India
In India, Oxfam's focus is on livelihoods, gender equality, disaster preparedness, education, peace-building, and HIV and AIDS.
Wanted: an education
Though more girls in India are going to school today, their literacy levels continue to lag behind those of boys. Those from the lower dalit or 'untouchable' caste face especially tough barriers.
Male literacy is at 70 per cent, while only 48 per cent of girls are literate. This falls as low as eight per cent in marginalised dalit communities where education is often not seen as a priority.
Many families keep their daughters at home to help with the chores while sending their sons off to school.
How Oxfam is helping
We are promoting girls' education through schools that focus specifically on marginalised communities. We also encourage adult education with a focus on women, and lobby for universal primary education.
I love coming to school. My teacher is very smart and thinks I am smart too. When I grow up I want to be a teacher.
Munni, pupil at a dalit Girls School, Uttar Pradesh
Supporting cotton farmers
Cotton farmers in southern India are badly affected by drought and are often forced to spend money they can ill afford on pesticides and fertilisers to enable cotton to grow.
The problem is, farmers find that once their soil gets used to the chemicals they buy, their cotton yields fall. Without a decent crop, it’s increasingly hard for farmers to earn enough money to feed their families.
How Oxfam is helping
We teach organic farming methods to show farmers how to work their land on a small budget without chemical fertilisers or pesticides. We also campaign for better working conditions in the garment factories where much of the cotton ends up.
Thirteen-year-old Thea visited some of Oxfam's cotton projects in southern India. Read her diary on our Cool Planet website
Other development work
- Raising awareness of HIV and AIDS, and campaigning for medicines to be available and affordable
- Helping people to be prepared in areas especially prone to natural disasters
Ending violence against women
One in every two women in South Asia faces violence in their daily life. In many communities, social customs and attitudes tacitly condone and support violence against women.
How Oxfam is helping
Oxfam’s We Can campaign aims to break down attitudes and customs which support violence against women. Some five million specially trained ‘Change Makers’ from across South East Asia are helping mobilise 50 million people and bring about a sea-change in attitudes towards women.
Tsunami crisis
The tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004 caused widespread devastation across parts of India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
- Some 11,000 Indians lost their lives
- Nearly $1.2 billion worth of property destroyed
- Entire southern Indian fishing fleets wiped out
Oxfam will be continuing to work until 2008 to help the worst-affected people rebuild their lives.
South Asia floods 2004
In 2004, India and Bangladesh were hit by some of the worst flooding in their history. Oxfam responded to help those who were badly affected.
Find out more about Oxfam's 2004 response to the South Asia floods
Learn more
Share this page
Make a donation
Oxfam's projects in countries like India rely on your generosity.
