Our achievements in 2011/2012

335,000 direct beneficiaries

128,000 more school children are receiving a better education, through improved child-centred teaching practices, and new facilities.

Across Zambia, community schools are a lifeline for orphans whose extended families cannot afford books and uniforms for government schools. Last year, Oxfam supported 25 communities to improve teaching, water and sanitation provision - giving 18,000 children the chance of an education.

 This project has bought a clean water supply to my school for the first time. Before, we used to have to go to neighbouring farms to ask for water whenever we needed a drink.

Christopher Ngandu, grade seven pupil.

82,000 people now have access to safe water from more dependable and sustainable sources

In northern Sri Lanka, 35 clean water wells have been constructed to provide water for returning refugee families - helping them rebuild their lives and livelihoods. 

 My family and I have at last returned home to Mannar, after more than five years away. It has been very difficult for us, having to abandon our home, possessions and livelihoods. Clean water means I will no longer have to worry about my family drinking contaminated water.

Pushparani, a recent returnee to Mannar, northern Sri Lanka.

10,000 people have been given a leg-up to start new businesses or to improve their current livelihoods - providing their families with better, more sustainable incomes.

In Kenya, the lives of Nairobi's slum dwellers are being transformed by innovative initiatives. A youth-run recycling centre helps keep young people in work and the streets clean, whilst the construction of two bio-sanitation centres means that the local population can access toilets and showers, with the waste to be used to make compost and biogas.

 The younger kids here see us as role models. They see we work hard, and our work gives us money to pay our rent and put food on the table. Plastic recycling is win-win - we get paid and we help to keep the place clean.

Kalvin Otieno collects and sorts rubbish from 1,500 households in Korogocho slum, Nairobi, Kenya.

42,000 women have been empowered to speak up and demand their rights

Across Pakistan, tens of thousands of students, teachers and parents have been engaged as 'Change Makers' in the 'We Can' campaign, to end the violence that is endured by 80 per cent of the female population. Each 'Change Maker' has committed to change their own negative attitudes and behaviour, and then mobilise others, to bring about a transformational change in societies attitudes towards women.

 The 'We Can' campaign has the power to attract people to work for a bigger cause. Together we can, and together we will, end all violence against women in the world!

Rubina Liaqat, housewife and 'Change Maker'.

83,000 people are now more prepared for when natural disasters strike - potentially saving countless lives

30,000 people on the earthquake-prone island of Haiti are now less vulnerable to disaster with new flood defences in two sites, improved emergency shelters, and better community and government awareness of how to respond in crisis. 

 I want to help people because this is my community. I love my community and want to create a better environment. This area floods a lot and people feel safer knowing that we have training on how to save lives and are in a position to help. 

Ismelia Jeune, secretary of the Civil Protection Committee of Borgne.

42,000 people have better access to healthcare

In north eastern Ghana, over 40,000 pregnant women are now using trained midwives and birth attendants, and the maternal mortality rate has declined by seven per cent in a single year. Trained birth attendants can spot when women need emergency skilled assistance. Every month, in each of the six very remote communities where we work, double the number of women are now being referred to clinics and hospitals for potentially life-saving support.

 I hope Oxfam keep reaching out to people and informing them of their health rights because ignorance is costing us our health and that of our children.

Hamidu Zenadbu, from Sapelliga, Bawku West, was referred to hospital by a birth attendant when she discovered she needed urgent medical attention.