A United Nations agency known as UNRWA is the main player in crisis response in Gaza – but Israel will no longer work with UNRWA, and border crossings are not consistent in getting aid through.
The IMF has increasingly turned its focus to growing inequality worldwide. Ironically, research shows that policy reforms it mandated exacerbated income inequalities.
In the face of climate change, the poorest are suffering from the excess emissions of CO₂ linked to the lifestyle of the richest. It is time to act, in the name of climate and social justice.
Power imbalances and inequality lie at the heart of the international development industry. But the Oxfam scandal shows that organisations mustn’t succumb to it.
The world has turned its back on the Nuba people of Sudan. Despite the critical need for food, none of the organisations involved in helping people in dire need have attempted to deliver aid to them.
Oxfam’s efforts to find solutions to the world’s inequalities are welcome but its wrongful use of “human economy” and repackaging it as a concept from high up might do more harm than good.
According to the latest Oxfam report, the richest eight people in the world are as wealthy as the bottom 50% of the world’s population. But let’s scrutinise these numbers a bit more.
When sociologists, driven by their value commitments, go beyond the relative comfort of the classroom and engage with organisations outside the university, they dirty their hands.