Oxfam's work on democracy and human rights concentrates on what is sometimes known as 'voice poverty'.

This is when poor people are denied the right to influence the decisions that affect their lives. By tackling this subtle form of poverty, Oxfam helps the voices of the poor to reach policy makers.

Oxfam works with others to strengthen people’s rights in specific areas, including rights to access information, as well as the realisation of social and economic rights, such as the right to education and the right to health. Only by realising these rights can people overcome the root causes of poverty, and force governments to take action.

Oxfam’s programmes seek to link up the priorities of poor people to the policy makers whose decisions affect their lives. In Uganda, for example, Oxfam worked to influence policy makers to triple government spending on water and sanitation, after it was demonstrated that this was a key priority for the poor.

At the same time we work to increase the accountability of decision makers. In southern Africa, we worked with others to show how the agricultural policies of the IMF and World Bank had worsened the food crisis and were violating people’s basic rights.