What's to come in 2008

Well here we are. Nearly two weeks of 2008 behind us, and the Christmas festivities of just a couple of weeks ago already seem like ancient history.

Still managing to keep to your new year's resolution? No such luck here, as we were planning to start updating this blog more regularly, so with 10 days of the year down we're a tad behind! Where do the days go?

As this is the first post of the year, we thought we'd not try and write anything too taxing. And instead try and get our minds jogging with some of the things that lie ahead for the next 12 months. So without further delay, here's a bit of a taster of what's to come in 2008.

Fight Climate Poverty
If you didn't catch the stories on our website, Oxfam was campaigning at the UN Climate Conference at the end of last year. We made a big noise about how climate change is pushing poor people further into poverty.

As we push on through the year, we'll be ramping up our campaigning on climate change more and more. If you haven't seen it already, we've added a new action to our website where with a couple of clicks you can submit your ideas on how to tackle climate change, and help point world leaders in the right direction.

Health and Education For All
Back in 2000, world leaders pledged to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, through committing to the Millennium Development Goals. 2008 is important as we're halfway to 2015, but unfortunately progress on meeting the goals isn't what it should be. We'll be using the year to hold world leaders to account.

Control Arms
The Control Arms team will be keeping the pressure on to make sure the Arms Trade Treaty becomes a reality, by campaigning at the UN and reminding world leaders of their promises to control the flow of weapons around the world. Look out for a new Control Arms website launched later in 2008.

Make Trade Fair
During last year's Fairtrade Fortnight, one Oxfam member of staff became Fairtrade Woman and survived entirely on Fairtrade food for 14 days. It was a tough task, and Fairtrade Woman wrote about the highs and lows on her MySpace profile.

This year, Fairtrade woman will be back. She'll be joined by a few of her friends, and there'll be more ways you can get involved. Stay tuned...

So, that's just a taster of what's to come. Of course, there'll be plenty more happening as the year goes on.

As always, the best way to keep informed about Oxfam's campaigns is by subscribing to our monthly newsletter, Oxfam Reports Live. You can add your views by posting comments on this blog.

We at Oxfam wish you all a (slightly belated) happy new year. May it be a peaceful and productive one, wherever you're reading this from.