Category: In the field

Women play a vital role in the global food system and produce a large proportion of the food we eat; yet they have little access to land and their farm work is often underpaid and undervalued. If women farmers had the same access to resources and decision making as men, their efforts would significantly reduce […] Read more »

Women work together to bring in the rice harvest. Small-scale farmers often work on each others’ land during the busy times of year to ensure successful harvests. The 500 million small-scale farms in developing countries are critical to food security; feeding almost two billion people. In countries like Indonesia, rice is promoted widely, and is […] Read more »

High in the mountains of Lushoto in northern Tanzania, life has been very hard for Halima Shabani. Feeding and sending her children to school has been a constant struggle as have been the long back-breaking days tending her fields. But with support of overseas aid, life is changing for Halima and her family. Halima is […] Read more »

One of our areas of work in the Mekong Region is ‘Hydropower and Gender’. But what does the construction of dams have to do with gender relations? Good question. I asked myself the same thing when I started my experience with Oxfam. Not because I didn’t appreciate working towards gender equality, but because I couldn’t […] Read more »

One in eight people go hungry every day. Unbelievably, 80% of those going hungry are food producers; small-scale farmers, fishermen and women, forest foragers and landless farm labourers. They produce food, yet many still go hungry. The road to Hoelea from Lewoleba on the island of Lembata is the worst I’ve ever seen. It takes […] Read more »

The first thing that my supervisor did when I got back from my field trip last week was to place a two‑page document in my hands. ‘Take a close look at this’ he said smirking, and left. It was entitled Key consideration: food and nutrition security vulnerability to mainstream hydropower dam development in Cambodia. It […] Read more »

By Christina Hill, Mining Advocacy Coordinator Oxfam’s work shows that the impacts of mining are not gender neutral. Women often experience the negative impacts of mining more than men, and rarely receive the benefits that men do. What do these gendered impacts look like in Indonesia? Do small ‘cowboy’ mining companies – which are dominant […] Read more »

By Robin Narciso – an Oxfam volunteer in Phnom Penh How would you feel if you woke up in the morning to find out that your house AND your job has vanished into thin air? It’s hard for us to imagine in the “developed world”, but it happens every day in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and […] Read more »

June 20th is World Refugee Day. It’s a time to remember the millions of men, women and children worldwide who have been displaced due to the threat of persecution, conflict and violence; to take stock of their enormous courage, strength and sacrifices. Read more »

Khadija, who chose to give us a false name and cover her face for fear of reprisals when she returns to Syria, fled to Lebanon two months before this picture was taken on May 4, 2013, after being displaced numerous times within Syria by fighting between opposition and regime forces. She now lives in a […] Read more »