Meet - JO FOX
Meet Jo Fox OXFAM IRELAND'S NEW CAMPAIGNS AND ADVOCACY MANAGER
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you were
doing before you joined Oxfam Ireland?
For the last four years I have been working in the
campaigns department for Oxfam GB based in Oxford.
Before joining Oxfam I spent 13 years within the Red Cross
Movement, working and living in 20 countries in Africa,
East Asia and Eastern Europe, mostly in countries at war.
As the Trade Campaign manager in Oxfam GB I helped
launched the international trade campaign to Make Trade
Fair. I then worked on global mobilisation. The voices of
more than 18 million people from right around the world,
was presented in the Big Noise petition to world leaders at
the WTO summit last year in Hong Kong, to put pressure
on these leaders to make trade work for the poor.
Is there one event, moment, or person who inspired you to
get involved in development work?
When I was 18 and studying Anthropology at university, we
went out to Egypt on a research trip. Part of the trip
included a visit to a community project in Cairo. This
project involved an entire community which lived and
worked on the mountains of rubbish surrounding the city.
I met a man who had set up an amazing recycling
programme involving the whole community. The place was
a real hive of industry and they recycled just about
everything that they possible could - the only thing they
didn't use was the left over dust.
What was the first campaign that you ever got involved in?
During my time with the Red Cross I spent 8 years working
in Southern Africa and confronted the issue of landmines
on a daily basis. I remember travelling one day in Angola -
the vehicle was following a narrow marked track to indicate
it was clear of mines - and I saw a woman in an uncleared
area trying to weed her maize patch, up to her waist in
mud. She had no legs - was a double amputee - and for me
she was the human face behind the overwhelming and
horrifying statistics.
The impact the campaign was making was brought home
at the end of a brief visit back in London having just
travelled for 10 days with the Princess of Wales through
Angola to create global awareness on the issue. On the way
back to Heathrow airport I mentioned to the driver that I
was flying back to Angola, at which point he asked me did I
know that a third of Angola was covered in landmines.
Three months later the international treaty was signed
banning the production, use and sale of these weapons.
This was a really clear example how coordinated work
across the globe could really make a difference.
Why do you believe that campaigning and advocacy is
important?
Of course alleviating poverty is really complex. There are no
simple solutions. We have to use all the tools at our
disposal at different times and in different combinations
make change.
Campaigns and Advocacy is one of the vital tools,
because it puts pressure on the decision makers and holds
them to account. There are many examples of this, at both
the national and international levels. For instance, as a
result of 3 million people campaigning in Ethiopia, that
government dropped its export tax on coffee, the primary
export commodity of that country, and coffee export
increased from 200 metric tons to 2,800 metric tons over a
two year period. At international level, the reason that the
US government held a particularly crucial trade meeting in
the US was the result of campaigning and advocacy work in
Bangladesh. But this is a process that takes time - I
remember a woman sugar farmer in Zambia saying to me
"I'm doing this not for my sake, but the sake of my
children".
Are you looking forward to working in Oxfam Ireland?
I am really excited to be here. Things are moving very
quickly in Ireland at the moment, both politically and
socially. It is a country which is relatively small but which is
punching above its weight in Europe and beyond when it
comes to international development - but there's much
more that needs to be done if the situation of millions of
poor people around the world is to improve. Oxfam Ireland
is also at an exciting moment, as one of 13 Oxfam's around the
world which are all committed to overcoming poverty and
suffering. There are some really exciting challenges and a
lot of hard work ahead!
