Emelina Dominguez, agricultural technician, Honduras
Oxfam has been working with members of an all-female co-operative, COMUCAP since 2000. When the project began, the women, many illiterate, had limited administrative capacity. The land they owned was barely enough to survive. Now these entrepreneurial farmer women like Emelina are exporting fair trade, organic, coffee to international markets.
Photo: Gilvan Barreto
Hawa Hassan, Vice chair of Nageha Co-operative, Ethiopia
Hawa is a member of one of six livestock marketing co-operatives in Harshin supported by Oxfam. The members are now pooling their savings to help build a new high school. "Our contributions directly benefit for our children," Hawa explains. "Before we had to send them to school away from here and now with this school will be able to save money. The poorer families that couldn’t afford to send their children will also benefit…and that feels good."
Photo: Jane Beesley
Bibi Rahimova, community mobiliser, Tajikistan
Women are often disproportionately affected by natural disasters. In Tajikistan, Bibi works as an Oxfam community mobiliser to teach people about disaster preparedness. In the mountainous and remote region she's based in, the only way round is on horseback. But Bibi is not a woman to let anything stand in the way of her job. "The thing I like most about my work is communicating with people and working directly with them. Standing together with the community - shoulder to shoulder. It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night… I’m available for them."
Photo: Jane Beesley
Thu Thu Zin (in pale blue) and Khin Mon Aye (in orange), volunteers, Myanmar
Thu Thu Zin and Khin Mon Aye joined Oxfam's local partner RMO as volunteers when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in 2008. "I joined to help with the relief activities and do social work," explains Khin Mon Aye. With the help of dedicated men and women like these, Oxfam has provided emergency support to half a million people affected by the cyclone.
Photo: Jane Beesley
Dilorom Safarova, rescue brigade member, Tajikistan
Tajikistan is often hit by a variety of natural disasters ranging from floods, landslides and avalanches to mudslides and earthquakes. Dilorom is a member of a local rescue brigade trained by Oxfam to help people affected by disasters. "The young men [in the brigade] treat us equally, and with respect, because they can see what a good job we do. Anything they can do, we can do too!"
Photo: Jane Beesley
Name withheld for security reasons, volunteer water caretaker, South Sudan
A quarter of all villages in southern Sudan lack a source of clean, safe water, leaving communities particularly vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. This lady helps look after her village's water source as a volunteer. "We care for the borehole [built by Oxfam] to keep it in good condition so it lasts longer. We also keep the surroundings clean to help prevent the spread of disease."
Photo: Jane Beesley
Beauty Ara, Change Maker, Bangladesh
Securing basic human rights for women is essential in the fight against poverty. Beauty Ara is a ‘Change Maker’, taking the message of the South Asian WECAN Campaign To End Violence Against Women to her local community, person by person, street by street. "I always try to make men understand that women are human beings too, and that we won’t put up with violence, and that we deserve equal rights."
Photo: G.M.B.Akash
Helen Akale, shop owner, Kenya
Helen Akale has worked hard to get to where she is today. The owner of her own shop, she's busy expanding her business. "I started selling under a shelter and then I joined [Oxfam's] cash-for-work scheme and the other programmes. Now I have a business that has borne other businesses. I’m building a new building next door and the children are going to school."
Photo: Jane Beesley
Manena Walett Issafeytane, animatrice, Mali
Children, and particularly girls, in Mali are often needed to help with daily chores, such as pounding millet, childcare, and fetching water. School is often overlooked. Manena’s job is to persuade local parents of the benefits of education and let their children go to school.
Photo: Ami Vitale
Girijar, grassroots campaigner, India
Oxfam partner Samarpan works to mobilise and empower marginalised women in rural areas of northern India – women like Girijar (centre blue) here. These women are working together, learning new skills and demanding recognition for the valuable role they play in society.
Photo: Rajendra Shaw
Melifa Mphasa, nurse, Malawi
Melifa listens to the pregnant belly of a patient at 'Bottom' Hospital in Lilongwe. Hers is vital, often lifesaving, work. Yet nurses like Melifa can barely afford to live off their meagre salaries. Oxfam is campaigning for better health care and pay in poor countries like Malawi.
Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith
Marlene Contreras, coffee co-op co-ordinator, Honduras
In La Paz, Honduras, women often have very limited education, and no land or property to help them earn a living. When Oxfam offered help and training, Marlene and other women in her local community jumped at the chance. They formed a co-operative and have since bought land to produce organic coffee, which is now exported to a Fairtrade partner in Germany.
Photo: Gilvan Barreto
