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For more than 50 years, Oxfam Australia has been working to build a better life for India's poorest communities. We work with approximately 40 local partner organisations in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to address the root causes of poverty and advance the rights of women and marginalised groups, including tribal communities. And when natural disasters strike, we provide life-saving assistance to people in need.
Our focus
Natural resource management and sustainable livelihoods
We work with small-scale farmers to help them produce enough food and achieve sustainable livelihoods by:
- Providing skills training and access to micro-finance initiatives
- Improving farmers' access to and control over natural resources
- Seeking to ensure public governance of natural resources
- Helping farmers to cope with natural disasters, especially droughts
Women’s empowerment
Women in India still face economic and social discrimination, both at work and at home. They generally do not enjoy the same social status as men and are often the victims of violence. Female feticide, infanticide, dowry deaths and child marriage are still common in Indian society. Continuing disparity in incomes between women and men is also a revealing indicator of women’s low status.
Together with our local partners we are working to improve the status of women by:
- Helping to reduce inequities of income, employment, social status, education, power and authority
- Helping to establish women’s access to and control over resources, particularly land, water, forests and fisheries
- Running micro-finance initiatives and income generation schemes such as self help groups, cooperative societies, federations and women’s banks
- Seeking to increase women’s participation in political processes
- Working to eliminate all forms of violence against women
- Encouraging the Indian Government to include women and women's groups in its social security and development schemes
Preparing for and responding to emergencies
Most states in India are disaster prone and frequently experience earthquakes, floods or droughts which have killed some 9 million people over the last century.
We respond to emergency situations where we are confident we can save and protect lives. Where possible we continue to work until people have the skills and tools they need to rebuild their lives. For example, we continue to support families in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to rebuild their livelihoods following the December 2004 tsunami.
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