Oxfam

Oxfam is an international charity based in Oxford, UK, that organizes famine relief and promotes development. It was founded in England in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief by Canon Theodore Richard Milford (1896–1987), with a mission to send food through the Allied blockade to the citizens of Nazi-occupied Greece. The first overseas branch of Oxfam was founded in Canada in 1963. The committee changed its name to its telegraph address, OXFAM, in 1965.

Shops

Oxfam opened the first charity shop in Britain in Broad Street, Oxford in 1947. Today it operates approximately 800 shops through Britain as well as a number in other countries. Over 70 of the organization's shops in the UK are specialist Oxfam Bookshops, making them the largest retailer of second-hand books in the United Kingdom.

Famine relief

Though Oxfam's initial concern was the provision of food to relieve famine the charity has, over the years, developed strategies against the causes of famine. In addition to food and medicine Oxfam also provides tools to enable people to become self-supporting and opens markets of international trade where crafts and produce from poorer regions of the world can be sold at a fair price to benefit the producer.

Oxfam today, in addition to traditional famine relief, works on these issues:

• International trade
• Education
• Debt and aid
• Livelihoods
• Health
• HIV/AIDS
• Gender equality
• Conflict and natural disasters
• Democracy and human rights

External links

• Oxfam Home Page
• Oxfam International
• Oxfam Fairtrade
• Oxfam Make Trade Fair campaign
• Oxfam Australia Home Page
• Oxfam New Zealand Home Page
• Oxfam-Solidarity (french and dutch)

• Yellowikis lists Oxfam's Contact details