Ending poverty in the future starts in the present

To tackle the inequalities that keep people in poverty, we need to lay the groundwork for a better future today.  

Poverty is about more than an individual’s financial situation. It exists because the world we live in doesn’t treat everyone equally. 

Every day, people experience discrimination, exclusion and injustice that excludes them from earning a decent wage, having a voice in their communities, getting an education or meeting their basic needs for food, shelter and healthcare. This discrimination can be on the basis of gender, race, religion, sexuality and gender identity, to name a few. 

The systems that our society is built on are designed to benefit a small few at the expense of the many. Whether it’s unfair tax systems, climate policy that favours polluters or corporations denying their workers a living wage, these systems amass wealth at the top and fuel poverty for everyone else.

Our unique approach to long term development 

By addressing poverty without tackling the systems that fuels it, we’d be setting ourselves up for that cycle to repeat as soon as our projects are done.

That’s why Oxfam is unique. We work alongside local partners to understand the challenges facing the communities we work with and to develop projects that will create lasting change and global development for generations to come.  

We delve deep to understand why a person or community are experiencing poverty and the underlying inequality. This can look like helping communities adopt more climate-resilient farming practices, running LGBTQIA+ inclusion workshops, supporting women to lead or connecting First Peoples with politicians to create change. 

Whatever the project, our aim is always to work with communities to tackle the root causes of poverty so that when we step back, communities continue to thrive.