In 2008, various Oxfams in India joined forces to form Oxfam India. Registered as an independent organisation, Oxfam India has indigenous staff and board members. They work with 130 NGOs at the grassroots’ level to tackle poverty and inequality where it germinates. Their programmes are currently active in the critical states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. They work with the most marginalised segments – Dalits, Tribals, Muslims, and Women. For them, poverty is more than lack of income, healthcare and education. It is a crippling state where these groups do not have any control in deciding the course of their own lives. They are excluded from basic decision-making rights.
Oxfam address this problem with a “Rights Based Approach”. They see people as the bearers of civil, political and social, and economic rights. Institutions, both State and non-state, are seen as duty bound to guarantee those rights to the people. Their effort is to bring a change in people's lives through State and Institutional Accountability; Civil Society Participation; Empowering the Poor to Use Public Resources and Increased Social Inclusion of the Marginalised.
They are committed to five rights: Right to Sustainable Livelihood; Right to Social Services; Right to Life and Security; Right to be Heard and Right to an Identity
Their Programmes are:
• Humanitarian Response
• Essential Services
• Gender Justice
• Youth and Active Citizenship
• Economic Justice