Sharon Corr and Greg Hansford. Photo credit: Norm Oorloff.

Sharon Corr signed the violin Greg Hansford bought at the Oxfam Ireland auction before her performance with Ronan Keating at the Regent Theatre.

“I found it on the Oxfam site and my mother was Irish so I thought it would be nice,” Hansford said of the instrument, crafted with the Irish flag.

“Sharon is a very remarkable and astute lady and it’s great that she took the time to sign it”

This year, Soudre Amado, a small farmer in Burkin Faso, had to plant five times since the drought dried the seeds before they could grow. Photo: Irina Fuhrmann/Oxfam

The spectre of hunger is again stalking the people of the western Sahel, at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Thanks to the early-warning systems funded by Canada and other donors, we now know that a major food crisis is brewing. We know in time to head it off.

Late and irregular rainfall, followed by plagues of birds, locusts and other pests have decimated the harvests of poor farmers and made pasture scarce for herders. Cereal production in the five countries of the region is down by a quarter from last year and is well below the five-year average. In Mauritania and Chad farmers harvested barely half what they got last year. National food reserves exist, but they hold nowhere near the quantity needed to mitigate the deficit.

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Report - Crisis in a New World Order

The international humanitarian response system will fail to cope with the expected rise in the number of people exposed to crises unless there are more resources closer to where disasters happen and there is more investment in preventing and reducing the risk of disasters, warned international agency Oxfam today.

In a new report, Crises in a New World Order, Oxfam said that while governments’ and agencies’ response to emergencies has greatly improved it still remains ‘too little, too late’ and is often determined by the vagaries of media and political interest rather than level of human need.

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Good news – an independent process has been announced to resolve complaints from communities in Uganda, where people claim they were kicked off their land as a result of a land grab.

Thousands of GROW campaigners have been pushing since October for justice on this issue, which involves the UK-based New Forests Company (NFC) – and this is an important first step in making sure people’s voices are heard. Oxfam welcomes NFC’s agreement to participate. Their sustained engagement will be crucial for the process to work.

What the process means

Towards the end of 2011, communities in Uganda, along with Oxfam, wrote to the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (or CAO) about the impacts of the land grab.

Why the CAO? Well, they handle complaints from communities affected by investments made by the International Finance Corporation (or IFC) – the World Bank’s private sector arm. And the IFC invests in a fund which has a stake in NFC.

This means that an impartial, independent body will now spend time reviewing the situation in detail, before proposing an agreed way forward.

And that’s an important first step towards justice for thousands of people in Uganda.

What happens now

As soon as more details emerge about the results of this process that we are able to share, we’ll post them here.

Because land grabs are one of the major issues GROW campaigners around the globe are determined to tackle.

And together, we really can make a difference.

Fixed-term contract

Based in Dublin t

36 hours per week

Ref: DDFEAT/12

You can download an application pack for this position now, or for more information phone: 01 672 7662 or email: recruitment1@oxfamireland.org.

Please quote job reference number: DDFEAT/12.

Closing date: Friday 10th February 2012 at 12:00 noon.

Oxfam is an equal opportunities employer.

Six months ago Oxfam launched our biggest ever Africa appeal in response to the drought t in East Africa. Thanks to your generous response the public all over the world donated around $32 million to Oxfam. This response has saved countless lives and Oxfam continues to provide emergency and long-term support to nearly 3 million affected people across the region, helping them recover and cope with future droughts.

The crisis is one of the worst we have faced in many years – over 13 million people have been affected, thousands have died, and many families have lost their livelihoods. The situation remains extremely concerning, especially in Somalia. However, your help has gone a very long way. Thank you

On the eve of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, more than 25 footballers including Seydou Keita from Mali, Charles Kaboré from Burkina Faso, Demba Bâ from Sénégal and Lawali Idrissa from Niger have spoken out in solidarity with millions of people facing hunger across their region. They are appealing to the international community to work together so that “We CAN avert a major food crisis”.

Mali and Barcelona football star Seydou Keita added: “If we act now we could save the lives of women and children who are always the first victims of food crises. If we act urgently, millions of children will be saved from malnutrition and will have the chance to grow healthily and to succeed at school.”

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Photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg visited Turkana in Northern Kenya with Oxfam to mark six months since an appeal was launched over severe drought in the region. Alejandro specialises in moonlight photography.

You can also view this gallery on the rte website

A Dangerous Delay - New Report on Food Crisis

Thousands of lives and millions of dollars lost due to late response to food crisis in East Africa

Lessons learnt can help prevent future disasters and save lives

Thousands of needless deaths occurred and millions of extra dollars were spent because the international community failed to take decisive action on early warnings of a hunger crisis in East Africa, according to a new report by the international aid agencies Oxfam and Save the Children.

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