Public services Archives - Oxfam Policy & Practice

Briefing paper

Africa’s Inequality Crisis and the Rise of the Super-Rich

10/07/2025

4 documents

60 pages long

Languages: English, French

Keywords

Overview

Africa is facing a double inequality crisis: extreme inequality alongside weak commitment among its governments to fight it. But there is hope. The African Union has urged member states to reduce inequality by 15% in the coming decade and has identified progressive taxation as a key tool to do so. The challenge, though, is the […]

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Research report

The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2024

21/10/2024

7 documents

78 pages long

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

Now in its fifth edition, the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI) assesses the commitment of 164 countries and regions to fighting inequality. The CRI 2024 offers powerful new evidence on whether governments are acting to reduce inequality through policies on public services, fair taxation and labour rights. It reveals negative trends in the vast […]

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Research report

The Crisis of Extreme Inequality in SADC: Fighting austerity and the pandemic

10/05/2022

8 documents

56 pages long

Languages: English, French, Portugese, Swahili

Keywords

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the extreme inequality in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, and pushed millions into poverty. The economic crisis continues due to the obscene global vaccine inequality. As of end March 2022, a dismal 14% of SADC citizens had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 65.5% in the United States […]

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Briefing note

Responding with Equality: The case for combating extreme inequality to tackle crises, strengthen democracy and foster a fairer future in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic

20/12/2021

1 documents

17 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

For decades, our flawed economic and governance systems have allowed inequality and social exclusion to grow to extreme and dangerous levels, and now coronavirus has driven an even greater wedge between the haves and have nots. Without immediate action, the pandemic could cause the biggest spike in inequality ever seen, and further destabilize the democratic […]

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Research report

The Magic Potion of Austerity and Poverty Alleviation: Narratives of political capture and inequality in the Middle East and North Africa

22/11/2021

4 documents

46 pages long

Languages: Arabic, English, French

Keywords

Overview

Dominant narratives promoting economic growth at the expense of state institutions and basic social services have long underpinned a neoliberal model of spiralling debt and austerity in the MENA region. This exacerbates political capture and inequality and takes shape in an environment of media concentration and shrinking civic space. It is important for change movements […]

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Journal article

Debt and climate: entangled emergencies derailing women’s rights and gender justice

10/12/2020

14 pages long

Free access through journal website

Debt and climate: entangled emergencies derailing women’s rights and gender justice

Keywords

Overview

As a new debt crisis is hitting the global South, aggravated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and economies will face growing difficulties and challenges to deal with climate emergencies, adaptation, and mitigation. As we have seen in the past, debt crises tend to have a negative impact on women’s rights and […]

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Briefing note

50 years of Broken Promises: The $5.7 trillion debt owed to the poorest people

23/10/2020

4 documents

18 pages long

Languages: Dutch, English, French, Spanish

Keywords

Overview

This year marks an historic chapter in the story of international aid. On 24 October 2020, it will be 50 years since high-income countries committed to spending 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) on aid to low- and middle-income countries. This paper examines how aid has helped to improve the wellbeing of people in […]

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Briefing note

For a Decade of Hope Not Austerity in the Middle East and North Africa: Towards a fair and inclusive recovery to fight inequality

27/08/2020

2 documents

32 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

Even before the coronavirus crisis struck, people in the Middle East and North Africa were protesting against the injustice and inequality wrought by a decade of austerity. The pandemic and the lockdown measures taken by governments have paralysed economies and threaten to tip millions of people into poverty, with women, refugees, migrant workers and those […]

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Briefing paper

Unlocking Sustainable Development in Africa by Addressing Unpaid Care and Domestic Work

03/02/2020

1 documents

16 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

Across Africa, ambitions to achieve inclusive and sustainable development are being undermined by inadequate investment in the care economy. Women and girls are providing millions of hours of unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) – a provision which props up the economy and underpins society, yet remains under-recognized, undervalued and under-invested in. While inattention to […]

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Briefing paper

Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe: An analysis of policy implications for post-disaster institutional development to strengthen disaster risk management

07/11/2019

1 documents

30 pages long

Languages: English

Keywords

Overview

Cyclone Idai struck Zimbabwe in March 2019, affecting 270,000 people. The storm and subsequent flooding and landslides left 340 people dead and many others missing. Agriculture, schools and infrastructure all suffered heavy impacts; many people lost their homes. Chimanimani and Chipinge Districts were hardest hit. This policy brief provides an analysis of the impacts and […]

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