Named after | Oxford Committee for Famine Relief |
---|---|
Founded | 5 October 1942 |
Founded at | Oxford, England, United Kingdom |
Type | International NGO |
Registration no. | 202918[1] |
Focus | Poverty eradication Disaster relief Advocacy Policy research Migration advocacy |
Headquarters | Nairobi, Kenya |
Area served | Worldwide |
Director | Amitabh Behar[2] |
Aruna Roy (Chair)[2] | |
Website | www |
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.[3] It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief in Oxford, UK, in 1942, to alleviate World War Two related hunger and continued in the aftermath of the war. Oxfam has an international presence with operations in 79 countries and 21 members in the Oxfam Confederation in Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Since 2005, Oxfam International has been involved in a series of controversies as it expanded, especially concerning its operations in Haiti and Chad. There have been criticisms of its management of operations in the UK as well.