Oxfam Action Corps 2012 Recruitment

Hey Everyone,

Oxfam America is currently recruiting new volunteers for 2012-2013. If you are interested in joining the Oxfam Action Corps please sign up and spread the word by February 14th at http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org.

Join the Oxfam Action Corps to support women farmers, fight global hunger, and build a better food system!  You will meet great people and work together to change laws that can save lives, defend the rights of the world’s poorest farmers, and protect communities from rising food prices and climate change.  You will gain leadership skills, have fun, and change the world!

Anybody can join the local effort!   All levels of experience are welcome.  You can also apply for Oxfam’s free four-day leadership training in Washington D.C. May 12 – May 15.

This year, we will mobilize for the GROW campaign for global food justice.  The women and men in poor countries who struggle to grow enough food to feed their families are facing competition for land and water, rising prices, and climate change.  We will call for laws that support women and farmers, sustainable practices, and resilience to climate change, and ensure a better future for people in the poorest regions of the world.

This is a year-round volunteer opportunity, with a deadline of February 14 to apply for the spring training.  Find out more and sign up at http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org .

Check out this video to see what we are all about:

An idea that's worth spreading.

Only 5 days left - Vote for Oxfam Action Corps’ Idea to Raise Awareness for East Africa!

Six of the Oxfam Action Corps teams (San Francisco, Des Moines, Chicago, Columbus, Boston and New York City) joined forces under the leadership of Elissa Yoder (Columbus Oxfam Action Corps) and submitted a proposal to GOOD to win $5,000 for awareness building here in the US about the East Africa crisis. Their idea involves hosting 6 simultaneous Oxfam America Hunger Banquets ® and linking them all via live web streaming.

How will the winning proposal be decided? The answer is by votes. Anyone can vote, and the proposal with the most votes by Wednesday, December 14 9am ET WINS $5,000 to actually implement the idea!

Will you take 2 seconds tovote? Check out their idea and vote for the Action Corps at http://fwd.maker.good.is/projects/ACTIONCORPS!

Other ways to help spread the word:
1. Take the above language and post it to your team’s blog.
2. Post on Facebook:  Got 2 seconds? Vote right now for the Oxfam Action Corps to win $5,000 to implement a cool idea here in the US to raise awareness about the crisis in East Africa. Help us win this. Vote here, http://fwd.maker.good.is/projects/ACTIONCORPS .
3.  Tweet about it: VOTE now to help @OxfamAction Corps win $5K to raise awareness about the #East Africa crisis! http://ow.ly/7QHZa @GOOD.

4. Send the above language as a one-off newsletter to your contacts.

The Oxfam America Hunger Banquet ® gives attendees extremely valuable insight into the root causes of poverty hunger, motivating them to take action against such atrocities as the famine in East Africa.

Speaking of Hunger Banquets, check out some great photos of the Madison Oxfam Action Corps Hunger Banquet!

COP17: Oxfam Style-- Can Durban be the bridge to a better future on climate change?

Originally posted by Heather Coleman on Oxfam America's Politics of Poverty blog.

My colleague Tim Gore, climate change policy advisor at Oxfam International, wrote this blog laying out what governments can achieve at UN Climate talks which are starting this week in Durban, South Africa. We’ve adapted the blog to the US context and are reposting it here.

It’s now two years since the frantic campaigning and manic diplomacy that led to theCopenhagen climate change conference, and the blame games that followed its inadequate result. As the next UN climate talks get under way this week in Durban, South Africa, we need a new script to explain what has been achieved since 2009 and what must come next in the fight to tackle climate change.

The good news is that the UN talks on climate change are not a re-run of the zombie negotiating process in the World Trade Organization. But the ten year anniversary of the launch of the ‘Doha development round’ should give us pause for thought about where we want the multilateral climate change regime to be ten years after Copenhagen, and whether we are on track to get there.

The agreements struck last year in Cancún did not deliver everything needed to address the perils of our warming world, but they are leading to action.