Look who’s talking!
‘Voice poverty’ is silent but deadly. Without the right to a say in the decisions that affect their lives, communities around the world stay locked in poverty, unable to defend their rights, lands, or resources. With a little help from Oxfam and enormous courage of their own, the Chiquitano people of Bolivia finally won ownership of their ancestral lands in July 2007. Oxfam’s Peter Murphy reports.
The land forms part of the essence of these peoples: not only does it enclose natural resources that give them sustenance, but it is also their natural habitat, to which they are united by a series of cultural and spiritual values that give them their meaning, affirm their identity, and guide their lives.
Jorge Velazquez, Oxfam in Boliva
Oxfam in action
Oxfam works with indigenous communities, worldwide, to help them defend their rights, protect their natural resources, and get involved in political decision-making. We were the first international development organisation to directly support grassroots organisations in South America..Through our leadership training and support many disadvantaged people have been able to get themselves elected into positions of influence.
Did you know?
Bolivian president Evo Morales – the country’s first indigenous president – once attended an Oxfam leadership course.
