Oxfam International
| Named after | Oxford Committee for Famine Relief |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1942 |
| Founded at | Oxford, England |
| Type | International non-governmental organization |
| Focus | Poverty eradication, disaster relief, advocacy, policy research |
| Headquarters | Oxford, United Kingdom |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Director
|
Winnie Byanyima |
|
Key people
|
William Payne |
| Mission | "Working with thousands of local partner organizations, we work with people living in poverty striving to exercise their human rights, assert their dignity as full citizens and take control of their lives" |
| Website | www |
Oxfam is an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty. Oxfam was founded at 17 Broad Street in Oxford, Oxfordshire, in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief by a group of Quakers, social activists, and Oxford academics; this is now Oxfam Great Britain, still based in Oxford. It was one of several local committees formed in support of the National Famine Relief Committee. Their mission was to persuade the British government to allow food relief through the Allied blockade for the starving citizens of occupied Greece. The first overseas Oxfam was founded in Canada in 1963. The organization changed its name to its telegraph address, OXFAM, in 1965.
The original Oxford Committee for Famine Relief was a group of concerned citizens including Doctor Henry Gillett (a prominent local Quaker), Canon Theodore Richard Milford, Professor Gilbert Murray and his wife Lady Mary, Cecil Jackson-Cole and Sir Alan Pim. The Committee met in the Old Library of University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford, for the first time in 1942, and its aim was to relieve famine in Greece caused by Nazi Germany military occupation and Allied naval blockades. By 1960, it was a major international non-governmental aid organization.
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Wikipedia