, and housing – in or der to improve their economic and social well-being and tackle the poverty and social exclusion they face. The paper makes a series of recommendations to those involved in LSPs as to how to do this, and gives examples of good practice.
Topic:
Economics and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
Europe

69. The Time is Now: How world leaders should respond to the food price crisis

Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Global food prices are up 83 per cent compared with three years ago. The resulting food price crisis constitutes an unprecedented threat to the livelihoods and well-being of millions of rural and urban households who are net food buyers. Around the world, Oxfam International and many of its partners have seen soaring prices force people to eat less food or less nutritious food and drive poor households to cut back on health care, education, and other necessities. Women and children's nutritional levels are particularly vulnerable, as women often put men's consumption before their own.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, and International Trade and Finance

70. Responsible investment: a force for poverty alleviation

Author:
Rory Sullivan and Helena Viñes Fiestas
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The unprecedented turmoil in the world's financial markets has resulted in a significant loss of trust in the global financial system. Financial institutions and the market as a whole have been criticised for short-termism, for lacking transparency, and for not being properly accountable to regulators or to wider society. The credit crisis has also raised wider questions about the proper role of investors in society, both in terms of the specific investments that they make and the manner in which they use their influence to ensure that the positive social and environmental impacts of their investment activities are maximised, and the negative impacts minimised.
Topic:
Corruption, Economics, Globalization, and Poverty