From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERWhatever the motives, the purpose of the international aid systembecame much clearer as, throughout the 1990s, a series of UN summitsset globally agreed objectives on poor people’s access to wealth, water,education, and health, as well as the essential steps needed to achievethem, all culminating in the Millennium Development Goals, whichwere agreed at a special summit in 2000 (see Table 5.1). These providedunprecedented levels of international agreement, strengthening thearguments for increasing aid and focusing it on fighting poverty.Mass global movements, including Jubilee 2000 and the Global Callto Action against Poverty (GCAP), raised the political profile ofdevelopment issues and increased the political rewards for takingthem seriously. The AIDS crisis prompted growing public concern,which was reflected in new bilateral funding and the establishment oflarge dedicated funds both in the USA and globally.INTERNATIONAL NGOSAlthough they constitute only a minor part of the overall aid system interms of their financial clout, international non-government organisations(INGOs) such as Oxfam are among the more recognisablevoices in the development debate. 124 Most INGOs have their headoffices in the rich, developed countries and raise their money therefrom the public and from governments. They work in partnershipwith increasingly influential Southern-based NGOs specialising inadvocacy (such as Third World Network and Focus on the GlobalSouth) or in programming on the ground (such as BRAC and SEWA).Like official development assistance, INGOs are a relatively recentphenomenon. Oxfam, for example, was founded in 1942. Workingprimarily with funds donated by the general public, INGOs can bedistinguished from government aid agencies in three key ways: theyare relatively independent from the geopolitical interests of states;they offer ordinary citizens (particularly in the North) an opportunityto take part in efforts to fight poverty and inequality as supporters,volunteers, or contributors; and they often engage more effectivelythan governments with citizens in the developing world who areexcluded from existing institutional structures. 125356