In charting Bangladesh’s remarkable progress on a range of social indicators since the 1970s, Naila Kabeer explores the critical role played by women’s agency. How were women able to challenge existing gender norms in the context of the “lived” Islam of their culture? What are the lessons of this episode – and what nuances are offered vis-à-vis the more “universal” path to progress and emancipation generally assumed by Western feminists?| From Poverty to Power
Six months since the launch of the Activism, Influence and Change Programme at LSE, Duncan Green shares an update on the course and what will be coming next.| From Poverty to Power
Millions of women across the globe farm and look after land – yet are excluded from owning it, hurting their incomes, depriving them of wealth and undermining their other basic rights. Anandita Ghosh and Shivani Satija on a wide-ranging issue of the Oxfam-edited Gender and Development journal that not only examines structural obstacles to women owning land but also looks at broader themes, including the way deprivation of land rights adds to women’s care workload – and, crucially, how s...| frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk
‘This movement wasn’t led by one person; it was collective and organic…’ Bill Omondi and Beverly Wakiaga reflect on last year’s protests to offer some thought on how INGOs and progressive organisations can show real solidarity.| From Poverty to Power
After his family fled conflict in South Sudan, Peter Kidi was born in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya – where he has spent his entire life. Today, he writes powerful poems about life in the camp; poems that are, as he says, written ‘from the inside not as a subject, but as a witness and creator’. Now his work is winning international attention, notably a collaboration with the UK’s London School of Economics that will lead to a publication later this year. He speaks to FP2P about his...| From Poverty to Power
The lack of consistent attention to gender was concerning, as was the failure to tackle the Global South debt crisis – and the blinkered expansion of private finance, despite evidence of its harms. But, says Rachel Noble, as the world turns to implementation of the Financing for Development commitments, there are valuable opportunities to seize and build on, including for the women who do most of the world’s care work.| frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk
Despite the climate crisis driving more bouts of devastating heat, too much of the world remains poorly prepared. Nuzhat Nueary introduces new Oxfam/FCDO research that looks at the links between extreme heat and water scarcity and highlights glaring gaps in humanitarian response.| frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk
If the development sector is serious about decolonisation, it must stop confusing optics with real, transformational change, argues Awssan Kamal.| From Poverty to Power
The failure to deliver for poorer countries and the Trumpian backlash against free trade has shaken the dominance of the liberalisers and deregulators, says Duncan Green. He reports back from a recent gathering where experts unpicked emerging themes in a chaotic time for global trade policy: including the shift away from the multilateral system to bilateral treaties; and the heartening success of countries from Rwanda to Vietnam to Ecuador that have defied the old consensus.| From Poverty to Power
Many NGOs are now in danger of neglecting ethical communications as they chase desperately needed funds. But as Jess Crombie argues, ethical storytelling – or as she prefers 'equitable storytelling' – isn’t a ‘nice to have’, but rather one of the tactics that will help to raise the money to sustain delivery of aid.| From Poverty to Power
The first outputs are now appearing from ‘Governance Diaries’,| frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk
Millions of women in the Global South earn a pittance, own no wealth or land and do far more unpaid care than men – and much of their condition today can be traced back to the economic devastation caused by both colonialism and the extractive economic system it created. That’s why any plan for redress must include justice for women. In the latest blog in our World Economic Forum series, Lurit Yugusuk and Hazel Birungi set out five ways to do that…| frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk
The world looks set to see five trillionaires within a decade — and more billionaires are now being created through inheritance than entrepreneurialism. Anjela Taneja and Harry Bignell introduce Oxfam’s 2025 Davos report, which reveals the scale of unearned wealth — and how those riches are built on a colonial legacy of exploitative global systems.| frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk