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Takers Not Makers: The unjust poverty and unearned wealth of colonialism
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Billionaire wealth has risen three times faster in 2024 than in 2023. Five trillionaires are now expected within a decade. Meanwhile, crises of economy, climate and conflict mean the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990. Most billionaire wealth is taken, not earned- 60% comes from either inheritance, cronyism, corruption or monopoly power. Our deeply unequal world has a long history of colonial domination which has largely benefited the richest people. The poorest, racialized people, women and marginalized groups have been and continue to be systematically exploited at huge human costs. Today’s world remains colonial in many ways. This must be reversed. Reparations must be made to those who were brutally enslaved and colonised. Our modern-day colonial economic system must be made radically more equal to end poverty. The cost should be borne by the richest people who benefit the most.
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A Beirut blast: how inclusive disaster management for refugees and hosts reassembled a community in a disintegrated city
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In the aftermath of the Beirut Port explosion, LGBT+ NGOs in Lebanon emerged as pillars of unity and support, particularly for women in all their diversity (WiTD) and gender minorities in both refugee and host communities. These NGOs swiftly pivoted towards disaster management, prioritising risk mitigation and rapid emergency response strategies amid the chaos. Their immediate focus was on providing safe havens and inclusive support networks for vulnerable groups, recognising and addressing the unique vulnerabilities faced by WiTD and gender minorities affected by the blast. By leveraging their networks and expertise, these NGOs created spaces that transcended societal barriers, ensuring equal access to crucial resources regardless of gender identity, orientation, or nationality. Collaborating actively with humanitarian agencies and other stakeholders, these entities emphasised intersectionality in their relief efforts. This approach enabled them to fill gaps in assistance and prioritise marginalised individuals who faced compounded challenges due to their gender identity, sexual orientation, and refugee status. Beyond immediate humanitarian aid, these organisations invested significantly in long-term disaster preparedness and risk reduction. The proactive approach of these LGBT+ organisations exemplifies a commitment to integrating inclusivity and diversity at every stage of disaster management and emergency response. Against the backdrop of Lebanon’s failure to integrate refugees and gender minorities into the country’s broader cultural and societal identity, this paper draws on qualitative interviews with these NGOs and their constituencies to critique conventional notions of resilience, arguing instead that for marginalised groups, the event of the disaster is not singular. Consequently, resilience must be understood as the capacity to navigate and withstand multiple ongoing adversities that are disproportionately both felt and addressed.
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Centring Indigenous Women’s Rights in Climate Justice: The importance of listening to the direct voices of Indigenous women
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This article is written as a series of organic conversations between four women working in gender and climate change in south-east Asia. It is situated through storytelling of an Indigenous Bunong woman from Cambodia and a woman of Hmong ethnicity from Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). They discuss the inequitable effects of climate change on women and girls in their communities, from water scarcity, increased poverty, decreased family health, and cultural identity. Forests are spiritual places for Indigenous people, with their loss not only limiting access to traditional foods and medicine, but also to sacred spaces such as burial sites. They discuss the similarity of their roles and those of other Indigenous women in their communities as holders of traditional knowledge developed over generations on sustainable approaches to climate change adaptation. The conversation is joined by two Australian feminist development experts who have worked in Cambodia and Lao PDR over decades. They share their reflections on ways of working within colonial patriarchal aid infrastructures that can subvert their privileged international status in support of the voices of local Indigenous women in climate change discussions. They challenged themselves throughout the process of this paper to give power forward, provide space, and listen to the wisdom of these Indigenous women. The process organically unfolded into a series of conversations between the co-authors over several months. Trust and understanding were built through this process with the dialogue moving more deeply into the context and work of the two Indigenous authors, and the happenstance that enabled them to become leaders catalysing the knowledge of Indigenous women in climate change in their communities, from the village to the global stage. The final conversation concludes that without more conscious and systematic efforts by development actors, the vital voices and leadership of Indigenous women will not be heard in the spaces of power.
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Impact Evaluation of Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-CARE) Oxfam 2014-2023
No full textThe Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care: Evidence for Influencing (WE-Care) program, launched by Oxfam in 2014, set out to confront one of the most persistent and invisible barriers to gender equality: Unpaid Care and Domestic Work (UCDW). Over nearly a decade, the program sought to recognize, reduce, and redistribute the burden of care work that disproportionately falls on women and girls—limiting their opportunities, voice, and economic potential.
This impact evaluation, commissioned by Oxfam in Ethiopia, marks the conclusion of the program’s four-phase journey from 2014 to 2023. The primary aim is to assess the policy-level changes that can be attributed to WE-Care. It seeks to identify how the program’s evidence-based advocacy, strategic partnerships, and grassroots engagement contributed to shifts in public discourse, institutional practices, and government policy on unpaid care work.
The evaluation provides a critical reflection on how transformative change can be driven through policy engagement—paving the way for a more equitable future where women and girls have the time, choices, and support they need to thrive
Systems Change: Insights and reflections for development practitioners
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This paper explores systems thinking and systems change from the perspective of people actively working on addressing root-causes of problems in their specific fields. Following a brief overview of the basic tenets of the systems approach, the paper outlines the distilled insights drawn from interviews with 18 systems thinkers from diverse fields and countries. Their insights are supplemented by real-life stories of how they apply a systems approach to complex problems, and by recommendations of key resources that readers can adapt to their own work.
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Introduction: Women’s leadership in politics and governance: understanding the potential of transformative feminist leadership
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This is the introduction to the special issue titled, 'Women’s leadership in politics and governance: understanding the potential of transformative feminist leadership'.
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‘We aren’t even allowed to dream of a future in politics’: gender disparities in Indian youth political interest, engagement, and aspirations
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Across countries and contexts, girls face structural barriers to their political engagement and leadership. This cross-sectional mixed-methods study investigated the moderating role of gender in factors shaping youths’ political engagement in India. Data from 602 high school and college-aged youth (68.9 per cent girls, mean age = 17) from 27 cities in India revealed significant gender disparities. Boys reported higher political interest, engagement, and career aspirations, while girls demonstrated greater awareness of gender inequities in politics. Age-related trends indicated that boys’ political engagement was higher with age, while girls’ remained constant. Conversely, girls’ awareness of gender inequities was higher with age, whereas boys’ awareness was lower. Hierarchical linear modelling analysis revealed that two variables were associated with youths’ political interest, engagement, and career aspirations: the extent to which parents politically socialised their children (such as encouraging their children to engage in politics) and youths’ awareness of gender inequities. Notably, political engagement was positively associated with political interest, but only for girls. While parent political socialisation was positively related to both boys’ and girls’ political engagement, its impact was more pronounced for boys. Qualitative analysis of open-ended responses, conducted in collaboration with youth researchers, provided insights into youths’ perceptions of the gender gap in Indian political leadership. Participants attributed the gap to patriarchal norms, structural barriers, and prejudices about women’s abilities to be political leaders. Boys more often blamed women for not pursuing political careers, while girls pointed to systemic issues. These findings underscore the need for interventions to promote girls’ political engagement and leadership, and to educate boys about the structural roots of gender inequities.
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Women’s political empowerment in Latin America: have civil liberties turned into political power?
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The expansion of civil liberties and the rise of social movements advocating for gender equality have significantly contributed to increased women’s participation in politics in Latin America in recent decades. This progress has created opportunities for women to occupy positions of political power. However, despite these advancements, women continue to face subtle yet persistent barriers that hinder their effective political empowerment and participation. To investigate the relationship between these factors, this study uses a panel dataset involving ten Latin American countries from 1985 to 2021. Using panel co-integration methodology, this study explores the long-term dynamics between women’s civil liberties and their political empowerment and, by applying Granger causality tests, the study explores the predictive effect between the variables. The findings reveal that the expansion of civil liberties and women’s political empowerment are not related in the long run, signalling that although there have been specific improvements in the short run, in the long run there is a lack of substantive political participation spaces to enhance women’s empowerment.
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Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster
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Ahead of the major international climate conference COP30 in Belem, Brazil, new Oxfam research finds that the high-carbon lifestyles of the super-rich are blowing through the world’s remaining carbon budget - the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while avoiding climate disaster. The research also details how billionaires are using their political and economic influence to keep humanity hooked on fossil fuels to maximize their private profit.
The report, Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster, presents extensive new updated data and analysis which finds that a person from the richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than the poorest 50% emit all year. If everyone emitted like the richest 0.1%, the carbon budget would be used up in less than 3 weeks.
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Resilience aspirations, precarious futures: gender invisibility, racialised risk, and forced displacements in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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In Rio de Janeiro, efforts to create a ‘global’, ‘sustainable’, and ‘resilient’ city have contributed to perpetuating precarious conditions in favelas. These informal settlements have historically been targeted by urban development and modernisation initiatives. Recently, the displacement of over 22,000 families from Rio’s favelas has been justified in the context of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management agendas. Since the devastating 2010 landslides that claimed 67 lives, crisis response has become central to the city’s resilience goals and broader urban development. Risk, as a central category, has been invoked to legitimise the demolition and displacement of several favelas, particularly those located in racially designated high-risk areas. Meanwhile, a gendered invisible resilience is at play, perpetuating and exacerbating various forms of vulnerability. This paper critically examines the intersections of racialised risk assessments, resilience aspirations, and urban displacements in Rio de Janeiro. Specifically, it seeks to understand the socio-spatial implications of these intersecting processes for favelas and their inhabitants, with a focus on black women who are disproportionately affected by such policies. To achieve this, the study draws on 10 months of fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017 in six favelas across Rio de Janeiro.
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