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Policy & Practice Blog

The latest news, stories, reports, opinion and analysis from Oxfam Policy & Practice staff around the world.

Subject: private sector

18 Articles

Showing articles 1-10

Preparing roses for export in a Kenyan packhouse. Credit: Gerry Boyle/Oxfam

What’s the poverty ‘footprint’ of cut flowers? Oxfam’s new report with IPL

In our latest Poverty Footprint report, released today, we've teamed up with IPL (owned by ASDA and the biggest importer of fresh produce into the UK).  Our report aims to help IPL and their peers to understand more about how different sourcing strategies impact on the lives of small-scale producers and workers in Kenya.  ...

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Comfort Adeniyi, a cocoa farmer, on her farm in Ayetoro-Ijesa in southwest Nigeria. Photo: George Osodi/Panos for Oxfam America

You spoke and companies listened

Less than two months ago, Oxfam called on the three largest chocolate companies to do more for the women who grow the cocoa used in Oreos, M&Ms and Crunch bars, to name just a few. But what happened next? Irit Tamar explains. ...

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Wage ladder – what’s next?

The worldwide garment industry produces enormous wealth - surely workers can share in these gains? A question posed by today's guest blogger, Ivo Spauwen of the Fair Wear Foundation, who writes in response to our report on labour rights in Unilever's supply chain ...

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The Great Tax Robbery: How Britain became a tax haven for fat cats and big business, by Richard Brooks

The deep levels of economic pain and austerity that are currently felt by so many people across the UK started in 2007 with the first banking crash. Many have argued that the roots of disaster were laid well before then in a mix of lax financial regulation and unsustainable levels of public spending. However, far too little emphasis has been put on the other reason why public spending became so unsustainable; Britain's legacy of hosting...

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Comfort Adeniyi, a cocoa farmer, on her farm in Ayetoro-Ijesa in southwest Nigeria. Photo: George Osodi/Panos for Oxfam America

Are women from Mars?

Our Behind The Brands campaign launch kicked off with a call for Mars, Mondelez International and Nestlé to stop ignoring the women who are working in their cocoa supply chains. Between them, these three companies net more than $45 billion a year in confectionery sales. But throughout their cocoa supply chains - from growers to pickers - women are getting a raw deal. ...

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Hom Market, Hanoi, Viet Nam (2008). Abbie Trayler-Smith/Oxfam

Is Unilever setting an example for others to follow?

Oxfam's recent report on labour rights in Unilever's supply chain in Viet Nam revealed a gap between policy and implementation, but the company's commitment to transparency sets an example to others.  ...

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Young workers discuss their labour rights with support from Oxfam, Bac Ninh province, Viet Nam. Credit: Oxfam/Abbie-Trayler-Smith

High ideals and hiccups – three wishes for Unilever and employers everywhere

Applause today must go to Unilever's courageous decision to allow Oxfam unfettered access to its operations and supply chain in Vietnam. This has resulted in a new report that reveals both high ideals and implementation hiccups when it comes to the quality of jobs Unilever directly provides or supports through its supply chain in Vietnam. ...

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Monitoring the production line for dishwasher liquid bottles. Credit: Unilever Viet Nam

Oxfam and Unilever – no longer such strange bedfellows?

Oxfam GB has today published a groundbreaking report on labour rights in Unilever's supply chain. It is groundbreaking not so much because of its content (although as the project's technical advisor and co-author of the report, I do think we have some fascinating findings to present). No, it's the fact that a company as large as Unilever is voluntarily opening up its operations, procedures and supply chain to an NGO known for ...

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From Poverty to Power book

From Poverty to Power - what's changed since 2008? Q&A with author Duncan Green

The new edition of From Poverty to Power, Oxfam's flagship publication on global development publishes today, we ask the author Duncan Green to reflect on what's changed since the book what first published in 2008.  ...

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Women selling produce at market

Ensuring that private investment in small farms creates a just food system for all

Focusing investment on small-scale farmers, particularly women, can greatly reduce poverty, Monique Mikhail, Oxfam's Sustainable Agriculture Policy Adviser explains how.  ...

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