Effective humanitarian action requires a deep understanding of culture, geography, language, and power. As the climate crisis and conflict force record numbers of people from their homes—putting lives and livelihoods at risk—local organizations are often the best-positioned “first responders” to save lives and build their communities’ resilience to future catastrophes.
With your help, Oxfam advocates for the dignity of people in crisis, partnering with a global network of local organizations to deliver clean water, food, cash, and information to communities in need. We challenge harmful legacies of colonialism, shifting power from international organizations like Oxfam to leaders rooted in local know-how. We invest in our local partners, promoting their leadership and boosting their technical skills to help them respond to emergencies as well as reduce suffering, risks, and losses by preparing vulnerable communities before disasters strike.
We treat the movement of people as a right, not a crisis. In the long-term, we address the root causes that force people from their homes. We call for policy change that protects immigrants and refugees in the US, including supporting a path to citizenship for undocumented people, more humane policies at the US-Mexico border, and economic and workplace protections. And we bring leaders from communities around the world to Washington, DC, to ensure their priorities drive US government action to strengthen funding for local humanitarian action.
