Oxfam reaches a milestone (From The Oxford Times)

Oxfam reaches a milestone

8:00am Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Features By Reg Little

It is 70 years since that wartime evening when a small group of people gathered in the Old Library of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin for what was to be one of the most globally significant meetings in Oxford’s history.

The group represented a cross section of the good, great, clever and caring in Oxford, which with government departments being relocated here was fast becoming an alternative wartime capital of England.

At the meeting there was a Anglican cleric, a retired Indian colonial officer, a Jewish refugee from Germany and the Australian-born Oxford Professor of Greek Gilbert Murray and his wife Lady Mary.

What united them was a shared anguish about the impact of ‘total war’ on innocent civilians, with notes about their discussion faithfully recorded in a school exercise book.

The then vicar of St Mary’s, the late Theodore Richard Milford, recalled the mood.

“It was a difficult time in which to expect anyone to be concerned with anything other than our survival. But the problem we were concerned with was the mitigation of famine among our allies in Europe, especially among children.”

By the time they wished each other goodnight, the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief had been created. Within 18 months £13,517 had been collected for Greece.

But there can be no doubting that the Rev Milford would be happy that the year of Oxfam’s 70th birthday began with the charity’s chief executive Dame Barbara Stocking talking about an anniversary of a different kind.

Last month she was in Haiti to mark the second anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the island, killing an estimated 300,000. Despite pledges of $4.5bn, she warned that reconstruction was moving ahead “a snail’s pace.”

“Most Haitians do not have running water, a toilet or access to a doctor,” Dame Barbara told reporters during her visit. “Cholera has claimed thousands of lives and remains a major threat to public health. We’ve still got a half a million people in tents and camps.”

There would, however, seem to be good reason to celebrate Oxfam’s humble beginnings and transformation into a global movement fighting poverty, working in 70 countries — with an income of £367m and almost 5,000 employees.

Today, about 850,000 people give Oxfam money each year — that’s more than the membership of Britain’s three political parties put together.

The temptation for self-congratulation perhaps increased with its birthday year coinciding with The Global Journal ranking Oxfam third in the world’s Top 100 Best NGOs (non government organisations) list. (Wikimedia Foundation took the top spot.) But then 2012 has certainly begun with a blitz of activity that has seen Oxfam making headlines with a strong mixture of good and bad news stories.

A joint Oxfam and Save the Children report, warned that thousands of needless deaths had occurred because the international community failed to respond to early warnings of a hunger crisis in East Africa.

The Dangerous Delay report revealed a culture of risk aversion causing a six-month delay in the large-scale aid effort, with donors seeking more proof of a humanitarian catastrophe before acting to prevent one.

Dame Barbara said: “We all bear responsibility for this dangerous delay that cost lives in East Africa and need to learn the lessons. It’s shocking that the poorest people are still bearing the brunt of a failure to respond swiftly and decisively. Collective risk aversion meant aid agencies were reluctant to spend money until they were certain there was a crisis.”

Dame Barbara first arrived in Oxfordshire to help reshape the local health service.

As head of the regional health authority she took the historic decision to dispose of the Radcliffe Infirmary and move its staff and services to an expanded John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington.

But the woman tipped by some to succeed the 60-year-old boss of Oxfam, Cathy Ferrier, the marketing director at Oxfam, seems to have been poached by Prince Harry for the charity he created six years ago for African orphans.

Ms Ferrier, will become chief executive of Sentebale in March. Since joining Oxfam in 2006, she has been responsible for leading the charity’s marketing and fundraising strategy, as well as developing its brand identity across 14 global affiliate divisions.

During her time with the Oxford-based charity she has got to work with Oxfam supporters like actor Colin Firth and singer Annie Lennox and met women who have lost their husbands to malaria.

She has walked 100km in 24 hours on the South Downs and travelled to some of the world’s most remote villages.

It’s easy to see why she was to receive a ‘royal summons’.

One thing Ms Ferrier came to recognise is that most people still approach Oxfam with preconceptions.

“Some people think Oxfam is all about charity shops, or that all we do is help in emergencies. Others just equate us with celebrities, like Chris Martin supporting us.

“The reality is that this is a huge and extremely complex organisation — we’re a humanitarian relief and campaigning organisation, a lobbying group and a high street retailer, all at the same time.”

And the aid agency’s continued readiness to move into new areas in its seventh decade is evident from the launch of the first fund of its kind aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses in developing countries, in conjunction with asset management company Symbiotics.

Oxfam announced last week that it aims to raise $100m after three years for its Small Enterprise Impact Investment Fund, creating 100,000 jobs within five years.

The aim is to demonstrate to the financial industry that investments can deliver both social and financial returns, with relatively low risk.

In its role as ‘impact adviser’ for the fund, Oxfam will use its local knowledge and development experience to offer independent intelligence on the impact of investment activities.

And the birthday? Oxfam says plans are being drawn up to mark the anniversary — just don’t expect any big costly events. It would not be the right way for Oxfam to spend its money and perhaps a betrayal of its past.

Yet it is certainly the right time to remind everyone of its Oxford roots, says Dame Barbara.

“Oxfam is indivisible from Oxford — of course the genesis is in the name, although not everyone realises it.

“Although we have grown into a worldwide organisation we are still proud to be part of the city, to be able to draw on the many talents of the people who live here and to retain the ideals of those Oxford activists who started it 70 years ago — to fight poverty and suffering.

“Sadly, they are still just as relevant today.”