What we do

Development programmes

Oxfam’s programmes are designed to drive systemic change for communities across the Pacific and beyond.

Oxfam supports development programmes in Laos, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. In the 2023 fiscal year, these programmes reached at least 17,468 people.

Kōtui

The Kōtui programme is designed to drive systemic change for vulnerable and marginalised women facing climate breakdown and disasters. The projects included in the Kōtui programme aim to improve women’s access to resources and opportunities and make sure that the governance systems that affect them include women and their priorities.

Kōtui seeks two long-term outcomes: first governance systems affecting resilience are more inclusive, accountable and gender-responsive. Secondly, women have more equitable access
to resources and opportunities that matter to their resilience and wellbeing

Learn more here.

Essential Cash & Livelihoods Project

Lao PDR

This project focused on vulnerable communities, especially women, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Vientiane, Oudomxay, Xayaburi and Bokeo Province.

Fostering Lasting Opportunities in WaSH (FLOW)

Papua New Guinea

Our goal is to improve health, resilience, and quality of life for remote and vulnerable communities, particularly women and children, in rural Papua New Guinea.

Climate Finance and Empowerment Project

Solomon Islands

Women in Solomon Islands have little influence on the critical decisions that directly impact their lives because they are not often included in decision-making groups or processes.

Climate Finance Project

Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste accesses significant amounts of climate finance, yet women and other vulnerable groups in Timor-Leste have not yet been able to adequately access or benefit from climate finance.

Women and Land Project

Timor-Leste

This project will drive work on the distribution of land rights information at the community level, alongside broader women’s empowerment work.

Hamriik Project

Timor-Leste

This initiative aims to strengthen the climate change adaptation capacities of households and communities in rural Timor- Leste

Tuvalu Climate Finance Project

Tuvalu

The islands of Tuvalu are extremely low-lying and sea level rise is a direct threat to lives, assets, livelihoods and ecosystems. Oxfam is helping to make climate change adaptation and resilience policy settings more inclusive and equitable.

Other programmes include:

Rohingya refugee programming
Enhancing Youth Employment and Livelihoods Vanuatu (EYEL)
UnBlocked Cash Vanuatu

Where we work

where we work

At Oxfam Aotearoa, our work focuses on the Pacific countries of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu, as well as Timor-Leste, Laos, and Bangladesh. Discover more about Oxfam’s programmes in these countries below.

About us

Bangladesh

Close to a million Rohingya people have fled violence in Myanmar to seek refuge across the border in Bangladesh.

Lao woman in front of damaged home post flash floods.

Laos

Beginning in June 2022, Oxfam Aotearoa has supported a programme in Lao PDR that focuses on vulnerable communities, especially women, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Vientiane Capital, Vientiane, Oudomxay, Xayaburi and Bokeo Provinces.

Papua New Guinea

Oxfam is working with our partner organisations to help communities achieve the right to live free from poverty, with a sustainable income and secure food supply.

A woman wearing a pink shirt works on shell money

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands faces significant challenges across the areas of climate resilience, gender equity and inclusive governance.

Timor-Leste

With your support, we’re helping farmers in rural Timor Leste gain financial and farming skills so they can earn a decent income.

Tonga

Oxfam works with local partners in Tonga to provide youth development opportunities and support farmers and producers.

Tuvalu

One of the smallest and most remote countries on Earth, Tuvalu is comprised of nine coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia.

About us

Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice.

Oxfam Aotearoa has met all the standards and expectations of corporate governance, transparency, accountability, and good practice, as outlined in the Council for International Development’s Code.

Oxfam Aotearoa adheres to the Code of Conduct and professional standards of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association.

About us

Our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi

In supporting self-determination of tangata whenua, we want a meaningful and committed relationship that better informs how we work together with partners and colleagues elsewhere in the world on their own mana motuhake journey.

eBooks

Oxfam works on complex, constantly changing problems that may seem overwhelming. Here are some resources that will help explain the ‘big picture’ of these important issues.

A mother is hugged by her two young children

Who we are

Oxfam Aotearoa’s work is made possible by a network of people committed to Oxfam’s vision.

How we work

No one knows a communities’ needs better than the people who belong to it.

Our vision and goals

Oxfam is a global movement of millions of people who share the same vision.

Our history

The defining moments in Oxfam Aotearoa’s work.

Emergency relief

Together, we can save lives and help communities rebuild.

Each year more than 30 million people flee their homes or lose their livelihoods as a result of conflict and natural disasters. We believe everyone has a right to a warm, safe and secure home – and we know you feel the same.

Oxfam is one of the world’s leading providers of humanitarian aid in emergencies, with well-recognised expertise in clean water, sanitation, public health, food security, and the protection of civilians. We have a strong reputation for scale, speed, and innovation.

Oxfam responds directly wherever there is a widespread threat to life, health, and livelihoods. And we stay for the long-term to rebuild lives and reduce the risk of future disasters. With your help, we have launched rapid responses after natural disasters, such as recent cyclones in Vanuatu, widespread drought in East Africa, and the tsunami in Tonga. We also support those who have been displaced by conflict, such as we are seeing in Myanmar, Ukraine and Gaza.

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES

Four humanitarian projects were implemented during 2023-24 including continued work on hygiene and gender protection with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, delivery of hygiene kits following the dual cyclones in Vanuatu, continued disaster preparedness training in Tonga, and new outreach to vulnerable people impacted by the war in Gaza.

These projects reached a total of 273,420 girls, boys, women and men including elderly and people living with disabilities.

gaza

Most of Gaza’s civilian population has been displaced, multiple times, the healthcare, sanitation, and water systems are in ruins and tens of thousands of civilians have already been killed. Oxfam has mounted a humanitarian response despite unprecedented challenges, delivering cash, food, clean water and restoring sanitation infrastructure. In the first six months of the war, we have supported more than 250,000 people. Support our work in Gaza here.

UKRAINE

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Oxfam has been on the ground at the border, helping refugees who were fleeing violence. From March 2022 our partners in Ukraine have provided food, hygiene products, legal and psychosocial and cash assistance, organized safe transport and shelter, repaired damaged homes and restored livelihoods. Together we have supported more than 2 million people with vital humanitarian assistance across Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and Moldova.

EAST AFRICA

The Horn and East Africa (HECA) is facing one of its most serious episodes of drought in decades. Oxfam has categorised this regional crisis as a Category 1 emergency – the highest and most life-threatening category of crisis. 23 million people in the region face food insecurity and 44.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Our work is concentrated in 4 countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan, in each of which we have a long-established presence with country offices and strong local partner organisations. Oxfam is responding with cash and voucher assistance, construction of water infrastructure, and distribution of hygiene and dignity kits.

ROHYINGA REFUGEE CAMPS IN BANGLADESH

Oxfam’s work has been designed to improve conditions for Rohingya women refugees in Cox’s Bazar by strengthening their participation in community decision-making, and leadership in the camp coordination. Activities focus on mobilising women’s and men’s groups, established in Teknaf and Ukhiya camps in previous MFAT-funded programming, to design and implement their own community-based programming, with emphasis on public health promotion, care work, monitoring and tackling rumour and stigma, and supporting survivors of gender-based violence. Learn more about Bangladesh.

How you can help

Each year more than 30 million people flee their homes or lose their livelihoods as a result of conflict and natural disasters.

Emergency funds are crucial for Oxfam to act quickly whenever disasters occur around the world. With your help, we can launch a rapid response after tropical cyclones, earthquakes or human-made accidents.

Take action with us

Join our campaigns to be the change you want to see.

About us

Upcoming Events

Want to get involved with Oxfam Aotearoa’s kaupapa? Check out our upcoming events.

Keep Funding Climate Action in the Pacific

Right now, our politicians are deciding whether New Zealand will keep funding climate action in the Pacific. Oxfam Aotearoa is asking our government to keep up the good work. Will you add your voice?

A child wearing a school uniform paddles a small boat across a flooded river to get to school

Make Rich Polluters Pay

Climate change affects us all, but not equally. People living in low-income countries and communities are hit hardest by extreme climate disasters. They also have fewer means to recover, deepening inequality and poverty. Meanwhile, big fossil fuel corporations continue to pollute our climate without restraint. They make bumper profits, pay little tax and use their influence to rig the system in their favour.

A woman sits in a dark room, looking beyond a pile of fabric

What She Makes

Women make up 80% of the garment industry and 9 out of 10 do not earn enough even to afford decent meals. A living wage is not a luxury but is a minimum all working people should be paid to escape poverty.

Better Taxes for a Better Future

The power to make our tax system better lies with our decision makers – but as voters, we have the power to influence them!

Why we campaign

If we use our collective power, we can make real the vision of a world without poverty, and shift the window of what’s politically possible.

How We Have Created Change Together

Learn more about how we’ve created change together in recent years.

Our work

Together we can provide long-term solutions for communities in need.

At Oxfam Aotearoa, our work challenges the underlying causes of poverty and injustice through long-term development programs, advocacy work and emergency relief. Discover more about our programs below.

Our programmes

Emergency relief

Together, we can save lives and help communities rebuild.

Development programmes

Oxfam’s programmes are designed to drive systemic change for communities across the Pacific and beyond.

Push for change

If we use our collective power, we can make real the vision of a world without poverty, and shift the window of what’s politically possible. Together, we are tackling injustice by changing minds, systems and lives.

Te Tāhuna Kōkohu Ethical Investment Programme

Te Tāhuna Kōkohu Ethical Investment Programme will help Oxfam Aotearoa build its financial resiliency and self-sufficiency. This fund will ensure that Oxfam can continue to support change where it matters most, as well as to lead by example, ensuring that this wealth supports ethical businesses and business practices.