Oxfam Horn, East and Central Africa Blog

Food prices squeezing poor people and driving social change by stealth

Domianah Mwikali struggles with high food prices in Mukuru, Nairobi

A new era of high and volatile food prices goes beyond affecting what people can afford to eat and is causing life-changing shifts in society, experts warn today.

The report, Squeezed: Life in a time of food price volatility, reveals a global snap-shot of how the failure of wages to keep pace with five years of food price rises is putting a strain on families, communities and society, including increased levels of domestic violence and alcohol and drug abuse. Roles and social needs are changing as women who once remained at home are entering the job market and agricultural jobs are being abandoned for more lucrative jobs in an attempt to afford higher food prices.

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Disasters are “no accident” – it’s about politics and power

Governments and aid agencies have to tackle the politics and power at the heart of the increasing effects of climate change, rising inequality and people’s vulnerability to disasters according to a new report published today by international agency Oxfam.

The report, No Accident: Resilience and the inequality of risk, shows that the risk of disaster is being dumped on to millions of people living in poverty while the lifestyles of the rich world relentlessly pumps carbon into the atmosphere. And while in the rich world the majority of people can cope relatively well with unexpected shocks, most people in poor countries cannot. Some 90 per cent of workers in least developed countries have no social security and 97 per cent of people on low incomes have no insurance cover making them highly vulnerable to disasters, food hikes and or illness – 100 million people fall into poverty just because they have to pay for health care. Women are particularly vulnerable because of their economic, political and social status.

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Africa in control of its fortune

Several African countries are amongst today’s fastest growing economies in the world, boosted in many instances by new discoveries of oil, natural gas and strategic mineral reserves. Extreme poverty on the continent is in decline, and progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals has accelerated. A number of very poor African countries, including Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia have made recent and substantial improvements in their levels of income equality.

Yet Africa’s impressive growth is not shared by millions of its people. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to a third of the world’s poorest people, and six of the top 10 most unequal countries in the world. Where income inequality is high, the benefits of economic growth are inaccessible to poor people. Poverty and exclusion are bad for social stability, preventing productive investment and undermining growth itself.

The continent’s potential is also being undermined by illicit capital haemorrhaging out of African countries – often in the form of tax evasion and trade mispricing by multinational oil, gas and mining companies, and in collusion with corrupt elected officials. In 2010, Africa’s oil, gas and mineral exports amounted to $333 billion. But estimates of illicit financial outflows from Africa are up to $200 billion annually, dwarfing the development aid it receives.

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Africa’s growth must benefit all its citizens

Africa’s remarkable growth, driven in large part by a minerals and energy boom, is threatened by illicit capital outflows and widening income gaps, international agency Oxfam has warned ahead of a meeting of top business leaders at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.

Several African countries are amongst the fastest growing economies in the world[1], boosted by new discoveries of oil, natural gas, and strategic mineral reserves. But progress is being undermined by income inequalities and massive illicit capital outflows – often in the form of tax evasion and trade mispricing by extractive industries.

Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said: “Africa’s impressive growth needs to reach further. The continent’s resource boom must be harnessed to benefit all its citizens. If illicit capital continues to haemorrhage out of African countries, efforts to reduce poverty and boost economic growth will be undercut. Resource wealth should promote prosperity on the continent, not undermine inclusive economic growth, fuel corruption, or damage the environment.”

In 2010, Africa’s oil, gas and mineral exports amounted to $333 billion.[2] But illicit financial outflows from Africa are estimated at up to $200 billion annually,[3] dwarfing the development aid it receives.[4]

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Somalia famine’s shocking death toll must never happen again

A new study estimates that 258,000 people died in the Somalia 201/11 famine – half of them children under 5. In some areas up to 18% of young children died. In response to these shocking new findings, the head of Oxfam in Somalia, Senait Gebregziabher, said:

Famines are not natural phenomena, they are catastrophic political failures. The world was too slow to respond to stark warnings of drought, exacerbated by conflict in Somalia and people paid with their lives. These deaths could and should have been prevented, and such a shocking death toll must never be allowed to happen again.

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Cash not food – giving poor people choices

Just because someone is poor doesn’t mean they should not be treated with dignity. And just because someone is hungry doesn’t mean that food aid is the best thing to give them. Food aid can save lives – but too often it’s patronising, ineffective and doesn’t respect the people it’s intended to support. Providing cash for people to spend however they want can be much more effective than handing out food aid year after year. Oxfam’s Regional Director, Fran Equiza, recently gave a talk at TEDxChange, where he argued that we need to change our attitudes to poverty and give people the choice to help themselves.

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A new “no-water” latrine model helps refugees in dry parts of Ethiopia

In 2011, as famine hit Somalia, tens of thousands of refugees fled to the Dollo Ado camps in Ethiopia. There are now five camps in Dollo Ado, sheltering over 190,000 people – making it one of the largest refugee sites in the world. Hilaweyn, the fifth camp, was set up after the others reached full capacity, and it now shelters nearly 35,000 refugees. Oxfam is providing the camp with clean water and pit latrines, and organising hygiene campaigns and waste management to reduce the risk of disease spreading.

It’s a harsh environment – a dry landscape with limited water and rocky soil that makes it difficult and expensive to dig latrines. Nevertheless, the ongoing conflict in parts of Somalia means people continue to arrive. About 2,000 people a month come to seek refuge in Hilaweyn and the camp population is expected to reach 40,000 by the end of 2013.

To try and find a sustainable solution to the sanitation problems in the camp, Oxfam introduced an innovative new latrine model – the Urine Diversion Dry Toilet (UDDT). It uses no water, produces less waste, generates fertiliser, and is much more suitable for the harsh, arid conditions.

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A taste of honey: Reaching marginalised women in Ethiopia

Women bee keepers in Amhara, Ethiopia

“Collective Action” holds great promise for multitudes of women whose primary livelihood is dependent on their ability to farm the land and access markets. An Oxfam research project on Women’s Collective Action (WCA) in Africa has gathered evidence on effective ways for women smallholders to enhance their incomes, asset ownership, and empowerment. One part of the research looked at women honey producers in Ethiopia.

At first glance, the honey sector in Ethiopia appears to be an unlikely place in which to find women forming producer groups, taking leadership positions and benefiting from increased income generation. Especially when many of the participating women are young, unmarried or from marginalised groups.

Beekeeping and honey production are largely male-dominated occupations, partly because harvesting honey from traditional hives requires climbing trees, but also because women’s ability to engage in producing and marketing honey and bee products has been hindered by a lack of necessary assets, such as land and equipment, and limited access to market services and functions, including finance, marketing and technical training.

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In My Place – Oxfam, Coldplay and you fight land grabs

Land grabs are a huge problem for millions of people across Africa. Big land deals are putting people and their possessions out of place, forcing them from the place they call home.

To send a global message about this injustice, thousands of people from 55 countries in five continents sent photos and videos of ordinary things out of place, echoing the displacement of land grabs. Then Coldplay put them to an exclusive version of their song, In My Place. Oxfam now needs you to raise your voices in support of change.

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“This is the time to change things for Somalia”

Fartuun Adan, one of Oxfam’s partners in Somalia and head of the Elman Peace Center and Sisters Somalia, recently did an interview with Arabs Today TV. She talks about her work in Somalia to support survivors of sexual violence, help young people, and promote women’s rights:

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